John McCain Doesn't Like to Ask Permission

As Senator McCain has become increasingly cranky and nasty during the home stretch of this (admittedly grueling) campaign it has become clear that he pretty much thinks he deserves to be President and can't stand the fact that the public doesn't seem to agree.

In addition to not wanting to ask the voters' permission before moving into the White House, McCain (and Palin) don't like to ask for musicians' permission before co-opting there songs.

Jon Bon Jovi became the latest performer to insist that the McCain-Palin campaign stop using their music.

We are surprised to hear that our song, "Who Says You Can't Go Home" was used by the McCain campaign at rallies yesterday and today. We wrote this song as a thank you to those who have supported us over the past twenty-five years. The song has since become a banner for our home state of New Jersey and the defacto theme song for our partnerships around the country to build homes and rebuild communities. Although we were not asked, we do not approve of their use of 'Home.

Other upset artists include:

Heart (Barracuda)

The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission. We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored.

Jackson Browne (Running on Empty)

Browne, one of rock music's most famous activists for liberal causes, is "incensed" that the presumptive Republican candidate for president has been using Browne's signature 1977 song "Running on Empty" in campaign commercials, according to the singer-songwriter's attorney. Browne filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against both McCain and the Republican National Committee on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting the use of the forlorn arena anthem or any other Browne compositions, as well as damages.

Mike Myers (Wayne's World)

But the ad may have crossed the copyright line at the end by including footage of Mike Myers and Dana Carvey doing their Wayne and Garth "We're not worthy" schtick from years past on "Saturday Night Live."

Hollywood types jumped into the fray, directing the McCain campaign to cease and desist -- and so it did.

“Apparently Mike Myers thought we weren’t worthy,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in an e-mail.

John Mellencamp (Our Country, Pink Houses)

his reps are quietly reaching out to McCain and asking him to stop playing his tunes. (McCain’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Frankie Valli (Can't Take My Eyes Off of You)

The Warner Music Group asserted its copyright claim against YouTube, which is the reason for the take-down. McCain's campaign has re-posted the video, sans Warner's intellectual property.

The Rocky Theme Song

After playing the anthemic horns of the "Rocky" theme song at his rallies, the owner of the song's copyright telephoned the McCain campaign to politely complain it was being used without permission, McCain said.

The Foo Fighters (My Hero)

"It's frustrating and infuriating that someone who claims to speak for the American people would repeatedly show such little respect for creativity and intellectual property," they growled. "This isn't the first time the McCain campaign has used a song without making any attempt to get approval or permission from the artist."

The band said that permission to use the song was not sought from them, their management, their label or their publisher.

"The saddest thing about this is that My Hero was written as a celebration of the common man and his extraordinary potential," the statement reads, although many fans have speculated that the song, written by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, refers to his admiration for former Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain.

"To have it appropriated without our knowledge and used in a manner that perverts the original sentiment of the lyric just tarnishes the song. We hope that the McCain campaign will do the right thing and stop using our song — and start asking artists' permission in general."

And not to be outdone, Fox News

The Fox News Channel sent notices to the campaigns of the leading Republican presidential candidates ordering them to stop using images from their Fox appearances in their campaign ads. The notices were sent out after the network was criticized for singling out only Senator John McCain’s campaign in barring use of the images.

That's a pretty big list folks, and it's bipartisan even. I found these nine examples in about 20 minutes of looking, there may well be others out there.