I don’t know if Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is trying burnish his Generation X credentials, but he has cited Rage Against the Machine– “which sings about the greed of oil companies and whose Web site praises the anti-corporate Occupy Wall Street movement”– as one of his favorite bands.
Unsurprisingly, guitarist Tom Morello doesn’t love him back.
And it turns out New Jersey’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie– who will deliver the keynote address at the GOP’s convention later this month– has an unrequited man-crush on the leftist rock star Bruce Springsteen. An Über-fan of The Boss, Christie has seen him perform live more than 120 times and claims to know the words to every Springsteen song.
So don’t Republicans like good-ol’ liberal-bashing musicians like Hank Williams Jr. anymore?
(C’mon, Hank. You’re entitled to your opinions, but did you really have to bring your dad into this?)
Update: While being a fan of Rage Against the Machine isn’t necessarily something to be embarrassed about, this sure is:
Further update: In fairness to Ryan, it seems some production at the Janesville GM plant continued into 2009.
Additional update: Sorry, Bocephus; I can’t cut you any slack for this.
