Boy, the weirdness just continues to pour out of the McCain camp. Today, NY Representative John Hall asked McCain to stop using the 1976 song “Still the One”, which he co-wrote. As it turns out, Representative Hall had also asked the Bush campaign to stop using it. McCain’s response was that he would consider it. I guess it’s just fuck people who are detained for six years without a hearing, fuck people who don’t want oil slicks on their beaches, and fuck people who own copyrights.
For a while he was using “Johnny B. Goode,” but stopped after Chuck Berry declined an invitation to play at a Mccain rally and publicly endorsed Barack Obama. McCain them switched to Abba’s “Take a Chance On Me,” which I think sends a strange message.
Republicans have often had trouble getting permission to use rock songs in their campaigns. Reagan had to stop using “Born in the USA” after Springsteen asked him to stop (and I guess the ironic intent behind the chous went totally over their heads). If I recall correctly, George Bush Sr. was refused permission by Mellencamp to use “Pink Houses,” and Tom Petty sued GWB to stop him from using “I Won’t Back Down” (Dubya backed down).
Rock stars don’t tend to be Republicans, so I guess that’s why they have to lean on country songs.
Well, off topic, but I guess ‘ravel’ doesn’t mean what I think it means. In fact unravel and ravel mean the same friggin’ thing! BAH!
What with the CSI precedent, the number one conservative rock hit of all time might be available for McCain’s use. It’d send a great message to Americans too.
I’m sure most Hillary voters agree that rape jokes should have a statute of limitations. I can see them flocking to McCain in huuuuuge numbers.
MPSIMS thread. Have fun! 
Well, if he’s fucking them over, they may as well just lie back and enjoy it.
I am more of a Republican/Libertarian, however I’m not a “bandwagoneer” and don’t like to get caught up in the whole party thing. It has been my contention since day one that people like George W. Bush and John Mccain are NOT Republicans. I don’t know what you would call them but, the things they support and do typically seem to fly in the face of the principles of the Republican party. Mccain, having been a POW in Vietnam, I would think he would have the utmost respect for civil rights after basically being stripped of his for several years. However, I have seen things he has done in the past and supported, and things he has said in the present that do not fit with the principles of a true Conservative.
Take the recent Supreme Court ruling regarding detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Personally, I think it’s a good thing. Don’t get me wrong, I have no respect for terrorists/insurgents and think we need to do everything we can to protect our country (not quite in the way Bush has done though), however at the same time I think we should be asking ourselves how many of those detainees might be innocent and have no connection whatsoever to terrorist activities? If there is even one, that is reason enough to give them recourse to appeal and prove their innocence as opposed to being held indefinitely without any rights. Allowing the military to hold anyone indefinitely like that makes it slightly okay for certain people under certain circumstances. As the saying goes about giving an inch and a mile being taken, it’s a fine line and likely would lead to hurting American’s rights as well in the future. Anyways, Mccain had nothing but bad to say about this ruling:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-06-13-McCaindetainees_N.htm
Personally it seems to me like Mccain will be sort of Bush-lite. I dislike nearly everything about Mccain, but at the same time I dislike Obama and Hillary more as their socialist feel god policies will do nothing but hurt this country ultimately. I’m tired of horrible choices. I wish we could find some actual quality, principled, and moral individuals to be Commander In Chief. I’m all for having a woman or someone of ethnicity for president. I think it would be nice for a change but, the current candidates fitting those descriptions are neither principled (not what I would call good principles anyways), do not have morals, and really don’t want to address the real issues this country faces. They all suck equally as far as I’m concerned, regardless of party.
It’s questionable whether his campaign was ever ravelled in the first place. He did not get any sort of test in the primaries, he was merely fortunate enough that Thompson and Guiliani self-destructed while Romney and Huckabee split the same pot of voters. A lot of the folks that think they might vote for him now are just looking at the biography and fawning over his POW days, when you get to the meat of what he stands for he is hopelessly out of touch with what the country is looking for. He’s going to lose the women’s vote big time and there aren’t enough neocon men to give him a majority. If you think he’s toast now, wait till his first volcanic eruption.
I really wouldn’t write off MCain’s campaign too quickly. Nor get too cocky that Obama’s campaign won’t make significant mistakes as well.
Specific to the op:
Yes, McCain will be able to poach some Democrats including some disgruntled Democratic women. Not huge amounts, but some.
No, he’s not out of touch with civil rights and liberties. He instead is trying to appeal to a large part of the electorate that cares more about security than abstractions about rights.
Certainly he needs to recognize the importance the media has attached to supporters past statements and controversies this year and the presumption of guilt by association that has reached new heights this year. Both teams have been burned by that so far.
Obama will end up hurting himself as his campaign plays some politics as usual, including some misleading portrayals of McCain’s positions. He will end up backtracking on various statements. McCain’s team will get its chance to paint him as just another of politico and more of the same sort of thing we’ve seen before. I think that Obama is the better candidate with better policies, better judgement, and a better team, but he and his team are far from perfect and McCain’s team are far from doddering. Better to keep the guard up else get hit with a good sucker punch.
Do you have a cite that this is a violation of copyright? Maybe one of the Legal Eagles of the SDMB could offer an opinion.
Regards,
Shodan
Representative Hall’s lawyers think it is.
FIRST READ: This afternoon in Nashua, NH, John McCain held a town hall which concluded with the song “Still the One.” As a member of the band Orleans, how do you feel about this?
HALL: This is yet another example of John McCain not learning anything from George Bush’s mistakes. First, McCain adopted Bush’s failed policy of an open ended war in Iraq, then he wrapped his arms around the failed Bush economic policies that have put the squeeze on middle class families. Now, he’s making the same mistake George Bush made illegally using a copyrighted song without asking either the writers or the performers for permission. I’m a Democratic Congressman who has publicly endorsed Senator Barack Obama. My former colleagues and I strongly support Senator Obama for President.
The only one John McCain is Still the One for is George Bush. The Orleans and the authors of this song strenuously request that he stop using our song.
FR: What exactly happened between you and the Bush campaign over the use of the song in 2004?
HALL: In 2004 I was watching television the Thursday before Election Day and heard the announcement “Now we’re going to Columbus, OH for the unveiling of the new Bush-Cheney campaign theme song.” They cut to a rally with President Bush on stage waving to the crowd while balloons fell down and The Orleans version of Still the One was blasting on the speakers. My jaw literally dropped open because no permission had been asked, much less a license granted. George Bush was busy campaigning on an “ownership society,” yet never asked me, the band, or the publishers for permission.
The next day attorneys for the band, the writers and the publishers all sent Cease and Desist letters to the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign. By 2 p.m. that day the campaign sent out a spokesperson who said “In deference to Mr. Hall, we will stop using his song.”
I hope we don’t have to resort to the same actions to get Senator McCain to stop using the song.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/13/1138458.aspx
Heh. I’d forgotten that John Hall was a Congressman. That probably makes him the only politician in the country who’s appeared shirtless with four other guys on an album cover…
He’s a US Representative from NY. That might have been what you meant, but I just wanted to clear that up. 
Thanks, Lib. It’s fixed now.
Well at least the Texas Republican party is donating the proceeds they made from renting that convention space to Midwestern flood victims. Cite
And Tbrown, although I disagree with 2/3 of your post (that middle paragraph was golden, however), I do hope you’ll stick around just 'cause I’d be interested in seeing more of where you’re coming from. For now. 