Stones' latest album takes political turn

The normally apolitical Rolling Stones have no sympathy for President Bush.

In the refrain of the 13th track on their upcoming album, frontman Mick Jagger belts out the refrain: "How come you're so wrong, my sweet neo-con?"

"You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite," the verse goes. "You call yourself a patriot. Well, I think you are full of [expletive]!"

Fans have been buzzing about the tune for months, with many up in arms over rumors that Virgin Records cut it, fearing America's conservative-owned radio networks and big box-chain stores would refuse to play or stock it.

But it's there, even though Jagger told Newsweek magazine that Connecticut resident Keith Richards is "a bit worried" about the song because he lives in the United States.

Even though nothing sells a new album better than a little splash of controversy, the wrinkled rockers' people seem a mite jumpy, too.

Stones publicist Fran Curtis told the Daily News the song doesn't mention Bush by name. Amusingly, she told The Washington Post it isn't even about Bush, though the term neo-con is indelibly linked to the neo-conservative policies behind the invasion of Iraq.

The album — "A Bigger Bang" — isn't even out, yet right-wing Internet discussion groups were already fizzing with anti-Stones vitriol.

"The Rolling Stones' main audience these days is that segment of the Boomers that has refused to recognize that the 60s have been over for almost 40 years, and so they'll lap this slop up and beg for more. ... while they tie their hair back into gray ponytails and stretch those old tye-dyed t-shirts over their pot bellies," wrote one particularly vivid poster at Free Republic.

The song is clearly not going to break Bush's heart. When the White House put out the contents of the presidential iPod, nothing by the Stones made the cut.