I am one of the world’s biggest Bruce fans. The best rock concert I’ve ever seen in my life was Bruce during the “Born In The USA” tour. It was phenomenal.

So it made me sick to my stomach to see him on Nightline this week talking like an uninformed college kid about the upcoming election. Tim (no relation, by the way) is right that Koppel treated Bruce with kid gloves.

What I’m trying to figure out is how conservative rock fans should respond to Bruce, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, etc. Should we just shrug and roll out eyes at their dopiness? Or should we fight back.

As a former political flak, I feel like a line has been crossed. Mentioning your politics in one of your concerts is one thing, but being part of an planned, partisan GOTV effort targeting swing states in the weeks before the election is, at some personal level, a betrayal of fans. It drags their art down to the level of flakkery.

When that “art” is Britney Spears, who cares? But when it’s “Thunder Road” or “Born to Run,” that’s a real shame.