Why do people insist on thinking it's somehow surprising that conservatives like the Grateful Dead? That their love of the shaggy, indulgent jam band contradicts a love of low taxes, mandatory sentencing, and amendments against flag-burning? Hey, Al Franken and Ann Coulter have something in common, that totally blows my mind. (Though we can understand why Coulter might be attracted to the image of dancing bones.) We refuse to listen to the music long enough to figure out if there is something about it that is essentially conservative or liberal -- as with baseball and dogs and Orwell, the ease with which either side can make a claim suggests that they're both wrong. We wish the conservatives could claim the band for their own, damnit. Would you take Sha-Na-Na while you're at it?

Jerry Garcia's Conservative Children [NY Sun (sub. req.)]