Madonna’s McCain Tantrum
Madonna's villification of McCain shows little more than how desperate she is for attention. Midlife crisis, anyone?
I’m not sure which is more surprising: that Madonna’s latest concert is making news even though the aging singer has done nothing of note since swapping spit with Britney Spears at the MTV Music Awards five years ago — or that Madonna doesn’t plan to vote for John McCain.
OK, OK — the latter’s not so shocking. Still, even for a woman whose made a name out of generating controversy, her latest effort — likening John McCain to Hitler — is both adolescent and puerile.
For two decades now, Madonna’s fame has stemmed more from her antics than any actual talent, singing or otherwise. Over twenty years ago she burst on the music scene wearing a bridal gown as she rolled on the floor and sang about being Like a Virgin, a marked contrast to the Boy Toy belt she wore (as well as the black bra she sported on top of her T-shirt).
Just as audiences began to ho-hum when hearing her name, she triggered another controversy by tackling the issues of birth control and teen sex with Papa Don’t Preach, a song about a pregnant girl determined to raise her own child. And again, she faded into the background.
Flash forward to the 90s when once again fans started losing interest and Madonna revived their attention through the one thing guaranteed to sell: sex. With men sporting women’s bras and Madonna herself dressed up as a dominatrix, the “Blond Ambition” tour was such a success that she decided to one-up herself. Her Justify My Love video, replete with lesbian scenes and a hefty dose of S&M, not only generated controversy but got Madonna banned from the one vehicle her career most relied upon: MTV.
By the time she made it back into MTV’s good graces — just in time for the famous lip-lock with rising stars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera — Madonna was irrelevant to both the recording industry and viewers. Naturally, she’s since taken to reprising her lesbian kisses on an as-needed basis to draw the limelight back to her fading career.
So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised at all that she’s resumed her old antics of trying to stir up controversy in the wake of her anti-war album American Life, a flop which would have been her first hit-less album but for the last-minute inclusion of Die Another Day.
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Katherine Berry writes about current events and culture at Electric Venom.
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66 Comments
1. rocketeer:Just another tired, worn-out lefty trying to rekindle a dead career on the backs of giants. I’d like to say “shut up and sing”, but i don’t really even want to hear that, so I’ll just say “shut up”.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:46 am 2. Jay:Alice Cooper said one time (paraphrased) “why would anyone listen to what celebrities say about politics? We get up at 2:00 in the afternoon and party till morning and most of us dropped out of school”. I don’t know how far Madonna got in school, I don’t care if she has a Master’s and I really don’t care what she thinks.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:47 am 3. Jay:One more thing, The “Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame” SUCKS for putting her in there. Talk about a no talent hack.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:51 am 4. VK Does Madonna:[...] That’s right, it’s me on Madonna — and her offensive portrayal of John McCain — over at Pajamas Media. [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:02 am 5. catscanner:Rush Limbaugh called her a “skank” which fits her 100%, her so-called career was over years ago and now all she attracts is the perverted old men(democrats) in our society.
Do us a favor madonna, don’t go away mad, just go away.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:09 am 6. W::Thanks Madonna. Aside from sound economic advice not to offend your audience, such silly comparisons remind us that the singer we like is a freak accident of vocal chords: a shallow fool with a good voice.
Now, every time I listen to one of her songs its going to be “oh yeah that 50 year old fool that looks great, sings well and is begining to grate on me like roseanne bar.”
Then there’s the “dilution of Hitler” effect: entertainers aren’t deep thinkers and never seem to understand what they’re doing when they make fools of themselves.
Groping for one odious historical figure they know, they compare people they don’t like to Adoplf.
But Hitler has a place on the shelf of horrors reserved for himself alone and for awfully good reasons, most of them barely understood by entertainers who trope toward any “charming dictator” alive today. Hitler was so bad we crawled into bed with Stalin for a few years.
Comparing US politicians to Hitler is more than a mere dinner table gaucherie: its far worse than mindlessly comparing the US to Nazi Germany because we both used soldiers and weapons outside our borders.
It’s a moronic blunder with moral implications: it flattens out the spike of horror and indecency that is Hitler’s alone and dilutes the singularity of his offenses against civilization. I object to her feckless mitigation of the unique horror that is Hitler’s alone. Madonna, please zip it.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:20 am 7. Dan Collins:Immaterial Girl.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:25 am 8. Brad:Madonna, please zip it.
**Agreed. Except for her pants. She can go ahead and unzip those.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:45 am 9. Whitehall:Milk that brand Baby!
What else is there to do when you’ve got a cash cow?
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:47 am 10. RE:So I guess this means that McCain can’t count on the over-the-hill worn out whore vote.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:47 am 11. Amy:too funny, my daughter said Madonna who? She’s really lost her position where anyone cares just like that loon Ronanna Barr.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:49 am 12. W. Keller:Bottom line is that a 50 year old crotch is still – - – - well – - – - – a 50 year old crotch.
Aug 26, 2008 - 10:02 am 13. Dark Helmet:What she lacks in intellect she does not make up for in talent. If only these people would just let us wonder if they were total idiots instead of removing any and all doubts.
Maybe she could adopt obammys brother, I hear he could use some help to get out of the squalor he is stuck in. At least that would be some form of contributing.
Aug 26, 2008 - 10:17 am 14. JAR:What makes me mad, is the liberals do crap like this, in other countries. They are already trying to get the other countries to hate McCain like they did Bush.
Aug 26, 2008 - 10:40 am 15. Pat:I disagree with Ms. Berry’s comment, “Madonna’s fame has stemmed more from her antics than any actual talent, singing or otherwise.”
The causes of Madonna’s fame are ambition, perseverance, extremely hard work, superior business acumen, and a depraved culture that pays for ever lower forms of mindless, uninspiring entertainment.
Berry’s non-objective slur indicates an envy of achievement, and I couldn’t let it pass because we must never mock achievement – gaining one’s (rational) values are what life is all about.
I believe Madonna revealed her soul’s pathetic vapidity a few years ago. In accepting an award (I think it was a “viewer’s choice award” on MTV or VH1) in front of an audience of thousands, and, presumably of millions of viewers, she thanked her fans without whom “I would be nothing.”
What a tragic loss of a life that could have been great! A non-self – her confession was correct.
Aug 26, 2008 - 11:40 am 16. Whitehall:As a result of the infamous kiss on the mouth that Madonna gave Ms. Spears, I understand that Ms. Spears filed a Workman’s Compensation claim for some unspecified oral disease contracted in the line of work.
Aug 26, 2008 - 11:56 am 17. John:Can a woman who’s old enough to use a walker actually Jump the Shark?
As for her fame, Madonna has realized like a lot of other celebrities of limited talent in their various fields (Donald Trump and Al Sharpton come to mind here) if you present yourself and your actions with no sense of shame or embarrassment, you can spend years being famous just for the possibility that you might say or do something outrageous that can be hyped up in the media.
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:00 pm 18. Bill:The amazing part is that she also apparently knows absolutely nothing about history.
Gandhi was a Hitler sympathizer, and about the same time the Panzers were rolling through France and forcing the Brits off Dunkirk, he said Hitler was “not nearly as bad as he is being portrayed.” Gandhi blackmailed the Brits into giving him independence by threatening to have India join, or at least capitulate, to Japan, closing off the supply lines to the Asian theatre!
Oh, but, the Beatles liked him, so it must be Ok….
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:05 pm 19. Twok:When people like this speak loudly and often, it actually helps McCain. We should encourage this.
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:23 pm 20. ZEITGEIST:[...] MADONNA HAVING A MIDLIFE CRISIS? I would have thought she was a decade or more past that . . . . I, on the other hand, being the [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:27 pm 21. GW:She want to take the advice (”Shut Up And Sing”) but she can’t… sing!
–
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:31 pm 22. Lili von Shtupp:GW
I gotta love that “she’s 36 according to Kabbalah” stuff. By that measure, I guess I’m in my mid twenties! Whee!!! Best news I’ve had all day!!
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:38 pm 23. deek:I was gonna write a comment but…
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:42 pm 24. mjk:Bill,
Don’t be so naughty. It’s not appropriate to explain history. Madonna’s famous (ish)!!! She doesn’t need to understand history or apply lessons learned from History to life!!
Silly Goose.
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:59 pm 25. Winston:She’ll always be a 3rd rate singer she has always been. Never liked her works and her mental character
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:28 pm 26. radical_moderate:Madonna, what a tired old hag. She’s had that face pulled up, but she can’t disguise that flat old lady ass. She gives Liberals a bad name. Jesus enough with the Hitler comparisons to ANY Politican (this just proves that Madonna doesn’t have an original thought in her head. A-Rod say it isn’t so!)
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:32 pm 27. PJD:Madonna has just mobilized McCain voters to go to the polls this coming November. I do not want to descend to her level by throwing insults or verbal abuse at her singing ability or lack thereof. She enjoys this attention because in the end she recognizes her bank account will benefit. I think we should just snub this woman and forgive her for the poor excuse of a human being (and I am being generous categorizing her as human) she really is.
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:33 pm 28. Mark Buehner:‘Mid-life’ is probably being generous.
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:45 pm 29. mjk:“Jesus enough with the Hitler comparisons to ANY Politican (this just proves that Madonna doesn’t have an original thought in her head. ”
As soon as you start comparing someone who you disagree with to Hitler, your opinion is instantly dismissed by me. Unless, of course, it’s actually, you know, Hitler.
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:49 pm 30. Colin:I agree that she’s vapid politically and from all appearances, intellectually, but what’s with all the derogatory body slams? It just makes whatever argument you were making that more pathetic. Streisand is worse and no one seems to heap those particular insults her way.
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:49 pm 31. Ed Wallis:Madonna reminds me of the FAILed plastic surgery woman in the film “Brazil.”
YOWZA!
Add S&M clothing to the video, and you’ve only got HER s*cking up to Hitler.
Let her videos speak for her…if not, “RE” and “W Keller” above will be glad to do so.
Aug 26, 2008 - 2:14 pm 32. FormerTusconan:Several years ago, a friend’s 12 year old daughter told me that Madonna needed to; “lay down and stay down”.
Out of the mouths of babes, eh?
Aug 26, 2008 - 2:21 pm 33. jvon:I actually feel a little sorry for Madonna. She used to be such a cultural icon, and now she’s degenerating into self-parody. It’s got to be tough for her to get up every morning and look in the mirror.
As for her comments about McCain, I take them just as seriously as I would take McCain’s critique of her latest CD.
Aug 26, 2008 - 2:23 pm 34. MJW:Your I.Q. appears to be 25.
Aug 26, 2008 - 2:31 pm 35. Daria DiGiovanni:rocketeer:
Just another tired, worn-out lefty trying to rekindle a dead career on the backs of giants. I’d like to say “shut up and sing”, but i don’t really even want to hear that, so I’ll just say “shut up”.
Aug 26, 2008 – 8:46 am
LOL! My sentiments exactly!
Aug 26, 2008 - 3:37 pm 36. Trashtalk Superstar:Madonna has, once again, succeeded in getting exactly what she was looking for … attention. It’s too bad that conservatives are taking the bait — hook, line and sinker.
Not blessed with much discernible musical or singing talent, Madonna Ciccone has — for a quarter century — built a career out of latching on to the latest sounds percolating up from the New York clubland underground (by virtue of attaching herself to up and coming dance music producers), and out of publicly engaging in over the top, provocative behavior (which is intended to get her boatloads of attention).
Madonna is the ultimate embodiment of the Attention Whore archetype.
People who don’t like her act would be well served by ignoring her antics.
She craves attention: the more outraged people become by her behavior, the more power she gains.
BTW, the following statement by the authorunderscores my point:
“Apparently the aging singer has forgotten the lessons which the Dixie Chicks learned the hard way: they got sidelined by television networks, radio stations and even consumers who refused to support their use of a sound stage as a political pulpit, all of which was chronicled in the banned documentary Shut Up And Sing.
That’s a piece of advice the aging singer might want to take to heart.”
Somehow, I kind of doubt that Madonna’s core audience of the GLBT community, bitter middle-aged man haters and younger women who grew up on Madonna’s Truth or Dare, Sex & the City and the Vagina Monologues will be terribly put off by her latest publicity stunt. I just don’t see them lining up to picket outside of Best Buys that carry Madonna’s new CD and calling up to threaten radio stations that play Madonna’s “4 Minutes” song, as angry country music fans did when the Dixie Chicks made their political statement.
Aug 26, 2008 - 3:40 pm 37. Sassenach:Soooo…..if the FEC is investigating a NASCAR crew chief for putting a decal on a race car (see Hans A. von Spakovsky PJM article at http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/political-speech-not-as-free-as-you-think/) …what are the odds that they will investigate Madonna for giving free advertising to the Obama campaign?
Aug 26, 2008 - 3:54 pm 38. Waller:I hear Hitler was a non-smoking vegetarian. He loved his dog Blondi too. How can a guy like that be bad?
Aug 26, 2008 - 5:41 pm 39. jegjr:Well, wasn’t she married to Sean Penn for like a day one afternoon.
BTW – “immaterial girl” now that’s funny.
Aug 26, 2008 - 5:56 pm 40. Katherine Berry:@jegjr – Yeah, I wish I’d thought of that.
@Dan Collins – Bravo, Sir.
Aug 26, 2008 - 6:46 pm 41. Javelin:Oh, I’m soooo outraged. After all, since Nazis and Hitler are leftists, they would vote in a heartbeat for a Democrat, even though Obama is black and the party is full of Jews
Aug 26, 2008 - 11:05 pm 42. seguin:Hm.
Out of all the women I’d want to have sex with, she’d probably rank slightly higher than Janet Reno but still under Courtney Love. Out of all the women I’d listen to, she ranks somewhere in between Rosie O’Donnell and Michelle Obama. Either way she’s at the bottom.
Aug 26, 2008 - 11:50 pm 43. RJ:Someday soon we will be learning that Madonna has moved in with Michael Jackson.
Bliss will be the word of the day for these two compelling “artistes” who refuse to leave the stage.
Aug 27, 2008 - 2:22 am 44. Steve:Someone once said there is no such thing as bad publicity. She got her name in news again so in that respect it worked. However I think theirs a limit which she is nearing. Notice how no one is even talking about her music? Pretty soon no matter how outrageous she pretends to be it would revive career based on nothing.
Javelin:
Well the Nazi’s and Democrats both hate America so I think yeah they probably would vote for them.
Aug 27, 2008 - 4:47 am 45. Lori:I will never listen to another Madonna song as long as I live. Thank GOD I didn’t spend $300 to see her in Madison Square Garden. It is sad how far people will stoop to be recognized.
Aug 27, 2008 - 11:42 am 46. Canadian beer is 5%:First and foremost, this….singer?… is preaching to the indocrinated, this story as many have stated should have been ignored.
I have many acquaintances who are far more “liberal” than I, and they are all caught in the whole Racial Guilt/cause celebre thing with Obama, where any criticism is viewed as a racist attack, as opposed to genuine debate.
Celebrities who throw themselves in the presidential debate are the cannonfodder of the critics…nuf said
Aug 27, 2008 - 11:43 am 47. Amphipolis:Madonna’s opinion matters to me.
About as much as Alfred E. Newman’s.
Aug 27, 2008 - 12:13 pm 48. kourosh:Nothing new here. Modanna is prostituting herself again. She is a glittering prostitute who acts like a liberal know it all now. .Those stupid who attend glittery prostitute concerts must asked themselves what is the value of her music if any and if it wasn’t for the sex who would have attended her concerts?
Aug 27, 2008 - 12:15 pm 49. Rubicon:Pathetic comparisons to people like “Hitler” or reducing intelligent debate or discussions to “you are a racist, or you are a bigot”, only serve to show your positions lack credibility or substance.
Aug 27, 2008 - 2:28 pm 50. GayPatriot » Bill Clinton of Pop Music Links McCain to Hitler:Once an issue devolves into name calling, one side of the debate demonstrates their lack of character & intellect. Madonna has done this once again. Add her name to the list of
“celebrities” who want us all to believe “they alone” are intelligent & “their opinion” alone should also be ours, plus, “their moral bankruptcy” should guide us all in life.
How empty headed! How vacuous! How vain!
Perhaps we can create another ism for the world!? A Madonna-ism” would apply to those empty comments celebrities use to attack those whose shoes they are not fit to polish!
[...] Katherine Berry put it yesterday in Pajamas:”For two decades now, Madonna’s fame has stemmed more from her antics than any actual talent, singi…” (Via Instapundit who thinks the pop star’s too old to be having a mid-life crisis). [...]
Aug 27, 2008 - 2:45 pm 51. Attmay:Hitler comparisons are so stale I don’t even compare Hitler to Hitler anymore!
When was Madonna’s last hit song, BTW?
Aug 27, 2008 - 3:57 pm 52. number 6:Dear God, she’s still here?
Aug 27, 2008 - 7:36 pm 53. Alfonso:Madonna is a woman of her time. I just saw fragments of the video. She is the must important female pop singer ever. Although we can be agree or disagree with her ideas she point to the issues that can have a strong impact in our society. As she did before with sexual and religious themes , now she is showing war, poverty, and many people who have had a strong impact in contemporary society. Bravo Madonna because you are using your art to make people to THINK and that is why you are relevant over other artist. Madonna is a PERFORMER of her time!
Aug 27, 2008 - 8:06 pm 54. Bill Perron:I had no idea she was still alive, her career died years ago. What happened, Is she a vampire?
Aug 27, 2008 - 8:39 pm 55. Bill Perron:Alfonso, that must be some really good stuff you be smoking.
Aug 27, 2008 - 8:42 pm 56. Dempsey:“I’m so hot for her, I’m so hot for her, I’m so hot for her and she’s… Of course, I’m referring to Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin. Huh? You thought I was talking about Madonna? Silly kids! hahaha
Aug 28, 2008 - 12:53 am 57. cwm:This coming from the women who offered to sleep with Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War. I guess she’s still looking for another goat herder to sleep with. Please just ignore her and maybe she will go away. I really don’t think young men want to see someone as old as their grandmother dressed like Madonna.
Aug 28, 2008 - 4:24 am 58. ALEXISTAN:I thought the Germans forfeited their right to mass rally… well, they should have, anyway.
Also: Doesn’t “puerile” mean “adolescent”, pretty much?
Aug 28, 2008 - 5:53 am 59. Jose Garcia:I’d still hit it.
Aug 28, 2008 - 6:50 pm 60. Iconoclast911:Madonna has as much right to her opinion as anyone else. She has had a career
Aug 29, 2008 - 9:31 am 61. Waller:spanning almost three decades, and she is one of the most successful singers
in the world. She has the courage to say what she feels, and she happens to be right about McCain. Why are all the neocon republican commenters so threatened by her opinion? None of you Limbaugh fans have explained how she
is wrong about McCain, but rather go directly to childish name calling. McCain
has his face planted firmly in Bush’s ass.
Icono
Obviously you can’t tell the difference between researched, informed opinion and the rambling of an idiot. Don’t give us a speech on how smart Madge is, or how high her IQ is. When she talks politics, she blathers like an idiot.
BTW Who started the name calling? I believe it was the Material Girl herself by juxtaposing McCain and Hitler. (The ultimate childish epithet)
Aug 29, 2008 - 10:21 am 62. Chris:Many of you are calling her career dead. That she’s “famous(ish), and so on. She must be doing something right. She is the most successfull female artist of our time. She holds the record for top 10 songs. Her tour in 2006 was the biggest selling female tour in history. She just happens to be a very opinionated woman. I notice alot of her critics on here are men. It just goes to show how threatened men can be by a ambitious woman. And besides that, even though she’s 50, she could probably still kick your asses!
Aug 29, 2008 - 11:50 am 63. Kerrie:I don’t usually waste my time writing on these things, but something that Javelin wrote is highly disturbing to me. So tell me how many generations of your family have been Republicans? Is that why you are? Or do you truly believe that the American way is to deny children a fair chance in life. How can you possibly say that Democrats hate America when they are the ones trying to make it better from the bottom up. You are only as good as the the person next to you and with so many Americans that are uneducated, poverty stricken, and homeless you aren’t looking so good. Perhaps you should have a “hearty” bowl of Democratic soup!
Aug 29, 2008 - 3:26 pm 64. DEGUELLO:Let’s see , a recipe for democratic soup:a cup of demagoguery,two cups of transgenerational welfare dependency, paid by several cups of deficit spending;two cups of gun control 2cups of criminalsympathetic judges,1cup first amendment repression also called,fairness doctrine,1cup police brutality(waco),10cups job/incentive destroying taxes. Mix in man hating feminist bile,and a cup of reverse racism (affirmative action);add 3 cups of failing progressive educational philosophies,defecate lies, threats, antichristian bigotry,together with rap,hollywood,and other turds of cultural degeneracy,mix vigorously in a bowl,then drink.If the diner, dies, make another batch, and another batch, and another batch….There’s an endless supply of fools out there to replace those poisoned,so don’t worry.
Sep 3, 2008 - 11:33 am 65. LUIS Z:hahaha she,s MADONNA bounch of lossers hahaha
Sep 23, 2008 - 6:51 pm 66. Dorian:The writer of this lame article is probaly fat and ugly and no one knows you. She should stick to her own kind and leave Madonna be, which is the greatest living ICON of our time. I don’t see millions of people screaming out your name any time soon…… have a good nite
Oct 20, 2008 - 11:51 pm