As an African-American, his later affiliation with Judaism sometimes caused him personal anguish. The Jewish community never fully embraced him as a member. After his marriage to Swedish actress May Britt and involvement in the Republican Party, the African-American community ostracized him.

While Davis's success broke down racial barriers, there were inevitably cries of "sellout" notably when he endorsed Republican President Richard Nixon in 1972. (Even James Brown confided 'You're taking a lot of heat...I never got it this way').

Sinatra then became a Republican and lent his support as fund-raiser and campaigner to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan...

From teenage crooner to civil rights activist to Reagan Republican, his shifting identity resonated deeply in Italian American culture.

For instance, here was the MC5 chanting 'leaders suck' and one of the important themes of Sun Ra was the importance of leaders. He said it was really awful that leaders were treated bad even when these leaders were bad themselves. This is one of the things that people didn't want to hear. He thought that for people like George Bush and Richard Nixon, as bad as they were, they shouldn't have been treated badly. It was an obsession of his. This is the 'reactionary' side of Sun Ra- the fact that he voted for George Bush and Nixon and was going to vote for Ross Perot.

"I'm not a registered Republican. I'm not even registered to vote. I was just curious, so I went to check it out after they sent me an invitation to the lunch."

"I ain't no fucking Republican." from Impact of a Legend, concerning his appearance at a Republican fundraiser

Nelson, who has been talking up Kucinich's candidacy since last summer, says he was attracted to Kucinich first because of the Ohio congressman's passionate defense of family farmers -- a cause close to the heart of the country singer, who has been a core backer of the Farm Aid concerts. But, as he campaigned for Kucinich over the weekend, Nelson picked up on the anti-war message that has been central to Kucinich's run for the White House.

BO: But I don't care. I'm not voting for either one of those fucking scumbags. No way. Anybody who's going to vote for John Kerry has got their head up their ass. They get exactly what they deserve. It's the corporate military. That's it. He voted for the war in Iraq, same with his running mate Edwards, they both voted for it. Fuck those guys. Not saying that I'm against the war in Iraq, but don't vote for somebody because you think they're better than each other. They're not: all those politicians come from the same mold and anyone who thinks otherwise is living in a world of make believe. Democrats and Republicans are exactly the same.

BO: Really? Honestly? Ok, remember the Democrats were the ones in office during the Vietnam War, not the Republicans. They were the ones that reinstated the draft. Gore's wife, Tipper Gore, is the biggest opponent of free speech in the United States in the last fifty years. The PRMC and all of her battles - trying to throw Jello Biafra in jail for pandering to the youth of America - and she was almost the First Lady. I'm sorry, that is not something I want to be involved in. That's crazy talk. They're nuts. Totally fucking crazy. The "lesser evil" is absurd. It's like saying I'd rather have smallpox than dysentery. I don't believe that. I don't think that Kerry is any less evil than George Bush. It's crazy. I think they're exactly the same. How do they know things wouldn't be worse? They don't know that. Joe Lieberman, who was running with Gore, is a hardcore Jewish fundamentalist. I'm sorry. A hardcore religious guy in the White House? How do we know that wouldn't have made the Middle East even more pissed off? We don't know that. If you want to pretend that John Kerry will make everything great in America, we'll see what happens. Everyone forgets that Clinton bombed the shit out of Iraq, bombed the fucking shit out of it.

I'm not happy with the way the troops are being treated. I'm not happy with the fact that they're running out of gas. I think we were told one thing and went to war for another. I think that if George W. Bush would step up to the microphone and say, "Look, we're going to clear the record and start anew, and here's what we're really doing there," and tell us the truth and give us credit for being the great Americans that we are, I think we could handle it.

"I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. There's not a dime's bit of difference between them."

Rock N Roll Experience: What do you think of George Bush Jr.?

Jeff: He's alright...I lean to the right a little bit in politics, obviously not the religous reich, because I'm an Athiest, but he's alright.

Rock N Roll Experience: Who are you voting for in the upcoming election?

Jeff: I don't know if I'm gonna vote or not, but if I do, it would probably be for Bush because I don't know shit about Kerry.

There are some funny surprises in the mix as well, as you read and the enigma unravels. Namely, "My favorite politician was Arizona senator Barry Goldwater." Barry Goldwater? What the fuck?

Schadenfreude wrote:What political affiliation does William Shatner have? Of course, he's Canadian, so there may be no suitable answer.

alex maiolo wrote:I'm not calling "suck" or "not suck," but nobody has mentioned Sonny Bono yet. The guy was a Republican Congressman, so affiliation isn't a question.
Plus, he was promoting drug scare tactics, musically, in the 60's. That's pretty Republican.

Anthony J wrote:what about bands on christian record labels like tooth & nail?