Billie Joe Armstrong for President

Remember when punk bands openly criticized left-wing politicians? Pop Punk Radio remembers. These two videos were bonus features on the Special Edition CD of Warning back in 2000. They would play if you put the album in to your computer.

The "Think Twice" video somewhat mimics a slander video that was released in the 90's during the Bill Clinton election. Slick Willy gave an interview where he stated that he had once smoked marijuana, although he also claimed that he "did not inhale." Political opponents made a spectacle about a Presidential candidate having openly admitted to having "ingested one whole marijuanas" and went full-on dank meme mode with it. Meme mode for the 90s basically meant they threw a bunch of television propaganda/adverts at us in the months leading up to the election.

Back in the 90s, weed was heavily stigmatized and criminalized, at least openly within "professional" circles. Some uptight political types thought that America would be outraged that the person running for President had openly admitted to doing "drugs."

However, their plan backfired because unbeknownst to those uptight political types, America loves weed and always has. Our Declaration of Independence is written on hemp paper FFS. So the publicity surrounding the "I did not inhale" incident only made common people like the guy even more.

I was just a kid at the time so I don't know all the details, but I do remember seeing the ads trying to throw Mr. Bill under the proverbial VW bus and the general feeling that people laughed about it. People seemed to really like the guy at the time he was elected. Then as time went on we realized what a lying scumbag he was. Legendary 90's punk/ska band Assorted Jellybeans would later release a song that mentions the situation; "You had the master plan, millions of stoner fans. Just don't inhale!" One thing that time has proven to be correct in the lyrics of the song is that his wife really does have bigger balls than him.