R.A. say it ain't so....The Rugged Man announces support for McCain/Palin ticket

In one of the worst moves he's ever made (and believe me he's made more than a few) R.A. The Rugged Man, one of my personal favorite artist's ever and perhaps one of the best underground rappers of all time has made it public that he is an avid supporter of John McCain and Sarah Palin. It's unclear whether R.A. is a full blown right wing nut job, or if making statements like "He’s the world’s greatest used-car salesman.", to describe McCain's opponent Barack Obama is just apart of his well publicized over-the-topness.

I just find it stunning in many ways...kinda like when you find out that your favorite uncle who was mysteriously gone for most of your youth, and whom you heard good story after story about, was really not in fact away in the army, but rather serving 16 mandatory years on a 30 year bid in state prison for murder. Yeah, that pretty much sums up how big of a fucking surprise this is. I mean, R.A. just seemed so down with us man...his music and many of his interviews often conveyed the impression that he really understood what was going on with the hood and minorities. In many ways I had fully accepted his weird ass as one of us. I Felt that he would be able to empathize with our struggle after his bum ass career went years without any major releases and he toiled in obscurity, only appreciated by the loyal underground heads. Heads that more often than not were either anarchist's like him or far left liberals like me. As it turns out, R.A. might be just another addition to the laundry list of huge disappointments this young Obama supporter has discovered this election season. A season that has laid bare to the true sentiments of some of the people I grew up loving for their talents and personalities. As if it wasn't bad enough to have to watch one of my childhood football hero's John Elway shamelessly endorse that lost, erratic and dangerously ignorant old man McCain, now I must endure having someone whose contributions to the culture I hold so near and dear to my heart, give his stamp of approval to these two hapless muthafuckas as well.

In retrospect I guess it's not so surprising that R.A. supports McCain. As a fan of R.A.'s music and life I am aware of the fact that his father was a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army and a highly decorated Vietnam war veteran who was shot down behind enemy lines in 1970. Because of those facts and the great weight that I'm sure they bore on R.A.'s life, I guess I can somewhat overstand his choice to ride wit McCain a lil' bit. What I can't get is how a smart guy like R.A. can support someone who is quite possibly the most inept and ill prepared vice presidential selection of all time. How someone who has mastered language, knows the difference between someone who can come straight off the top of the dome versus someone who has memorized their writtens, can openly and whole heartedly support a broad like Sarah Palin is just, well, it might be too much for this Rugged Man fan to really accept.

Blindsided isn't the word that best describes how I feel about R.A.'s sudden conversion from being an incessant nihilist to staunch conservative Republican supporter. Like Mike Tyson in his prime, giving you a right hook to the jaw and planting you on the mat in 30 seconds, probably is a more meticulous way of describing the shock I experienced when Mr. "Dirty Bitch Anthem" and "Cunt Renaissance" gave interviews vilifying the liberal media for being sexist toward Sarah Palin. Riiiight......

For fucks sake, I keep on thinking that this is all a big joke and that in usual Rugged Man fashion, R.A. is just fuckin' with our minds. That this whole deal is just his way of padding what the Hip-Hop world has already come to know as the ultimate "American low-life" image. Unfortunately it's not just a bad joke and R.A. has never been more serious about endorsing a cause ever. literally. Many of his fans have already flooded his Myspace with their pleas of displeasure and frustration, but to no avail. Foolhardy R.A. made another comment about liberals and democrats that I found to be the ultimate in irony. He said "The Democrats aren’t a wild and crazy bunch of liberals like everybody thinks, That whole loose-spirited vibe is just phony bullshit. I might not be like the Republicans, but at least they don’t run around pretending to be anything other than conservative.”. His imprudence sadly illustrates his overt distrust and bitterness. From where this begrudging and divided mentality comes from is beyond me, but like most McCain/Palin supporters come the fourth of November they will all either get their wish, denying us of ours or they'll find a way to steal it. Somehow, this time the fact that R.A. would probably be cool with either chaotic scenario doesen't sit well with me. A man I once uniformly applauded for his brash and unhinged nature is now just another unrelatable white man. A familiar face that vanished overnight and has been replaced with someone else's.

-BIG D O