I see that David Corn noticed what I noticed while listening to NPR this morning -- that Tom DeLay's little shindig last night featured some music that was not exactly conservative:

What was most amusing about the evening was the song chosen for the sing-a-long portion of the festivities. A bluegrass band coaxed the audience into singing, "If I Had a Hammer." Did they not know that the song had been cowritten by a fellow accused of being a commie?

Pete Seeger and Lee Hays wrote the tune in 1949, when both were members of the Weavers, a folk group. "Why was it controversial?" Seeger reflected years later. "In 1949 only 'commies' used words like 'peace' and 'freedom.'"

Seeger was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1995, and Corn notes that, among other things,

The committee asked him ... whether he had sung "If I Had a Hammer" at a testimonial dinner and whether the song was related to the trial of a Communist leader. Seeger hung tight, replying, "Again, I say I will be glad to tell what songs I have ever sung, because singing is my business...But I decline to say who has ever listened to them, who has written them, or other people who have sung them."

After Seeger testified,

he was sentenced to one year in jail for contempt of Congress. But the in 1962, the verdict was overturned. Still, for years he was blacklisted and banned from performing on network television.

So it was so heartwarming to see DeLay and the other conservatives singing out Seeger's song.

Lobbyists of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your ethics restrictions!