Freedom Of Song

It should come as no surprise to regular readers where my sympathies lie in a battle between Bill O'Reilly and Bruce Springsteen, but the most recent dust-up brought by Mister "No-Spin" continues a long tradition of glomming on to celebrity news in hopes of generating more fury for his sound, both of which are considerable. He was looking for signs of how "far left zealots" believe America is a flawed nation: "The other day a birthday party concert was held for left-wing singer Pete Seeger who's ninety years old. Bruce Springsteen performed at the concert, and then Bruce popped off as he often does.” O'Reilly played a video clip of Springsteen saying of Seeger: “At ninety he remains a stealth dagger through the heart of our country's illusions about itself. He sings all the verses, all the time. Especially the ones that we'd like to leave out of our history as a people.”
These were the fightin' words. ". . . now Bruce Springsteen's not exactly a PhD in political science, obviously. But his snide reference to America defines how the far left sees this country. And you know what, most liberal and conservative Americans disagree with him.” Now here's the the deal: he didn't choose to take issue with Pete Seeger. He chose to go after the guy who is currently all over the news, promoting a new album, touring the world. He didn't want to take a shot at the legacy of Pete Seeger, which Bruce made reference to, but chose instead to kick dirt on the pop star. Not the ninety-year old folk-singing legend who wrote "Dear Mister President" back in 1942, or in 1966 when he wrote "The Housewife Terrorists." He was ranting about Bruce talking about how Pete Seeger still sang all the words to "This Land Is Your Land."
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking my freedom highway,
Nobody living can make me turn back,
This land was made for you and me.
How's that for a talking point, Bill?