Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is a man whose interests include P90X workouts, catfish noodling, and listening to Rage Against the Machine — perhaps simultaneously. We may never know.
Looking at the potential veep in all his buttoned-up, Brooks Brothers glory, one might assume that he prefers the musical stylings of John Denver, Rod Stewart or Lisa Loeb. But don’t judge a book by its cover, dear readers, because Ryan really likes to rock out to angry Gen-X rock.
Unfortunately, Ryan’s feelings for Rage Against the Machine are not reciprocated by Rage Against the Machine.
In an op-ed for Rolling Stone’s website, guitarist Tom Morello writes, “Paul Ryan’s love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades.”
Apparently, Ryan didn’t get the message that corporate greed is bad and Occupy Wall Street is good.
Morello continues:
“Don’t mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta ‘rage’ in him: A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he’s not raging against is the privileged elite he’s groveling in front of for campaign contributions.”
Bottom line: Don’t expect Rage Against the Machine to headline any Romney-Ryan campaign events. Mitt and Paul will just have to stick with Kid Rock on this one.