Bruce Springsteen, Nanci Griffith And The GOP

Bruce Springsteen plays in DC tonight. I had to laugh when I read how over a dozen Republican members of Congress are throwing fundraisers at the sold-out Verizon Center show. Lobbyists were buying scalped $100 tickets from the congressmembers for $2,000 a pop. I hope right-wing kooks like Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Dave Camp (R-MI), Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN), Tom Petri (R-WI) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) aren't expecting any nostalgia for the good ole Bush days. Like most artists-- and most Americans-- Springsteen has come to detest all Bush stands for and was very outspoken about his feelings that Bush was unworthy of the presidency.

In preparation for hosting a Crooks and Liars live blog session Thursday afternoon with Nanci Griffith I spent some time with her on the phone talking about her soon-to-be-released new album, The Loving Kind. It didn't take long before Bush's name came up. Nanci was active in Nashville's Music Row Democratic Club and worked actively to defeat him in 2004. On the new album a song she wrote with Ricky Ross, "Still Life," sums up her feelings about the ex-president:

You need to change
You don't know how
Your life could use a reformation
If you could see you
As I see you now
I know you'd change the situation

The contretemps that was engineered by Bush allies to hurt the Dixie Chicks careers didn't even come close to shutting Nanci up. "I never stopped saying whatever I was saying against the Bush administration abroad. I don't care what those people who crucified the Dixie Chicks... they're not my fans anyway." Nanci's a Grammy Award winning artist and it wouldn't surprise me if some tone def Republicans are fans of hers. I hope they wind up coming by Crooks and Liars Thursday at 4pm (PT) to hear what she has to say about the issues that mean most to her.

Meanwhile, tonight's clip isn't music from Nanci or The Boss. It's just something I like to look at whenever I start thinking that Obama is screwing up badly and could do things so much better. It's by DJ RX: