Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who announced Monday he’s running for president in 2016, said he started listening to country music because of 9/11.
During an interview with CBS’ “This Morning,” Cruz revealed he didn’t like the way rock bands reacted to the terrorist attack.
“Music is interesting. I grew up listening to classic rock, and I’ll tell you sort of an odd story,” Cruz said. “My music tastes changed on 9/11.”
“On 9/11, I didn’t like how rock music responded, and country music collectively, the way they responded, it resonated with me, and I have to say, it just is a gut-level — I had an emotional reaction that says, ‘these are my people,'” Cruz added.
(1) Did classic rock change on 9/11? Because…. I don’t think so.
(2) To be sure, country music had its share of post-9/11 “America Fuck Yeah” songs (courtesy of Toby Keith and Alan Jackson), but I don’t know exactly what was bad about how “rock music” responded. I mean, there was the Concert for New York City that took place on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden in New York City that featured Paul McCartney, The Who, Rolling Stones bandmates Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, David Bowie, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bon Jovi, Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, the Backstreet Boys, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Melissa Etheridge, Five for Fighting, Goo Goo Dolls, John Mellencamp and Kid Rock — the purpose of which was to honor the first responders from the New York City Fire Department and New York City Police Department, their families, and those lost in the attacks and those who had worked in the ongoing rescue and recovery efforts in the weeks since that time. Yeah, that was inappropriate (not!)
(3) Obviously, this was a craven attempt by Cruz to win the redneck pick-up truck vote.