Jokermen

TBogg notes that, having used one of the greatest of American protest songs–“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll“–to defend state torture and support the claim that the President should not be bound by law, the McCarthyite hacks at Powerline are now using it to support going beyond the rule of law to compel an individual to receive unwanted medical treatment. Calling this “Orwellian” seems grossly inadequte. While “With God On Our Side” is a good response, I think it should be noted that Dylan was prescient enough to write a song about Powerline in 1975:

I ran into the fortune-teller, who said beware of lightning that might strike
I haven’t known peace and quiet for so long I can’t remember what it’s like.
There’s a lone soldier on the cross, smoke pourin’ out of a boxcar door,
You didn’t know it, you didn’t think it could be done, in the final end he won the wars
After losin’ every battle.

I woke up on the roadside, daydreamin’ ’bout the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are makin’ me see stars.
You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies.
One day you’ll be in the ditch, flies buzzin’ around your eyes,
Blood on your saddle.

Idiot wind, blowing through the flowers on your tomb,
Blowing through the curtains in your room.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You’re an idiot, babe.
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.