The Boss Supports Obama!

[newGuy12]

John McCain will have to keep a cool head in the general election if he is to have a good showing. Image is everything. Substance has nothing to do with it. The debate last night between Clinton and Obama proves that. The moderator was even booed for asking such stupid questions. There were no questions asked about things that matter!

Now, the campaign strategist must think of ways to make McCain lose his temper -- to make himself look bad in public. This is the political way. This is The Big Dance. All manner of strategy will be employed. Tricks, spins, everything. Facts distorted. Sound bites twisted. Time and time again, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

When the general election time comes, both opponents will be hunted down like dogs! Like dogs!

I would not wish that on anyone. It is their fault for running for office, so we don't have to pity them.

 

[Tez3]

Is there any celebrity/pop star/ person in the public eye who would make you think about who you voted for? Are there people who's opinions you can respect enough that if they endorse someone you would listen maybe even enough to change your idea on who to vote for?

 

[CoryKS]

Is there any celebrity/pop star/ person in the public eye who would make you think about who you voted for? Are there people who's opinions you can respect enough that if they endorse someone you would listen maybe even enough to change your idea on who to vote for?

Possibly, but not because of WHO they are. If they can write a clear and compelling essay explaining what they believe and why, it may be that I will agree with them. Not going to pick my candidate because I liked one of his songs, though.

 

[Gordon Nore]

It really pisses me off that these celebrities think they have some right to talk about politics and world policy. They're just some schmuck with a mic....with no more right to talk about it than ANYONE ELSE.

...and with no less right than anyone else. Springsteen's endorsement amounts to about three paragraphs on his website here -- http://www.brucespringsteen.net/news/index.html -- amidst tour date notes, a tribute to a lost deceased colleague.

I figure someone like Springsteen is asked hundreds of questions a day by journalists and fans about how he feels about this or that. Hell, years back, the Reagan campaign sought his endorsement. President Reagan even talked about him while stumping in NJ. I suspect Springsteen's endorsement has as much to do with dispensing of the issue.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_the_U.S.A._(song)#Political_reactions

Political reactions

In late August 1984, the Born in the U.S.A. album was selling very well, its songs were all over the radio, and the associated tour was drawing considerable press. Springsteen shows at the Capital Centre outside of Washington, D.C. thus attracted even more media attention, in particular from CBS Evening News correspondent Bernard Goldberg, who saw Springsteen as a modern-day Horatio Alger story. Yet more notably, the widely-read, bow-tied conservative columnist George Will, after attending a show, published on September 13, 1984 a piece entitled "A Yankee Doodle Springsteen" in which he praised Springsteen as an exemplar of classic American values. He wrote: "I have not got a clue about Springsteen's politics, if any, but flags get waved at his concerts while he sings songs about hard times. He is no whiner, and the recitation of closed factories and other problems always seems punctuated by a grand, cheerful affirmation: 'Born in the U.S.A.!'"[2] The 1984 presidential campaign was in full stride at the time, and Will had connections to President Ronald Reagan's re-election organization. Will thought that Springsteen might endorse Reagan, and got the notion pushed up to high-level Reagan advisor Michael Deaver's office. Those staffers made inquiries to Springsteen's management which were politely rebuffed.

Nevertheless, on September 19, 1984, at a campaign stop in Hammonton, New Jersey, Reagan added the following to his usual stump speech:

"America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts; it rests in the message of hope in songs so many young Americans admire: New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen. And helping you make those dreams come true is what this job of mine is all about."

The campaign press immediately expressed skepticism that Reagan knew anything about Springsteen, and asked what his favorite Springsteen song was; "Born to Run" was the tardy response from staffers. Johnny Carson then joked on The Tonight Show, "If you believe that, I've got a couple of tickets to the Mondale-Ferraro inaugural ball I'd like to sell you."

During a September 22 concert in Pittsburgh, Springsteen responded negatively by introducing his song "Johnny 99", a song about an unemployed auto worker who turns to murder, "The President was mentioning my name the other day, and I kinda got to wondering what his favorite album musta been. I don't think it was the Nebraska album. I don't think he's been listening to this one."

A few days after that, presidential challenger Walter Mondale said, "Bruce Springsteen may have been born to run but he wasn't born yesterday," and then claimed to have been endorsed by Springsteen. Springsteen manager Jon Landau denied any such endorsement, and the Mondale campaign issued a correction.