Recently, Toby Keith, country singer and actor from Moore, OK, was recently honored for his USO service, and because of his patriotism and pro-military work is often assumed to be a Republican. Actually, however, he has always considered himself to be a conservative Democrat.
In 2004, he told The Boston Globe:
“People don’t realize that I’m a registered Democrat,” he says. “They automatically assume that I’m a chest-banging, war-drum-pounding Republican with my military stance.”
Keith goes on to compare himself to Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut: “a conservative Democrat who is sometimes embarrassed for his party.”
Well, not anymore.
Toby recently set the record straight on media reports that he supported Obama for president in an interview with CMT:
“I said that he had a chance to win it as the [party's] best candidate since Bill Clinton. I said McCain is very able to run this country, too. Very qualified. … They didn’t put anything about McCain and Palin. They just put that Toby Keith supports Obama.”
Adding that he’ll probably vote for McCain because Sarah Palin is his running mate, Toby explained:
“I’ve been a lifetime Democrat, and I’m re-registering this year as an independent. It’s strictly [because] my party, that I’ve been affiliated with all these years, doesn’t stand for anything that I stand for anymore. They’ve lost any sensibility that they had, and they’ve allowed all the kooks in, so I’m going independent.
“It’s just like this: If I was a strong supporter of Obama and Biden … the kooks in the Democratic party — this extreme left — are hammering Palin so bad, that they’re gonna cause John McCain to win this thing.
“I’ve never been a huge John McCain fan. I appreciate everything he did for this country. But at the same time, the wackos are hammering her so hard, that they’re gonna make that ticket win. They can’t get out of their own way. They’ve got a chance to win it … and they’re gonna blow it by hammering her.
“Palin’s about the least political-looking, acting, resembling person that’s ever run for office. All the women in America can relate to everything she’s done. She’s real normal. Her kid is pregnant, she hunts, she snowmobiles, she’s backwoods. I just think a lot of women are going to appreciate her and feel that they have to vote for her.”
