At Salon.com (full article available to nonsubscribers who watch the DAY-PASS advertisement:
Aug. 21, 2004 | In the past, they were vaguely considered to be of the
liberal persuasion, but unlike, say, Barbra Streisand, they chose not to wear
their political passions -- or candidates –- on their sleeves. But this is 2004,
and a swarm of previously muted American notables -- from Bruce
Springsteen to Howard Stern to Sarah Jessica Parker to, yes, Neil Diamond
–- have begun clamoring to tell the country exactly what they think of
George W. Bush and what they would like their fellow citizens to do about
him in November.
The latest to add his wry and humorous voice to the anti-Bush chorus is
Garrison Keillor, bard of America's sensible flatland, who has just published
"Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts From the Heart of
America," an entertaining encomium to the progressive values he holds dear.
n it Keillor, the host of public radio's "Prairie Home Companion," writes
warmly of the homespun Scandinavian wisdom that informed his childhood -- "Don't Think You're Special Because You're Not," which is just the local way, he notes, of reminding people to take care of their neighbors. It's a basic human value, Keillor observes, that the party of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and Tom DeLay gleefully abandoned years ago. "They are a party," writes Keillor, "that is all about perceptions, the Christian party that conceals enormous glittering malice and is led by brilliant bandits who are dividing and conquering the sweet land I grew up in. I don't accept this."
We recently communicated via e-mail with Keillor, who once served as Salon's "Mr. Blue" advice columnist, from his home (we assume) in St. Paul, Minn.
By and large, you have not been known in the past for flaunting your political opinions. But now you've come out
loudly and proudly as a die-hard Democrat. Why did you decide to reveal yourself this year -- and do you worry
about alienating your Republican fans out there?
I've always been a Democrat. Never tried to hide it, never thought I had to. "A Prairie Home Companion" isn't a political show, and by and large I hate preaching on the show. I've done it a few times and never felt easy about it. The show ought to be entertaining in every sense of the term, to people of any political stripe, my people and also ignorant fascist bastards. Writing a book is another can of beans entirely. I wrote this out of pure conviction that the country I love is in grave danger of sliding away, and one does not stifle those thoughts. I don't know why Republicans should be alienated. Ricky Skaggs has been traveling around with President Bush, singing at his rallies, and I sure am not alienated by that. Ricky is a great artist and a good guy, and I hope I get to sing with him again.
http://www.salon.com/books/int/2004/08/21/keillor/