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Little bio about Bruce is in order:

He was once another boardwalk hippie-druggy loser destroying the reputation of the once famous Asbury Park. Asbury Park was to NJ as San Fran was to CA in the late 60's/early 70's.

His first album was a cheap rip off of Dylan. His second album was a cheap rip off of Dylan meets Woody Guthrie meets The Coasters. One song Rosalita does not make a musical genius.

He writes songs about his father being a "working man". His father wasn't a working man. In fact, his father was somewhat lazy; his mom supported the family.

He writes songs with misinformation regarding place names in Utah, and Texas, and Louisiana to name a few (eg. "...drive that dusty road from Monroe to Angeline--should be Abilene stupid stoner).

He writes songs about an unobtainable sexual longing for a girl named Mary: His real life sister's name is Mary.

He thinks he is an incarnation of Woody Guthrie: I'd say he's just a woody.

He wrote one or two songs for Southside Johnny's debut album I Don't Want To Go Home. The album was a critical success within the industry thanks mostly to Miami Steve's writing and production. Bruce turns around and steals key musicians (eg. Miami Steve Van Zandt and Max Weinberg) from the SJ's band for his upcoming album Born To Run (which is a weak production at that point). Give you a hint at how important Miami Steve is to Bruce's songwritng "genius", Born In the USA's major hits are written with Steve. When Steve leaves for a solo career Bruce's career begins to deflate rapidly. The album prior to Born In the USA is Nebraska--Bruce's own creation which smell like the red tide in Rumson!

Th upshot of Bruce is a loser that clawed his way to the top. Once at the top he found the personna he carefully crafted with his spinmasters boxed him into a stereotype he sought to create. Bruce begins speaking out on social issues that keep him going to all the "right parties and dinners." Yet, sex drugs/booze, busy schedule of touring, and a failed marriage of his own making sends him falling from the pinnacle of success.

In the end, he is a shadow of his former glory. His recent success is based more on nostalgia rather than talent. He is back to square one--a no-talent rip off of Dylan, Guthrie, Coasters, and Miami Steve who now acts in a little known TV series called The Sopranos.

That's a story you'll never read in People, Time, NewsWeek, and Rolling Stone true that it may be.

Springsteen's sisters' names are Virginia and Pamela, not Mary.
Springsteen's first 2 albums were definitely the product of his association with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and the E-Street Band. He has acknowledged many times they were the catalyst. However, I do think that Born To Run was a unique, worthy album and Springsteen's best, full of classic anthems and good old rock n roll. Since then he seems to have become absorbed with his own perceived importance and "artistry". Even so, he's had many songs since which deserve as much recognition as other sonwriters get- such as Streets of Philadelphia.
As a performer, I've always felt he was respectful and devoted to his fans. I saw him both at Madison Square Garden and in Hartford, CT on the Born To Run tour.
A friend was dating his lighting guy, and we were able to get backstage passes to the Hartford show. He was nice and polite and seemed completely sober to me. And, rather than the usual backstage antics of a rock show, it was quiet and orderly backstage. Later, I saw him sitting in his vehicle waiting to leave rather than partying. I've never heard that he was a druggie.
I don't agree with his politics, and I think it's a shame he's ignorant and/or misguided and misinformed on the issues. However he is entitled to them, and if he sees fit to use his stage as his pulpit, it's up to his audience to take it or leave it. Unlike the Dixie Chicks he's not spouting from a foreign stage, or later trying to gloss over or alter what he said.