Perhaps my intent would be clearer if I said Republican candidate. Of course folks are welcome to not give a shit or selectively engage on lyrics. Rock on, dude.
But you aren’t running for office and identified as a diehard fanboy for a group that is known to staunchly hate your politics. Why expose yourself to such derision, purely from a political maneuvering standpoint?
Just speculating, but perhaps because you don’t give a shit what a self-important rock star says or thinks about you?
I don’t think “self-important” is an accurate description of a rock star that someone else has described as important to them.
I don’t think the two conditions are mutually exclusive. One can have an exaggerated opinion of one’s own importance and also be important to someone else.
ETA: And Ryan could well consider Morello’s non-musical contributions to the world self-important nonsense. And still love their music.
How dare the lead singer of Rage Against the Machine decide he has a political voice. What is he thinking?
If you are a candidate, shouldn’t you care whether potential voters care? In the case of Christie, having Bruce against you is a bit of a liability, yes? Shouldn’t he give a shit on a practical basis?
And as for Ryan, he is a huge Ayn Rand fan, yet she was an avowed atheist who believed abortion rights were fundamental - she would’ve brutalized Ryan for selectively engaging her philosophy. And now it turns out he’s an RAtM fan - and say what you will, but Morello is very highly regarded by the 20-40 demographic because, pure and simple, he fucking rocks…AND he is seen as a thoughtful, Harvard grad/activist. Not giving a shit that he (Ryan) comes as someone who would be spurned by his idols would be short-sighted macho puffery.
The funniest fucking thing I have read today.
You’re perhaps falling into the same non sequitur Morello does. Not everyone thinks what he says is important. If that’s Ryan’s premise, he doesn’t believe RATM’s reaction moves the meter at all–again, if he even thought about it. And did Ryan say RATM was an idol? Really?
BTW, I just conducted a scientific poll of all the 20-year-olds in the room, and none of them heard of Morello or RATM. (It was only one, my son, and the poll has a margin of error of plus / minus a million.)
I think you’re misreading. He’s not saying plenty of rock musicians have a fanbase that is principally conservative. He’s saying plenty of rock musicians have lots of conservatives among their fanbase.
Who don’t particularly listen to, understand, or care about the lyrics. Sure.
For RATM, I guess. But most rock music is pretty innocuous politically. Largely inoffensive regardless of your party affiliation.
RatM’s reason for existence is left-wing messaging. A right-wing politician has just served them up a golden opportunity for left-wing messaging. The band embraces this opportunity.
What’s the surprise here?
No - you’re missing the point - the point is that Ryan is expressing fandom for people who actively don’t or wouldn’t like him; what does that say about him? You would probably say “nothing” but a lot of people - especially undecided folks checking Ryan out on the national stage - might think otherwise. Just seems kinda off…
Eh. One can enjoy a band’s music even if you don’t agree with the views expressed by the band.
For example, I’m sure most Foo Fighter fans probably don’t actually agree with the band’s dangerously stupid view that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS (though apparently they’ve been trying to downplay those views lately by taking the links to HIV denialism organizations off their website, I doubt they’ve totally abandoned those views)
My fiance is a serious fan of old school Rush, even though he’s not at all a fan of Ayn Rand.
There may even be some liberals out there who enjoy Ted Nugent. Or even country music!
It’s not hard for me to imagine that a person can appreciate the musicianship in a band, or even think the lyrics are well-written, even if the person doesn’t agree with the lyrical content.
Exactly. Why would he serve that up to them?
Yes, you’re right, I would say it says nothing about him. And I’m not even disagreeing that it’s an odd combination. I’m just telling you that the world is full of people who could not care less what a musician thinks about them. And I an supremely confident that Tom Morello will sway NO ONE. Anyone who is likely to be persuaded by him was not voting for Romney anyway. It does not matter what Tom Morello thinks of Ryan, probably not to Ryan, and not for any material practical reason either.
The proper response to being told Tom Morello holds you in contempt is a shoulder shrug, if you have a sane perspective.
nm…
Right. 
Well, that’s clear ;-).
That’s fine - you acknowledge that the combination is odd; you just don’t think it matters. I think it does - but not in any big way. Just feels like guys like Ryan and Christie are shooting themselves - we’ll, not in the foot - it’s not that severe - but not doing themselves any favors.
Yep. Just saying that the subset of people likely to be swayed by Tom Morello and the subset of those who might vote for Romney don’t have much overlap, I’d guess. Bruce is probably more of a factor, but even he is not likely to push a would-be Republican voter over the line to the dark side. 