Up, up, and away

A post over on Radosh.net about the president denying that he sang the the national anthem in Spanish at campaign events, combined with the brouhaha over Stephen Colbert's recent appearance at the dinner for the White House Correspondents' Association, reminded me of something that happened in the early '70s.

When Nixon was in office, the 5th Dimension was invited to the White House and chose to sing their musical version of the Delaration of Independence. (Yes, they really recorded this. It's, um, not particularly good, but you can listen to a sample here. It's on disk 2.)

The story goes that some in the administration saw this as inappropriate and downright dangerous. You know, lines like:

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Revolutionary, eh?

Anyway, Nixon eventually signed off on the performance, deeming it "patriotic."

I wonder if Bush would.