Off The Acuff

By Kleinheider Posted on December 11, 2008 at 7:19 am

Gail Kerr compares the speculation over a potential run for Tennessee Governor by country singer Tim McGraw to the ill-fated bid by country music legend Roy Acuff for the very same office:

McGraw is obviously a good businessman, and a top-notch entertainer. He’s a family man, with three daughters and a wife who would be quite a sensation at the first lady teas. If he’s serious, he is in much the same position as the late, great King of Country Music, Mr. Roy Acuff, found himself in 1948.

Back then, Acuff was one of the nation’s biggest stars, thanks to people who set their schedules aroundlistening to the Grand Ole Opry. In fact, Japanese troops reportedly shouted as they charged Okinawa, “To hell with Franklin Roosevelt, to hell with Babe Ruth, to hell with Roy Acuff!”

Because of that fame, Acuff was begged by state Republicans to run against a corrupt and seemingly unbeatable Democratic Party machine run by former Memphis Mayor E.H. “Boss” Crump, who quickly jumped on the idea of a country singer in the statehouse as unthinkable. And Gov. Prentice Cooper said the star was “bringing disgrace” to the state by making it the “hillbilly capital of the United States.”

Acuff replied that he might not be an expert on government, but he knew the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments.

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Tags: 2010, 2010 Governor's race, Roy Acuff, Tim McGraw  

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