Ditsy Chicks foul the nest

Time magazine? The cover? Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of joke? A girls group that, yes, was very big a couple of years ago, but who self-destructed faster than a "Mission Impossible" tape recorder with one inexcusable utterance? A trio of talented girls who have been extremely fortunate, incredibly blessed, but who kissed off the great majority of their fans in an audacious display of hubris, poor taste and grievously un-American disdain for the twice-elected leader of the free world?

Yep, there they are – with clothes on this time – unlike the infamous magazine cover they "graced" completely nude soon after the debacle in England, where they announced to our valiant British friends that they were ashamed our president was from their home state of Texas. Remember, Prime Minister Tony Blair, the leader of our strongest, bravest ally had stood firm against strident criticism at home and throughout Europe to join with the United States in its frontal assault on terrorism; and then these popular young girls exploded a devastating PR bomb on stage, disavowing America's leader, our commander in chief, and simultaneously demeaned President Bush, seriously questioned Blair's judgment and revealed their own arrogant, immature insensitivity.

When their formerly roaring career imploded overnight, Natalie Maines, the engaging lead singer who'd made the self-destructive statement, eventually made a reluctant half apology. But their record sales all but vanished, their audiences dwindled dramatically and it appeared the Dixie Chicks might well wind up on a Col. Sanders menu.

So why, tell me why, are they on the cover of Time magazine this week? A suspicious person might surmise that the editors, when they learned that the Chicks are decidedly unrepentant, oblivious to the tasteless and unpatriotic character of their stance and eager to "bash Bush" some more, decided to promote them, their new album and their political views. Ditto "60 Minutes" Sunday night, where the Chicks were given a royal and supportive exposure on the very brink of the release of the new album and single, Not Ready to Make Nice, a title aptly describing their current attitude.

When the interviewer, obviously reveling in Natalie's defiance, observed "You don't seem sorry at all for what you said and did," she answered sweetly, almost reasonably, "Sorry? For not wanting us to be at war, for not wanting people to be dying? No, I'm not sorry." Of course, that dodged the real issue of her disgraceful personal slap at her president. She was obviously inferring that President Bush did want us to be at war and was the sole cause of American deaths, evidently unaware that we have been at war for over five years with Muslim extremists who want us all dead. But on the interview went, making the young ladies seem almost heroic, and certainly to be admired for their courageous outspokenness. Surely aware that such favorable exposure should greatly help the chances of the new album, CBS and the "60 Minutes" producers really painted the Chicks as a triune Joan of Arc.

But wait. Wasn't it this very program, these producers, who obtained military secrets about Abu Ghraib and trumpeted them to the world, certainly including our enemies, seriously wounding our international influence – in time of war – and putting our soldiers more in harm's way than ever? Wasn't it these producers who wanted so desperately to see Bush defeated that they gave the mad dog terrorists their expressed excuse to behead poor Nick Berg? Could it be that they – and Time's editors – want the Chicks' album, with its renewed disparagement of the president, to be a smash, precisely because of their defiant statements like the latest: "I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever"?

Oh, surely, that couldn't be.

Why, that would be almost like … well, almost … like Tokyo Rose during World War II! While our brave young men and women were putting their lives on the line to defeat the perpetrators of Pearl Harbor, the worst attack on American soil until 9-11, a young Japanese woman was broadcasting every day where our soldiers would hear her, trying to demoralize and discourage, and hopefully defeat them.

Our Ditsy Chicks are too young to remember Tokyo Rose, but they are her inadvertent descendants.

An Internet acquaintance, Ashton Hardy, reminded me that Tokyo Rose's constant message, drafted for her by psychological warfare experts, always contained three main points:

Your president is lying to you.
The war is illegal and wrong.
You cannot win.

Interesting, isn't it? Oddly familiar, too. Of course, currently the Chicks have our own American media to do the broadcasting, which they do enthusiastically in the guise of "reporting the news." And the reporting, usually very favorable to the Chicklets, goes immediately around the world, translated into many languages for the Muslim world – and in English, to our GIs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Oh, our fine-feathered femmes insist they "support our troops" – while they demoralize them – but that's what Tokyo Rose did, too. She told our soldiers, sailors and Marines she was "on their side," too!

As a father of four girls, I hurt for the Ditsies. They haven't realized how unpatriotic and un-American they are. They have ultra-liberal friends around them who egg them on (pun not intended), and they're persuaded they're upholding free speech and promoting humanitarian interests. Like so many dissenters, they seem to think that if we just "make nice" with terrorists, wave peace signs and disavow war as an answer, everything will turn out fine.

I wonder if any of them visited Ground Zero where the World Trade Center used to be. I wonder if Natalie has had a conversation with any of our brave men and women who don't want to leave Iraq until a free, democratic republic is assured in the despotic Middle East. I wonder what she'd think if she could spend an afternoon with President Ahmadinejad of Iran or al-Qaida's al-Zarqawi in Iraq (if she could find him) and find out what they intend to do to the likes of the Chicks and their own little chicks.

Would they be ready to "make nice" then? I wonder.

More thoughts on these things next week in this space.

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