The Perils of Trying to Be Hip

What is it with GOPers and popular music? Can't they get things straight in advance for once? Ronald Reagan famously appropriated Springsteen's "Born in the USA," figuring it must be a patriotic anthem, without actually listening to the lyrics, apparently. And then during last year's presidential campaign, McCain started using some John Mellencamp songs, only to be smacked down.

The latest winger to glom on to a popular band in pursuit of hipness is none other than Glenn "The Weeper" Beck. Apparently, one of The Weeper's favorite new bands is none other than UK semi-proggers Muse. But just liking them isn't good enough. No. They've got to support his politics. Except they don't:

Beck, an outspoken conservative known for his caustic attacks on Barack Obama, praised a song on [Muse's] new album The Resistance for warning against the dangers of “one world government”. Describing their music as “absolutely fantastic”, Beck implied that the band members shared his concern about the centralisation of power by liberal politicians. [...]

But Beck withdrew his recommendation after being emailed during the show by a representative of the band.

Ha! I'm particularly amused because Beck hasn't been shy when it comes to bashing atheists, but Muse's leading man Mathew Bellamy is one of the most visible atheists around (sorta).

To his credit, Beck took the news with good humor:

'They would like me to retract my endorsement,' Beck told listeners. 'My apologies to Muse for saying that I like them. I didn’t mean to destroy all their credibility and all their coolness.

'It’s an awful album and you should never go out and buy it.'

If only he was that rational and good humored most of the time.