St. Ignatius's The Eye: Volume LXXIX Number II

With the heated battle for the presidency having just a month remaining, more and more people have begun to make their voices heard, even through music. In an effort to encourage young people to vote President George W. Bush from office this November, the liberal-progressive MoveOn.org Political Action Committee (PAC) has organized and sponsored the Vote for Change Tour. The concert series features several popular artists such as REM, Bruce Springsteen, Death Cab for Cutie, and Dave Matthews. The concerts have been deliberately scheduled for battleground states, the hope is fantastic music mixed with a political messages, will help push highly contested states the way of Senator Kerry.
While the tour has received tremendous support from those opposed to George W. Bush, many have also denounced the concerts. Bush-backers have obviously opposed the Vote for Change Tour because its goal is the defeat of their preferred candidate. Rumors have even abounded about conservatives organizing a similar idea, but with only a short time left before the election, it seems those plans have fizzled out. 70's Rock legend Alice Cooper even recently commented on politics and music in Newsweek magazine (September 6, 2004), saying: "If you are listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you are a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons."