Monday, October 20, 2008

McCain vs. Obama: Dueling Guitars

You probably can’t get a better musical juxtaposition of their differing presidential aspirations than via these two You-Tubes: “Roll With It Johny” and “Be The Change”! Although both feature really good, original song creations written and performed by well known Twin Cities musicians, the two music videos could not be more different.

Roll With It Johnny

The lyrics are so edgy that you really got to listen more than once to this one.

Acoustic guitarist Peter Lang, had this to say about his song:
I was feeling just a bit politically pissed off over the last couple of weeks, what with my retirement put off for a year or more (like maybe 25).

Here is a little ditty I wrote. It is as close as I can get to a Woody Guthrie state of mind.

I have never seen anything like this in my 60 years. I never thought we would see anything as bad again as the Nixon years, however this administration has proved me very wrong. I feel like we have been drop-kicked back to 1950, especially when I see the ghost of Joseph Raymond McCarthy alive and well in our own Congressperson Michelle Bachmann. I believe that a McCain Administration would be the continuation of this train wreck, and should Palin ascend to the Oval Office, then God help us all.

I wrote this piece for several reasons, primarily because I have two children, one son 25, and one daughter 19. I am good for another 20 years if I am lucky, but they will be here for another 60 or more, and I want them to at least know that I and others in my generation tried to do something and maybe collectively we will succeed in leaving a better place.

I had great trepidation in doing this song, because I don't want trouble, but everything in the song is public knowledge, McCain is a public figure. As Lenny Bruce said, “The truth is what is, not what should be. What should be is a dirty lie." I am tired of hearing "dirty lies" about Obama . I am tired of the deceit ,treachery, immorality, and inhumanity of this administration. I am tired of seeing Americans who have the courage to stand up to this Administration being denigrated as anti-American dissidents, rather than as the patriots they are.

My father who was a fighter pilot in WWII and Korea used to like to say " You either stand up for something, or you stand for nothing at all." I discounted that and a lot of the other things he said as a young man. In the ensuing years lots of things have become clearer to me. If ever there was a time to stand for something it is most certainly now.
Be The Change - Minneapolis For Obama

This song was written by Larry Long and sung by Larry Long and Tonia Hughes.

By the way, I’m kind’a hard to spot but if you stop the action exactly at 3:23, I’m the one holding the grandbaby in pink and the Obama sign right between the two PEACE signs.

Anyway, so glad I’m in the “Be the Change” positive one rather than the “Roll With It Johny” one which is wonderfully witty but not that positive.


I’d been worrying that McCain’s embarrassing visit to Lakeville (just 12 miles south of my home in Minnesota) and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s embarrassing McCarthyite accusations to Chris Matthews a couple days ago have really given Minnesota a black eye. (Not to mention the NOT Minnesota Nice treatment during the RNC that led to over 800 mostly unjustified arrests of protesters, journalists, medics and legal observers—which I’ll be writing more about later.) I’d started thinking I’d have to start posting under a new screen name like “EmbarrassedinMinnesota”.

But the power of song is always a great antidote and, since it comes from these great Minnesota musicians, politically redeeming as well!

Right?!

8 comments:

  1. Thank you for this, Coleen. A little well-chosen 12-string is good for a change of pace. I've been strung too tight for my own good recently. Mad Mike has even called me a curmudgeon. That old kettle calls this pot anything that passes through his ears, these days. Anyways, your Twin City tunes quiet my blood, which is good.

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  2. This is wonderful, Colleen. Music makes more sense than rhetoric, and these clips were outstanding.

    Madmike never calls me a curmudgeon, and I've worked for years to achieve that goal. I would consider the term a compliment.

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  3. I just love both of these great music videos and all of the regular people coming out of the woodwork to participate in these grassroots people-powered efforts.

    The real proof of the pudding, however, in terms of redeeming Minnesota politically, will come on November 4th. Remember Minnesota was the home state of Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey and Paul Wellstone! So we have a long way to go.

    Today's newspaper (Star Tribune's) polls have Wellstone's old Senate seat too close to call between incumbent Republican Norm Coleman and DFL challenger Al Franken. Franken looks to be ahead by a couple percentage points but all within the margin of error.

    We also need the hard-charging Chris Matthews to invite our other right-winger Congressman (John Kline) onto his Hardball show to expose that ickiness! Kline is my district's representative and such an unbelievably Bush sycophant-war hawk that I tried myself to run against him in 2006. Kline ran the most negative ad campaign in Karl Rove's book in 2006, sending out one dozen glossy mailers and also made questionable robo-calls smearing me as a traitor, spy and drug addict. Oh yeah, he also tried to connect me to the "Hollywood Liberals". (The "drug addict" is just a slight exaggeration--his mailer implied that I would legalize methamphetamine and featured a large purple hypodermic needle with the question: "Who wants to legalize Meth?")

    Kline functions as first term Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's mentor, with both of them voting almost exactly the same--for the special corporate interests (Big Oil; pharmaceutical companies; and military-industrial complex) along far right-wing lines, like 95% with Bush and GOP.

    So please someone, get the word to Hardball producers that more jaws would drop nationally if they were able to get unrehearsed answers out of this other warped Minnesotan politician (Michele Bachmann's mentor) John Kline.

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  4. Right-on, Agent Rowley.

    Republican stooges are challenged, mightly, by our complex world.

    And I do see you exactly at 3:23, like you promised!

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  5. Yes, ironically, some of the collateral damage visited on the GOP from Colin Powell's flip flop has been to light up Michele Bachmann in neon colors. Not since Katherine Harris have we had such a woman scorned. Now we have two races to watch in the heroic state of Minnesota! Al Franken has a good shot at Coleman. Work hard, Agent Rowley! The nation is watching Minnesota!

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  6. Rep. Michele Bachmann's Democratic opponent El Tinklenberg is taking advantage of the huge windfall of donation he's gotten in the wake of Bachmann's Red-Scare-inciting Hardball appearance. He's raised $700,000 in the last few days, and counting. and is spending $188,000 to air this new spot introducing himself to voters. Remember the name: El Tinklenberg.

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  7. What a great match-up for MN 6th District voters to choose between: Tinklenberg or Bachmann. You can't get a better contrast of personal character and issue stances. Although Tinklenberg is also somewhat socially conservative--and I hesitate to use that term because it's been so mis-used since the radical republican neo-cons and right-wing nuts like Rush Limbaugh appropriated the term and "conservative" is just too good a term for any of them--he (Tinklenberg) is a good fit for the district that way.

    It would be great to see a televised debate now between Bachmann and Tinklenberg but I'm sure Kline and others have warned Bachmann not to be exposing herself anymore than she has to.

    I'm sure most don't remember, but Tinklenberg displayed a lot of integrity and composure during the 2006 race when another DFL candidate went back on her word and ran against him (Tinklenberg) and narrowly beat him in the primary.

    Tinklenberg has a great ad because of the REAL career accomplishments he can point to.

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