The Dixie Chicks are entertainers. While they enjoy the same right to free speech all Americans have, there is a consequence to including partisanship in their act on stage. It is exacerbated further by their verbal political attacks abroad. That consequence is that the country is politically divided and those that disagree with their unqualified criticism can stop buying their records and voice their displeasure about use or abuse of their celebrity status. In essence the Chicks have ticked off half the public and their potential market, not a great business move.

Sarah Palin is a politician who lives in the arena of politics. It is expected that she would be partisan and her ideological enemies like Chelsea are gleefully eager to attack anything she says or does. She also has a very large conservative base that supports her. She turns out bigger crowds than any Republican candidate. Time will tell whether she will win over moderates and the possibility that she may, has the lunatic left in a snit and ready to criticize anything she does. Cologal, the point is Palin is within her political element and the Chicks are not. Politicians don't really care about controversy or bad press as long as their name is spelled right in the newspaper. They don't sell records.

BTW, I remember more than a few "entertainers" Streisand, Baldwin, et al swearing they would "have their passports" ready to move abroad if "W" was elected. He was and their still here.