The Prerogative- Madonna and John McCain

(andPOP) - LET’S GET POLITICAL

Madonna loves controversy. Cone bras, burning crucifixes, coffee table sex books and liplocks with popstar princesses. Media frenzy. Churches condemning her. Critics bashing her. She lives for this shit. She’s been messing with us for decades now. So my question is this: why is anyone surprised at the latest bit of hullabaloo to arise from her "Sticky & Sweet," concert tour?

Seriously.

And considering what all the hype (or hullabaloo if you prefer) is about, the Material Girl has done and said worse. All she did this time was compare Senator John McCain to Adolf Hitler. Her wardrobe was completely functional- no boob slips. She kept her tongue in her mouth and out of Britney’s, even though Brit does make a cameo on the tour. She even refrained from pretending to masturbate on stage (add to the list of Madge’s previous controversial acts).

Nope, no grand physical declaration of defiance. Just a video montage juxtaposing images of Hitler with McCain, against Democratic Sen. Barack Obama with pictures of Al Gore and Gandhi.

This stunt seems slightly less explosive than Ludacris’ song, "Politics as Usual.” Luda not only called Hillary Clinton an irrelevant b*tch but dropped a line stating John McCain doesn’t belong in "any chair unless he's paralyzed." Harsh. But it got Ludacris some airtime and even warranted a personal retraction from Senator Obama himself. Nicely done.

But Madonna is better than anyone at the publicity stunt game. She launched her tour just days before the Democratic convention, she denounced the most hated figure in left-wing (and therefore Hollywood) politics and she did so using the most controversial politician to ever live- Hitler. She’s good. So now, she’s getting ridiculous amounts of press for her tour and no one’s talking about her supposed fling with A-Rod.

McCain's campaign paid Madonna the ultimate compliment by calling her video "outrageous, unacceptable and crudely divisive." She lives for this shit. And again, the fact that she started it all days before the Democrats kicked off their Convention shows how brilliantly media-savvy the pop-queen truly is.

Media analysts and pop-culture intellectuals can debate all they want about the state of our generation and lament over what a catastrophe it is that we all look to celebrities for political advice but the truth is this: we are not looking to Madonna to define our political affiliations. She knows this. We know this. And yet, an uproar occurs every time a celebrity gets even remotely political.

McCain’s camp continued to give lip service to Madonna’s video while taking jabs at Barack with this statement:

“It clearly shows that when it comes to supporting Barack Obama, his fellow worldwide celebrities refuse to consider any smear or attack off limits."

Hey if the only “celebrities” I had backing me were Heidi Montag and Jon Voigt, I’d be bitter too.

Why is John McCain’s camp even addressing anything Madonna does? Cone bras. Sex book. Need I say more? Leave the celebrity endorsements to Barack and let Madge be her shit-disturbing self. Focus on the election people.