I'm with Natalie
posted by Liberal Eagle at 3:55 PM
One of the odder features of our current discourse is how so many of the same people who a few years ago were insisting that anyone who didn't want to invade Iraq must be in bed with bin Laden...
...are now insisting they always knew invading Iraq was a bad idea.
Do they think nothing they have ever said has been recorded?
Consider the case of Toby Keith.
Anyone who pays attention to such matters will recall that Toby "Mr. Boot-in-your-ass" Keith was pretty unambiguously in favor of the war in 2003, when he was feuding with war opponents the Dixie Chicks. In fact, I am reminded via Atrios that Mr. Keith used to display this image at his concerts, in those days:
Now, however, rather than just coming out and saying "I was wrong to support the war and now I think we should end it, and by the way I'm sorry I called Natalie Maines a Saddam supporter, seeing as I now freely concede she was completely right and I was completely wrong," Mr. Boot-in-your-ass seems to believe he can just retroactively not support the war.
"Never did," says the man who apparently does not understand that people remember things and often record them and write them down.
You see this a lot from former war supporters. Not a hint of apology for being wrong and for accusing people who were right of treason. To call this particular brand of former war supporters a bunch of rats deserting a sinking ship is a slur against rats.
So I have never had any use for Mr. Keith, but as for the Dixie Chicks, I gained a lot of respect for them through all this. I admire them for having the courage of their convictions, and for not backing down and making their lives easier by meekly apologizing when their entire musical genre turned against them.
It's actually pretty interesting. Formerly pretty firmly aligned with the country genre, the Chicks, after the country establishment decided they had the wrong political views and stopped playing their records, moved from Nashville to Los Angeles, and their most recent album was made in a much more rock/pop style. The single, "Not Ready To Make Nice," actually reminds me a bit of, say, Throwing Muses or P.J. Harvey (yeah, poppier than either, but way closer than I ever thought the Chicks would get to that alt-chick-rock style).
I'm not sure I can think of another example of a musical artist switching genres for political reasons. Maybe Marvin Gaye with his antiwar protest songs in the 60s. Anyway, rock on, Dixie Chicks. And Mr. Keith? Natalie Maines's famous "FUTK" t-shirt still speaks for me, too.
...are now insisting they always knew invading Iraq was a bad idea.
Do they think nothing they have ever said has been recorded?
Consider the case of Toby Keith.
Anyone who pays attention to such matters will recall that Toby "Mr. Boot-in-your-ass" Keith was pretty unambiguously in favor of the war in 2003, when he was feuding with war opponents the Dixie Chicks. In fact, I am reminded via Atrios that Mr. Keith used to display this image at his concerts, in those days:
Now, however, rather than just coming out and saying "I was wrong to support the war and now I think we should end it, and by the way I'm sorry I called Natalie Maines a Saddam supporter, seeing as I now freely concede she was completely right and I was completely wrong," Mr. Boot-in-your-ass seems to believe he can just retroactively not support the war.
"Never did," says the man who apparently does not understand that people remember things and often record them and write them down.
You see this a lot from former war supporters. Not a hint of apology for being wrong and for accusing people who were right of treason. To call this particular brand of former war supporters a bunch of rats deserting a sinking ship is a slur against rats.
So I have never had any use for Mr. Keith, but as for the Dixie Chicks, I gained a lot of respect for them through all this. I admire them for having the courage of their convictions, and for not backing down and making their lives easier by meekly apologizing when their entire musical genre turned against them.
It's actually pretty interesting. Formerly pretty firmly aligned with the country genre, the Chicks, after the country establishment decided they had the wrong political views and stopped playing their records, moved from Nashville to Los Angeles, and their most recent album was made in a much more rock/pop style. The single, "Not Ready To Make Nice," actually reminds me a bit of, say, Throwing Muses or P.J. Harvey (yeah, poppier than either, but way closer than I ever thought the Chicks would get to that alt-chick-rock style).
I'm not sure I can think of another example of a musical artist switching genres for political reasons. Maybe Marvin Gaye with his antiwar protest songs in the 60s. Anyway, rock on, Dixie Chicks. And Mr. Keith? Natalie Maines's famous "FUTK" t-shirt still speaks for me, too.
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