I’ve been doing pretty well this election season, emotional-stability-wise, but today, I’m starting to get really pissed. With the tacit encouragement of the candidates, McCain-Palin rallies are turning into lynch mobs, astonishing examples of the real consequences of pushing Rovian campaign tactics that far. Whether or not Obama is dominating in the polls, this kind of stuff makes me furious and terrified, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to watch the debate tonight without being physically restrained, or my TV might end up out on the sidewalk.
Oakdale, California’s Brett Dennen understands. His new album, Hope for the Hopeless (hey, that’s me!) comes out October 21st; his label, Downtown, has a free mp3 of the first single, “Make You Crazy” (that’s also me!), whose lyrics acknowledge that the “lies just to get you/spies just to get you” are “enough to make you go crazy.” Thankfully, its sunny samba rhythms have the calming properties of a nice caipirinha—not too sweet, but tasty enough to help you forget why you were about to blow your top over some planted pseudo-redneck at a Palin rally. And is that Femi Kuti in the background? Why yes it is. Ahhh, that’s better.
