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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (58616)	8/7/2004 9:20:49 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793928

Just shut up and sing By Boston Herald editorial staff Saturday, August 7, 2004 What's next, a guest column by Barbra Streisand? The prominent placement given Bruce Springsteen's political views on Thursday's New York Times op-ed page shows the Old Gray Lady's standards post-Jayson Blair haven't improved much. Count us as huge fans of the Boss, and if he set his ``American government has strayed too far from American values'' sentiment to music, we'd be the first to buy the CD. But must we now add musicians to the list of Hollywood elitists who think Americans give a damn what they think about this election? The best we can say about a planned fall concert tour featuring Springsteen, the Dave Matthews Band and others promoting a ``vote for change'' message is fans will get what they're paying for. There's nothing quite so irritating as being jolted from the reverie of a concert by the unsolicited political rants of the performer. And while the Dixie Chicks sing a mean ``Travelin' Soldier,'' they hardly impress us as avatars of foreign policy. Springsteen also has long freely admitted escaping the Vietnam draft by purposely flunking his induction physical, telling Rolling Stone Magazine, ``I did the basic fillin' sixties rag, you know: fillin' out the forms all crazy, not taking the test.'' So it's odd to envision Bruce hanging upside down on his mike stand for a candidate who voted for the Iraq war and whose Vietnam service has become the central argument for his fitness to serve as commander in chief. Odd, that is, except none of this is really for John Kerry [related, bio], or about John Kerry at all. Like so many Democratic activists, the musicians are simply anti-George W. Bush. No doubt this will prove as weak a motivation for change when accompanied by guitar, as it was when spouted by Whoopi Goldberg.