Bird’s-Eye View

For the life of me, I will never understand how politicians get themselves embroiled in public spats or, even worse, lawsuits with musicians. Remember Bruce Springsteen, Ronald Reagan and the abduction of “Born in the U.S.A.?” Did anyone in the Reagan campaign screen that song before trying to use it as a pure Love America anthem?

According to Rolling Stone, John McCain has now found himself in a similar situation, this time with 70s singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. From RS:

Jackson Browne has filed a lawsuit against John McCain after the Republican presidential candidate used a portion of Browne’s “Running On Empty” in a campaign commercial without permission. The Republican National Party is also listed in the suit. In the commercial, McCain mocks Barack Obama for suggesting that the country conserve gas through proper tire inflation. What bothers Browne almost as much as McCain’s lack of permission, the lawsuit alleges, is that using “Running On Empty” suggests that Browne supports McCain’s presidential campaign and the Republican platform. “In light of Jackson Browne’s lifelong commitment to Democratic ideals and political candidates, the misappropriation of Jackson Browne’s endorsement is entirely reprehensible, and I have no doubt that a jury will agree,” Browne’s lawyer Lawrence Iser said. Browne is seeking to prohibit the McCain campaign from using “Running On Empty” or any other Browne compositions, as well as asking for unspecified damages.

Look, I may only be 29 years old, but even I know Browne’s material has slammed Republican politics for decades, so how this slipped through the McCain campaign’s scrutiny, I have no clue. And now, instead of focusing solely on Obama’s tire inflation policy (something, by the way, McCain agrees with), we’re talking about lawyers.

And as Andrew Romano of Newsweek notes, this isn’t the first time the McCain band has experience some inharmonious moments with the music industry.