This is funny today because the MSM had been building up a whole Red State v. Blue State meme in terms of the American Idol finale, trying to make it into another jab at Dr. Utopia’s opponents, pretending American has been completely Utopia-ized and that Republicans, conservatives, and moderates don’t exist anymore.
Many, many, many articles we read leading up to last night’s Idol finale painted Adam Lambert from California as the blue “Dr. Utopia candidate” while Kris Allen from Arkansas was the red “McCain candidate”. Of course, with the “youth vote” skewing so strongly towards Dr. Utopia, the MSM claimed, and the “youth vote” being so adept at text messaging and using cell phones, Lambert would win in a landslide and further prove that this is now The Golden Age of Hope and Change with few people liking anything at all that’s moderate or conservative.
Well, Kris Allen whalluped Adam Lambert, because Lambert was just too strange for most of America. We live in Boystown and see an awful lot of strange day in and day out, and totally saw a win for Allen coming, no matter how much the MSM claimed “because of the current president’s win last year, it is clear his demographics will push Allen to victory”.
Keep being stupid like that, MSM, so you can fall over yourselves in surprise in 2010 when Democrats receive “stunning” losses in Congress, including Harry Reid and Chris Dodd losing their Senate seats and Pelosi being ousted as Speaker (if she hasn’t already by then).
We haven’t watched American Idol in years, since Fantasia Barrino, who claimed she was illiterate on the show, released a book she also claimed to have written, about her illiteracy. That was it for us with this show, because no matter how wonderful of a niche singer ‘Tasia is, we still can’t wrap our head around how someone who can’t read can write books (wait, are we talking about an American Idol contestant or the current Speaker of the House?).
But we do think it’s fascinating that the media salivated over a Lambert win, and had everything prepped to use that win to take a shot at Republicans, but today the MSM pretends none of that Red State v. Blue State stuff ever happened. There’s very limited coverage of Allen’s win, and absolutely no mention of the previous political comparisons.
And that much-vaunted youth vote? That is the most apocryphal nonsense in a media steeped in ridiculousness. Every four years, we keep hearing about “the youth vote” and 2008 should be the end of this once and for all: the “youth” didn’t turn out to vote for Dr. Utopia anymore than they turned out to vote for Kerry or Gore. The supposedly Democrat-loving “youth vote” didn’t drive home a win for Democrat Lambert on American Idol. If the “youth” are supposedly so Utopia-ized, and the “youth” are supposed to do everything he wants, and he would presumably want Lambert to win, then why did Allen win?
Because people think for themselves and don’t drink Kool-Aid all day.
AND this is just a TV show and not a barometer of anything but the show’s own popularity.
Boys who wear makeup might end up getting to date the quarterback (happens all the time in Boystown), but they aren’t going to win American Idol (hear that, Charlie Crist, and your presidential exploratory committee?).
May 21, 2009 at 11:04 am
Exactly…..
May 21, 2009 at 11:15 am
Shoot, I liked Allison and Danny better anyway.
May 21, 2009 at 11:43 am
Adam deserved it on pure talent, but just like Prop 8 in California, certain segments of the populace decided to ‘black’ ball the gay guy. More people voted in this non-sensical competition than actually watch this cheesy show. You could see it coming. No one should use it as a yard’shtick’ on politics, but on social acceptance it is illuminating. The show is suppose to be about talent, it isn’t. What its about really is mob rule.
May 21, 2009 at 11:54 am
You’re still bitter about Sanjayah, aren’t you?
May 21, 2009 at 11:58 am
Not my type. But If you look at the history of competition on this show, often its been the gay vs. the christian or down home country boy. The christian has always won, but the gay has more talent.
May 21, 2009 at 12:07 pm
robert c- relax man, I’m kidding.
Your point is well taken, and I agree with it. Lambert had more talent, but was a bit edgy for most of America, the other kid was more “radio friendly”.
My take, as I said:
Liked Allison and Danny better than the two finalists anyway.
Side note- Lambert lost serious points from me for messing (badly) with Ring of Fire- no matter what your orientation, you don’t go screwing up the work of the Man in Black.
May 21, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Bullshit. Previous gay competitors have denied their sexuality until long after Idol. The 2 guys in the first season, Clay, the music teacher? Every one of them denied being gay. Dont start this gay vs. christian thing. Preteens and teen girls vote for the cute factor not the trendy one.
May 22, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Not starting dog shit man. Its fact. Everyone knew Clay was gay. Whether they avoided the openly out or the closet queen, red state mentality prevailed on that one.
May 21, 2009 at 12:12 pm
12 year old girls will vote nonstop for 2 hours but only for the cute guy. Did anyone really think all the supposed open-minded cool people were going to spend their time voting? AI voting is done in flyover country.
May 21, 2009 at 12:17 pm
“no matter how much the MSM claimed “because of the current president’s win last year, it is clear his demographics will push Allen to victory”.”
Oh dear god, did they really say that? How embarrassing.
May 21, 2009 at 12:29 pm
That was it for us with this show, because no matter how wonderful of a niche singer ‘Tasia is, we still can’t wrap our head around how someone who can’t read can write books
HAHAHAHAA…or don’t forget our ‘Dear Leader’. Obamalama supposedly wrote two books, using phrase and structure similar to Ayers, but nothing else? We haven’t seen any other prose or papers from him.
Not to mention college or health or birth records.
He can read his teleprompter, so he’s got that. But can’t think if it says something that is wrong. He did it again recently by calling Robert Gates – ‘William Gates’.
They would have skewered Bush.
May 21, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I’m surprised that the MSM meme isn’t that Adam didn’t win because the Bitter Clingers in PA hate gay people.
In reality, it seems that there was a few things going on..
1. AI is a contest to find the next mainstream music star (i.e. Carrie Underwood). Adam didn’t make sense in that regard. He was very Broadway and probably has an excellent future ahead of him on the stage; however, I really don’t think that his albums would sell that well even if he did win.
2. Simon Cowell was for whatever reason pimping Adam out to win (see Bono wanted Adam to sing this song). When Simon overtly pimps someone out to win, then generally the viewers do the opposite out of spite. Since Simon is an evil genius, perhaps it was reverse psychology in this case. He had to know that Kris was more marketable than Adam and wanted to guarantee a Kris win.
As a sidenote… AI has a pretty spotty record producing people who truly become stars. I could probably count the number of people who are probably going to have long-term success in the entertainment industry on one hand. (Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, and Jennifer Hudson).
May 21, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Uh, Kelly Clarkson?
May 21, 2009 at 1:45 pm
She has really being fading as of late. Her new album was sort of a dud. She’ll likely be on VH1 Where They Are Now? in Ten years.
For me, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, and Jennifer Hudson are really the only ones who have any staying power. I could see Carrie Underwood having a successful career in Nashville ten years from now. Chris Daughtry will like have lots of success as a rocker. And Jennifer Hudson will likely have a pretty long career as an actress.
May 21, 2009 at 6:25 pm
David Cook
May 21, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Not sure about David Cook either. He’s a nice guy, and I think that everyone likes him because of his brother and being not David Archuleta! But I don’t think that he has staying power of a Carrie Underwood. Archuleta probably had the better voice, but was so creepy that he turned off people over the age of twelve. However, he’s such a nice guy that I would like him to prove me wrong.
May 21, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I meant that Cook was a nice guy. Archuleta is still creepy..
May 22, 2009 at 10:17 am
Who in the world is Kelly Clarkson?
May 21, 2009 at 12:53 pm
True…I could really care less because they will all make albums and people will buy the one from the person they like, etc. But I can attest that my 13 year old voted 91 times for Kris..why? Don’t know except for the fact that besides his being gay he has some pretty gross videos out on various sites that didn’t appeal to her…I probably have no room to talk…but just like being straight and being porno and gross so can a gay person be and it doesn’t appeal to a lot of people whether you are straight/gay/non-sexual…
May 21, 2009 at 12:54 pm
his/he being Adam..
May 21, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I don’t think people were voting against
Adam because he is gay. I personally think
he was the greater talent but in a “Broadway”
more over the top style which does not appeal
to the younger kids who are the ones doing
the voting. Chris was the more marketable and
more mainstream of the two. I have no doubt
that Adam will have a great career, but I see
him more as a showman Las Vegas style.
May 21, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Adam Lambert is Elvis Presley incarnated for sure. It gives me goose bumps. My fav is Meghan Cory. ‘Wish I had a huge bank roll I’d help push her on to develping her style. It’d be a good return for my money. She has raw talent with never ever having participated in anything of this caliber. I see a little bit of Eartha Kitt in her. I wish she’d sing some of Eartha’s songs. I like Meghan because she’s different but I guess they didn’t like her because she’s from Utah…yeah, an unknown and little understood place like Alaska is.
I will admit that Adam didn’t win because the kids voting are homophobic. No other reason needed.
May 21, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I think people voted for Kris just for the underdog factor. Adam was obviously so much more talented than anyone else this season it wasn’t even funny–the “obvious” winner, but as we’ve seen, it doesn’t always work out that way.
If you’d bet on Kris in the first week of the competition, you’d be cashing in 26X your money today.
My favorite this year was Alexis, but she went out at #11 for reasons I still don’t understand.
I liked Allison a lot, too. 17 YO and just fearless. Wouldn’t bother her a bit to get on a stage and sing a duet with Barbra Streisand, Tom Jones, Tony Bennett, Meat Loaf, or anyone else you could name. What guts on that girl!
May 21, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Allison was awesome. Last night, her duet with CL was a highlight. Allison has a great voice, for her age, she is down right amazing!!!
May 21, 2009 at 1:43 pm
You all have very good points. I wanted Adam to win because he is more talented and I just loved him. I voted for him a couple of times, but I actually knew Kris Allen would win because Tweeners thought he was cute. (UGH. Tweeners are so annoying.)
I was always under the impression that the more talented singer should win, but it sometimes doesn’t work that way on Idol.
As for Adam being gay, I’m sure that was a point against him. I remember a lot of tweeners (I was a tweener back then, so I should know) just loved Clay Aiken, who was obviously a flaming gay man, but he was in the closet, so a lot of tweeners didn’t get that and loved him and voted for him.
It’s also true that Adam is more broadway (he was in WICKED!!!) and therefore less marketable. I think it was the same way with Carrie Underwood. She was more marketable and mainstream than her opponent so she won.
But I still wanted Adam to win, because he is more talented. And Kris Allen was just your regular, run of the mill, good looking guy with a mediocre voice. Stupid tweeners!
May 21, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Hi, littleisis. I wanted Adam to win also; and I was SURE he was going to win. Obviously, I know nothing. lol But I do know
this: “Tweeners are so annoying.” DITTO!!!
May 21, 2009 at 8:30 pm
haha! I have to call my cousin to see who she voted for. She is fourteen, lol. But she is the one tweener I like. I bet she went for adam.
May 22, 2009 at 1:37 am
I agree. Kris is entirely forgettable.
And Tweeners are the ACORN of American Idol (except that doesn’t really work with the parallels Hillbuzz was drawing, though).
May 22, 2009 at 10:24 am
Kris Allen’s looks are very mediocre too.
May 21, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Sorry OT, but has anyone else heard about this?
Call Your Representatives!
May 21, 2009 by deadenders
Call them and demand they vote against this.
President Barack Obama agreed Wednesday to share US nuclear power technology with the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, giving his consent to a deal signed in the final days of George W. Bush’s administration.
The pact now goes to Congress, which will have 90 days to amend or reject it.
The agreement creates a legal framework for the US to transfer sensitive nuclear items to the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven Middle Eastern states that wants nuclear power to satisfy growing demand for electricity.
http://deadenders.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/call-your-representatives/
May 21, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Yeah..isn’t it odd that we cannot use nuclear power to ease our own energy needs but we can share it with the Middle East?
Yes, I think it is not necessary to get to upset about AI..as the whole point of the show is that it is who the people vote for and not necessarily who should win…that’s the name of the game.
May 21, 2009 at 2:02 pm
so in that way it is like a real election…sad but true.
May 21, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I have another theory as an American Idol watcher – after hearing the horrific song that AI wrote for the winner as his first single to be released, all Adam fans rose up in protest and voted for Kris Allen, thereby saving Adam from the horror of having to sing that hideous song. Just my opinion.
Seriously, I preferred Adam’s type of singing, as do most of my friends (love Queen, Aerosmith, that sort of band), I would never consider sitting around for 4 hours voting — but perhaps Kris appeals to a younger demographic who would do so.
May 21, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Yes, because the only people who have that much time on their hands are twelve-year-old girls. (Although it does say some concerning things about our educational system). Adam will be a big star on Broadway and will do some retro 80s rock music, but I don’t see either of them being mainstream pop stars. Adam just doesn’t have a big enough following and I don’t think that Kris has a strong enough voice.
May 21, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Don’t get me wrong – I would sit around voting for hours for Hillary, but not AI!
May 21, 2009 at 11:51 pm
There we go with the serial voters again. Kids have no conscience. One person one vote only. The serial voters on Idol make this show a fraud.
May 22, 2009 at 9:55 am
And doesn’t Fox make money off of every vote?
MONEY MONEY MONEY!
May 21, 2009 at 4:45 pm
This show is on Fox and the Fox audience is
largely Southern…..look at where the previous winners have come from….Clarkson was from Texas, Ruben was from Alabama, runner up Clay was from Alabama, Fantasia from North Carolina, Carrie, Oklahoma, runner up Bo Bice was from Alabama, Taylor Hicks from Alabama, Kris was from Arkansas,
David Cook was from Missouri which is a little bit North and South and the only
non Southern person was Jordin Sparks who came from Arizona and some would make the case that is a Red state……a gay man from California as Adam was……isn’t going to win Idol.
Also, as a straight woman who participates
on Idol blogs, if you don’t think the gay
bashing of Adam didn’t exist, you are kidding yourself…it was rampant. Finally,
many conservative Christian church youth groups were holding phone banks for Kris….including the one at the end of my street. He is very involved in the Youth Ministry of his church.
May 21, 2009 at 7:01 pm
If only we had been able to get this response in the last presidential election we may not be stuck with Utopia…
May 22, 2009 at 9:57 am
re: “He is very involved in the Youth Ministry of his church.”
It is a supreme irony that many gay young men are very involved with their church.
May 21, 2009 at 4:47 pm
The whiley marketeer, Simon Cowell set Chris up to win because he knew Adam was already marketable and with Chris as the AI, they get double their money. Adam’s music appeals to a different market, not the type who vote in droves on AI. That is why he lost. It had nothing to do with him being gay. It was because of the voters are young females and they will vote for a guy who can sing them ballads. Adam would have won if did not scream in every song. No young girl wants a guy screaming in her ear. She wants him to sing her a love song.
May 21, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Well, personally, I’ve been disappointed twice this week. I think Giles Marini and Adam Lambert were robbed (by tunnel-visioned voting blocks?). In a talent contest, the most talented person should win. Even Kris himself said Adam should’ve won, and for his honesty, I respect him.
I’m sure Adam’s success will far surpass Kris’s, even without the AI title. He has more ability, greater presence, AND a personality. Kris is bland and was tongue-tied last night as opposed to articulate (some “idol”!), and his musical ability is mediocre.(Nice guy, though…)
I really wish programs like DWTS and AI would give the votes of the judges more weight than those of the viewers. Otherwise, why bother with judges at all?
I’ll bet if all U.S. adults from 21 to 60 years of age were polled, Adam would win. But as Anne has said, most adults don’t have the time or the inclination to sit around and vote (especially not 91 times).
May 21, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Being a Floridian, I appreciated your jab at Crist. His biggest problem right now is the surgery he faces. It’s not going to be easy to surgically remove his lips from Obama’s rear end.
May 21, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I was a Danny fan. That said, I figured Adam would win after Danny went bye,bye. BUT, I work with lots of young women 21-35 who watch AI, all were tired of Adam about 2 weeks ago cuz everything started sounding the *same*.
We are not in “fly over country”, (CA), it was not cuz he’s gay, or any other contrived or political reason. They all got tired of the screaming (as they called it) and would not buy an album. PERIOD! For the younger girls, Adam sometimes looked creepy. They’re right, sometimes he did.
I liked Adam and appreciated his vocal talent, but would I buy an album? No. He’s more of a lead singer for a band like Queen or even Kiss. As one gal said this morning ” we’ve moved on from that”. I rather agree.
When I saw Kris last night with Keith Urban, I knew he was gonna win. He fit like a glove. He is a very talented musician and singer. He always tried something different.
There was also the “Danny contingency”. He was very popular, his voters, for the most part, would vote for Kris because of the similarities in their music.
I feel this was the most talented group, ever. Any one of the top 4 had serious vocal chops. My husband and I enjoy the show. We both thought last night’s show was killer.
Bikini girl just about brought the house down here.
This is the first year we ever wanted to go see the Idol Tour……we got some great seats ;-)
May 21, 2009 at 7:45 pm
http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html
click on Glen Beck, and the ACORn Logo. the story is all tied up.
it ties Kerry up with ACORn, when the gave $8,000,000 to TIDE which gave money to cover up stolen ACORn Money. TIDE is very extream left wing organisation.
May 21, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I was listening to someone last week talk about TIDE(darn, can’t remember where). They are essentially a money laundering org. Anyone can give them millions (aka Soros) and then TIDE will distribute it in small amounts under “anonymous donor”. Remember how Mr U bragged about all of his “citizen” small donors. No one has ever looked into how Mr U got all of his money. I bet most of it came from TIDE. I just can’t imagine all those college kids giving up their beer money for Mr U, like his campaign tried to say.
May 21, 2009 at 10:40 pm
You betcha!
May 21, 2009 at 8:19 pm
I also don’t watch AI, but I have heard about it a little this season, and on one hand I was rooting for Adam… but mostly because I can’t resist guy-liner. Most the bands I listen to have guys who wear eyeliner in them, and most of those guys are also straight with girlfriends, or maybe bi.
On the other hand, I have learned time and time again that it’s probably better for the rocker not to win. I wanted Bo Bice to win over Carrie Underwood, but really, it’s more acceptable for a country singer to have it handed to them. On the other hand, if a rocker were to win, I don’t think their fans would really stick with them, because I am guessing most of the AI crowd probably doesn’t listen to rock/emo/punk type music really, at least not the majority. So overall, I think it’s a good thing that Adam didn’t win, he will have a great career, I’m sure of that. He has the look and the voice(from the little I’ve heard of him).
I hate seeing things hyped up ala koolaid, but I have eclectic taste, so I gotta admit, I wouldn’t have been upset had Adam won. Although, if he represents Utopia, well, then I’m glad he didn’t win… but I’ll put off judging him musically till I hear some original music from him. :D
May 21, 2009 at 9:24 pm
A lot of people where I work really liked Adam as a singer but thought he was “creepy.” By “creepy” I don’t know if they meant “gay” or if they were talking about the whole weird-hair/goth thing he had goin’ on. (I know I started to take him more seriously the first night he combed his hair and looked a bit like Kurt Russell.)
FWIW, the same people were creeped out by Megan’s arm tattoo, too. Of course it didn’t help that she couldn’t sing a note.
What was the deal with women this year? Only five women out of 13, and three of those couldn’t sing? That was the best they could do this year? What were they thinking?
And I’ve seen enough of Kara to last me a lifetime. Let’s go back to three judges next year, please. Keep Kara’s number handy for backup in case Paula ever shows up just TOO drunk to go on, but four judges is one too many.
May 21, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I just think that his singing style didn’t work for the competition. Adam will be a big Broadway star and will be a modestly successful singer. Kris will likely be a moderately successful singer and will do well within Christian music.
May 22, 2009 at 12:02 am
No matter how many times the judges call it a singing competition, it’s not. It’s a popularity contest. Just like the Presidential Election.
Speaking as a voice teacher, Adam has flawless technique and a wicked range. He never biffed a note or cracked or, for that matter, sucked. He was always, ALWAYS on. One or two songs weren’t fabulous, but everything else was very professional and very well done.
But …
AI is a popularity contest. I know my 18 year old daughter liked Adam the first three weeks, then lost interest in the flashiness and switched to Kris (where she stayed).
Had I voted, it would have been for Adam, but after seeing how many times said 18 year old voted for Kris, I didn’t really see the point.
Both will have successful careers.
May 22, 2009 at 1:16 am
Urg, I had such a nice post that never showed up. *sigh*
May 22, 2009 at 1:40 am
Here is some hardcore Red State chit.
From Guv. Palin on Twitter
“I’m in Seward, honored to attend Wounded Warriors combat fishing event with real American idols: our brave uniformed troops.”
I’m with the the Guv. I don’t watch that crap.
Happy to hear the Utopian approved candidate lost however.
May 23, 2009 at 2:25 am
Well, I was pleasantly surprised when Kris won. I agree that Adam has better vocal precision and range, but his sound is somewhat dated, and his overly-theatrical look and presentation are a distraction. Also, seeing him scream a gratuitous high note with his tongue sticking out in every song got old. Adam is a phenomenon, but not someone whose album I’d be likely to buy.
Kris, on the other hand, was understated, cute, and disarmingly humble. His sound is more current, and he’s also the better musical interpreter, IMO, even making that abyssmal “special song” bearable. And he did come off great with Keith Urban. Though that “I want to kiss a girl” number must have been someone’s dark sense of humor.
I don’t doubt that there was lots of online gay bashing and it’s a shame that it would influence anyone. But I wouldn’t assume most voters were necessarily aware of the controversy. After all, they pulled out all the stops on every channel to trash Hillary, and she still got more votes.
*****A
May 23, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I haven’t watched AI since Ruben won. My daughters watch it religiously, they said that Adam could sing but that the judges were pulling for him and that made them discount him. Most people don’t like a rigged competition.