Lee Greenwood is not going to gladly stand up next to the National Rifle Association this weekend. The singer announced Thursday, following the leads of several other musicians, that he’s pulling out of a planned appearance in Houston at the NRA’s annual convention.
Greg Abbott will phone it in.
He’s been doin’ that for years.
Go, Beto!
This is a significant development. Not “sea change” territory, but significant.
I don’t know how one can call this guy the “most recognizable” anything. I’ve never even heard the name let alone know what his weathered leathery face looks like. These people really make themselves into legends in their own tiny minds…
Yes it is:
(1) Build on it
(2) Lose the pessimists who come at us with The Base Doesn’t Care **
We Fucking KNOW the Base Doesn’t care. We are targeting OTHER people
This guy is massively popular on the far right. The song mentioned in the article has made him a millionaire many times over through radio play and streaming (ETA: and use at right wing rallies and events, NASCAR races, etc.). He brazenly embraces the attention - and money - the right wing throws at him. The fact that he has decided not to play the event will come as a gut punch to a lot of gun nuts.
All of these people are bailing out (fully or partially…lookin’ at you, Abbott) merely to let the current outrage pass and then they will do nothing, offer unrealistic, crazy options, and crank up their vile madness again. The problem is “the outrage passes.” Sad, but true in light of the Repub intransigence. The 90 percent who want something done are held hostage by the Repubs.
It seems the pro gun tough guys lack conviction. When it gets real they get gone.
So Lee thinks it’s important we be united at this moment. And what does that unity consist of in his little lizard brain? Because it sure isn’t unity to do something about the fucking guns or the gun fucking that made the whole thing happen.
But they are bailing out, and that’s different.
I think Josh Marshall hit the nail on the head in yesterday’s post about the loud, disproportionately powerful “base” of men who want their guns to be unregulated and unlimited. The NRA is a hollow shell, bankrupt and under indictment … but the military-style weapon fanatics go on and on.
The fanatics (and NRA) piggybacks on the hunters. On rural folks who might want to shoot a varmint every now and then. And also on scared people who don’t trust the police. If any one of these people, so the logic goes, is somehow deprived of any “needed” weapon, we all suffer.
The NRA depends upon these anti-government, anti-law men who imagine themselves as avenging Rambos. And our elected representatives cower from them, particularly after their threats of violence. Hey, in New Mexico until just recently, men felt empowered to carry their long guns into committee meetings in the legislature, standing in the back to make sure the elected representatives knew they were there and armed.
If some guy doesn’t want to sing his song for the NRA, good. Baby steps.
Sorry, but these people bailing from the NRA aren’t doing it as a protest or out of remorse. They’re just cowards, running away from who they are and what they’ve done.
Bailing out is nowhere near changing their positions. My memory is not 100% accurate, but similar incidents in the past have caused these folks to temporarily fade away only to come on gangbusters later against any reasonable (and necessary) compromises. They are silent in the short term, and DO NOT CARE in the long term.
Sort of like the Texas cops standing around doing nothing and then fighting with horrified parents instead of confronting the school shooter in Uvalde.
I agree that they don’t care in the long term. However, it has been a point of pride and policy that these people haven’t bailed in the past. The fact that they aren’t willing to appear this time is different.
Well there’s always Ted Nugent…
You could replaces “guns” with penis and your statement will still be valid.
Christ I hate this poseur. At least Horst Wessel was an actual SA thug rather than someone singing about doing shit he never did and would never do.
Well this simply proves that Lee Greenwood is in reality a major pussy in a shiny suit and cattle-less hat who can’t handle conflict (with or without guns) and simply sells rightwing poems, songs, melodies, and myths to country music fans who own guns and flags. Hope they burn his CDs. Then he can go tour with the Dixie Chicks.