Does MTV Hate America?

Kick-ass American rockers Nine Inch Nails have been forced to withdraw from MTV’s Movie Awards extravaganza because Trent wanted a poster of our esteemed president George W. Bush as the band’s backdrop:

Reznor and company, who are still doing a big ol' victory lap around the U.S. in celebration of their surprisingly splendid comeback record With Teeth, recently backed out of a slotted MTV Movie Awards Performance after the network expressed hesitation about their proposed live-show backdrop, a picture of our current President.

"We were set to perform 'The Hand That Feeds' with an unmolested, straightforward image of George W. Bush as the backdrop," Reznor told fans via the band's website. "Apparently the image of our President is as offensive to MTV as it is to me." Take that, suits!

So, now we got MTV runnin' around doing damage control and making sterile statements like this: "While we respect Nine Inch Nails' point of view, we were uncomfortable with their performance being built around a partisan political statement. When we discussed our discomfort with the band, their choice was to unfortunately pull out of the Movie Awards."

So if an unmolested picture of the president is inappropriate, how appropriate is my picture of Bush which has been molested almost beyond recognition? What MTV doesn’t understand is that Republicans don’t get irony. If Bush himself had tuned in (assuming he somehow managed to stay up past 8pm), no doubt he would have said, "Well, look at that patriotic young American. Let’s send him a presidential ham."

Oh yes. There are presidential hams.