Melissa Etheridge at the 2008 Democratic National Convention

[piglet7piglet]

awesome! how i wish i was one of them to witness this...

[tussnelda91]

very good , melissa is the best

[inlovewithoscar]

Oh my gosh!!!! My mind was just blown!!! That was such an amazing performance , I could feel the rush and excitment of the  power in her voice and I got chills!!!! I love you Melissa etheridge!!!

[wattlesong]

And a great job was done by

the Closed Captioners.

[Rickmicheals]

I love melissa. She was my favorite at the covention.

[wadjela]

NEWS FLASH

President Barack Obama has won

the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Congratulations Obama!

Congratulations US people!

[alaparra]

VEN A SPAIN

[dogrescuergirl]

Thank you Melissa, you rock...and thank you Philip for the accompaniment, you are a doll. See you again! :)

[wattlesong]

Harmonica - feel I'm back in the 60s!

What a performance.

[rabbitweber]

cool!for the time there are a changing!!!!!!!!! love her!!!!

[DDevin7]

Melissa rocks. Great job Melissa. No words, really.

[erincaitlin]

soooo great!!!

<3

[chitchant]

The prelude chords seem to be 'Born in the USA',

and 'God Bless America' came as a surprise.

[thomthom9]

god bless MELISSA ETHERIDGE!!! :)

[NWTerriD]

This was the absolute best part of an awesome convention. That night listening to her, it felt to me like we had taken back America.

[chitchant]

Surviving a cancer experience can leave you with great clarity

and a tendency to proselytise the wisdom of your experience.

You want other people to learn what you have without going through the suffering,

but unfortunately they perceive it as a form of evangelism.

It's the same dilemma as parents who want for their children

not to repeat the parents' mistakes,

but children wanting to be able to have the freedom to make those mistakes.

It's hard to stand back and watch sometimes.

[dudleycunningham]

Thanks, Melissa.

[Anastaciafan1990]

Melissa! You're great!

[Diomedene]

All we are saying...is give peace a chance.

[soonersmile2]

I love Melissa. No one has a voice like her, maybe Janis Joplin. But Melissa rocks like no one else.

[cattalk22]

Man she blow the roof off the motha! People that come here with negative attitudes know damn well they couldn't handle this Powerhouse woman.

[nauticablu08]

Melissa ROCKS!!!! She has been through quite a lot in her life and has shared it through her music just as she has done in this performance at the Democratic Convention with music and songs that we are all united first as Americans living in the USA! God Bless America, Our home free home!!!!!

[lovejangie1]

Another great performance!

[SmileyJ429]

Geez, how rude are you. I am proud that they chose Melissa Etheridge she is a great role model. Maybe you should learn a little more about her life and career before you start judging.

[kykatz14]

You are a dumbass that needs to keep their opinions to themself. Must be a republican!

[personalbest44]

Hillary will be the next Secretary of State. She'll replace Condoleeza Rice and bring this country back to a state of PEACE and rekindle the many broken allies that were created over the years.

[amyrobin994]

Awesome performance, wonder how Philip felt about playing Born in the USA when he is Canadian. I love you Philip!!

[nath134679]

she always knows how to put on a show and she is effortlessly amazing and inspirational

[MEtheridgeStreetTeam]

God Bless America!!!

[rockyracune]

Palin's reputation as a fine and decent mother was impugned by sexist demands that she refrain from running for the Vice-Presidency for the sake of her five children. Yet, such a demand was never made of former Presidential candidate John Edwards, who had young children and a seriously ill wife. Nor was such a demand ever made of LONG-TIME Democrat and now Speaker-of-the-House Nancy Pelosi, who has five children. Is there a double standard applied only to Republican women? Shameful!

[scj16]

She played amazingly! The songs were great and the transitions were smooth!

[uwabbit]

Overall, Democrats are much nicer than Republicans. I think most Republicans will agree with that. Hopefully, Obama will win. God willing! If McCain and Palin are elected, that would set America back another 10 or 20 years. Obama will be a great leader for the USA and in the rest of the world. Go Obama-Biden! Woooo Hooooo!

[rockyracune]

Don't Democrats have any shame? They attack Palin's little Down's Syndrome baby and then they attack Palin's 17 year old daughter. My God, Democrats are truly slime-balls without souls - the scum of the Earth. And how ironic that they attack GOVERNOR Palin's lack of experience when Hussein Obama has "jack shit" when it comes to experience. At least Palin, a reformer, helped clean up Alaska's corruption, while Obama participated in Chicago's corruption (Tony Rezco). McCain will win, thank God.

[UNiQUELYsoBEAUTiFUL]

Who has attacked Palin's 17 year old daughter? But let me put it to you like this IF Obama had a 17 year old pregnant daughter the election would have been for him! You damn REPUBLICANS would have made sure of that by criticizing him CONSTANTLY saying "how can he run America when he can't even manage his own family?" Get a grip on life because you republicans are the real slime balls and TRUE HYPOCRITES!

OBAMA/BIDEN 2008 BAAAAAAAAAABY! YES WE CAN!

[ChocolatePope17]

Was Bruce Springsteen unavailable or anybody else with talent?...

[milkman93]

you want to talk talent you see the guy to the left thats Philip Sayce go check him out and you'll see talent by the shitloads

[SmileyJ429]

Bruce Springsteen actually declined to play, he was asked to play and there was a rumor going around that he was going to play. There was a message on his website that he declined. She gave him tribute, with "Born in the USA". You should really pay attention to her talent, this performance gives me chills every time.

[2xVitamR]

great performance

[RAWArtifacts]

Go Melissa and Go Obama,

Because yes we can, in America!

Robert RAW

[lemonostiftis]

cheers , i'm on your side mate

[MEtheridgeStreetTeam]

Philip Sayce Rules!

[MEtheridgeStreetTeam]

Melissa Etheridge RULES!

[dsm122880]

too bad Panama John can't play "Born In the USA" at the RNC!

[rockyracune]

During the campaign, Obama treated Hillary with no respect. It was shameful. If Hillary had been a man it would have been a different story. No one would have badgered such a man into stopping his run for the White House. Obama and the Democrats acted as though it was their right to humiliate a candidate just because she happens to be a woman. McCain will win, and not just because he has been an honorable person. My gosh; look who actually picked a woman to be his VP.

[CourtyCourtney]

rockyracune has no idea what it is talking about if it did it would know mc cain is NOT an honorable person let alone man...just continuing the poor HRC thing...to quote HRC: I am Hillary Clinton and I do not approve this message! Thanks Hillary! The Nation is uniting with the Obama/Biden ticket.

[ChocolatePope17]

And then Hilary got in a little fight and her mom got scared and said you are moving with your Aunt and Uncle in Bel-air...

[SmileyJ429]

It's not about Obama not picking a woman, it's about who can do the job best. And Hilary clearly did not have it this time around. Her voters proved that, not Obama.

[ricstewart]

The Democrats had a chance to nominate someone qualified and experienced, and that was Hilary Clinton. Sadly, they gave in to the media hype around someone who is nothing more than a glorified motivational speaker and writer.

[SmileyJ429]

What is sad is that you have not given Obama a chance. Hilary thoughts and Obama's are very similar. Perhaps Obama can portray and excite people about those issues more than Hilary and that is why people gravitate towards him. I am sure Hilary will get a seat in his cabinet, but until then Obama is the best choice as far as I am concerned.

[ricstewart]

I did give him a chance; I did my research and the facts prove that he is not ready to lead. He's never sponsored a major work of legislation - not even when he was in the state senate. I'm sure he has good intentions, but he doesn't have experience and his plan has gaping flaws. I've still never heard anyone say what his accomplishment(s) is/are.

[SmileyJ429]

Some of his accomplishments:

Spent 3 years as a brilliant community organizer,

became the first black President of the Harvard Law

Review, created a voter registration drive that registers 150,000

new voters, spent 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor,

spent 8 years as a State Senator representing a district

with over 750,000 people,

[ricstewart]

There are thousands of community organizers across the country.

[SmileyJ429]

and only one running for president...

[lisamj]

damn good posting, smileyJ429....thanks! bully for you. give those republican psycho whiny babies some facts on which they can SUCK IT LONG AND HARD!

[SmileyJ429]

become chairman of the state

Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spent 4

years in the United States Senate representing a state of

13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving

on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and

Veteran's Affairs committees.

[ricstewart]

Yes, he has sponsored 136 bills, but none of them were major works of legislation and only TWO of the 136 became law.

As for committees, most members of Congress are members of some sort of committee; what matters is what was accomplished by said committee and what leadership role was played.

[SmileyJ429]

How about being one of the only senators to not support the war in Iraq and vote against it, to me that is pretty big legislation.

The whole experience thing has been non existent since Biden joined the ticket. If you want to talk experience, how could anyone possibly think Palin is ready to lead this country. If you want to talk experience, she is something to think about.

[ricstewart]

Barack Obama was not in the United States Senate at the the start of the Iraq War - how could he have voted against it? Once he was in the Senate, he did support the Iraq War de-escalation Act - that is, he did not support the surge that was proven to work!

[ricstewart]

As for Palin, she has held political office for longer than Obama. In her tenure as governor, she has taken on an incumbent governor and beaten him in the primary, then went on to win the general election. She is a reformer and whistleblower who had the chairperson of her own party fined. She has maintained an above-80% approval rating as governer, which has peaked near 89% - almost unheard of!

That's true balls and bipartisanship that Obama has never shown,and THAT's change we can believe in.

[Reiferoni]

Democrats, Melissa, Hillary, Obama, Biden--all y'all are my kind of people...LOVE YOU!!!

[CHARESTHEHAMER]

[After showing Pelosi and Hillary speak]

"It's not like the Democrats are just a bunch of lesbians sitting around singing 'Give Peace a Chance.....oh no...they didn't'"

Jon Stewart

[jelm81]

Melissa was great! I'm a lifelong Melissa fan, but I'm kind of annoyed that she can't do anything without Sayce. Back in the 90s she would have rocked this all by herself.

[cattalk22]

jelm81, what do you mean she can't do anything w/o Philip. Melissa can throw down with or with out him. She hasn't changed. Philip is lucky have the opportunity to perform with her at the convention and to be seen. there's no doubt he had a blast. She already done this solo in 2000. It's her and Philip now, they were great together.

[avalonianjewel]

I love you. God, I love you. Go Obama.

[epw4edwards08]

We love you Melissa!!

[svb1444]

Wonderful performance!

[MicroTex23]

mELLISA rOCKS, AS ALWAYS.

vote nOVEMBER

pEACE & LOVE

[dizzymasekela]

Republicans won't have anything at their convention close to this. Republicans make the shittiest music in the world. All they have to say is, "Hate Mexicans! Hate Mexicans! Hate Mexicans!"

Go Obama! Go U.S.A.!

[remyraif]

I wasn't a Melissa Etheridge fan until I heard this song............. wow talk about evocating a sense of hope and nostalgia. I loved it, please sell it on I-tunes.

Allison

[SmileyJ429]

You should look up her performance at Live Earth this past summer. Talk about inspiring. She is very real and her songs reflect today, and tomorrow.

[NovemberReign]

I'm not an Etheridge fan but this performance truly grabbed my attention. Wow at her singing over and over, "I was born in the USA!" So much more moving than Springsteen, imo. All of the Blacks that participated in the Civil Rights era were also born in the USA. All of the Blacks that were lynched, that couldn't vote, that dealt with segregation were all...born in the USA!

[jorgen274]

Great performance! Too bad it had to be in a 4 day long Democrats commercial...

[qbear17]

Can't wait to see what the Republicans drag out on stage when they do the same thing, salsimms77. Music has been used by politicians, governments, religions, and even musicians to create an audience, influence a perspective, or (gasp) entertain. So, lighten up eveybody, and just listen to the song.

[salsimms77]

People. Let's see this for what it really is....a carefully orchestrated marketing campaign. It is not about music or politics. It is all about getting the American people to buy Barack Obama. They would sing row row row your boat if it would make the sale....

[CalexanderJ]

Duh it's a convention, and conventions are about marketing. The republicans are going to attempt to do the same thing next week if they can manage to attract anybody with any talent to perform for them. People need to look past the theatrics on both sides to the actual policies, when they do they'll discover that Barack Obama is the far superior candidate.

[jodi767]

great performance

[moose7743]

Melissa and Philip were great.

[jbirenz]

What an embarrassment. She mis-applies Born in the USA the same way Reagan tried to.

[stillautumn]

I don't think she mis-applied the song. I think what she did was to pull the more positive idea of being born in the USA from it. Besides, she's a huge Bruce fan. I'm sure this was one of her ways of paying homage to his talents as a singer and song writer. I'm sorry you were embarrassed but that's only because you can't see the positive she was trying to make with using just a small portion of the song.

[jbirenz]

I thought her whole performance was embarrassing, bot just the BITUSA portion. I used to really like her.

But on BITUSA, when Reagan tried to "take the positive" from the song, Bruce fans (rightly) criticized him for it. But if our side does it, it's apparently OK. I don't buy that.

[stillautumn]

Well I'm sorry you can only find embarrassment in a positive message. I hope you find your light someday. Melissa is also a Bruce fan. There's no sides here. Just interpretations & trying to bring positive into an already overly negative world. I really don't believe Melissa was trying to take anything away from Bruce & his reasons for such an angry song. But only through love can anger be healed. Perhaps that's the message. Negativity is hard pressed to live in love & light. It's time to heal.

[jbirenz]

Stillautumn, please answer this -- was it OK when Reagan tried to do the same thing?

[stillautumn]

I can't answer that as I was just in my late teens/early 20's during Reagan's era. At the time, I didn't really care about politics or angry people. Melissa may have different reasons for using just a part of the song than Reagan had for using the whole song. Let's wait and see if Bruce has the same issues with her using his song as he did with Reagan using his song.

[willowfour]

Oh get a grip! Melissa is friggin' awesome ... and is a great personal friend of "The Boss"; he's always flattered by Melissa's reditions of his songs. In fact, he had dueted on "Thunder Road" with Melissa back in '94 and what a great duet it was! As for the acceptence of Melissa using BITUSA vs Regan, of course Bruce had every right to rant 'n rave as Bruce is very much a democrat ... Regan was a Repubby ---- HELLO. Bruce - Melissa ROCK ON!

[cattalk22]

jbirenz, embarrass for what! No dude Melissa did not pull a Reagan, I'm sure she knew exactly what she's doing. She's not that stupid OK.

[lisameyer]

what a moment!

[onemoreopinion]

The audio sounds a lot better here than when I listened earlier on TV. The accompaniment was way too loud on CNN. Who is the guy on the guitar? A great performance by an important American artist. Congratulations!

[stillautumn]

The guy on the guitar would be Philip Sayce. The most amazing guitar player you'll ever see. I have a bunch of videos from Melissa's tour this year and many of them have Philip highlighted for his amazing performances. If you have time, check them out.

[valentinesday01]

She was great!

[quieth1121]

Great combination of the greatest songs with messages.

[atlbiscuit]

AWESOME performance!

[RVHSteph22]

She did an outstanding job! Perfect for the evening!

[CHARESTHEHAMER]

If the Dimocrats are trying to attrack the hedonist vote Why didn't they just put Rosie Donnell on Stage?

[stillautumn]

Because Melissa sings a hell of a lot better than Rosie. Rosie would agree. ;)

[RVHSteph22]

Maybe if you could spell we could understand what you are trying to say!

[mindya12]

DIMOCRATS HUH? Attrack?  DOH! That's the republicans for you folks. HA HA!

[italndiva]

What are you saying? It makes little or no sense?

[jtapjtap]

great performance