This is one of those headlines that feels like “news of the weird,” but actually makes a ton of sense. In an interview with Music Radar, Mustaine elucidated his problems with Newt Gingrich (“angry little man”), Mitt Romney (“where does a guy get that much money?”), and Ron Paul (“like insecticide – 98 percent of it’s inert gases, but it’s the two percent that’s left that will kill you”), and came down to endorsing Rick Santorum.
Earlier in the election, I was completely oblivious as to who Rick Santorum was, but when the dude went home to be with his daughter when she was sick, that was very commendable. Also, just watching how he hasn’t gotten into doing these horrible, horrible attack ads like Mitt Romney’s done against Newt Gingrich, and then the volume at which Newt has gone back at Romney… You know, I think Santorum has some presidential qualities, and I’m hoping that if it does come down to it, we’ll see a Republican in the White House… and that it’s Rick Santorum.
It’s a logical decision: Mustaine is one of the most outspokenly conservative men in metal. His 2007 album, United Abominations, was a sort of song cycle about the uselesness of the United Nations and the need for America to grapple with terrorism. He explained in the title track:
NATO invaded Yugoslavia to end ethnic cleansing, there was no U.N.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan after 9/11, there was no U.N.
Saddam Hussein violated 17 U.N. resolutions; The U.N. was asked to join the
war in Iraq. The U.S. invaded, Ha! there was no U.N.
Libya bombed a discotheque in Berlin killing Americans, there was no U.N.
Iran funds Hamas, and attacked the U.S. in the
seventies, there was no stinking U.N.
Facing War without end, looking into the future, there was no more U.N.
In the song cyle, weak foreign nations are trying to corrupt and weaken the United States. “The eighth world power of modern Rome,” he sings, ominously: “Washington is Next!” The correct response to this thinking, according to Mustaine, is muscular neoconservatism.
No rules of engagement, this enemy hides
Amongst women and children
And to beat violence, you must ignore the focus groups
You must send in the Mossad, turn of the BBC, CNN
And don’t look back
Rest assured there’ll be no more Middle Eastern crisis, hell!
There’ll be no more Middle East!
These are your people Liberty
Pull up your dress today
And tattooed is “property of The USA
A subsidiary of Halliburton”
Surprise?!
But a roaring lion is about to be on earth
Hey, Jihad Joe? Guess what? We’re coming to get you!
Compare this to what Santorum said about the Middle East in his days at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and you probably find a lot of coherent overlap.
