What if she saw herself as a fading diva fated to live out her last performances in Las Vegas while Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg and the Dixie Chicks get Time covers and NYT adulation and big TV contracts? What if she was tired of the Aladdin and wanted to go home anyway?

What if she blew the concert and added the political platitudes to make her failure a First Amendment issue?

The story is too pat; her performance was too bad. Either she’s fallen down a rat hole or there was another motivation.

(P.S.: What if the Dixie Chicks were just trying to change their market?)