Ray Charles versus Ronald Reagan...
posted by Rick at 7:29 PM

I almost fell out of my chair last night when I heard Tom Brokaw say that Ray Charles "was to music what Ronald Reagan was to politics."

Here is a list of the top ten ways that Ray Charles was not the Ronald Reagan of music:

10. Ray Charles did not come to music as a refugee from B movies where he had co-starred with a chimpanzee.

9. Ray Charles never joked on the air about launching an air strike on those who played other forms of music than his own.

8. Ray Charles did not arm Osama bin Laden, the Mujahideen, the Taliban, or Saddam Hussein--nor did he sell arms to Iran and ilegally funnel the proceeds to an insurgency that was in open rebellion against a legitimately elected government.

7. Ray Charles did not drive his record label trillions of dollars into debt.

6. Ray Charles did not advocate putting a network of loudspeakers in space to prevent attacks on America by foreign musicians.

5. Ray Charles did not claim credit for the death of disco just because he happened to be there when it died.

4. Ray Charles did not hand over control of music to rich people, or circulate wealthy, powerful businessmen through his band like a revolving door.

3. Ray Charles did not remember a time when America didn't know it had a blues problem.

2. Ray Charles never advocated denying the services of musicians to "welfare queens."

And the number one reason Ray Charles was not Ronald Reagan: Ray Charles knew he was blind.