Posted on 11/06/2012 2:43:16 PM PST by don-o
Ah, Bobby, he can still grab the headlines whenever he feels like it, even on election day! The story multiplying via the wires is from Bob Dylan’s concert last night in Madison, Wisconsin. As ever, we won’t know for sure what he really said until we get the audio, but the way it’s being reported, when he came back after the encore (and probably while he was introducing the band) he said: “Don’t believe the media. I think it’s going to be a landslide.”
Previous to that he’s also quoted as having said, “We tried to play good tonight since the president was here today.” The president, accompanied by Bruce Springsteen, was in Madison earlier that day.
Why do I say he’s predicting it will be Mitt Romney in that landslide? Well, only because I give credit to Bob Dylan for not being a fool, and he’s been traveling plenty around the country and probably has as good a feel as any for what the mood is. No one with more than three brain cells expects a “landslide” for Obama, so it’s a process of elimination.
More than all that, of-course, he’s no doubt just tweaking people a little and having a chuckle. Nevertheless, the media predictably have jumped all over these remarks with a huge chorus of headlines announcing, “Bob Dylan predicts Obama ‘in a landslide’.” As I said, we don’t know exactly what he said unless we hear it, but even as quoted by the Obama-sympathetic-journalists, I don’t see where he is predicting that the landslide will be for Barack Obama. The money quote is simply: “Don’t believe the media. I think it’s going to be a landslide.”
“Don’t believe the media” is right.
A couple of months ago, this is the same Bob Dylan who was chased around by the interviewer in Rolling Stone, trying to get him to say something positive about Barack Obama—anything! One of Dylan’s exasperated responses was the following:
Look, I only met him a few times. I mean, what do you want me to say? He loves music. He’s personable. He dresses good. What the f*%k do you want me to say?
He utterly evaded saying anything about Obama’s political outlook and agenda. When asked about the “reaction against [Obama],” he merely compared him to past presidents, including specifically George W. Bush, making the point that “Anybody who’s going to take that job is going to be in for a rough time.” (What would Bruce have thought of that?)
When pressed on whether he thought that “some of the reaction against Obama has been in reaction to the event that a black man has become president of the United States,” his answer—again with noticeable exasperation—rejected that premise entirely.
Do you want me to repeat what I just said, word for word? What are you talking about? People loved the guy when he was elected. So what are we talking about? People changing their minds? Well, who are these people that changed their minds? Talk to them. What are they changing their minds for? What’d they vote for him for? They should’ve voted for somebody else if they didn’t think they were going to like him.
The interviewer, still dissatisfied with what he was getting, went on:
Q: The point I’m making is that perhaps lingering American resentments about race are resonant in the opposition to President Obama, which has not been a quiet opposition.
Dylan: You mean in the press? I don’t know anybody personally that’s saying this stuff that you’re just saying. The press says all kinds of stuff. I don’t know what they would be saying. Or why they would be saying it. You can’t believe what you read in the press anyway.
Indeed.
The post is the take of rightwingbob a.k.a. Sean Curnyn. Sean has written for years about the conservative and traditional values in Dylan’s work.
But I would not feel so all alone..everybody must get stoned.
sorry for the double post. This site is getting slower and slower
The Cinch got it right again. Dylan has always been a reader of the times and he knows there is a groundswell a’coming today. And it will make Obama a one term president.
Please read all of the Cinch article to see how the media has been twisting themselves into knots for years trying to get Dylan to gives his imprimatur on Obama. And he NEVER does.
“Sometimes the President even stands naked.” Watergate didn’t surprise him one bit. Neither will this.
PING
Obama.
He’s always been pretty noncommittal about politics. Smart enough not to pull a dixie chick move and alienate a hugh number of fans.
AP claptrap.
I mean, come ON! Read what actually came out of Dylan’s mouth.
I like Dylan. I’m a fan. That’s why it’s so painful to listen to him now.
“Poor Bob. It’s just painful listening to him now. Sounds like he gargled razor blades.”
The one and only time I saw Dylan was December 1964, at Wilson High School, Long Beach CA.
His music, then and now, isn’t about his singing; it is about the melody, and the instrumental composition, arrangement and performance.
Yes, his singing voice has gone down hill, from not so hot to begin with. Instrumentals still good.
His band for years was “The Band” and he was also part of the “Traveling Wilburies.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Band
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling_Wilburys
See if you like “Lay Lady Lay” on which original, country great played guitar, back in 1969. Written but not used in the film “Midnight Cowboy.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ODMKSWzT4&feature=related
Here is “Peggy Day” which was the flipside on the 45 with “Lay Lady Lay”
Prove that from what Dylan actually said - not what ap spewed.
I thought he said Obama in a landslide the other day...
What Dylan actually said was that the election would be a landslide. What he *didn't* say was who would be the beneficiary of said landslide. Any linkage of what he actually said, and what was reported (Obama landslide) was the presstitutes putting words into his mouth he never uttered...
the infowarrior
Got a link?
I read the story in this one. They didn't say what he said at the concert. But they quote is twitter that predicted a landslide but didn't say who for.
So is that the story? Dylan predicts landslide without saying who for and everyone runs off and claims Dylan for their side?
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