That Ann Althouse can’t stand Bruce Springsteen is refreshing. It irritates me when people manage to ignore Bruce’s lyrics and message to the degree that they can dance along deliriously with the music despite the fact that the whole point is that they’re a small-minded vicious colluder in the worst instincts of our political culture. Bruce Springsteen thinks Ann Althouse is a shit, which I know because I’ve actually listened to what his songs say and what the man has to say. It would be ridiculous for Althouse to rock out to Darkness At the Edge of Town or The Ghost of Tom Joad.
In this life, Springsteen took a side. Althouse took a side.
They are not the same sides.
Well, give her credit for not being quite as big an asshole as the guy at the Weekly Standard. Of course, she remains uncommonly dense:
She did type the words “Veterans Day event” in the first paragraph, so you’d think it might have occurred to her that this was not a Volunteers Day event.
Of course, Ethan Epstein does mention that the concert “was largely organized to honor those who volunteered to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq,” which is to say, not those who were drafted to fight in Vietnam, so I guess it was a little impolite for Bruce to bring that into the discussion.
Thirty years on and they still don’t get it:
Go here:
http://brucebase.wikispaces.com/1980-11-05+-+ASU+ACTIVITY+CENTER,+ARIZONA+STATE+UNIVERSITY,+TEMPE,+A
Z
That’s November 5, 1980, in case anyone had a question. Scroll down for the comments he gave before launching into Badlands. He knew Ray-gun before most of the country did.
Reagan’s largest vote percentages came from the youngs and the old. Difference was that the youngs liked Springsteen but didn’t have a clue what the lyrics meant and the olds were into Perry Como and missing Bing Crosby and Elvis.