The Less Angry American, Toby Keith

Toby Keith was still the roadhouse patriot in concert at Staples, but behind the scenes his feelings are more complex.

As he sang the lyrics to his celebrated patriotic hit Sunday at Staples Center, red, white and blue confetti rained down on the curled brim of Toby Keith's cowboy hat and rocket-red pyrotechnics shot up past a video screen showing the Statue of Liberty. This was the Toby the crowd wanted and expected, the roadhouse patriot.

But a few hours earlier, in a hushed dressing room, it was a different Keith — one who talked about the increasingly onerous challenge of playing the uncomplicated man in complicated times.

Away from the firepower of the stage, this fighting man from Oklahoma said that he has decided to call a cease-fire in his ugly feud with the Dixie Chicks ("We had fun with it, but I'm just done with it"), that he still has lingering questions about the necessity of the war in Iraq ("Honestly, I'm still doing the math on that") and that he wonders whether the hit song, "(Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue) The Angry American," has typecast him ("People think I bang the war drum, and that's not me").

"Look, my stance is I pick and choose my wars. This war here , the math hasn't worked out for me on it. But I'm smart enough to know there's people smarter than me. Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, George Bush — this is their job, and I have to trust in them. I support the commander in chief and the troops."

Keith took a long pause to consider his words, and then added: "I was for Afghanistan, 100%. We got struck and the Taliban needed to be exterminated, but this war here, in Iraq, I didn't necessarily have it all worked out. It didn't work out for me. I know a tyrant is gone and all of that, but whether it was our duty to go do that, well, I haven't figured that out."

This is the problem with people who have no knowledge of history--an epidemic in our country. Yes, we have 277 KIAs in this and I grieve for every one, but the Fire Department of New York lost 343 men on 9-11. There simply can't be a cost free war. Toby stikes me as someone who doesn't hang tough when it gets tough. People like Merle Haggard (who are conveniently agsinst this war) supported Vietnam after the lie of the Gulf of Tonkin and 10s of thousands of American deaths.

Everyone in this country is so damn soft and stupid, we have head fewer deaths in 6 months of war than the FDNY lost in a couple of hours on 9-11. Keith has gone soft. He is listening to his handlers and I saw that when he performed "Authority Song" in his concert-- it's a good song, but undoubtedly his people are saying, "You need to appear as if you didn't just follow authority (the government) blindly into war."

By the way, Natalie Maines was against the War on Terror in general because she was against his song long before the War on Iraq was even in the cards.

He pussed out and as far as I'm concerned he has gotten too political. He hitched himself to the troops and it is sad to see him cut and run when they are still in harm's way and Iraq is unquestionably the center of the war on Terror.

Keith has gone down in my opinion. He has both the Chris Matthews' line and he is taking positions on how he thinks it will help his career. I didn't believe he was doing that, but now I do.

He was for the War on Iraq-- one of his guitarists war a Rumsfeld shirt and his tour was called Shocking Y'all (Shock and Awe, much?) Also when the War in Iraq was looking like a hole in one he thanked Rumsfled and Tommy Frank at an awards show, his betrayal of the soldiers is grotesque. You stick with the soldiers when no one else will-- pulling out would make the terrorists declare open season on us. A retreat is not an option. 277 KIAs is historically light, we lost 400,000 soldiers in World War 2. Damn, that was a better generation. Bob hope never quit on the soldiers. Toby Keith has just revealed himself as a really sorry SOB.

He is edging out Natalie Maines for the lousy, stuck on stupid, politically opportunistic phony country star award. Where in the Hell is John Wayne?

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.