politics

MSNBC Gets Punk’d

June 3, 2004

They’re ba-ack!

MSNBC’s Michael E. Ross today discovers “Punk Republicans,” an exotic species previously identified by The New York Times, The Washington Times, and Agence France-Presse.

Like those who came before him, reporter Ross points to the efforts of 22-year-old Nick Rizzuto, the founder of conservativepunk.com, and includes a reference to “punk icon Johnny Ramone”‘s shout-out of support for President Bush at the 2002 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The point? It seems that “not everybody in the punk scene [is] as left-wing as they make it out to be,” as Ross quotes Rizzuto saying.

Ross does add something fresh to the mix, however, informing readers — perhaps over-informing readers — that former MTV video jockey Kennedy is “an avowed Republican said to wear the party symbol as a tattoo on one of her private parts.”

We’re beginning to think reporters like Ross have “punk Republican” tattooed on their brains.

–Liz Cox Barrett

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Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.