Some people never learn from their high profile mistakes.
The Dixie Chicks are featured in a new documentary, "Shut Up And Sing," directed by Barbara Kopple. In the film, lead singer Natalie Maines is seen in one telling moment watching George Bush on NBC's Nightly News. He says the band's members shouldn't have had their feelings hurt by the fallout from the result of their comments.
"Dumb f---," Maines says toward the television, then turns to look at the camera and repeats, supposedly for Bush's benefit, the same line.
Maybe it's time we stop feeling so sorry for the Dixie Chicks.
On March 10, 2003, Maines made her now infamous comment, in front of thousands of country fans in London, that "just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas."
The meltdown cost the Chicks their country following. Their fans protested, radio stations stopped playing their music and country's touring darlings had to re-route their 2006 summer tour because of poor sales in the heartland.
The Chicks claimed that no damage had been done, that they had a wide enough fan base outside the world of country to survive the fallout. They touted the fact that "Taking The Long Way," their latest album, debuted earlier this year at No. 1 on the Billboard Chart, with sales of more than 500,000 copies in its first week.
Never mind that sales dropped off so rapidly that after more than six months on the shelves the album still has yet to crack the double platinum mark. To put that in perspective, their last album, "Home," sold more than six million copies in the U.S.
Still, that's better than many expected from an album that has spawned no significant radio singles in a genre where singles are the business.
In fact, much of that success has to do with the way the band has marketed its new image. They want the world to think they're country's rocking women with the guts to speak their minds and stand behind what they believe.
How long, however, are we supposed to feel sorry for a group of women so out of touch with reality that they cannot understand that words have consequences?
It's hard to feel sorry for a woman like Maines, who has no way of comprehending that what she says may have resonance beyond the five seconds it takes to actually say the words.
Even ignoring the fact that the band's music is now being heard by a fraction of its original audience, it's hard to get past the fact that they're still playing country music. And they're marketing that country music toward a rock audience while expecting a few expletive-laden diatribes against George Bush to sell records.
Talk about insulting our collective intelligence.
It's as though they expect democrats who dislike Bush to blindly support them in their efforts to spread the word against the man, no matter how lamely they get the message out.
We should take the Chicks seriously, says Kopple, because they were saying these things about Bush before there was popular support for the opinion. We should respect the Chicks because of the horrendous hatred that was spewed upon them after their statements.
But there's a distinct difference between apologizing in 2003 for the fact that Bush is a Texan and commenting in 2006 that Bush is a "dumb f---."
It is clearly time for Maines and company to learn that having the right to say something doesn't mean you should always say it.
And if you do choose to say it, don't be surprised if you end up turning off even your most ardent supporters.
Jonathan Sanders is a senior journalism major and writes 'Turning a Blind Eye' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Jonathan at jonathansanders@justice.com.
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