April 26, 2007, - 11:49 am
“The Condemned”: Time for a Divorce from GOP’s Version of Pimp & Ho Rap
By
Sometimes a Republican pot needs to do its own introspection. And get its own house in order, while it keeps the heat on the kettle.
In the wake of Imus-gate, we’ve been hearing about Democratic Presidential candidates–like Hillary Rodham Cankles and Hussein Obama–hangin’ with the worst purveyors of hip-hop trash.
They should be ashamed. Hip-hop is among the worst cultural influences, and it has helped speed up the decline of American civilization. By standing side-by-side with–and accepting campaign contributions from–vile rappers, prominent Dems have legitimized their beat-laden spewing.
But the GOP has its own version of Hip-Hop. In fact, the Party of Lincoln and Reagan has also embraced a violent pimp-and-ho culture all of its own: WWE–World Wrestling Entertainment.
I was reminded of this, Tuesday Night, when I screened the thoroughly sickening new movie, “The Condemned.” Starring convicted wife-beater and WWE star “Stone Cold Steve Austin” a/k/a Steven James Anderson, this horrifying snuff film is produced by WWE and its CEO, Vince McMahon. Normally, I’d have skipped this killing-and-torture fest. But because I will be reviewing movies on a national cable news network on Friday Morning, I was obligated to see it.
Two hours later, I’d viewed a two hour series of non-stop torture, slashing, hacking, shooting, beating, raping, dismemberment, exploding humans (with bombs strapped on), and other assorted killings.
The “plot”–if you can call it that–is that 10 men and women condemned to death and sitting in prisons around the world are acquired by an egomaniac American (of course) millionaire and dropped on an island for 30 hours. The millionaire is shooting a sadistic online reality game show, “The Condemned.” At the end of 30 hours, only one of the condemned can survive. He/she must kill the other nine or be killed by virtue of an exploding ankle bracelet. At any time, one participant can try to blow up another by tugging on the other’s exploding ankle bracelet.
The tagline for this horrid blood-fest on film:
10 People Will Fight. 9 People Will Die. You Get to Watch.
And, sorry, this is no “.” It’s not art. And there isn’t any brave or important message about freedom. Though the movie pretends to have a moral message, uttered by a Diane Sawyer knock-off named Donna Sereno, that’s really just a phony attempt to give the kosher seal of approval to this celluloid horror.
Yet, despite movies like this and other products like its regular TV shows filled with the pimp-and-ho mentality, the Republican Party continues its long-term relationship with WWE and the McMahon family that owns, runs and stars in it.
At the 2000 Republican National Convention, then-WWE wrestler Dwayne Johnson a/k/a “The Rock” addressed delegates. Vince McMahon and his wife had a luncheon reception attended by George W. Bush and wife Laura. At the 2004 Convention, the GOP again invited WWE personalities as the GOP’s special guests and invited McMahon to include the GOP in his effort at having WWE consumers and fans influence elections.
That, despite the disgusting pimp-and-ho story lines on WWE shows. And there is no sign the GOP will change course in 2008, especially when the party is desperately fighting to beat Hillary in a very uphill battle.
It’s time for the GOP to finally divorce itself from WWE–not because its fan base is waning, but because it’s the right thing to do. If the GOP cannot do that, Republican activists and conservatives are in no position to attack Hillary and B. Hussein Obama for their alliances with disgusting rappers.
“The Condemned” is just the latest in a long line of disgusting trash coming out of WWE. If conservatives and Republicans are truly offended by the trash coming out of hip-hop, why are they so silent about the trash coming out of WWE?
And finally, there are “conservatives” like Bill O’Reilly, who are upset about Obama’s friend, rapper Ludacris. His raps are obscene and disgusting. But the pimp-and-ho and drug-pushing phenomena he is glorifying is the same stuff “Kid Rock” a/k/a Bob Ritchie is gushing over.
Yet, O’Reilly has praised Kid Rock because “he’s a friend of ‘The Factor,'” while O’Reilly rips on Luda. And the GOP initially invited Kid Rock to perform at Bush’s 2004 inaugural festivities (he was disinvited after some family-values conservatives protested).
But here’s the scoop on Kid Rock, from my on this sleazebag:
Rock/Ritchie has repeatedly told the world that he modeled himself after convicted, imprisoned Detroit drug kingpin “White Boy Rick” a/k/a Richard Wershe, Jr., with his fur coats and pimp hats.
Wershe ran one of the most notorious drug rings in America in the 1980s. He ordered the murder of countless people. Kid Rock glorifies Wershe in his lyrics and wrote a letter on his behalf to authorities in an attempt to get Wershe paroled. Thankfully, Wershe was not paroled, and soon after, he was discovered to have been running a national auto theft ring from his prison cell, for which he’s since been convicted.
Kid Rock is an admitted former drug dealer, but he still speaks glowingly of doing drugs. He gleefully raps about his life as a drug dealer, doing crack, and having sex in a school bathroom with the fellow drug dealer who had his out-of-wedlock kid. (It’s not like he had to be this way. He comes from a wealthy family. His father sold his lucrative Ford dealership for millions. The whole trailer park thing is an act.) He had to go to court to stop the circulation of a video of him and another rock star getting oral sex from groupies on tour.
Glorifying hard drugs and misogyny are themes in a lot of his most popular “songs.” He used to “date” porn stars, and they and strippers are a constant accessory on his tours. Don’t forget what he told Rolling Stone:Bill Clinton … a [expletive] pimp. … The guy’s my hero.
(He told the mag he was stoned on drugs when he met Clinton at the White House.)
Ritchie–the self-proclaimed “Pimp of the Nation”–likes to give the one-finger salute in every publicity shot and toured the country in his “White Trash on Dope Tour.” He used the Michigan chapter of crime-prone “Outlaw Biker Gang” as security at a video shoot. . . .
A sampling of Kid Rock’s lyrics:I’m a pimp. You can check my stats . . . . Smack all the hos.
***
Because I do so much pimpin’, one day I’ll probably walk with a limp . . . one day, watch, I’ll be the pimp of the nation.
***
I be the early-mornin’ stoned pimp, straight-limpin’, Boone’s Farm-drinkin’, at the party big-booty pinchin’.There really is no difference between Kid Rock and the most perverted Black rap “artists.”
If Kid Rock were Black, we’d call him Snoop Dogg.
The GOP must end its relationships with WWE and Kid Rock. Or shut up about the Dems and Hip-Hop.
You can’t be a family-values, moralizing pot. . . when you’re as black as the kettle.
Tags: America, B. Hussein Obama, Bill Clinton, Bill O'Reilly, cable news network, CEO, Cold Steve Austin, Debbie Schlussel Sometimes, Detroit, Donna Sereno, Dwayne Johnson, Ford, George W. Bush, Hillary Rodham Cankles, Hussein Obama, James Anderson, Laura, Lincoln, Ludacris, Michigan, Party of Lincoln, rapper, Reagan, Republican Party, Rock, sadistic online reality game show, Snoop Dogg, The Condemned, Vince McMahon, Wershe, White House, wrestler, WWE
I would say O’Reilly is more of a “liberal” than a “conservative”. But there’s no question you can’t be conservative and in a public position for very long. As it is, “conservative” is as good as it gets, and that’s the problem. Conservatives just keep disappearing before they can do anything.
spottswoode on April 26, 2007 at 1:56 pm