Are you kidding? Do you think even one vote is going to be influenced, either way, by that off-hand remark by some journalist?
And again, let’s note that we have no idea who did the “raising” here.
As I said upthread, nah.
But if, over the next few weeks, a few more unforced errors happen - or happen *at *Ryan, like the Legitimate Rape idiot who is focusing attention on Ryan’s anti-abortion positions and playing into the Democrats’ spin that the Republicans are waging a “War on Women” right when he is trying to shape his national image - then they could add up…
First, I have no idea what really influences peoples’ votes. People who study voting behavior night and day hardly do, either. You can say that almost no individual issue is pivotal, but that hardly matters. When stuff accumulates over time, minds change.
You keep asserting that this is just one throwaway line from the NYT of uncertain provenance. It’s not. He clarified it when he talked to CNN. He had it listed on his FB page. Everyone conceals their tastes from time to time depending on the audience, especially when no one is going to try to verify their claims. Why he didn’t is a fair question, your attempts to minimize nonwithstanding.
Dude, “shells” isn’t referring to money, it’s referring to ammunition. A couple snippets in context:
According to this CNN article, the source was Ryan’s Facebook page, where he lists some of his favorite music. It appears that RATM has now been edited out, leaving: *“Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Metallica, Beethoven, Hank Williams, Jr., and more”
*ETA: Bah, partially ninja’ed <shakes fist>
And also whooshed. **Maeglin **was kidding with that academic analysis…
I hate that. I’d rather admire work done by someone honest whose politics I hate than by someone whose politics I might hate if they dared mention them. I guess it’s supposed to come off as being inclusive or professional but really I see it as the exact opposite.
How anyone can enjoy country music is beyond me.
As for Paul Ryan, seems to me like a political fumble of some sort, if I had to guess, but it’s currently filed in my “who gives a care” pile. How important are questions about entertainment to American politics?
ETA:
:eek:
The only thing in the world that might possibly be a bigger problem than his politics. 
That doesn’t make it any harder to understand. Shells are still empty, too. It makes the line even more obvious, so I am doubly unsure of the source of puddleglum’s confusion.
I suppose I should have used a smiley. I usually get paid for this sort of work.
No, that’s not RATM, that’s Nirvana.
Well, now we do. His own Facebook page and a CNN interview. Though I abhor his politics, I think it’s cool that someone in my age group is in play for one of the highest offices in the land, and he’s not parroting the “Beatles/Beach Boys” that so many Boomers have proffered as their safe, politically neutral choices. (And there’s nothing wrong with liking either the BBs or Beatles, but let’s be honest, I’m sure many politicos trot them out to appeal to their peers.)
Having said that… it does speak to this dissonance that conservatives have to navigate. I can’t think of a band that I have to ignore their politics to enjoy. Sure, Elvis Costello said some nasty stuff about Ray Charles once. I like a Megadeth song or two but I could go a lifetime without hearing it again. Outside of that, I actually like many bands even more because of their politics. The Clash playing Rock Against Racism after Clapton endorsed Enoch Powell. Living Colour founding the Black Rock Musicians Collective. The Smiths and Billy Bragg touring with Red Wedge in the 80s. The Police and U2 on the Conspiracy of Hope tour for Amnesty International. Midnight Oil with their “Sorry” suits at the Sydney Olympic Games.
Ryan embracing RATM strikes me as odd. I don’t think he’s going to lose votes over it; everyone knows that VPs aren’t worth a bucket of warm spit in the electoral big picture. But he strikes me as a smart guy and a thinker. What was he thinking when he heard “Bulls on Parade” and “Sleep Now in the Fire?” Did he reconcile it at all, or just bang his head? I’d actually like to hear him talk about it.
This shows a misunderstanding of what conservatism is. As H. Stuart Hughes said, and Russell Kirk popularized “Conservatism is not an ideology, it is the negation of ideology”. Thus we do not have to justify our taste in art, music, or food by our politics. To a conservative politics belongs in the political sphere and does not need to infect other spheres. Thus as a conservative I can like “Roger and Me” because it is funny and not feel any dissonance. I can enjoy 60s folk music and the political stupidity of the lyrics is something to chuckle at, not be outraged at. A liberal can turn paper or plastic into a political question, because to them the personal is political. A conservative does not have to worry about whether someone is politically correct, but only whether what they produce is enjoyable.
Haha! This whoosh is even better than your last one! Ddamn you’re funny! Mind, you’re not Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there funny, but still…
This… is not how most conservatives I know would describe themselves.
Until this thread I didn’t know I was only supposed to like country music. Thanks for putting me on the right track.
Well, I’d probably put the average RATM fan as somewhere between 25 and 35, possibly higher on the low end there. At 30, I’m the demographic that was listening on the radio 10-15 years ago, not the youngest voters these days. As one of the tags on Lithium (a SiriusXM channel) runs: “You used to rage against the machine. Now you rage against the washing machine” (with a woman singing part of Bombtrack at the end.)
I agree it’s possible to listen to music and not agree with (or even care about) all the beliefs of the creators. But it still just seems funny.
Who said that and who do you think you are thanking? Like whatever you want; be happy.
puddleglum - that’s hilarious,'cause humans are excellent at compartmentalizing stuff like that. :rolleyes: