From:
www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6487639Dave Matthews
I'm an immigrant and America has been great to me. This country represents a dream of what people of widely varying backgrounds can create together. This election is not only about what this country is now. It's also about what it can be. I'm an American, and it's my responsibility to say what I think. With what I see in the world today, I cannot justify not standing up and saying, "I feel with every bone in my body that this country is going in the wrong direction."
We've got to get somebody new in the White House. Being from South Africa, I know how much the rest of the world fears the United States right now. It's like if the world is a room, and everybody is in there, and suddenly somebody walks in who is seething and has headphones on, and the music is playing really loud, and he's armed. That's the way the world sees us. Everyone is on tiptoes, afraid of what this country might do. It's bound to scare everybody.
Adam Horovitz
BEASTIE BOYS
I don't understand the George Bush argument. If you wanna argue Republican or Democrat, that's one thing, but Bush - I haven't seen the argument as to why this guy should get four more years. I don't see why he should be running a baseball team, let alone be president. At one of the Democratic debates, Al Sharpton said, "I can guarantee that any one of us on the stage right now in his sleep would make a better president than George Bush."
What's at stake in this election? War. People's freedoms around the world and here at home. Women's right to choose, prayer in school, my grandmother getting medicine - the list could keep on going. This election really does seem crucial. If Bush gets re-elected, he will feel like the possibilities are limitless, that he can really do whatever he wants.
Jeff Tweedy
WILCO
When people ask why this election is so close, I can't explain it. It's like trying to figure out how Billy Ray Cyrus sold 10 million records. The Republicans have done an extremely good job of appropriating populist themes. They somehow make it seem as though they're a party of the people, even though their policies hurt some of their most ardent supporters.
Bush's hypocrisy is simply staggering. He argues that stem-cell research is not justified because of the sanctity of unborn life - yet he insists that dropping bombs on innocent people will lead to a better world. I'm also worried that if he is re-elected, he may have the chance to appoint more conservative judges to the Supreme Court. He could undo three generations of progress in this country toward civil equality and women's rights.
I will vote for John Kerry, and I'll do it with a good conscience. I believe that he's our only shot at steering this ship back to some calmer waters. I agree that Kerry has flip-flopped on some ideas, but I take that as a sign of intelligence. I trust someone more if he re-examines his positions and has the ability to be introspective. There's no end to the horrific things you can do when you believe you're always right.
Alicia Keys
It's important for all of us to be aware of what's going on. I know it hurts to pay attention. Sometimes you're like, "I don't want to think about this crap." For young people, especially, it seems like politicians aren't speaking about our lives. But Kerry is passionate, and he's trying to get young people to pay attention, so that's pretty cool. He understands that we need to do more to improve education. So many dollars have been taken out of the schools under Bush, and they just get worse and worse.
To me, Bush comes off like a person reading a script. I thought his response to September 11th was very insincere. The entire time, he seemed disconnected, like he didn't experience the same thing the rest of us experienced. He rushed into the war in Iraq abruptly, like a boy playing with a truck: "This is my truck! You stepped on it, so I'm throwing your truck out the window!" It wasn't handled the way a real adult would handle a situation.
Melissa Etheridge
For women, our road will always be more difficult - yet all the Bush administration does is put huge potholes in our way. John Kerry has consistently been on the side of equal opportunity, and he supports a woman's right to choose. He is a smart man. He knows that the subject of same-sex marriage will be resolved within the next decade in the courts, and all he has to do is stay out of the way. He was one of only nineteen senators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act - he knew it wasn't right, and he knew what the future holds. I just want a president who will not stand in the way of change, and John Kerry will not.
Steve Earle
We are engaged in a war with fundamentalist Islam that we can't win. But we have a president who has become a fundamentalist himself, and he thinks he can win it. The administration is fond of saying that the terrorists hate us because we're free. That's not true - they hate us because we support the House of Saud and Israel. Until we're willing to talk about those two things, we're going to be in big trouble.
You can't cut taxes and conquer the world at the same time. Nobody's ever tried to do that, and the reason is because it's stupid. What part of world history did Bush miss? The way you build an empire is you tax the fuck out of your citizens and draft the fuck outta them, 'cause you have to have an army and you have to feed them. The thing that scares me more than anything else is that if Bush is re-elected, he's gonna have to institute a draft next year. They're gonna need some fresh bodies out there, and they can't do that without a draft. I've got a son who's twenty-two and a son who's seventeen, so I've got a dog in this fight. That's why I support John Kerry.
Mickey Hart
THE DEAD
The front page is filled with Iraq, terrorism, the deficit, all these giant threats. It's like we've got a bad CEO. Nothing personal, Mr. Bush, but I don't think you're running this country well. I think you're running it into the ground, and it's my personal opinion that we need a regime change. You're fired. That's all. Nothing personal, man. Maybe we'll go out and have a glass of wine sometime and talk about it after the election. He might be a charming guy. But, boy, is he a fucked CEO.
Bob Weir
THE DEAD
Ralph Nader is the most arrogant and narcissistic guy I've ever met. I had a meeting with him in the early Nineties. I was jazzed going into the meeting, and I was disgusted leaving. I don't think I've ever met a bigger asshole. If he hadn't run in the last election, we wouldn't be in Iraq and thousands of people wouldn't have died needlessly. And still he's well pleased to go in and be the spoiler again!
Harry Truman said that the one crime more heinous than treason is war profiteering, and yet we have the company that our vice president is still on retainer to - which is illegal - making a huge fortune. Every time the terrorists blow up another pipeline over there, Halliburton makes millions of dollars pasting it back together. They don't even have to be pumping oil to be making money. This is who owns our government now.
Though I've never really endorsed a political candidate before, I'm going to have to this time. I liked the look in Kerry's eye when I met him. He looks like an aware human being and a guy with a sense of humor. So we're just going to have to hope and pray that the debates go well.
Jackson Browne
The people who are in charge now are old hands who were involved in the governments of Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr. They're radicals and zealots whose attitude is "Bring it on." Some of them want a presence in the Middle East for oil, and some just want a front-row seat for the apocalypse.
Here at home, it's hard to imagine the number of environmental gains that have already been rolled back by the Bush administration. It's like a football game: They have given the ball to corporate interests and sent them down the field while they block for them. It's not conservatism - it's just the opposite. They are using up our natural resources and selling them to the highest bidder. This administration has no respect for the rule of law itself. Whenever anyone tries to protect the environment, they just get their gnarliest and meanest lawyers to out-ugly everyone.
Eddie Vedder
PEARL JAM
I supported ralph nader in 2000, but it's a time of crisis. We have to get a new administration in. All of us who supported Ralph last time should get down on our knees and say, "Can you bow out on October 3rd? We'll get back to the ideals you're fighting for on November 3rd."
A year ago it seemed impossible to criticize Bush, because of September 11th. The Dixie Chicks and Michael Moore were attacked for speaking out. Now you've got books full of facts that show how Bush has failed. Those people dissenting a year ago were right.
We have to stop treating the rest of the world like our subjects. What is the only institution more powerful than the United States government - one that can move things in a different direction? It's the American people. It's the voters. That's what I feel most strongly about: encouraging people who don't normally vote to understand their responsibility.
Mike Mills
R.E.M.
The vote for change tour is a wake-up call. We may alienate some fans over this. I don't like that - I prefer to have music stand apart from political feelings. But this is so important, it's worth it. If I piss a few people off, good. Because, frankly, I'm scared. Unlike a lot of political issues, this is literally life or death. Kerry understands how the world works, in a way that Bush does not. When Bush ran the first time, I realized something: I want my president to be smarter than I am. I don't ask much, but I want him to be smarter than me.
-chadgumbo
