DAVE MUSTAINE Says He Sometimes Thinks About Running For Public Office

David Berlin of The Union-Tribune recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the "United Abominations" track "Amerikhastan", which features the lyrics, "… A roaring lion is about to be unleashed on earth / Hey, Jihad Joe? Guess what? We're coming to get you!

"I'm not saying it's good or bad or indifferent. I'm just saying that it is what it is. There are going to be people who call me names, and there are going to be people who say I'm a genius. And there are going to be people in between who are not going to know what the words that I use are who are going to look them up and thank me for it."

On living in Fallbrook, California:

"I love living in San Diego. I have dreams of one day having the Dave Mustaine High School in La Mesa or something like that. Or the Mustaine cardiac or pediatric wing, you know, because I love where we live.

"If it means that I'm going to have to run for public office in order to have something like that happen, I guess I'll probably have to wait on my dream."

On the fact that he doesn't want his message to be misinterpreted:

"I'm not going after the Middle East. What I am saying is there's a lot of stuff going on over there that we helped start, and a lot of the American people don't know it.

"Take 'Washington Is Next', for instance. The song is not about Armageddon, but about world history. Every world power has fallen at some point, and Washington is next. It's inevitable."

"I don't walk around with a shirt that says anything negative about any of our presidents. I don't agree with a lot of the things he (President Bush) has done. As far as why we're over in Iraq right now, I don't have all the information. I know some of what they said is true. And some of what they said is really hard to believe.

"But this I know is true. We're there. And our military needs to be supported. And you know what? I support them. I don't care if you don't buy my records anymore because I say I support our military."

On what he did in 1992, when he went to the Democratic National Convention and worked for Rock the Vote:

"I went to the White House. I shook the president's hand. I got involved in legislation that turned a bill into a law. Now when you go and get your driver's license here, you can register to vote in our local DMV in San Diego County. That little box that you tick. Hello? You're welcome."

"I'm a patriot. I love our country. I wish that at some point I could have a hand in helping do more as far as politics are concerned.

"But no one would vote for me because they would start looking into my past. And there'd be too many people who would come up and say I was either loaded, drunk or (they were) naked with Dave at some point in the past. It would be very easy for people who were narrow-minded to say, 'Hey, this is not the kind of person we want in the White House.'"

(Thanks: Rattlehead HQ)