The Dixie Chicks completed a defiant comeback on Sunday night, capturing five Grammy awards after being shunned by the country music establishment over the group’s anti-Bush comments leading up to the Iraq invasion.

The Dixie Chicks won all five awards they were nominated for, sweet vindication after the superstars’ lives were threatened and sales plummeted when Maines criticized President Bush on the eve of the Iraq war in 2003. Almost overnight, one of the most successful groups of any genre was boycotted by Nashville and disappeared from country radio.

The standing ovations the Chicks received Sunday illustrated how much the political climate has changed regarding the Iraq war, and even Bush.

“That’s interesting,” Maines crowed from the podium after the country award was handed out earlier in the night. “Well, to quote the great ‘Simpsons’ – ‘Heh-Heh.’

The AP got one item wrong — their sales never plummeted — the demographics cratered in the bible belt and ballooned in the whole country. It’s called voting with your buck.

There have been many periods in the cultural life of America when criticizing politicians wasn’t considered a crime. Sadly, there may have been as many when you were not supposed to notice the emperor’s new clothes.



  1. TheGlobalWarmer says:

    Some silly, stupid bitches win meaningless awards voted on by other clueless idiots. Big effin deal. ALL protest songs are STUPID. Shut the F up and sing. Do not bring politics into it. Singers and actors opinions mean nothing. They all need to shut up and stay of our faces when they’re not on stage. The three of them together have the IQ of a toadstool.

  2. Scott Gant says:

    The Dixie Chicks got it wrong though…Maines said “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the President is from Texas”. We all know he’s really from Connecticut…born with a silver spoon in his mouth. A spoon that he later used for other purposes of course (sniff, sniff).

    He’s a fake cowboy. Just like Don Imus.

    But back to the Chicks…in their movie I liked what one of the guys bashing them said: “I’m all for freedom of speech, but for Gods sake, don’t do it in public”.

  3. Scott Gant says:

    #1 Then others should STFU also, like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh too. They’re all celebrities too and should just keep their mouths shut and get out there and report on news or something and keep politics out of it. Right? I mean, they ARE celebrities.

    I know you’re just a troll and playing a part kind of like Stephen Cobert does…I mean, you don’t really believe what you’re saying as you also go with TheGlobalWarmer as your nick. You’re just playing a parody of conservatives in this country. But some may not see that and actually take you seriously.

  4. PMitchell says:

    The global warmer said it, but with very poor taste.
    I think a comeback means you actually sold albums which is something they didn’t do ( canceled almost half of their tour dates in the U.S.) and having a bunch of your peers give you an award is not a comeback

    I am from Lubbock Texas and I am embarrassed Natalie Maines is from Lubbock (we teach our children better manners when visiting foreign countries)

  5. doug says:

    #3. It is a fiendishly clever impersonation of the Bush-licking conservative blowhard troll. You know, their standard “I cannot actually defend the indefensible, so I will lash out at the critics” line. But he left of the “I will deny the truth of all the evidence,” part and gave himself away as a mere parody.

  6. moss says:

    Aside from trolls — who have their own set of problems — the funniest sectarian reaction from neocon alley has been to characterize these awards as a “secular progressive” plot.

    If you have had any contact with the music biz, you’ll laugh yourself silly over that one. How can you take anyone seriously who’s that far out of touch with reality?

  7. moss says:

    btw, Scott (#3) — as much of a dork that Imus may be — and I could give you 1sthand examples having actually done some work on his “ranch” in NM — he actually did grow up in a ranching family in AZ.

  8. Walter Sobcheck says:

    I am from Lubbock Texas and I am embarrassed Natalie Maines is from Lubbock (we teach our children better manners when visiting foreign countries)

    Yeah, right. It’s instilled almost from birth, I hear.

    Anyway, here’s the difference: Natalie Maines didn’t steal an election, lie the country into an unneccessary and destructive war, paint political opponents as terrorist sympathizers, spy on Americans, suspend habeus corpus, roll back decades of environmental protections, and expose an undercover CIA agent as political payback.

    So be embarrassed all you want. [comment edited].

  9. doug says:

    next up –

    Australian Prime Minister Howard Lashes Out American Music Industry. Says Al-Queda Prayed for Dixie Chicks’ Win.

  10. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    4….so girls from the South are supposed to be seen and not heard?

    And FWIW they simply said something a whole lot of Americans were afraid to say in public…and which turned out to be true anyway.

  11. TheGlobalWarmer says:

    Scott, you are wrong about me. I am not playing a part. My views on Global Warming (TM) come from quite a bit of forethought. I honestly believe that giving up trucks/SUVs, big houses and big private yards is a solution worse than the problem. An urban/European lifestyle of mass transit, tiny cars, packed together so tightly that you can easily walk everywhere is not an acceptable lifestyle for a true American. (And that’s only if you believe that it’s really manmade or that it’s going to kill us all, which I don’t believe anyway).

    America as it is right now is the greatest nation that has ever existed and puts the rest of Earth to shame. (Could be even better yet, but that’s another discussion.) Seeing idiot musicians writing protest songs about America protecting it’s rightful place atop the pyramid is depressing.

  12. JT says:

    The Dixie Chicks were ahead of the political winds and should be rewarded for their prescience. They took the heat while others were afraid to at the time. The ’06 mid-term elections are further evidence of the country rejecting the Bush Republican Radical Christian Fundamentalist Right-Wing agenda and reaffirming the Dixie Chicks had it right then and now. The ’08 presidential elections should complete the rejection of the Bush years and hopefully put a woman in charge of our country. That would be the ultimate affirmation of the Dixie Chicks’ message.

  13. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    FWIW, Green Day’s American Idiot is a far more scathing attack, and they sold a whole lot more CDs than the Chicks.

  14. doug says:

    #11. Now that’s more like it! See, if you are going to do the Compleat NeoCon, not only do you have to impugn the patriotism and morals of anyone who disagrees with you, you also have to stand defiant in the face of all evidence. Nothing uncomfortable to a neocon has been proven, and in fact, it all cannot be known or proven. For example:

    no one could have known their were no WMD in Iraq

    no one could have known the levees around New Orleans would break

    no one can prove that global warming is (a) actually happening; or (2) is actually caused my man

    and bravo! the whole “I’d rather be dead than give up my Ford Expedition” thing was the icing on the cake. You should have really capstoned it with, “I’ve driven a midsize sedan, and I wished I was dead.”

    my kudos.

  15. rctaylor says:

    Nothing against them or their music, but I don’t think they were political visionaries. I think one of them made a poorly thought out statement to a sympathetic audience. These awards are probably more of a slap to Bush from the entertainment left than for talent.

  16. malren says:

    Wow. All proof that the Dixie Chicks were being “silenced.”

    *cough*

    Hyperbole serves NO ONE.

  17. Smartalix says:

    11,

    “An urban/European lifestyle of mass transit, tiny cars, packed together so tightly that you can easily walk everywhere is not an acceptable lifestyle for a true American. “

    What an stupid and myopic thing to say. If you ask anyone in the world what they think of when they think of America, most will say the name of one of our major cities. Frankly, New York City represents more about what America is than a gated community in a red state.

    America may evoke images of flowing plains, open spaces, and such but the economic, intellectual, and cultural powerhouse of this country lives in our cities. To dismiss that aspect of ouir history, heritage, and current reality only demonstrates how narrow your viewpoint is.

  18. Grrr says:

    Go Chicks!

    #6 – “Aside from trolls — who have their own set of problems…” – man, truer words were never spoken.

  19. James Hill says:

    As Larry The Cable Guy put it, the fat one should be happy the skinny ones keep her around… or else she’d be working at a Lane Bryant.

  20. Scott Gant says:

    Apart from what you think of the Chicks (to me, it was a non-story on what they said…it was an offhand remark that they did. I mean, come on. People act like they were calling for the violent overthrow of the US government)…the Grammys themselves are pretty much a joke. Have you heard the categories they have in this show? It’s almost like if you had a CD that came out in the following year, you’re almost guaranteed you’re either going to win a Grammy or at least get a nomination.

    And really, it’s fricken music. How can you say “this piece of music is better than this piece of music”. It’s all subjective. I personally didn’t like the Dixie Chicks album…yet it won Album of the Year. So am I wrong for not liking it? Again, come on.

  21. Tom says:

    I was one of those who voted with my buck. I had never bought a Dixie Chicks CD before the debacle but have bought every one since (and found out that I really like their music in the process).

  22. Walter Sobcheck says:

    As Larry The Cable Guy put it, the fat one should be happy the skinny ones keep her around… or else she’d be working at a Lane Bryant.

    Hilarious. That Larry the Cable Guy. He’s a comic genius.

    George Bush should be happy he was born in to that crime family. Otherwise he’d be cleaning the deli case at the 7-11 right now.

  23. This thread wondered way off the issue. The point is that what Dixie’s did fits the broad definition of the treason. I’d admire them if they have had organized a rally in the US and said exactly what they did there… That would make them revolutionary. However, the basic decency applies here: it is fine to iron-out the differences within the household and not right to go to the neighbour and badmouth your father there (for example). Remaining part of the story is that they appropriately lost a lot of the bussiness (no, their gains and losses didn’t even-out, they have had concerts canceled even in the North-East…) and that considering such results Grammy rewards are nothing else but the political gesture in their favor. However, as it is by US citizens on the US forum, this gesture is very appropriate. Their future bussiness will show how much it have hit the popular sentiment.

  24. BillM says:

    Who cares about the Dixie Chicks. The real travesty is Carter winning an award for the spoken word! Which anti-Semitic rant did he win for again?

  25. Noam Sane says:

    The point is that what Dixie’s did fits the broad definition of the treason.

    Oh, horseshit.

    trea·son (trzn)

    1. Violation of allegiance toward one’s country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one’s country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.

    Saying that you are embarrassed that your president is from your state doesn’t fit any definition of treason.

    Creeping Coulterism.

  26. Just Sayin says:

    The point is that what Dixie’s did fits the broad definition of the treason.

    No, what they said was fodder for the Republican Smear Machine, who’s job it was to distract the press from real news, news which demonstrated the horribly bad decisions the president was making at the time.

  27. Jeff says:

    >America as it is right now is the greatest nation that has ever existed >and puts the rest of Earth to shame. (Could be even better yet, but that’s >another discussion.) Seeing idiot musicians writing protest songs >about America protecting it’s rightful place atop the pyramid is >depressing.

    You must not know much about Greek, Roman, or Chinese history.

  28. Joe says:

    WOW! I bought their CD cause I LIKE THEIR MUSIC! I could care less about their political views as much as I could care less about George clooney’s or bill o’reilly’s views. in the end I’m glad they won those awards.

    BTW, all the rednecks are only pissed cause the chicks were right and thier sugar daddy bush was wrong

    this best sums up the whole south;
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=G6MJVzXbqRU

  29. TheGlobalWarmer says:

    #17 – Of course the rest of the world thinks of our cities first. Cities is all most of them know. I would never argue that we could get by without cities. Just don’t want to have to live in one (I know that from experience.) Working in a city is fine, gotta live at least 50 mi. out though. (not in a gated community though – ugh.)

    #27 – I would rather live here than Greece, Rome or China.

  30. Ian says:

    It is amazing how the liberal left take every opportunity they can to bash Bush. Even if it means their own peers up for the awards suffer. The fact is the Dixie Chicks popularity has gone down as shown by the best measure of fan acceptance, concert attendance, and these bias awards will not change that. I look at this as the last hurrah for the Chicks and they will soon be disbanding.


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