Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows... in Music

So in my day job, I cover politics. And on Saturday night, Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina Primary. As we waited for Newt to take the stage to deliver his victory speech, the Gingrich campaign had a few songs playing to rev up the crowd. There were two on heavy rotation -- basically back to back, over and over -- and as a pairing, they make no sense:

First, Toby Keith's "American Ride". Keith is about as Republican as you can get. And you know that any song with the word "American" in it will be played at a Republican campaign event. Even if it has lyrics like "Momma gets her rocks off/watching 'Desperate Housewives.'"

Second, Blur's "Song 2". Sure, it's a rev-'em-up kind of song that you always here at sporting events, and face it, politics is sport. But I found it really funny that Blur -- pioneers of Britpop -- were paired with the jingoistic and uber-American Toby Keith on heavy rotation as the world waited for Newt Gingrich's victory speech.