Probably Uncalled For...  

How quickly the tides can turn. Not that it hasn't been a blast, watching the rats flee in the waning nine months of the sinking ship known as the Bush White House, but some rats manage to grab more notice than others, and it's not even relative to the size of the splash when they hit the water.

Take, for example, Toby Keith. After being among the forefront of the "pro-decider" crowd the past couple of years, now all of a sudden, the country music star is out shopping his loyalties around.

Speaking with People magazine at the recent CMT awards, Keith pretty much said he was keeping his options open. Referring to the Democratic nominees, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, Keith said he was "real happy that there are two candidates that people can get behind." As far as the Grand Old Party goes, Keith feels that Sen. John McCain is a "great option."
So, leaving nothing to chance, although I do suppose it favors the prepared mind, Toby Keith says he thinks "we've got three great candidates running." How refreshing to see a celebrity go completely free agent during an election year. When pressed for where his support was going, Keith said no one had won him over yet, so he was waiting and listening, however, he did express a desire for one of the Democratic nominees to "get behind the other one and show us what we've got."

Fair enough, I guess. It's hard not to call this exactly for what it is- Toby Keith hanging in limbo to see where his next fan base is. After eight years of red-state hitmaking, do you wonder if Keith wants McCain to win, simply so he won't have to re-invent his persona for another four years? I mean, if Clinton or Obama win, you will probably get more traditional country-pop from Keith, but if the Republicans can hold on to the White House by hook, by crook, or by some bulls**t Supreme Court decision, will we continue to see the commercially over-patriotic Toby Keith we've grown accustomed to on USO tours and in Ford truck ads?