Dixie Chicks singer now says Bush is owed ‘no respect’
In our lockstep-ideology, dissent-is-anti-American world, it’s refreshing when a public figure has the stones to some out and say exactly what is on their mind. In 2003, the DIxie Chicks’ lead singer, Natalie Maines, stood on a stage in London and told the crowd: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”
Hey, I’M ashamed that the President is from Texas. Of course, I don’t have quite the platform that the Dixie Chicks do. The sad party of this story is that the Chicks were pilloried for their opinion and their willingness to voice it. In response, radio stations sponsored burning of Dixie Chick CDs, and the American sheeple generally had a field day clucking about the unseemly of criticizing Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader in a time of war.
Eventually, Maines apologized, more for the venue than the sentiment, but her opinion of Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader has never changed. Now’s she taking back the apology, which I frankly thought never needed to be made to begin with.
NEW YORK ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ The Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines apologized for disrespecting President Bush during a London concert in 2003. But now, she’s taking it back.
“I don’t feel that way anymore,” she told Time magazine for its issue hitting newsstands Monday. “I don’t feel he is owed any respect whatsoever.”
As war in Iraq loomed, Maines told the London audience: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”
The remarks led to death threats and a backlash from other country stars, including a high-profile spat with Toby Keith. It also stalled what until then had been the group’s smashingly successful career.
And heaven forbid you should find yourself in a spat with a troll like Toby Keith. At one point, Maines wore a t-shirt onstage during a Chicks concert emblazoned with the letters F.U.T.K. I think you can figure out what the acronym stands for.
Bandmate Emily Robinson said she knew right away the remark wouldn’t be taken lightly and got “hot from my head to my toes.”
“It wasn’t that I didn’t agree with her 100 percent; it was just, ‘Oh, this is going to stir something up,’” she told Time.
For band member Martie Maguire, the controversy was a blessing in disguise.
“I’d rather have a small following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith,” Maguire said. “We don’t want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do.”
Well, some of us DO get it, and have gotten it since Day One. It’s just too bad that this episode exposed such a sheep-like quality within this country. Sadly, most people would rather react than think, because to think means that you might actually have to ponder unpleasant possibilties- like the very real possibility that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader is a despot and an intellectual midget. Of course, enough of the American sheeple voted for this despot to give him eight years in office. Thinking might actually mean they may be faced with having to recognize their own complicity in the clusterf—k that is the Bush legacy.
Welcome to America…land of the Free (as long as you’re reliably Republican) and home of the…aw, fuhgeddaboudit….
