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CLICK THE PICTURE TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW!
This is the interview with Martie Maguire (far right) of the Dixie Chicks. We have received numerous e-mails about this interview! We address some of the questions we have gotten from you below. But first, we recommend you KNOW THE FACTS. Here is a timeline of what Natalie Maines said on March 10, 2003 and what she has said publicly since then...
March 10, 2003 in London, Natalie says "Just so
you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from
Texas."
On March 14th, 2003 - after she realizes that she
has really ticked off most of the United States, Natalie issues an
apology which states:
"As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to
President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever
holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect."
Then a month later, in April 2003, the Dixie
Chicks realize that the apology is not being accepted as well as they
might have hoped. Seeing that the March 14th apology isn't going to
make things better anytime soon, Natalie goes on with Diane Sawyer, and
says that she may not have worded it well, but she is not sorry for her
original statements. (Source:
CNN)
In May 2006, the Dixie Chicks do an interview with
Time Magazine in which Natalie says, "I apologized for disrespecting the
office of the President," says Maines. "But I don't feel that way
anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever." (Source:
Time Magazine)
In June 2006, Natalie Maines tells a British
newspaper, (Telegraph) "I don't understand the necessity for
patriotism. Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is
our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as
for loving the whole country ... I don't see why people care about
patriotism." (Source:
Telegraph)
Q. How come you guys are still talking about this when it happened in 2003? A. Two reasons. First, Natalie is still talking about it now. See the Time Magazine quote above in which Natalie says she takes back her apology to the President. This is in May of this year. Second, they are trying to get us to play a song called "Not Ready To Make Nice" which is ABOUT the situation in 2003. They haven't left it behind, why should we? Q. How come you are mad at Natalie for using her public platform to speak her mind when you do it all the time on the radio? A. When you listen to the Hawk & Tom Show, you expect to hear our views on everything from romance to politics and anything in-between. When you pay $50, $100 or perhaps even more to see the Dixie Chicks sing and play music - you probably weren't expecting a political rally when you got there. Also, please note - we do not whine or complain if you disagree with something we say and quit listening. Unlike Natalie, we are willing to accept the RESPONSIBILITY that comes with free speech. Free speech doesn't mean you can say what you want and NO ONE ELSE can respond to it! It means you can say what you want, but other people can choose to respond back, ignore you or even quit buying your products. Q. How come you are boycotting the Dixie Chicks on the Hawk and Tom Show, but you play Kanye West and he said that George W. Bush doesn't care about black people? A. Good question. We do play artists that I don't like. Artists that have said, and done, stupid things. When you get down to it - Natalie Maines just managed to push enough of my buttons to make me angry enough to respond. Natalie strikes me as an idiot who thinks she is a political activist. She's not. She is just a spoiled brat who also happens to be an idiot. Natalie didn't spark a debate about the war back in 2003. She didn't "question the President" as she would like you to believe. She just took a cowardly cheap shot in England where she thought the audience would agree with her. When the word got back to the United States and people were understandably irritated, she issued a FALSE APOLOGY. In other words, she LIED because she was afraid she screwed up. Martie Maguire said in the interview, it was a "PSEUDO apology." Look it up folks. Pseudo means "not genuine." Then when Natalie saw that people weren't buying it, she TOOK BACK THE FALSE APOLOGY. If Natalie wanted to be a "folk hero" and "question the war" she could have very easily have gone on any major news outlet back in 2003 and said, "I am concerned that this is not the right direction for our country to follow. I disagree with the President on this issue. I do not believe attacking Iraq is the right thing to do." She didn't say any of that. She didn't ASK ANY QUESTIONS. She said, "Just so you know, we're ashamed that President of the United States is from Texas." How is that "sparking a debate" or "questioning the President?" It isn't and it wasn't. It was just a cheap shot from someone who couldn't come up with anything of substance to contribute to the debate. Still don't get it? Here is something to consider: What if we had started the interview with Martie Maguire by saying, "Just so you know, we are ashamed that the Dixie Chicks are from the same country as we are from?" That would have been RUDE and DISRESPECTFUL, wouldn't it? But we didn't. We politely asked her questions about her position, and we let her respond and we never once raised our voices, or cut her off or made rude comments to her about our differing opinions. Natalie Maines behaved like an unintelligent, spoiled brat and she is STILL behaving like an unintelligent spoiled brat. I've just got no use for her. So that is why we are boycotting her and not some of the other artists that have made stupid statements or done stupid things. She just managed to rub me the wrong way enough that I have got no use for her on my radio show. You wanna listen to them, I fully support your right to do so. But you better buy the CD, because to the best of my knowledge, the country stations aren't playing their music either. Apparently I'm not the only one she rubbed the wrong way! Listen to the interview if you haven't already. We were polite to Martie Maguire. We let her answer questions. We did not yell or say rude things. We simply asked the tough questions - the questions that many of you wanted to ask but would never get the opportunity. The Sony rep even interrupts us at one point, but Martie says that she is ok with the subjects we are discussing and she even says that she has never had an intelligent discussion on the topic with anyone else before! We are proud of this interview. We were able to carry on a polite, intelligent discussion about a very controversial topic and we worked hard to get this interview for you - the listeners to the Hawk and Tom Show - to hear firsthand. We hope you enjoyed it. If not, we are embarrassed to be from the same state as you. (That's a joke! Get it?) |
