Aerosmith Tells GOP To Get Back Off Saddle

Well, so much for Eric Cantor's big PR stunt. Set to Aerosmith's classic tune "Back in the Saddle," the Republican party put out a boasting little ad that tried to convince everybody that they'd risen from the dead by voting no on the stimulus bill because it didn't have enough tax cuts for wealthy people, and it promised to make buildings much too energy efficient. The resulting video lifted GOP spirits for about 30 seconds before Gallup released a poll showing that the country now thinks worse of congressional Republicans than before they decided to show off their new "just say no" governing philosophy. Well, inevitably, the other shoe has dropped, and Aerosmith, perhaps sensing how utterly uncool it is to be associated with the party of Limbaugh, Palin, and Cantor, have ordered them to cease and desist with the "Back in the Saddle" bit. From TPM:

The GOP's use of the tune "was something we, as the publishers, didn't approve and would not have approved without going to the writers," Connie Ashton, director of copyright and licensing at Stage Three, told me. "Aerosmith did not approve of its use and also wanted to have it taken down," she added.

YouTube has taken down the offending video.