DMB

This week, three of my cousins are flying in from Denver to visit my wife and me. We're going to spend some time at some local golf courses, stop by a casino or two, and, on Friday, drive out to Des Moines, Iowa, to watch the Dave Matthews Band perform.

The Dave Matthews Band is in my top 5 favorite bands of all time. And Dave Matthews is in my top 5 people who I can't stand. Nearly every word that comes out of his mouth is idiotic. As I was surfing the web, getting myself amped for the concert, I stumbled into this gem of an interview Dave gave CNN. I have decided to vent my way through the transcript as a cathartic exercise so that I can fully enjoy Friday's concert. (My venting is

CNN: President Carter said he thinks that a lot of the animosity directed toward President Obama is race related.
Dave Matthews: Of course it is! I found there's a fairly blatant racism in America that's already there, and I don't think I noticed it when I lived here as a kid. But when I went back to South Africa, and then it's sort of thrust in your face, and then came back here -- I just see it everywhere. There's a good population of people in this country that are terrified of the president only because he's black, even if they don't say it. And I think a lot of them, behind closed doors, do say it.

And there is also a good population of people in this country that voted for the president only because he's black. There is also an even bigger population of people in this country that voted against the president and do not support the president because he is a liberal who is proposing liberal policy changes.

Maybe I'm paranoid about it, but I don't think someone who disagreed as strongly as they do with Obama -- if it was Clinton -- would have stood up and screamed at him during his speech. (Shakes his head) I don't think so.

If Dave is referring to Rep. Joe Wilson's yelling, "You lie!" during the president's speech, then he has seen a video that I've been unable to find. But what I have found is this picture of Rep. Wilson yelling "You lie!" while seated. And how does Dave know that Rep. Wilson was motivated by racism, by a fear of a black president? Is he a mind reader? So I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that, yes, Dave, you are paranoid about it.


But, if yelling at a president while he is giving a speech is racist, then these protesters must really hate white people:

CNN: Everything has gone to such a frenzied pitch.
Matthews: I think a lot of it has to be on the press. We give the podium to a lot of people who shouldn't have the podium.

Like people who make a living singing?

The message that's delivered the loudest and in the most entertaining way is the one that we're going to put on because that's what we want. We want ratings more than we want to deliver information. That's just where the culture's gotten.
There's no way that Walter Cronkite, as a young journalist, no way Ed Murrow would be hired to do news today. Not a chance.
CNN: Because they're too low-key? Because they're not bombastic?
Matthews: Because they're thoughtful, and they're patient, and they're tying to tell you a truly balanced story. They're trying to impart information. I don't think that's the goal [now] because it's not a good business plan. ...
Everyone's outraged all the time. Why are you outraged? There's war -- there's always been war, as long as most of us have been alive. There have always been people being abused, there's always been horrible things in the world. Why are we outraged? We should just be quiet and figure it out, and work it out together. ... There's no solution in Washington as long as people are shouting like that.

The problem with people like Dave Matthews is not the fact that they are opinionated. I could care less about his opinions. It's that in one interview he's shown what an utter fool he is. He talks about being "thoughtful" and "patient" and "balanced" when just a handful of sentences before hand he called a good population of Americans racist in such a thoughtful and patience and balanced way. So now the bar is set so low that whenever a person has a logical and thoughtful disagreement with our president, you are a racist. If a person has a legitimate concern about handing more control of our lives to the federal government they are a racist because we now have a black president. If a person would prefer that our government not drag our country further into debt under the guise of social justice, they are now a racist. Way to be "thoughtful" and "patient" and "balanced" Dave. Way to take the high road and not drag public debate through the mud. Maybe if you took a little time to "be quiet" and to stop calling people racists, we'd be able to "figure it out".

And now that I've gotten that off of my chest, I'll be able to have a great time at the concert.