Via Talking Points Memo, there's going to be a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert on NBC tomorrow night.
#Sandy benefit acts to include Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Sting and more. Hosted by @mlauer
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 1, 2012
The next sound you hear will be thousands of right-wingers whining that this is a sneaky effort by the hated MSM to broadcast an Obama campaign rally disguised as an act of charity. Look at the lineup. Springsteen's campaigning for Obama. Jon Bon Jovi has been called "the official troubadour of the Democratic Party." Billy Joel did an Obama benefit show in 2008. Christina Aguilera was honored by Hillary Clinton at the UN last month for her work with the World Food Programme. Sting, in 2009, said of Obama, "In many ways, he's sent from God."
Even if they keep it 100% apolitical, even if some right-wingers join the lineup (or Chris Christie shows up), the wingers are going to howl. I really don't expect partisanship to intrude (except maybe Jersey partisanship, or Long Island partisanship from Billy Joel), but future Regnery books about the 2012 election may go on for pages and pages about this charity show and what it says about the evil liberal mainstream media.
And, well, this is the entertainment biz. Here's the alternative, if you want political balance:
@nbcnews @mlauer @chucktodd No Meatloaf or Ted Nugent?
— Tom_Vegas (@Falconmanx) November 1, 2012
Yikes.
UPDATE, FRIDAY: Told ya.
Who the feck wants on this planet still wants to listen to Ted Feckn' Nugent?
ReplyDeleteAnd Meatloaf? Ooooh, ALL of those dozens of hit albums - I wonder why isn't he there?
Oh, sorry! That ONE hit album was back from when I started college, in the mid-late 70's.
And the last time Nugent was any factor in pop music, I was still in HS. And even then, most of us didn't like him, and thought he was, at best, a 3rd rate guitarist. And if I were to name all of the guitarists from that era who were better, I would exceed the characater content for comments, and Nugent would STILL be a dozen or so, from being listed.
Sorry, righties, outside of a very few movie people, your celebrities SUCK! And the that ARE on you side, are either ancient - ala Clint, or inconsequential and 3rd rate - like that least of the Baldwin brothers - Stephen.
And THAT'S why they're not invited, not because of any media bias.
If I'm reading Tom Vegas' Twitter feed correctly, that was not a sincere request.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to suggest that it was a sincere request -- I was just meant to show what a bipartisan concert lineup might look like.
ReplyDeleteThere's always Kid Rock, one fourth of Kiss and Pat Boone.
ReplyDeleteSpringsteen, Joel, Bon Jovi and Aguilera have strong ties to NY/NJ. Sting, not so much, but he's not even a voter.
ReplyDeleteI hear that some African-American musicians hail from the tri-state area. Maybe Al Roker can hep Lauer and Williams to that fact.