Toby Keith Praises Obama, Says He's A Democrat
RYAN PEARSON | August 19, 2008Barack Obama is getting praise from Nashville, courtesy of one big, patriotic country star.
Toby Keith, perhaps best known to non-country audiences for his post-Sept. 11 song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue," says he's a Democrat, and was impressed by the senator from Illinois.
Keith has said in the past that the 2002 song _ which included lines aimed at the Taliban like "we lit up your world like the Fourth of July" _ was more patriotic than pro-war.
Asked while promoting his new movie "Beer For My Horses" about the role of patriotism in the current presidential election, Keith replied: "There's a big part of America that really believes that there is a war on terrorism, and that we need to finish up.
"So I thought it was beautiful the other day when Obama went to Afghanistan and got educated about Afghanistan and Iraq. He came back and said some really nice things.
"So as far as leadership and patriotism goes, I think it's really important that those things have to take place. And I think he's the best Democratic candidate we've had since Bill Clinton. And that's coming from a Democrat."
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
How ya like me now?
I know this is three or more months old, but when I read it I thought it was really cool. He's always been one of my favorite country singers (and song writers) but I have to admit, after 9/11 I leaned more toward Alan Jackson's "were you there" than to Toby's "but an American boot up your ass."
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Oh please. I'm sure that Toby Keith likes to say now, in 2008, that this song was "more patriotic than pro-war". When it was released by him in 2002 it sure sounded pro-war to me with lines like:
"Man we lit up your world like the Fourth of July."
"And there's gonna be hell,
when you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell"
"It's gonna feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you
brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue"
"Oh, justice will be served and the battle will rage.
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage
You'll be sorry that you messed with the US of A
'cuz we'll put a boot in your ass
it's the American way."
Hmmmm.....
I almost didn't publish this comment, mostly because Angie is practically the only person who ever comments on this blog and from her tone, you'd wonder why she even reads it.
But the thing is, I agree with her on this one. That post 9/11 anthem of Toby Keith's was blatant war mongering. It was obviously motivated by anger and revenge, and frankly, it very well may have contributed to Americans supporting the invasion of Iraq, which Bush/Cheney lied to convince us had something to do with 9/11 or Al Quaeda.
All the more reason that I think it's fascinating that Toby Keith would be a Democrat, let alone an Obama supporter. Are you going to start leaving angry posts on Toby Keith's website now Angie?
I don't know what your problem with me is, besides disagreeing politically, but if you wanted to get me to stop writing a column for the paper- you win, I don't. Please back off.
I don't understand why you are so angry and want me to back off. I would think you would want people to read your blog, but apparently you must only want people to read it who agree with you 100% of the time. I wasn't even commenting anything negative towards you, it was toward Toby's comments and how I disagree with what he was saying. And I certainly don't want to comment as anonymous so hey, I leave my name. Anyway, I'll stop commenting.
See my 2002 column on Alan Jackson's song:
http://tedscolumn.blogspot.com/2002/09/where-were-you.html
Here's the thing, losing my column was a huge painful thing for me, so I have been pretty hypersensitive to criticism. I apologize for that, it's wrong. I've been particularly sensitive to Angie's comments because she is so persistent- the most frequent commenter on this blog, in fact. I felt like she was trying to bully me. Perhaps that was irrational or even paranoid, certainly unfair.
But here is an excerpt from a 2005 column that best explains how I feel about "sex, politics, and religion," and Angie's big issue, abortion-
This column was started with a mission, to talk about “sex, politics, and religion- not necessarily in that order…” and I might add, the kitchen sink too. The point being, this is somewhere were we’ll talk about more than work or the weather, not that those things aren’t vitally important.
Actually I’m not sure I ever have written about sex. Of course that’s why the phrase “sex, politics, and religion” was invented, to tell you what not to talk about in polite company. You can see why. Talk about sex and you might be embarrassed or else people will think you’re some kind of pervert. It’s an intensely personal and intimate issue, so it should just as well be private.
Religion is also an intensely personal and hopefully intimate thing too. I think it should be personal and intimate anyway, maybe you don’t believe that way. Because religious beliefs are held so intensely and deeply, it can be dangerous to talk about it without offending people. No one really wants to compromise on what they interpret to be sacred or even what they consider to be primary fundamental doctrine. “I’m always right and you’re always wrong,” is the perspective we assume when we become absolutist about our religious beliefs.
Don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t mean to promote “relativism.” Certainly there are absolutes, there is truth, and if Jesus said that He is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Him, a whole lot of other people must be wrong. What they think is truth, must not be.
But the problem there is, I’m not God. I hope you’ll agree that you aren’t either. While they may imagine that they’re God’s personally appointed spokesmen on Earth all those televangelists, denominational leaders, and “faith-based” politicians aren’t God either. None of us has a monopoly on the God-breathed, inerrant truth. No one but Him.
Too often we decide not to talk about religion, not because we don’t want to offend someone else, not because we’re afraid they’ll judge, reject, or persecute us, but just because we know it’s likely to make things tense, maybe even lead to argument.
You know it’s true. One of the biggest complaints I hear from atheists is that all the wars have always been caused by religion. I tell them, no people cause wars. Jesus didn’t cause the crusades or the holocaust. Saint Mary and Martin Luther didn’t start the 100 year’s war. You can’t even really blame Muhammad for terrorist attacks or jihads. People go to war, people full of hate, fear, jealousy, greed, and anger. Religion is only their excuse, a convenient pretense.
Then there’s politics. It’s about control. You think my candidate is a liar and a philanderer, so you want to wrest control away from him. I think that your candidate is ill-equipped, ill-advised, has ill-conceived notions and at best made grave mistakes and at worse abuses his power- guess what, I won’t want him in control anymore than you wanted the other guy.
It gets even uglier if our politicians wrap themselves in the banner of faith. How may abused spouses stay in a bad marriage because they love their abuser. Do we sometimes defend politicians like someone enabling an addict because we think that they share our beliefs, and by God, we know our beliefs are absolutely right- so somehow no matter wrong they do, at least they’re right about a few things.
Here is a true story that involves all three- sex politics and religion:
Once there were two people. One was a white, middle-aged man. He taught Religion at a Christian school. The other was an Hispanic teenaged girl who attended that Christian School.
The man and his wife could not have children. They were staunchly pro-life. They boycotted companies that supported candidates or charities that condoned abortion. They marched for the right to life, admirable civic participation. But rather than a day or even a unit of one or two of his Religion classes, anti-abortion indoctrination dominated most of the time in most of his classes.
The girl lived with a single mom. She was interested in history and politics. She especially enjoyed learning about the civil rights movement and women’s rights. The girl grew more and more depressed as she attended the Religion teacher’s class. She became silent and sullen, she doubted her faith and God’s love for her. At one point later in college, she even thought about suicide.
The girl had been the victim of incest as a child. But of course she kept it a secret. There are some things you just don’t talk about.
I'm no more "pro-abortion" than I am actively "pro-life" I just want Christians to see that the "Religious Right" aren't as compassionate or as conservative as they claim to be. It's okay to vote for Democrats, it's not immoral and your eternal salvation is not put in danger. Likewise I want Democrats and Republicans both to be GENUINE and open about their own personal faith experiences and convictions, but not coercively impose their faith traditions on anyone.
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