Way back in August of 2004, we popped up this little post about country superstar Toby Keith:

Right-wing country music fans: "He's a registered WHAT?"

There's an interesting article in The Tennessean headlined "Should singers strike a political note?" But here's the quote that surprised the hell out of me:

Toby Keith, whose Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue song became a military rallying cry, is often assumed to be a Republican, though in a recent Tennessean interview he expressed mixed feelings about the Iraq war and said he was actually a registered Democrat.

Keith is in Boise tonight playing at the Idaho Center. The Idaho Statesman is running an interview today about him, his controversial hit "The Angry American" and his politics:

Q: With this new album, is it a relief not to have to deal with the controversy from the "Angry American" song?

A: Yeah, well, you know, my song was more for the police action that took place in Afghanistan — chasing a bad guy down that had killed a bunch of Americans. That bled over into the Iraq war, and a lot of people want to paint me with that (conservative) brush. But I'm a lifetime Democrat, and that really pisses them off. They want me to be this big right-wing nut. I'm just a patriotic guy that was angry after 9/11 and knew our troops were going to have to go into Afghanistan because that country wasn't going to do the right thing and turn (Osama bin Laden) over to us.

Click here for the full interview.

UPDATE 1/31/06: Yo, Toby -- if you're such a great Democrat, what's up with this donation? (Thanks to qw3rty at the Air America forum.)