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: Outside Counsel

By Bill Altreuter

On the one hand, Charlie Crist's proposed pardon of Jim Morrison seems like a pointless exercise. On the other hand it may be, like Mike Huckabee's pardon of Keith Richards, arguably a good-faith effort by a conservative Republican to come to grips with the culture war that has been waging in America for the last 50 years or so. Both Crist and Huck are of an age (Crist is a year older than I am; Huck is two years older). Rock'n'roll as a symbol of cultural decline doesn't resonate in quite the same way with people in their 50's as it did in the 60's. I suppose it is worth noting that nobody is stepping forward with a pardon for Chuck Berry (or James Brown for that matter), and I can't help but think that both Crist and Huckabee are currently outflanked on the right. The latter point troubles me inasmuch as it implies that both of these middle aged white guys may actually be moderates on the current spectrum-- they aren't moderate to me, but I doubt that Meg Whitman would have made pardoning old rockers a concern. The whole thing is weird: Republicans are at their most dangerous when they become involved in popular culture.

Full post as published by Outside Counsel on November 18, 2010 (boomark / email).