With election season in high gear, Kid Rock is calling for moderation and pragmatism. “Here is the bottom line,” he said, dressed in an impolitic white tracksuit at his New Year’s Eve party at the Hotel Gansevoort. “There are too many left-wing freaks, and there are too many right-wing freaks. The voice of this country is the middle voice, and that is not being heard.” Not that, unlike a lot of celebs, he would presume he has any political wisdom to impart. “I had a great conversation with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Spain last week, and he asked me what I thought of the country,” he said. “I told him that I know this much: That as popular as I am as an entertainer, I’m not educated enough in the area of public service or educated on world events to talk about it with you.” He is, however, a supporter of Israel, because he feels he can identify with what he sees as its national self-defense ethos. “They’ll unload on anybody. ‘Fuck with us? We’ll fuck you up,’” he said. “That’s my motto in life. ‘Be nice to everybody, but if somebody fucks with you, fuck them up.’”

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Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Shira Levine
• Table of Contents: Jan 14, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!