Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Sweet Demotion.


Sam Stein on Huffington Post  had this item on Virginia GOP Confederate and serious party ladder-climber Rep. Eric Cantor, who we've written about previously on JackRabbit Café…

Usually, in war and politics, the victor writes the history. In the case of the soon-to-be-signed stimulus package, however, neither side is admitting defeat.

Republicans in the House of Representatives are trying to mold success out of what is, at its core, a legislative failure. The most recent bit of gloating: a back-slapping YouTube clip from minority whip Eric Cantor's office, set to the tune of Aerosmith's "Back In The Saddle."

"The House GOP is back," reads Cantor's website. Indeed. Having been relegated so far into the minority so as to be incapable of stopping a stimulus bill that it deemed wasteful and liberal, the GOP is taking solace in the unity of its opposition. Conspicuously absent from the video is any mention of the party's House leader, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). But this video is a House Whip Production. 

That was yesterday and these are Republicans, so something was sure to go wrong. 

Aerosmith doesn't do it for me, but this item in TalkingPointsMemo had me hoisting a lit Bic:  

Poor House Republicans. They were pretty psyched yesterday about that new troops-rallying video from Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) that used Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle" to declare that "The House GOP is back" thanks to the party's unanimous opposition to the stimulus.

But unfortunately, Aerosmith wasn't feeling the love. Cantor's clip has been pulled from YouTube after a copyright infringement claim made by Stage Three Music, which owns the rights to "Back in the Saddle."

The GOP's use of the tune "was something we, as the publishers, didn't approve and would not have approved without going to the writers," Connie Ashton, director of copyright and licensing at Stage Three, told me. "Aerosmith did not approve of its use and also wanted to have it taken down," she added.

Ashton added that House Republicans never contacted Stage Three to put in a request for use of "Back in the Saddle." Maybe they assumed it was okay because Joe Perry endorsed McCain last year.  

Joe Perry has been quoted as saying that he's always been a "hard-core Republican."

Perry has also always been a faux, bargain-basement Keith Richards wanna-be who may have kicked dope but evidently still votes like one.  
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