Roseanne Cash Opposes Assumptions About Father

Politics and Country Music are turning out to be unmixable ingredients. John Rich's recent support of Republican Senator John McCain as a presidential nominee had him calling up the name of Johnny Cash on stage this month. Before performing "Walk The Line" at a Florida concert, Rich told the crowd, "Somebody's got to walk the line in the country. They've got to walk it unapologetically. And I'm sure Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around." Roseanne Cash, daughter of the late Johnny Cash, is having none of it. The singer/songwriter released the following statement about Rich's assumption: "It is appalling to me that people still want to invoke my father's name, five years after his death, to ascribe beliefs, ideals, values and loyalties to him that cannot possibly be determined, and to try to further their own agendas by doing so. "I knew my father pretty well, at least better than some of those who entitle themselves to his legacy and his supposed ideals, and even I would not presume to say publicly what I 'know' he thought or felt. This is especially dangerous in the case of political affiliation. It is unfair and presumptuous to use him to bolster any platform. I would ask that my father not be co-opted in this election for either side, since he is clearly not here to defend or state his own allegiance."