“Over the past six years we’ve had to add to the American picture: rendition, illegal wiretapping, voter suppression, no habeas corpus, the neglect of our great city New Orleans and the people, an attack on the Constitution and the loss of our best young men and women in a tragic war. And this is a song about things that shouldn’t happen here, happening here. And so right now we plan to do something about it — we plan to sing about it.”

— Bruce Springsteen introducing his song “Living in the Future” before a live concert on NBC’s Today, September 28, 2007. http://www.mediaresearch.org/notablequotables/dishonor/08/category/politicalgenius.asp

"Nightmare" of Bush Ruined Thousands of Lives

"We’ve lived through a nightmare...in the past eight years....We’re going through something that we haven’t gone through in my life. Foreign policy, domestic policy — driven to its breaking point. Everything got broken. And the philosophy that was at the base of the last administration has ruined many, many people’s lives. The deregulation, the idea of the unfettered, free market, the blind foreign policy. This was a very radical group of people who pushed things in a very radical direction, had great success at moving things in that direction, and we are suffering the consequences."

— Singer Bruce Springsteen in an interview with producer Mark Hagen published January 18 in Britain’s The Observer.

http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/nq/2009/20090407125303.aspx

Rock star Bruce Springsteen endorsed Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president Wednesday, saying "he speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years."

In a letter addressed to friends and fans posted his Web site, Springsteen said he believes Obama is the best candidate to undo "the terrible damage done over the past eight years."

"He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next president," the letter said. "He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where '...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.' "

"Critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships," Springsteen wrote. "While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision ... often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment."

Bruce Springsteen endorses Obama for president
By JOAN LOWY Thursday, April 17, 2008
http://www.townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2008/04/17/bruce_springsteen_endorses_obama_for_president

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Although open with his political opinions on stage, Bruce Springsteen generally shies away from such issues when not on the road and in the public eye.

The artist has broken from that tradition by posting the full text of a speech former Vice President Al Gore gave late last month during a MoveOn.org-sponsored appearance at New York University in the "news" section of his official Web site (http://brucespringsteen.net).

Springsteen, whose staunchly anti-war stance is well known to fans, calls Gore's remarks "one of the most important speeches I've heard in a long time. The issues it raises need to be considered by every American concerned with the direction our country is headed in. It's my pleasure to reprint it here for my fans.

"Right now, we are supposedly fighting to create freedom in Iraq, at the same time that some are trying to intimidate and punish people for using that same freedom here at home," Springsteen lamented at the time.

Friday June 11, 02:33 AM
Springsteen Posts Gore's Anti-Bush Text
http://au.news.yahoo.com/040610/11/pehn.html

"One of the most disturbing aspects of this election is that the machinery for taking something that is a lie and making it feel true, or taking something that is true and making it feel like a lie -- the selling machinery has become very powerful. Senator Kerry has to make people pay attention to the man behind the curtain. He has to take the risk and rip the veil off the administration's deceptions. They are a hall of mirrors and a house of cards. For Senator Kerry, the good news is he has the facts on his side. The bad news is that often in the current climate it can feel like that doesn't matter, and he has to make it matter."

"The press has let the country down. It's taken a very amoral stand, in that essential issues are often portrayed as simply one side says this and the other side says that. I think that Fox News and the Republican right have intimidated the press into an incredible self-consciousness about appearing objective and backed them into a corner of sorts where they have ceded some of their responsibility and righteous power."

"The Washington Post and New York Times apologies about their initial reporting about Iraq not being critical enough were very revealing. I am a dedicated Times reader, and I've found enormous sustenance from Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd on the op-ed page. There has been great reporting, but there has also been some self-consciousness in some of the reporting about the policy differences in this election."

"This is going to be an issue after the election. I don't know if it began with the Iraq War, but shortly thereafter there was an enormous amount of Fox impersonators among what you previously thought were relatively sane media outlets across the cable channels. It was very disheartening. The job of the press is to tell the truth without fear or favor. We have to get back to that standard."

"It's gotten very complicated, and I think it's blurred the truth. Whether you like the Michael Moore film or not, a big part of its value was that it showed how sanitized the war that we received on television at night is. The fact that the administration refused to allow photographs of the flag-draped coffins of returning dead, that the president hasn't shown up at a single military funeral for the young people who gave their lives for his policies, is disgraceful. You have the Swift-boat guys who have been pretty much discredited, but there is an atmosphere that is created by so much willing media exposure that it imparts them credibility."

"We've Been Misled" Springsteen talks about his conscience, and the nature of an artist and his audience
By JANN S. WENNER
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6477832?rnd=1096386663562&has-player=false

MoveOn PAC is excited to announce the Vote for Change concert tour. Vote for Change is a loose coalition of musicians brought together by a single idea — the need to make a change in the direction of our country. We share a belief that this is the most important election of our lifetime. We are fighting for a government that is open, rational, just and progressive.

"We have an opportunity to change the direction our country is headed and to elect a government that is just, rational and respectful of the views and rights of the people it serves," said Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam.

Artists participating in Vote for Change have merged their energies and talents to focus on states that are expected to have the closest race in the presidential election this fall. This unprecedented effort will include approximately 40 shows in 30 cities in 9 battleground states over the course of 10 days.

http://www.moveonpac.org/vfc/info.html

Vote for Change Tour - Featured Artists

Pearl Jam- Bruce Springsteen- R.E.M.- Dave Matthews Band- Jurassic 5- Dixie Chicks- Death Cab for Cutie- James Taylor- Ben Harper- My Morning Jacket-Jackson Browne- Bonnie Raitt- John Fogerty- Keb' Mo'- Bright Eyes- John Mellencamp- Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds

http://www.moveonpac.org/vfc/

We'll certainly never buy another Bruce Springsteen CD or concert ticket. It's estimated the tour he and other Bush-hating rockers are launching could raise $44 million for John "Atrocities" Kerry.

Oh, but these stars don't care quite as much about the poor as they do about their beloved admitted war criminal. The average ticket could cost $58.71, USA Today reported. Some seats will cost hundreds of dollars. Others on the Guilty White Liberals' tour include Pearl Jam, the dreaded Dixie Chicks, Dave Matthews, Bonnie Raitt and - he's still alive? - Jackson Browne.

Friday, Aug. 6, 2004
Bush-Hating Rockers Hope to Raise $44 Million for Kerry
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/8/6/134636.shtml

"I want to say basically I feel that, as a nation over the past four years, we've drifted away from I think very mainstream American values. I think that in the question having large tax cuts for the richest one percent. Hey, that's great, you know [for] corporate bigwigs, wealthy, well-to-do guitar players, but we've also watched services get cut, after-school programs for people that need it the most, we've watched rollback on environmental regulations, and a foreign policy that I think put at risk the lives of the very bravest young men and women under what ended up to be discredited circumstances."

The Boss vs. Bush Bruce Springsteen Talks to Ted Koppel About ‘Vote For Change’ Tour
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Nightline/vote2004/springsteen_040804-1.html

"To me, they're [the Dixie Chicks] terrific American artists expressing American values by using their American right to free speech. For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American."

"I don't know what happens next, but I do want to add my voice to those who think that the Dixie Chicks are getting a raw deal. I send them my support."

TUESDAY April 29, 2003
Springsteen Speaks Out for the Dixie Chicks By Rafer Guzman Newsday
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Apr/04292003/tuesday/52187.asp

"It's time to impeach the president and get a man in there to get us out of this mess."

Monday, Sept. 15, 2003 1:21 a.m. EDT
Springsteen Calls for Bush's Impeachment
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/9/15/13545.shtml

Bruce Springsteen told a crowd of 50,000 New Yorkers on October 4th to "shout a little louder if you want the president impeached."

DAMIEN CAVE (November 26, 2003)
Rockers Unite to Oust Bush Moby, Henley, Matthews ask fans to "get involved"
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/5936657