Rossville: 'Insane for McCain' McCutie rocks Internet with videos

Oct 05, 2008 (Chattanooga Times/Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- GOOG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Sen. John McCain is many things, but "hot" is a term rarely used to describe the balding, white-haired, 72-year-old Vietnam veteran running for the White House.

But 27-year-old Rossville native Natalie McGill Bannon uses the words "hot" and "sexpot" to describe the Arizona senator, the Republican Party's presidential nominee, in three music videos that are getting thousands of hits on YouTube.

"I love those powerful men with a little gray on top/All of these younger guys are too quick with their frills/I love the older ones that carry little blue pills," sings Ms. Bannon, a 2003 UTC graduate who is married to 63-year-old country music singer-songwriter R.C. Bannon.

As of Friday, the videos had gotten more than 20,000 views on the site, and Ms. Bannon, whose Web pseudonym is McCain McCutie, said the response has been mixed. She intends the videos, which carry the theme "Insane for McCain," to be taken as a joke, she said.

"Some people think that I'm for McCain and others think I'm for (Sen. Barack) Obama," said the former video editor for WRCB-TV Channel 3. "Politically, I don't really know where I am. I guess I'm moderate."

She has not decided whom she will support in the November general election, she said.

Clad in a tight white tank top and later sprayed with a water hose while wearing a bikini in one video, Ms. Bannon admittedly sings a little off-key and high-pitched, but the videos aren't meant to jumpstart a singing career, said the 1999 graduate of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School.

"Though it's not the sort of video I would forward in an e-mail or show to my friends ... this is part of the campaigns now," said Wes Kliner, co-chairman of the McCain-Palin campaign in Hamilton County.

"There's a group out there that will think this is funny. It raises a good point that in today's world, age is no longer that big of a factor," he said.

Ms. Bannon isn't the only person singing about a political candidate on the Internet.

Amber Lee Ettinger, dubbed the "Obama Girl," gained fame lip-syncing to songs about Sen. Obama. Both women are joined by hundreds, if not a thousand or more, videos in which people sing, rap or rhyme the virtues of candidates.

Even if she doesn't have a political message, the statements about age are true, Ms. Bannon said. In one video, she sings about how Sen. McCain's age makes him attractive.

"John McCain, my dream/I really love old things/He's hot, sexpot," she sings.

Her husband -- who has written lyrics for country hits such as Ronnie Milsap's "Only One Love in My Life," Barbara Mandrell's "One of a Kind, Pair of Fools," and Steve Azar's "I Don't Have to Be Me ('Til Monday)" -- plays the part of an older man in two of her three videos, fixing her broken-down car and being pushed in a wheelchair.

"We get lots and lots of comments about our age difference, and we make lots of jokes with each other about it," Ms. Bannon said. "It's a running joke that I'm the girl with the old husband."

Her husband, who once was married to Louise Mandrell of the Mandrell Sisters, wrote the lyrics to all her songs, and he's working on a fourth video that mentions vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, Ms. Bannon said.

Back at home in North Georgia, Ms. Bannon said her parents are supportive of her marriage and her campy videos. Friends, too, take it all in stride.

"It's just in good fun," said Jamie Hash, who worked with Ms. Bannon at WRCB. "I thought the videos were great, really well-done."

Ms. Bannon said her goal is to get people to set aside their political views and realize she means it all in good humor. In addition to the McCain tributes, Ms. Bannon also has made a video that honors Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens.

"If it becomes something huge, then great," she said. "I work in Dallas as a promotional model, and I would really love to be a model on (the game show) 'Deal or No Deal.'"

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