And now a confession

Thanks to Lloyd at DemCentral I can admit my love of some songs sung by Toby Keith.

Toby Keith correctly points out the problem of labels- to be 100% supportive of the troops is not to support George W. Bush's policy of preemption (whatever the heck that is), we are complex, the wars are complex, here is some of what he says:

"I get roped into these political arguments, but the truth is I don't see things right or left, I see them right or wrong. If you put check boxes on the left and right for all the big issues, my list will go back and forth all the way down. But all I have to do is disagree with a hardcore, far left liberal on one thing and they just mark me down with all the boxes on the right. And it's pretty much the same thing on the other side...I didn't support the war in Iraq and still don't, but I'm sure I know more about it than he [Sean Penn] does...When he and Clooney get together and say we should go to Africa and stop the genocide, I'll be the one over there performing for the troops when it happens." (my edits, Lloyd has the full quote on DemCentral).

I do enjoy myself some Toby Keith, I admit it, I almost considered buying his most recent favorites album, but thought that I would be supporting him and he represented things that I disagreed with. Happily, I did buy some of the songs on the album (American Soldier- that is one great song "...I don't do it for money, there's still bills that I can't pay, I don't do it for the glory, I just do it anyway..") and now much to Chris' consternation I will likely download the rest of the album.

One thing I will complain about, I like the song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" sure it is a wee jingoistic, but I was pretty angry after 9/11 and its good to remember.

But when I was at a rodeo lately (yes, I am from Virginia and my friend Johnny is a bull rider) the song was accompanied by horrifying phone calls made by people calling 911 on 9/11/01. I find that over the top for the occasion of a rodeo, especially when the song itself is so resonating. So I know his songs are used not only to remember but to perpetuate the fear, which is not necessarily healthy, in my opinion.