Within seconds of Michele announcing she’d decided to launch a bid for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, it became clear that not one iota of liberal negativity toward conservatives has abated.

Over the past few days, the rock world has joined the fun by publicly stepping forward in an effort to send a message to the latest object of targeted political ridicule, Michele Bachmann. The goal is to drive home the point that liberal rock musicians disapprove of both Bachmann’s politics and her audacity in thinking she actually has a chance to send honorary rock star Barack Obama back to Chicago.

Following Alec Baldwin’s Twitter tirade, Tom Petty, a Mad Hatter in sunglasses, decided it was his turn to deny Bachmann, without explanation, the use of one of his hit songs. Petty is so anti-GOP he forbade Michele Bachmann from playing  “American Girl” as a musical backdrop to her announcement to run for president.

Apparently, the last thing Tom Petty wants to be associated with is writing the signature anthem that could accompany a female Republican candidate on the trip from Minnesota to the White House.  So, to prevent that from happening, the rocker sent a three-word message to Michele: “Cease and desist.”

It’s doubtful that Tom Petty would decline $275 per person ticket proceeds based on who concertgoers supported in the last election. Yet, rock musicians who refuse, due to partisan politics, to let conservative candidates use songs for campaign backdrops forget that many of their fans are conservatives.

It’s no secret: Tom Petty isn’t a fan of the Right. When George W. Bush ran for governor of Texas, the genial GWcomplimented the songwriter by using “I Won’t Back Down” as a campaign song. The unappreciative Petty had his publisher warn the campaign that using the ballad could send a false impression (Heaven forbid) that Petty endorsed Bush, and ordered the gubernatorial team to pull the song.

Tom Petty is one of a large herd of liberal singers and songwriters who sell their wares like capitalists on steroids to anyone and everyone, but when a conservative candidate identifies with one of their songs, out of fear of being perceived as leaning to the right hawkers of concert T-shirts and tacky glassware suddenly become all partisan and possessive.

Yet when Democrats like Black Socks Spitzer of New York and John “My-Wife-Has-Cancer-While-I’m-Having-an-Affair” Edwards used Heartbreaker music as campaign anthems, Tom the Petty fully endorsed both Lotharios using the extremely apropos “Won’t Back Down” ditty.

The “You Can Call Me Al” and “Don’t Stop” crews are proud to have signature songs associated with Al “Crazed Sex Poodle” Gore and impeached adulterer Bill Clinton, but Sarah Palin shaking hands and hugging babies in time to “Barracuda” irked female rock group Heart so much that the duo threatened a lawsuit if Sarah didn’t pick another tune.

Truth is, in the world of rock and roll, the liberal malady is endemic. In the 1980’s, Bruce Springsteen took on the Gipper over Reagan’s use of the song “Born in the USA.” During the 2004 presidential election, in an effort to save the USA from a second Bush term, Bruce partnered with über-liberal left-wing group MoveOn.org to headline a star-studded caravan of whiners in a Vote for Change Tour.

The 2004 MoveOn.org/rock-and-roll effort failed and Bush won reelection, which proves there are more Republican voters than liberals realize.  If, as a group, conservatives boycotted downloading music from iTunes and stopped buying concert tickets, many artists who feel comfortable insulting Republicans for sport would definitely take a hit in the pocketbook.

Then again, one has to wonder if someone like Bruce Springsteen even comprehends the concept that the people he slurs with his political invectives have the monetary power to affect The Boss’s bottom line.  After all, didn’t Springsteen say Obama “speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years”?

Even still, the liberal Step Away From the Song list goes on and on: Pretty boy Jon Bon Jovi told Sarah Palin not to use “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.”  The Foo Fighters and Van Halen dissed John McCain; Bruce Hornsby felt Sean Hannity’s use of his song “The Way it Is” shouldn’t be the way it is; and rock group Rush informed Rand Paul he’s no “Tom Sawyer.”

By now, Republicans should know better than to provide ammunition for the left by failing to stringently follow copyright laws and respect property ownership rights. Yet, a politically partisan situation still presents an opportunity to learn a profound lesson for those on both sides of the political aisle.

Liberal musicians should understand that having a fan base largely made up of those without the ability to pay $1.99 to download a song or lay out close to three bills for a concert ticket isn’t going to ensure their rock star lifestyle for very long.

For those heartbroken by Petty Heartbreaker, conservatives must take their eyes off the “Yes We Can” free-for-all where liberal politicians sway and wave in time to music amidst showers of balloons filled to capacity with Democrat hot air.  It’s time to realize the same standard does not and will never apply to Grand Ole or Tea Party candidates. Just because liberal musicians become gazillionaires with the help of Republican fans doesn’t mean those same rich rock stars will show appreciation by treating conservative candidates with respect.

For those on the right, the salient point is this: liberal politicians are never denied rights to artists’ theme songs; quite the contrary, they are encouraged to use them. Conservatives politicians should not be so naïve as to assume similar rules apply to the likes of Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann.

With that in mind, Bachmann and Harley-riding Barracuda Palin should rethink forgoing the mud wrestling fight Michele claims the media is itching for and hit the ring to work out which lady will seek permission to claim Carrie Underwood’s “All-American Girl” and whose anthem will ultimately be conservative rocker Kid Rock’s “Born Free.”

I will admit, when it was first announced, I looked forward to the show, because it was promoted as an offbeat comedy featuring Jane Lynch, who’s normally hilarious, but it’s nothing of the sort.  This is a soap opera of the worst kind– it’s the ultimate wet dream for the kind of people who actually believe that gays should be more outraged at high school bullies than Shariah-ordered executions.  It’s nothing but blatant wish fulfillment for TV executives who are at the top of the world but can’t get over some hangup from high school. Your glee club wasn’t that great and didn’t get any funding in school?  Aww, poor baby, let’s make a show where everyone in the glee club would be a final contestant on American Idol! You got picked on in high school?  That’s okay, you can write a show where the homophobic bully is secretly gay!  Don’t like Christians opposing gay marriage? No worries; we’ll just create a stupid, belligerent, superstitious, overweight, violent black character to mock them:

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And, even worse, it’s a musical.  Not a musical in the sense that characters express themselves through songs– it’s a musical where the characters extraneously break into glammed-up, severely auto-tuned covers of hit pop songs.  It’s all about leeching off the success of those who create in the music world…

… and some in that world have begun to publicly denounce it.

When the band Kings of Leon quietly rejected a request to license their music to the show, Murphy shot back by telling the band “F— you,” calling them “self-centered a–holes,” then accusing them of the unforgivable sin of neglecting him “arts education.”  Slash of Guns ‘n’ Roses rightly dissed the show as an insult to musicals, and Murphy tactfully declared, “people who make those comments, their careers are over; they’re uneducated and quite stupid.”  That’s odd, because the rather popular and prolific Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz didn’t have nice things to say about Glee, either.  Nor does Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters:  ”f— that guy for thinking anybody and everybody should want to do Glee.”

I’m glad that a Glee backlash is building in the music community; Murphy is little more than a bully with simultaneous messiah and victim complexes.  A normal, well-adjusted adult would recognize that not 100% of the music community is going to want to hear its work turned into pitch-corrected teenybopper jams and accept the fact that not 100% of his licensing requests will be accepted.  However, Murphy interprets these as insults, not only against him but against his mission, as if a vapid primetime soap opera is crucial to “arts education” in America (“Allow me to butcher your songs… it’s for the children!”).

And his need to publicly embarrass anyone that gets in his way is disturbing.  Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill responded to Murphy’s outburst, “This was never meant as a slap in the face to ‘Glee’ or to music education or to fans of the show. We’re not sure where the anger is coming from.”  Drummer Nathan Followill was a bit less generous, but the point stands that Murphy publicly singled out and insulted the band just for denying his requests.

It’s a trend we’ve seen on the show, as well.  Since the start of the second season, the show has included plenty of sucker punches against conservatives:  a pregnant cheerleader’s one-dimensionally evil dad is a Glenn Beck fan; Sarah Palin is mocked as stupid; Ann Coulter is listed as a negative influence on young women akin to Lindsay Lohan; now the crazy Tea Partying birther homeschooler.  And Murphy’s insistence on mocking the groups he’s set up as his existential enemies has also manifested itself as a vile, cruel racial caricature.

I will admit that I watched Season 2, Episode 7 because of the buzz Gwyneth Paltrow’s guest spot was generating.  There were plenty of eyeroll and facepalm moments, but around three-quarters of the way through, I was just simply stunned at what I saw.  In a hackneyed flashback to explain some current character flaw (I’ll take Screenwriting Cliches for 2000, Alex), Paltrow’s character details how she was attacked by a black teenage girl (described by the narrator as “like an attractive Biggie Smalls”) who is so offended by the concept of learning algorithms (because “I’m a Christian,” she says) that she punches Paltrow (see video above).

Murphy and the writer of this episode, Ian Brennan, have no leg to stand on if they ever claim that they or Glee are about promoting tolerance or diversity.  They are all about politically correct, one-dimensional stereotypes; groups they like are pure good, groups they dislike are pure evil.  And they have some explaining to do.  I see why they’d want to mock Christians:  Prop 8, those who purport to be believers like the Westboro Baptists– yeah, yeah.  But why inject race into it?  And why would such rich white men do it with such a hateful stereotype against black women?

It’s because they’re thin-skinned, bigoted bullies.  They demand everyone submit to whatever they want; if they don’t, there is retaliation– public shaming through stereotypes, insults, and vitriol unbecoming of anyone, much less a media figure claiming to promote education and inclusion.

Palladia, however has changed that.  I was recently watching O.A.R.: Live at Madison Square Garden (Go Bucks!) on the HD Channel.  Broadcast in vivid 1080i with tremendous sound, Palladia has made music television fun again.  I felt like I was singing along to “Shattered” with the rest of the audience.  Palladia broadcasts plenty of videos, but the concerts are what make the channel a true experience.

They use programming from MTV, VH1 and CMT, but from my experience, it has been completely music centered.   I have yet to see a reality show or an hour devoted to 1973 fads. Obviously, this could change at anytime — it is owned by MTV, after all.  Until then, I’m enjoying the ride.

I may check out Foo Fighters: Live at Wembley this week.

John Kasich can be reached at Recharge Ohio, Facebook, and Twitter