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Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Fortunately (I guess), the wingnuts are too ignorant...

To notice that Linda Ronstadt may have just compared Bush to Hitler, or at least the neocons to the Nazis:
"We have to stick together," she said. "I just think we can't take this lying down. It's like the Weimar Republic… these [neo-conservative] people are taking over the government. People are sound asleep and I don't think this is the time to back down."
Unlike most of the media, the LA Times gave Linda plenty of column-inches to say her peace (as it were).
What the singer said just before the final encore in Las Vegas was the same stage line she has been using to introduce the song "Desperado" around the country since she saw the Moore documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11": "I'll say, I think there's this guy who is a great patriot and I think he loves his country deeply and that he's trying to get the truth out . . . then I say his name is Michael Moore and I've just been to see his fine movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11."
...
"At first there's just silence, then there's "Yeah!" and then there's 'Boo!" and then the audience starts fighting with each other," she recalled. "You know how they say we are just polarized down the middle? I've done this all across the country and I'm telling you, it's like my independent poll. I have never seen a reaction like this, in all my years of touring."
A uniter, not a divider.

I wonder if the wingnuts ever stop to consider that the reason that so many celebrities are against wars is that they've been all over the world and find it hard to despise people they've met and places they've been to.

Of course not. What was I thinking?

I will say that Linda has improved her schtick with "Desperado." Many years ago, I saw her in concert at the Forum in Los Angeles (actually Inglewood). For her second or third encore, it was just her and the piano player. He plays the intro to "Desperado," then she starts singing "De-e-esperado...oops...embarrassed giggle...oh, I seem to forgotten the words!" The audience gives a sigh of sympathy, with comments like "how cute" or "it's amazing how they remember so many words anyway." Linda looks off-stage, then starts again and sings it without a hitch.

Fast forward about ten months. I'm living in Champaign, Illinois, and some friends go to hear Linda sing at the U of I Assembly Hall. When they get back, I ask them how the concert was. They said "Pretty good. It was kinda cute at the end--she forgot the words to 'Desperado.'"

All is forgiven, Linda. Speak truth to power!