PUNKVOTER: Musicians Take Anti-BUSH Message Directly To The Fans

Billy Gould (ex-FAITH NO MORE),Jello Biafra (ex-DEAD KENNEDYS),Fat Mike (NOFX),Billy Joe Armstrong (GREEN DAY),THE OFFSPRING, BAD RELIGION and FOO FIGHTERS are among the musicians that have come together to form Punkvoter, a coalition to educate, register and mobilize over 500,000 progressive voters.

In an interview with Hotline, NOFX's Fat Mike said that he's "always been involved in social politics," but it was the 2000 Florida recount that motivated him to become involved with Punkvoter: "It's the biggest scandal in our history and it's not something you should get over."

NOFX have sold millions of records throughout their career, but according to Fat Mike, they would rather take the anti-Bush message directly to their fans, instead of it being filtered through the media.

"No one wants to be DIXIE CHICK-ed," he said, referring to the incident earlier in the year when radio stations stopped playing THE DIXIE CHICKS and sponsored record-breaking contests after the band publicly criticized the Iraq War. "A lot of people think musicians and artists should stay out of politics and I think they're completely wrong. We're suppose to leave morality to the politicians? We have better morals because we're not owned by corporations."

Thanks to Bush's falling poll numbers, Fat Mike says organizing Punkvoter is "getting easier by the day." "I think the American public is really tired of being lied to," he said. "[Bush] totally misled the public by saying that Saddam Hussein was in bed with al-Qaeda... and when they clearly hate each other. Now that the dust is settled, people are starting to realize what's going on."

For more information on Punkvoter, visit the official web site at www.punkvoter.com.

(Thanks: National Journal)