Rosanne Cash: Don’t speak for the Man in Black
Rosanne Cash says people who ‘speak’ for father shouldn’t
When John Rich recently took a Florida stage to support the presidential campaign of John McCain, he said, “Somebody’s got to walk the line in the country. They’ve got to walk it unapologetically,” before singing Johnny’s song, “Walk the Line.”
“And I’m sure Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around,” John said.
Not necessarily: Johnny supported Democrat Jimmy Carter (as the Washington Post noted).
Now, Johnny’s daughter, singer/songwriter/author Rosanne Cash, has made her thoughts known on the matter with a statement posted on her Web site: “It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father’s name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalties to him that cannot possibly be determined, and to try to further their own agendas by doing so.
“I knew my father pretty well, at least better than some of those who entitle themselves to his legacy and his supposed ideals, and even I would not presume to say publicly what I ‘know’ he thought or felt. This is especially dangerous in the case of political affiliation. It is unfair and presumptuous to use him to bolster any platform. I would ask that my father not be co-opted in this election for either side, since he is clearly not here to defend or state his own allegiance.”</em>
Now, I respect Rosanne, and I would never speak for Johnny, but just a hunch, I’m guessing he’d have this to say to McCain:
“cash”
