The Sound of the Crowd • October 26, 2004January 3, 2023

Recommended Reading…

Here’s a brutal flash animation cartoon (caution: Language is not “work safe”) created by Peter Kuper. Kuper is the cartoonist who took over the “Spy vs Spy” toons in Mad, as well as the author of some teriffic autobiographical comics, among many other things.

Atrios tells us that Bruce is doing more to help the Kerry/Edwards campagn. Meanwhile, The Kerry Spot on National Review asks,

“…did the big Rock for Kerry swing-state concert tour have any noticeable effects? Is it possible that most fans of these musicians just feel like they should shut up about politics and just sing their songs?”

Well, first of all, we won’t really know what effect the tour had till at least Nov. 3 (by the way, Sundance is rebroadcasting the TV version). But they did raise millions of dollars for their cause, and that cause wasn’t solely to elect Kerry.

And to me, this whole issue of “should musicians and other entertainers talk about politics is a non-starter. It’s very simple. Are they Americans? Yes. Do Americans have the Constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech? Yes, again. Well, ok then.

The question might better be, why do people like the National Review blogger quoted above want so much for the musicians to shut up? Is it because they fear someone who would otherwise have voted for Bush will change their opinion because Bruce told them to? That isn’t very likely. But as Kathy M. Newman, associate professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University, is quoted in the above-linked (“Ok, then”) article:

“As a wise mentor once pointed out to me, most preaching is to the choir,” she says. “In other words, like the preaching of a favorite pastor, political culture energizes the base, cleanses the soul, reinvigorates the congregation, allows time for reflection and contemplation, and provides a gathering place.”

And I submit that’s what drives ‘em so nuts.

Really, I can’t stress this enough: Stay away from my wolves, man. That makes two of my favorite animals that the Bushies have now conscripted into their sick little games. Between the wolves ad and the guys dressed up in dolphin costumes who were sent to Kerry rallies, the Republican convention, and such. (Cause, you see, Kerry is a “Flipper.” Get it? Ha, hah.)

And here’s Molly:

“In the swingers, wolves stalk us mercilessly (as the pro-wolf lobby points out indignantly, no one has ever been killed by wolves on U.S. soil, but try arguing that in the face of the relentless new TV ad campaign). Breaking news everywhere – 380 tons of high explosives in Iraq left unattended, stock market down to year’s low, leading economic indicators down, more tragedy in Iraq, the Swift Boat Liars are back, more Halliburton scandal, George Tenet says the war in Iraq is “wrong” – it feels like you’re dodging meteorites here in the Final Days. “

I love Jon Stewart, like Michael Moore and can even tolerate Kitty Kelly as a guilty pleasure, but I don’t expect any of them really change that many people’s minds. Maybe Moore, arguably. But of all the authors of books on Washington doings I have read over the past year or so, the three writers I would most recommend to a Republican are Robert Reich, Joe Conason and E. J. Dionne Jr.

They all share, in my view, what Media Matters calls an ability to make “tempered, intellectually honest arguments.” As opposed to, oh, say, Limbaugh.

Here’s Dionne, making the case for “The Intensity Gap.”

American Prospect has a brilliant idea for what George W. Bush might do if he loses. It’s what Bill Hicks used to call: Let’s just see how comitted you are to this fucking premise. (Bill, where are you when we need you?)

MSNBC-Allawi blames ambush on U.S. ‘negligence’

I’m just wondering how this jibes with the “grateful” Iraqis Bush/Cheny claims to have seen. And Jesus fucking Christ. That picture of the destroyed building in Fallujah. Oh, look what we’ve done.