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Joan Baez Unwelcome At Concert For Troops
The Washington Post ^ | May 2, 2007 | Teresa Wiltz

Posted on 05/02/2007 6:09:19 AM PDT by RDTF

When rocker John Mellencamp performed for the recovering soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday night, a couple of things were missing. He squelched his typically blistering rhetoric against the war in Iraq. Also MIA, as it turned out, was folkie and antiwar activist Joan Baez, who says she was disinvited from the event by Army officials.

In a letter that appears today in The Washington Post, Baez says Mellencamp had wanted her to perform with him and that she had accepted his invitation.

"I have always been an advocate for nonviolence," she writes, "and I have stood as firmly against the Iraq war as I did the Vietnam War 40 years ago. . . . I realize now that I might have contributed to a better welcome home for those soldiers fresh from Vietnam. Maybe that's why I didn't hesitate to accept the invitation to sing for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"In the end, four days before the concert, I was not 'approved' by the Army to take part. Strange irony."

Reached by telephone yesterday at her home in Menlo Park, Calif., Baez, 66, said she wasn't told why she was given the boot, but speculated, "There might have been one, there might have been 50 [soldiers] that thought I was a traitor."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: aidandcomfort; joanbaez; notapeacemovement; unwecomecommunists; walterreed; woodstockgeneration
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priceless
1 posted on 05/02/2007 6:09:21 AM PDT by RDTF
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To: kristinn

ping


2 posted on 05/02/2007 6:10:27 AM PDT by RDTF (R.I.P. Blue Angel LCDR Kevin Davis)
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To: RDTF

*****I realize now that I might have contributed to a better welcome home for those soldiers fresh from Vietnam.*****

Completely wrong


3 posted on 05/02/2007 6:10:52 AM PDT by wastedyears (To a liberal, "feeling safe" is far more important than "being safe" Credit to TruthShallSetYouFree)
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To: RDTF
He squelched his typically blistering rhetoric against the war in Iraq.

I was wondering about the sanity of having Mellencamp there. He's music's ok, but his vitriol is appalling. I'm glad he had sense enough (or handlers enough) to shut up about it in that venue.

4 posted on 05/02/2007 6:12:43 AM PDT by StarCMC (Honor military recruiters in all 50 states ~ May 19, 2007 ~ http://gatheringofeagles.org/?p=257)
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To: wastedyears

How many of the guys at Walter Reed even know who that old hag is anyway? I mean, come on...! Maybe she wasn’t allowed to come because she would have bored them to tears. LOL!!!


5 posted on 05/02/2007 6:14:31 AM PDT by StarCMC (Honor military recruiters in all 50 states ~ May 19, 2007 ~ http://gatheringofeagles.org/?p=257)
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To: RDTF

“Thought” she was a traitor?


6 posted on 05/02/2007 6:15:29 AM PDT by hgro (Jerry Riversd)
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To: RDTF
I realize now that I might have contributed to a better welcome home for those soldiers fresh from Vietnam.

In the words of Dick Cheney, "F*** you."

7 posted on 05/02/2007 6:15:39 AM PDT by HIDEK6
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: RDTF
In 1964 she protested the Vietnam War by refusing to pay 60 percent of her income taxes.

nothing to see here folks move along now.

9 posted on 05/02/2007 6:18:17 AM PDT by paltz
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To: RDTF

This would be akin to Hanoi Jane Fonda visiting the troops, saying “I could have been more loyal during Vietnam to my own country!”


10 posted on 05/02/2007 6:18:54 AM PDT by TommyDale ("Can debate over four hours with no need to call a doctor!")
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To: RDTF

Good.


11 posted on 05/02/2007 6:19:07 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys--Reagan and Bush)
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To: RDTF

In short, Joan and John are victims!


12 posted on 05/02/2007 6:19:15 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
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To: StarCMC

Morning Star. lmao You said it very well. Have a great day! ~Pandora~


13 posted on 05/02/2007 6:20:58 AM PDT by pandoraou812 ( zero tolerance to the will of Allah ...... dilligaf? with an efg.....)
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To: StarCMC

I was wondering about the sanity of having Mellencamp there. He’s music’s ok, but his vitriol is appalling. I’m glad he had sense enough (or handlers enough) to shut up about it in that venue.

***

Unlike most of the moonbat artists, Mellencamp’s opposition to the war is a bit more reasoned and yes, he would have the sense not to go on about it in front of the troops. He’s one artist I can still support and appreciate even though I disagree with him on a political level. He’s definitely not a Dixie Chick.


14 posted on 05/02/2007 6:21:07 AM PDT by fatnotlazy
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To: RDTF
KISS as the opening act for the New York Philharmonic would be more appropriate.
15 posted on 05/02/2007 6:21:24 AM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: RDTF

Those who listen to ‘classic rock’ and shop at stores whose Muzak systems play such songs subsidize these propaganda...

.
.
.
.

...troops and their mission.

Hard to avoid but worth keeping in mind.


16 posted on 05/02/2007 6:22:22 AM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: RDTF

Deny me now, I won’t know you later. It’s comin back around.


17 posted on 05/02/2007 6:22:38 AM PDT by showme_the_Glory (No more rhymes, and I mean it! ..Anybody want a peanut.....)
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To: RDTF
"I have always been an advocate for nonviolence,"

I wonder if she would still think that way in the middle of the combat zone.

18 posted on 05/02/2007 6:25:50 AM PDT by shekkian
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To: RDTF
"After the concert, Baez said, Mellencamp left her a message to say, "I hope you're not mad at me." Her response: " 'Of course not. It's an honor to be turned down by the Army.' . . . But I would have been happier getting in . . . I thought times had changed enough."

This pretty much says it all!

The Army is smart enough to know a traitor when they see one!!

19 posted on 05/02/2007 6:26:18 AM PDT by LADY J
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To: RDTF

Joanie Phony is still alive?


20 posted on 05/02/2007 6:26:27 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government)
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