If you have seen Sen. McCain's new ad where he simultaneously mocks Hillary Clinton for asking for a $1 million appropriation to create a Woodstock museaum and exploits his own torture by the North Vietnamese to score cheap political points.
The insuations is that while McCain was "tied-up" in the Hanoi Hilton, Hillary and all those pot-smoking liberals who were against the war, spent three days of peace and love in upstate NY. They had other priorities, the Senator's ad tries to convince.
The problem with the ad — there are several — is it draws attention to five deferment Vice President Cheney who has stated he had other priorities during the Vietnam War.
Why does the GOP insist on refighting the Vietnam War? It is still a losing proposition. It didn't work on Clinton in 1992. The Swift-boating of Kerry and Max Cleland was truely beyond the pale, but the Neo-Cons and the 24 percenters clinging to the Decider still believe the press and the anti-war liberals "lost" Vietnam.
Moreover, the GOP is tone deaf on anti-war opinion. The course of action by all of the GOP presidential contenders save Ron Paul is more war, more troops.
Bashing the sixties and the excesses of liberalism run amuck: riots in Chicago; free love; civil rights and the anti-war movement; women's rights, especially relating to Roe, and the rampant use of LSD and marijuana were all responsible for America going in the shitter.
According to these wing nuts, the answer for our problems was the Moral Majority and Reaganism. Movement Conservatives love to bash the sixties, but what exactly are they attacking?
Before the sixties, blacks lacked equal protection under the law to exercise their vote, particularly in the South. Former Supreme Court Justice William Renquist used to scrutinize minority voters in his home state of Arizona. Some would argue, Myself included, that the current administration seeks to return to that period by disenfranchising minority voters through the use of Voter ID laws.
Minorities lacked equal protection for housing, mortgages. Redlining was a common practice.
Abortion was not a legal right yet, but the leaders of the women's rights movement helped win an important victory for married couples to legally use contraceptives in Griswald.
Segregation was still the law in the south, but thanks to Martin Luther King and others in the civil rights movement, blacks only water fountains, segregated waiting areas in bus stations and restaurants no longer have "Whites only "sections.
Millions marched against the war and were influential in forcing the US to finally withdraw troops from Vietnam in 1973.
I suppose these are all horrible things because some people smoke weed and got laid a lot. Seems to me, like the Rebublicans were the squares back then and are jealous that
people like Al and Tipper were smoking a joint listening to "Uncle John's Band."
Now that is what is wrong with this country.
As if.
By most objective measure of American history, Woodstock was a seminal event. Therefore spending $1 million for a museum to commemerate the most famous rock festival ever held. Sure, musically it might not be the greatest festival ever as it was plagued by probems which led to the near electricution of Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, but without a doubt it was the most important.
Google hits, which IMO are not always an accurate indicator of influence, reached 21.1 million on "Woodstock" in .12 seconds.
The festival coined a phrase Woodstock Nation.
People still trek to what was once Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, NY. It is that important to them.
Woodstock created probably the worst traffic jam in the history of New York State, which by itself is a monumental — albeit dubious — achievement. Cars were abandoned on the New York State Thruway which was closed for three days.
Did I mention that more than 500,000 people attended the 1969 festival.
Sure, you can bash Woodstock, replete with nudity, drugs, and subversive (anti-war) artists like Richie Havens, Joni Mitchell, CSNY, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, and the Grateful Dead. Then again, to not understand the significance of Woodstock, you would have to be lame, Republican, and possibly Mormon. Any takers?
Ask any rock historian, pop culture expert or whatever what they think was the most important event in the history of rock music. Woodstock might not top every list, but I guarantee it makes the top five of every list.
If Bud Schuster can fund a lame rail museum in his congressional district, that no one visits and is a massive boondoggle to federal taxpayers, we can cough up Hillary's request for $1 million for a museum, which if built, will attract visitors interested in learning about one of the most important events in American history.