Toby Keith- I’m A Democrat & Support The Troops (from Oklahoma Democratic Community Forum board)
Not just a knee-jerk patriot
ERNEST A. JASMIN; The News Tribune
Last updated: January 20th, 2006 06:45 AM (PST)
Toby Keith did not exist to a large chunk of the country before 2002.
For anyone who has been in a coma these past four years, that’s when Keith became a household name thanks to the controversy surrounding his “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (Angry American),” his reaction to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Fans called it patriotic. Critics (including the author of this story) called it simplistic jingoism. Since its release, Keith has been known as a tough-talkin’ poster boy for patriotic country.
Of course, diehard country fans know there is more to the man headlining the Tacoma Dome on Saturday and that he’s been a bona-fide hit maker since he called for “A Little Less Talk and a Little More Action” back in 1993.
Calling from his Oklahoma ranch recently, Keith reinforced that notion. Here are excerpts from that interview, with a longer version available online at www.thenewstribune.com/ae.
Is “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” something you get tired of talking about?
Nah, I don’t ever get tired of supportin’ my guys (the troops). The crazy thing about all of this is I … I have only one political song in that whole 15 albums. And it was No. 1 for one week.
I get painted with the brush (that) if it wouldn’t have been for that song he wouldn’t be where he (is). I’d already sold 11 or 12 million before that song come out, know what I mean?
(He recalls his ticket sales being listed in Rolling Stone with the qualifier “mostly in the Red states.”)
That’s real easy to throw that on there. But if you were selling nationwide door to door doughnuts, wouldn’t most of ’em be sold in the red states considerin’ it’s four to one? Most of the country was red. The irony … is that most of my gross came from the blue states.
So you’re kind of glad people have moved on from focusing on the one song?
Nah, the real fans never did get glued to that. The real fans took everything song to song. …
I’ll never be ashamed of that song. That song was written about 9/11. … That had nothing to do with the Iraq war. I got lumped in with that. There’s nothing I can do about that. I’m not gonna run around and try to put all those fires out. There are so many of those ignorant rants.
Do you resent the criticism you’ve gotten for the song?
No, I don’t resent the criticism. I know why I wrote it. … It was out of anger. And it was nothing more than let’s round up the bad guys and bring ’em to justice. That’s all the song was.
Somebody asked me in an interview one time on TV (if I support the Iraq war), and I said, “I support the troops wherever they are.” I said, “I ain’t got enough information to tell you whether or not we should be goin’ into Iraq or not.” That was before we ever went in there. And the LA Times runs a big story on me, saying, “Look at him runnin’, tryin’ to save his career now.”
You can never win. If you continue to bang the war drum, then you’re a warmonger. But the second you go, “Nah, I don’t know about this here” … then you’re tryin’ to save your career.
There are a variety of people who have written about the war from different perspectives. What do you think the role of an artist is?
You stand a chance in your career of polarizing yourself, so you have to really feel in your heart that you’re doing it for the right reasons, because there are gonna be a certain amount of people who go, “Whoa! I had no idea he thought like this. I don’t think like that, so therefore I don’t like his music no more.” It’s the same as Elton John saying I’m gay or any of that. As soon as you come out and admit that this is the way that you feel about somethin’, then there’s gonna be people that say I used to like him until then.
Everything I’ve approached, I’ve approached it in an honest way. I’m not a tremendously religious guy, but I have a lot of faith in prayer. So it took me a lot of prayer and a lot of time to put that song out because I knew what was comin’. I knew what was gonna happen. But at the same time, that’s the way I felt about it, man.
People paint you with this broad stroke as being extremely right-wing and jingoistic. Can you point to a belief that you have that might surprise people?
This is my favorite one. I’m a lifetime registered Democrat. That completely freaks people out. I helped campaign in Oklahoma (for Democratic Gov. Brad Henry).
I always vote for the guy who can get it done. And it ain’t nobody’s business who I vote for, but I voted for Clinton twice. And that just blows people’s minds when they hear that. And here’s the thing: Just because you’re pro-troops doesn’t mean you’re pro-war. And just because you’re anti-war don’t mean you’re anti-troops.
Just because you don’t support the war, people think you’re anti-troops and you’re a bad guy. And just because you go support the troops and rah-rah the troops up, all of a sudden you’re pro-war. Those are the two biggest misconceptions of the whole thing.