Touring With the U.S.O. in '04, It's Still Thanks for the Memories

[Rose Siding]

...Back then, Bob Hope took flak in a deeply divided country for his steadfast support of the troops. And Edward A. Powell Jr., president of the U.S.O., acknowledged that the personal politics of many stars had forced the programmers to be deft in navigating culture wars at home.

"But we have not seen it impact dramatically on the entertainers we would like to take overseas," he said aboard a military jet shuttling between shows. "The entertainers we've brought are all over the map in terms of politics back home, whether it's Al Franken or Toby Keith or Darryl Worley or Joan Jett or Sheryl Crow." Other recent U.S.O. headliners included James Gandolfini and Tony Sirico of "The Sopranos," David Letterman and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

Mr. Williams, who openly mocked President Bush during the election campaign, has visited the war zone three times and said he had taken no criticism for his decisions.

"Politics has no place on this tour," Mr. Williams said in an interview before his monologue in a tent jammed with troops at Bagram Air Field, the main military hub in Afghanistan. "You want to debate? That's for home. Here, we concentrate on the soldiers. It's all for them."

http://nytimes.com/2004/12/26/international/middleeast/26uso.html

And for the value voting fans...

...The cheesecake quotient was filled by Leeann Tweeden, a Fox network sports commentator...

*NOTHING* wrong with a pretty woman, but it struck me as ironic, being from the repub network.