With all the recent furor over her (alleged) new face, (alleged) affair, and (alleged, we say!) marital problems, we almost forgot why Madonna became such a media target in the first place: The lady likes to push buttons. Political, sexual, spiritual, you name it; Madge has a long history of stirring the pot in her quest for artistic expression, social justice, and—let’s be honest here—plain old attention. So really, was anyone surprised by the news that her Sticky and Sweet Tour contains an incendiary video montage that links John McCain to Kim Jong Il and Hitler, while buddying Barack Obama with the Dalai Lama? The move is vintage Madge, a throwback to the feisty Italian-American girl of yore who supposedly told the Pope that if he wanted an audience with her, he could buy a ticket to her show. We loved that Madonna and we love her still, but it looks like age hasn’t made her any more eloquent. The stab at McCain (which found its way to YouTube this week) is about as clumsy as they come, and its nutty implications show a Madge who is less concerned about substance than shock value; otherwise we might be seeing something here that looks a little more like video art and a little less like a YouTube mashup made by an angsty armchair pundit.
What do you think PopWatchers? Is Madge’s video an edgy statement or just a cry for attention? And isn’t all the political junk just a smokescreen for the video’s real message that monocles are totally hot?
Forgive me if I don’t take my political advice from someone thrusting and gyrating with poles in a cage wearing hot pants and a raccoon mask. Apparently since only one single from her album made the charts (on the strength of JT, no doubt) she thinks this is the way to get noticed again. I think it’s a bit ironic that the beginning of this video equates excess and consumerism with getting stupid… coming from a woman who lives one of the most luxurious lifestyles of anyone on earth. How many planes, trains and automobiles (and gallons of gas and pollution) does it take to transport her personal carnival from city to city and continent to continent? Get stupid, indeed.
Cry for attention – I love Madge and love that she pushes buttons but some of the buttons she pushes are just easy targets and rather lazy for an shock icon.
A well-edited cry for attention.
I’m sorry, I HATE to be political, but I fail to see why throngs of supporters who bought into the cult of personality of Hitler et al is more apropos toward McCain than Obama? I mean, “McCain is evil!” is plain stupid, “McCain is evil like Hitler!” is so idiotic (let alone insulting to the actual atrocities of WWII) it doesn’t even deserve a response, but if you’re trying to draw parallels, showing the throngs of cheering people is bad…uh…isn’t Obama in the wrong part of this montage? If you want thought out, trying to make life better, damn the popularity, show someone like Nader (like him or not, nut or not, at least he puts the public above his popularity). If your argument is popularity = evil, I just have to say…Epic Fail!
So sad – trying so hard to be relevant and as a result proves how irrelevant she really is. Kind of pathetic.
I didn’t get halfway through without having to turn it off. I’m not anti-Madonna or anything, but I am anti-tedium. The video was mediocre at best.
This clearly is meant to be shown during a concert which is a completely different context from on YouTube. Judge based on that fact and good for her for having an opinion. Too many people don’t give a frak and decisions are made by those who show up.
I thought it was cool — her opinion, her right to voice it. And McCain may not be on the same level as Hitler, but in terms of supporting the Iraq war, he’s partly responsible for many innocent and unnecessary lives ending. Obama’s not perfect, but he voted against the war.
I agree with everything she say’s and support Obama.
War isn’t the answer, we can talk our way out of problems as Obama say’s and if not well then we surely learned something from Harold and Kumar in that all we have to do is eat a cockmeat sandwich like they do and surely all the bad people in the world will be happy and and wont bother us anymore, what a small price to pay for freedom, anyone hungry.
Amazing as usual! All the haters, stupid as usual – have any of you listened?!
Madonna rules! For all the haters – what are you doing at 50?! Losers!!
Madonna is a pathetic old hag, and her music sucks. If it weren’t for European and Asian fans, has-been artists like her would have no careers at all. Comparing McCain to Hitler is moronic. He voted for the war so that makes him like Hitler? If that’s the case, where are the images of Hillary and the other Democrats who voted for it as well? Partisan politics as usual.
The Confessions Tour featured a similar video comparing GWB to the world’s worst and most evil “leaders” which was much more effective. This time around it leaves me saying “meh.” Here’s the Confessions version:
I am (or was) a Madonna fan but I think using Hitler is tacky & offensive because it trivializes what he did. Neither McCain nor Obama is like Hitler, yet. McCain served honorably and Obama has done nothing but promote himself & take a quick affirmitive action ride to the top. OBAMA DID NOT VOTE AGAINST THE WAR!!! HE HAS VOTED TO SUPPORT THE WAR THE IN THE SENATE!!! He was oppsed to it in a speech but then VOTED FOR THE WAR once he became a Senator. OBAMA WILL NOT END THE WAR! He will do anything to get elected. He was first funded by the Muslim criminal, Tony Rezko, who purchased Obama’s house for him and lived next door. Obama helped Rezko embezzle 14 million tax-payer dollars. Obama is friends with William Ayers, a confessed terrorist. Obama chose to sit in a racist, anti-Semitic, anti-American church until this election cycle brought his associations into question. Obama certainly has the charisma of a Hitler in training, but it remains to be seen if he will be as evil.
MADONNA RULEZ! … and she always will. I think the comparison of McCain to Hitler is amusingly hyperbolic. One definitely gets (bludgeoned with) the message. Good for her!