John Mellencamp

You know, liberals should be celebrating. Their man, The Won, is in the White House. They have control of both the House and the Senate, and legislation such as cap and trade and nationalized health care may well become reality - European socialism without having to leave the comfort of home. The Brave New World is on the way. Rejoice in mediocrity for all!

So why are they so grumpy? I suppose it’s because the idea that anyone might stray from the reservation is anathema to them, and this little thing in our Constitution called the First Amendment kind of gets in the way of collective happiness and singing Kumbaya around the campfire.

John “Cougar” Mellencamp is the latest to notice that not everyone is part of the collective, and he’s mighty peeved, making this observation about free speech in general and bloggers in particular:

While Time magazine honors Arianna Huffington as the Oracle of the Internet, anyone reading The Huffington Post knows it’s still a salon for liberal celebrities to channel their own self-involved conspiracy theories about how conservatism is ruining the world, and especially the world of the Artist. In a rant posted on Sunday night, '80s rock star John Mellencamp unfurled the theory that Ronald Reagan ruined the music business, and now it’s somehow impossible for musicians and bands to "percolate up" from the street:

Reagan's much-vaunted trickle-down theory said that wealth tricked down [sic] to the masses from the elite at the top. Now we've found out that this is patently untrue -- the current economic collapse reflects this self-serving folly. The same holds for music. It doesn't trickle down; it percolates up from the artists, from word of mouth, from the streets and rises up to the general populace. Constrained by the workings of SoundScan/BDS [Broadcast Data Systems], music now came from the top and was rammed down people's throats....

I am hard pressed to call anything that happens in the Entertainment media "news," but Rolling Stone is reporting that singer John Cougar Mellencamp has told John McCain to stop using his music during McCain's campaign rallies.

At some recent John McCain campaign rallies, John Mellencamp’s “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” have been booming out over the speakers. Uplifting heartland rock must have seemed like a smart pick, but there’s just one problem: Mellencamp is an ardent Democrat. And, until recently, he supported John Edwards – who had been playing “Our Country” and “Small Town” at his rallies. Mellencamp hasn’t yet made a public response, but his reps are quietly reaching out to McCain and asking him to stop playing his tunes.

Aside from the general "who cares" of this incident, it is just one more example of the intolerance of the left in America today.Then again Johnny Cougar always was a guy that took himself waaaay too seriously.