Those were the words of Bruce Springsteen last Sunday on 60 Minutes.

"Silence is unpatriotic," he told interviewer Scott Pelley.

"What's on your mind? What are you writing about?" Pelley asked.

Bruce replied:

"I guess I would say that what I do is I try to chart the distance between American ideals and American reality. That's how my music is laid out. It's like we've reached a point where it seems that we're so intent on protecting ourselves that we're willing to destroy the best parts of ourselves to do so."

In response, Pelley asked Springsteen to elaborate. At that point, I guess he could have been giving Bruce an opportunity to continue with his thoughts. Either that, or he just doesn't get Bruce's music at all. Let's give Scott the benefit of the doubt.

Bruce explained:

"Well, I think that we've seen things happen over the past six years that I don't think anybody ever thought they'd ever see in the United States. When people think of the American identity, they don't think of torture. They don't think of illegal wiretapping. They don't think of voter suppression. They don't think of no habeas corpus. No right to a lawyer … you know. Those are things that are anti-American."

With that, simply stated, Springsteen eloquently summed up what has happened to our country under the reign of King George.

Pelley's follow-up was a shocker:

"You know, I think this record is going to be seen as anti-war. And you know there are people watching this interview who are going to say to themselves, 'Bruce Springsteen is no patriot'."

OK. Pelley no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt. I'm not sure what planet he's living on, but it appears it's one where they don't publish opinion polls. Because on the one where the rest of us live, the vast majority of people are opposed to Bush's war. Sure, there are people who are going to say that. Just not very many.

I think even Bruce was a little mystified by his questioning and reasoning, but answered like a true patriot.

Bruce continued:

"Well, that's just the language of the day, you know? The modus operandi for anybody who doesn't like somebody, you know, criticizing where we've been or where we're goin'. It's unpatriotic at any given moment to sit back and let things pass that are damaging to some place that you love so dearly. And that has given me so much. And that I believe in. I still feel and see us as a beacon of hope and possibility."

If I can get a little personal here, as the mother of a son who is a musician and songwriter, and a daughter who just graduated with a Music major, I can tell you that they know what Bruce is saying. On my son's website there is the quote, "Life is Music", and on my daughter's:  "Those in power write the history, and those who suffer write the songs".  I'm glad they can hear Bruce Springsteen telling them to speak truth to power and say what's on your mind, and that it's patriotic to do so.

Watch Pelley's rather bizarre statement in the video below and catch a snip of Bruce's new song "Last to Die". Senator Kerry has told us that he's very touched by it and if I may add, so are we.