The Nation crowd is touting singer-songwriter John Mellencamp as a proposed candidate most likely to win the Indiana Senate seat that is to be given up by the vacating Evan Bayh. John Mellancamp! Are they kidding? Evidently not.
This is the reasoning they offer: His songs are “an icon of Americana,” and have become, so they claim, “the backbone of populist political movements.” Gee, I thought that honor was reserved for Bruce Springsteen — but the problem is that he hails from New Jersey, which leaves Mellencamp to be acclaimed as the Bruce surrogate in the Hoosier state. Moreover, he has real political credentials. What are they, you may ask? He actually “wrote a letter to John McCain” in which the proposed new Senator asked McCain to “stop political agendas, corporate greed and overall manipulation.” Think of it. McCain might have a political agenda! Since that is obviously bad, they don’t explain whether their magazine or Mellencamp might have one also.
Well, give him that one. Writing a letter shows some political concern. From that step, it’s just an easy skip and jump into the Senate club. And remember, he appeared at Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid, helped the middle class, and best of all, has “rocker sensibility.” Does he know anything about legislating, meeting with constituents, negotiating with Republicans and even other Democrats? Not necessary. The man rock and rolls! What more can you ask? Best of all, “he’s a true populist,” the Left’s answer to Sarah Palin.
Not to be outdone, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel went on television this week and made public her choice of Mellencamp, whom she said “has had a long track record with working for farmers and demonstrates true populist politics.” Well if Katrina says it herself, it’s the clue for the troops to go all out for Mellencamp.
I wonder, if she had been editor of the magazine in the 30s and 40s, whether she would have been pushing to get Woody Guthrie to run for office. The fact is, there is not one person back then who would have made that suggestion, even his comrades in the Communist Party and Pete Seeger. They preferred Woody to function as what he liked doing best, writing and performing songs, and acting as the people’s bard whose lyrics hopefully propelled the left-wing base into working harder for FDR. That was sufficient.
Have they even asked Mellencamp? I don’t think anyone in the press has asked him as yet for a comment. But perhaps while he was at the White House a week ago for the civil rights musical testimonial, he and the president had a moment to toss over the prospect of a Senate run. Who knows? Perhaps he gave the word to vanden Heuvel, and she was chosen to be the one launching a trial balloon? With this administration, after all, anything is possible.
So run John run. Nothing, I think, would make Indiana Republicans happier.
After Al Franken, why not? Let the farce continue with Senator Mellencamp.
“…the Left’s answer to Sarah Palin.”
Sarah Palin is better educated than either Barack Obama or John Mellencamp. That she may not be the greatest conservative intellectual of all time is an entirely different matter. Palin’s knowledge concerning economics and foreign policy far surpasses that of the current occupant of the White House.
—Mellencamp, whom she said “has had a long track record with working for farmers and demonstrates true populist politics.”
I have a long modest record of advocating for nuclear energy, but that doesn’t make me a nuclear engineer. Katrina vanden Heuvel is roughly fifty years old. Why in hell is she sounding like a nineteen-year old Daily Kos kid? Is she also confusing the voters of San Francisco with those of Indiana? The Republicans are probably going to capture this particular U.S. Senate seat anyway, but this selection sure would make it a lot easier. I can’t imagine Mellencamp getting more than forty percent of the vote—especially in a Republican trending year.
The Nation Katrina vanden Heuvel went on television this morning, and made public her choice of Mellencamp,
And which one is the Cougar in that scenario?
I wouldn’t rule out the election of the guy. After all, we elected an unknown celebrity as president. At least Cougar, or Mellencamp, or whatever he is going by these days is well known. Thanks to the fem-lib movement, mothers went off to work while latch-key kids stayed home and watched MTV (is the M for music or mind-rot?). This is the result.
Incidentally, the guitar-player’s request for McCain to stop “political agendas” is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard from anyone, let alone someone who apparently has political aspirations. I put it right up there with Martha (Marsha?) Coakeley’s assertion that Curt Schilling is a Yankee fan.
I like John and i think he’s got at least as much cred’ as Ronny,Arnold or Sonny, but has anyone asked him if he’s a Democrat? I like his chances a whole lot better as an independent.
Well, if he makes it, Paul Shanklin won’t be disappointed.
There’s that.
Johnny Cougar for senator. Heh. Ain’t THAT America.
There’s a old man, still in t-shirt
Listenin’ to a progressive station.
He’s got greasy hair, greasy smile
He says, “Senator must be my destination.”
‘Cause they told me when I was sober
“Boy you’re ain’t believing whose president.”
Get out there and run for the Senate
“Because royalties ain’t paying the rent.”
He’s a third rate Springsteen, who’s merely a second rate Dylan. The Letter, by the way, is a Boxtops song written by Alex Chilton, covered very well by Joe Cocker. Mellancamp wasn’t involved, if my memory serves me well.
Funny, I still can’t think of Woody Guthrie as a communist type communist. Not like Seeger, anyway.
As a minnesotan who has to suffer the insult and humiliation of hosting senator angry clown franken, I can assure you that which seems ridiculous can become reality when liberals gather to vote.
Mellencamp is an ardent anti-War activist, who stated publicly that the US should NOT have fought Japan after Pearl Harbor but negotiated with them.
Mellencamp has a host of personal scandals should people wish to use them. He’s stumped for Communism while making millions.
He is not very bright.
The man is on video against fighting Japan in WWII. THAT alone could sink him into oblivion. Argue he’s too stupid to elect.
Shades of the decline of Rome. Next, they’ll elect a Horse as Senator…
Mr. Radosh:
“I believe John Mellencamp would electrify the campaign and electrify Democrats who want a fighter for working people, farmers, small businesses and small-town America.” Reading this, it certainly does seem this is the mid 30’s once again, and we’re in the era of the new Popular Front.”-spake the aptly named Mr. Goldstein of the LA Times.
Heh, a neo-Popular Front for the politically effing retarded, perhaps.
Working people, Farmers and Small businesspeople are all quite notably hopelessly entrenched capitalists…they HAVE to be, since they earn their money.
The kind of bloated, intrusive statist taxation parasite government that seems to be the agenda nearest and dearest to the modern Democrat Party’s heart is anathema to these, the petit bourgoisie.
And as for the Democrat Party’s stand on cultural issues and how it squares with the values and culture of small-town America, Mr. Goldstein’s notions are so utterly ridiculous as to beggar the imagination.
It would seem that the LA Times does not have a drug-urinalysis program in place for their writers at this time, but after reading Goldstein’s absurd copy, I think they badly need one.
As far as John Mellencamp running for Senator…frankly, it isn’t any of my business, since I’m not now, and never have been, from Indiana.
It’s up to Mr. Mellencamp to decide if he wants to run, and it’s up to Hoosiers to decide if they want to give him the job.
‘Icon of America’? Man, JCM’s music s ucks! It’s ridiculously simple lyrics, moronic messages and let’s not forget he ripped off the man who donned the original mullet, Bob Seger with his, ‘This is our country’.
Oh yeah. He has NO POLITICAL EXPERIENCE nor any college for that matter.
‘Works with farmers’. haha I recall after his ‘Little Pink Houses’ song and video was released, his own hometown said the song is NO depiction of the guy and disowned him. He moved to H-town and never looked back.
J.J. @8, unfortunately, yeah, that IS America these days!
Bigeman @14, I hate to disagree w/ someone whom I generally agree with, but it is all our business, to no small degree. This A-hole, teamed w/ franken and who knows who else can do some serious damage to OUR country! We should pay attention like people from all across the nation did to the MA election which brought us Sen. Brown.
Whiskey, I hope the (R)’s in IN aren’t afraid to demolish this guy w/ his own stupidity to which you alluded.
This is the sort of thing that keeps me up at night worrying about my kids future!
well swell…another idoit wantin’to run our country!!! NONONONONO
how can he possibly understand the “common” man…duhhhh
What the Hossiers do effects us just like any one else in any other state that is elected.
“calls the idea of a Mellencamp candidacy “inspired” and “unique, one of a kind, a voice for the people who believe America needs a new brand of politics and new kind of leadership in the Senate. … I believe John Mellencamp would electrify the campaign and electrify Democrats who want a fighter for working people, farmers, small businesses and small-town America.””
Are the Dems really this dumb? Is that all that is required to run for office? Wait, never mind I said that. Our current President had those exact qualifications.
From the party that inflicted Al Franken, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid on America. Now we are going to have to deal with an alcoholic with a third grade education ? The fun just never stops with these morons
I wonder, if she had been editor of the magazine in the 30s and 40s, whether she would have been pushing to get Woody Guthrie to run for office.
She wouldn’t. He was indeed a poster boy for the lefties, a ‘real member of The People’ with the proper leftist sentiments and a glib ability to demonize capitalists. But he was personally irresponsible and would be just as likely to take a road trip to California as to show up when his party needed all members for a close vote. An organization man he was not, despite his occasional praise of unions.
Next thing you know B-movie actors will be running for governor!
“The fun just never stops with these morons”
The leading members of the Democratic Party are not very bright. They cannot even begin to compete intellectually with the typical Tea Partier. This will become increasingly obvious as time goes on. These individuals gravitate towards big government economic doctrines purely out of self-interest. They are arguing backwards. If it’s great for them—it therefore should also be wonderful for those not earning a living directly or indirectly in the government sector. A large number of them are graduates of the “best” universities. In other words, their soft science academic degrees are phony. They have taken full advantage of the lowered standards put in place some thirty five-forty years ago. Such intellectually lazy people are incapable of thinking and following a logical argument at a high level.
He’s a Hoosier (IU fan), so no Boilermaker would vote for him; that’s the other Indiana split. Dems would have more success with Larry (who went to Indiana State).
The leading members of the Democratic Party are not very bright. They cannot even begin to compete intellectually with the typical Tea Partier.
Reminds me of the early days of the Civil Rights movement, when peaceful Black protesters knew the Constitution, had all the answers for ridiculous, blustering Southern racists with badges. Watching footage from that era still summons awe and admiration generations. Maybe it’s like that time again.
#13
“Next they will elect a horse as Senator”
I would take Mr. Ed over Barbara Boxer or John McCain any day.
Hey! I got an idea! Whenever some Congresscritter decides not to run for another term, let’s just use wikipedia to look up famous celebrities from that state and draft ‘em to run.
Here’s how it would work. I’m in Iowa now. So let’s say Harkin or Grassley have decided to “spend more time with the family”. (Snicker.) Ok, we go to wikipedia and find that Ashton Kutcher is from Iowa.
So we get Katrina to start the “draft Ashton” thing going. After all, he did that YouTube video about promising to serve Obama with his wife, and he tweeted a few times about how terrific it was that Iowa now has legal gay marriage, so he’s definitely qualified to be a Senator. (Hopefully Katrina thinks he’s hawt, so she’ll pull out all the stops to get him elected….)
Yeah, that would be GREAT, wouldn’t it? Just imagine how hawt your next Senator could be, too! (Assuming any kewl people are from your neck of the woods, that is.) Like, WOW!!!
I had a thought a while ago about Norm Coleman when he was considered a possible candidate for Governor of Minnesota.
Coleman has the unenviable record of losing to both Al Franken and Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Obviously, Coleman can’t beat an entertainer.
So, if Coleman had run for governor, I figured it was time for a musician to beat him. As I considered it, I realized that Minnesota had two famous musicians that could have beaten Coleman.
1. Bob Dylan
2. Prince
Dylan is a fine example of Judeo-Christian values having been born Jewish and having been a born-again Christian for a few weeks back in the 70s. Nobody would have been able to use any of his speeches against him because nobody would be able to understand a word he says.
Prince would have Minnesota’s black vote, The support of men under 5 feet tall, not to mention gorgeous women with exotic names. His speeches wold have been artful masterpieces. They would be as incomprehensible as Dylan’s but would include many references to the need for lilac and purple to make America great again.
Obviously, Coleman declared he wouldn’t be a candidate because of his fears of losing to one of these fine Minnesotans. Pity, I was hoping for Governor Prince.
We need a senator that won’t drive us crazy.
I say Lady Gaga! Oh, wait. She’s not from this planet, much less Indiana.
Come to think of it, Van den Heuvel’s from outer space too.
Isn’t her name Katrina Van den Evil? Would the author please post a correction?
#13: we don’t need a horse in the Senate. we already have a horse’s ass in the White House. . . .
“Isn’t her name Katrina Van den Evil? Would the author please post a correction?”
In case anyone didn’t get it, it’s a joke.
I hope Cougar runs given his Leftist politics; however, star power alone will not be enough to win any political seat of power. Cougar has to possess real substantive ideas–besides writing songs. He has to take a stand & stand by them. This will not be a problem for Cougar, but his arrogance & ego will be. He will go down in flames like paper & fire.
The Nation is a far Leftist magazine existing on the fringes of society. I’m sure Nation magazine is right at home with the Obama Administration.
I have along record of eating , it does not make me a candidate for cook of the year, …or day…
JCM has name recognition, so does Frankenstien.
We need integrity, conservatives, people that understand the everyday workaday “capitalist” ,i.e., farmers, grocery clerk, construction workers.
JCM has made some really dumb statments that should come back to haunt him.
RON i know you to be a serious writer and thinking. But believe me i wish we had an FDR today. We wouldn’t be in the mess we have. FDR was probably the greatest of all Presidents and yet nobody seems to know enough about him.
#16 nolan:
“Bigeman @14, I hate to disagree w/ someone whom I generally agree with, but it is all our business, to no small degree. This A-hole, teamed w/ franken and who knows who else can do some serious damage to OUR country!”
I’m feelin’ ya, man, but it is what it is.
The Republic and Mississippi survived Democratic Senator Theodore Bilbo back in the day,(of course, some would argue that time stood still there until he and his ilk departed, leaving Mississippi with a whole heap of “catch up!”), but again, that was a decision they made.
I figure these media stars are good for only one term apiece,(Schwarzenegger and Ventura, anyone?), and then they’re gone like a fart in a hurricane.
That hurts those states that elect such nimrods in the all-important seniority positions.
Sooner or later, these folks might dope out why it is that none of THEIR Senators or Reps chair any of the juicy committees…which is where “all the money goes”.
Until that happens, we can really only kvetch from the sidelines and pray that the Almighty hasn’t shorted Indiana when it comes to common sense.
I remember an interview in which Mellencamp said, in successive sentences that the USA didn’t NEED a Military. Next sentence he stated he was for total gun control, Americans had no need for or right to keep arms but that he and his family NEEDED and DESERVED his multiple ARMED bodyguards. This man is a drug addled, spoiled little brat, immature in his attitudes, selfish, illogical, and incapable of independent thought. On the other hand, it sounds as if he would fit into the Senate perfectly!…It’s getting serious now, and as a Hoosier, I’m sure my fellow citizens aren’t that dumb.
I saw that appalling van den Huevel woman endorsing Johnny Cougar on TV this week. Her grasp on reality is so tenuous and delusional that I normally turn the channel immediately upon learning she’s to appear. I stuck around this time because the Bayh story was the subject of discussion.
All I have to say to her is PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!! convince the Indiana Democratic Party to draft and run Johnny for the Senate. If they do, the Indiana Republicans could run anyone, even Coates , and win. In a landslide.
The trouble with that awful van den Huevel woman is that she and her fellow zealots actually believe that most people think as they do. Like I said: Delusional.
One thing mellencamp has going for him: His career has been moribund for so long that a good portion of americans don’t have any recollection of him as an entertainer…
Interesting how conservatives ridicule the very idea of celebrities in politics—as long as they’re on the left. Of course it’s another story entirely for those who happen to be on the “right” side—e.g., Stephen Baldwin, Jon Voight, Chuck Norris.
Ron: a delicious snark is in this article just- ever so just- sub-rosa…delightfull!Quick query: when I lived in Manhattan, a young recently emigrated English boy – millions of yrs ago, I recall John Lindsay’s Silk Stocking district-seat being contested for by a (for those days) rather weedy, wolly and dishevelled minor politician named vanden Heuval(obviously,equipped with a small trust fund). Is this near-hysterical,”blue stocking”-type small-bore Park Avenue marxist-lite woman, his daughter?If so, read my above statements again- just so!
He SHOULD run. Make more of a laughing stock of the Dems when he loses 85%-15%. One more Senate seat for the R’s.
Just what we need…another Marxist burnout representing Indiana in the US Senate….what the hell is the major malfunction with people these days?
“Of course it’s another story entirely for those who happen to be on the “right” side—e.g., Stephen Baldwin, Jon Voight, Chuck Norris.”
I do not consider any of the above gentlemen ready to be a U.S. senator. More importantly, there are no major conservative thinkers urging they run for such a high post. Ronald Reagan had proven executive talent and intensely studied the issues before throwing his hat into the ring for the California governorship.
Coming from JCM’s hometown, I can quite emphatically state that while his “candidacy” would bring sympathetic flashbacks to most of the aging, 60s retred proffs in the city, everyone else would break down in hilarious giggling fits.
Frankly, I doubt JCM is stupid enough to try. He seems to have enough Hoosier common sense to appreciate the family and piles of money he’s accumulated over the years.
Indiana likes “sensible” moderate Dems (when available), or at least those who play like ones–this is because it balances an otherwise incestuous Republican state machine. Bayh inherited his political career from his dad, but played so straight and thoughtlessly along with the current crop of congress Democrat leadership that he could expect real trouble this year.
Considering that though the state dodged much of the home price bubble it’s been hammered on what was left of manufacturing, the Democrats are going to have to find someone much more reasonable than they’re used to, in order to stand a chance this year.
–JC
“Once you get past George Clooney, who seems to have a better grasp of most issues than about half of the House of Representatives…”
Obviously, this isn’t saying terribly much.
Well at least we could get a new slogan out of JCM running. Out: Hopenchange. IN: Hurt So Good.