Bland WashPost Headline Whitewashes Radical Rocker's Death Wish for Bush

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Even when the Washington Post is covering a Marxist, they have trouble putting an ideological label in the headline. On the front page of Monday’s Style section is a profile of Marxist rock guitarist Tom Morello, but the headline was bland: "Tom Morello, on Tour and on Message: Folk-Rock’s Nightwatchman Plays True to His Roots." Inside, the headline was simply "Tom Morello, Refocusing His Political Rage." Neither headline reflected that he prayed for President Bush’s death:

Onstage, when the Nightwatchman sang, "I pray that God himself will come and drown the president if the levees break again," the Jammin' Java crowd's attitude was chilling. People were praying.

So why isn’t that death-wish directly reflected in the headline, instead of simply being vaguely "On Message" with "Rage"?

"The Nightwatchman" is what Morello calls his solo act, when he's not with Rage or his newer band, Audioslave. To the Post’s credit, Zumbrun does place Morello’s ideology on the radical fringe, but largely because Morello’s radicalism is so obvious. But they studiously avoid Marxism or communism in the mix of labels:

Morello rejects labels, largely because he's so far left on the political spectrum that labels cease to apply. A term like "revolutionary socialism" or "radical anti-establishment" gives a general idea for those unfamiliar with Rage Against the Machine...

Aside from [Rep. Dennis] Kucinich, and he's still several shades to the right of me, I don't think anybody has courageously stepped up and said what needs to be said. We have a war criminal sitting in the White House. That's not hyperbole."

That’s where the "please-God-drown-Bush" moment arrived. Back when Rage Against the Machine was still a touring band, Brent Bozell reported on their radical vibe:

"We are unapologetically revolutionary in our music and in our intent," as guitarist Tom Morello tells George magazine. How revolutionary? Morello has spoken favorably of Peru's murderous Shining Path guerrillas; at Woodstock '99, bassist Tim Commerford set ablaze an American flag, later stating in Rolling Stone, "My burning the flag is as much glorifying as desecrating it"....