You would have though that politicians would have learned their lesson by now. The recently-ended campaign for the nation’s highest office saw more than its share of controversy that stemmed from the use of various hit songs as part of campaign strategy on both sides.

It’s hard to escape the notion that most actors and recording artists tend to sway a bit to the left when the wind kicks up a bit, and as a result, the McCain camp surely came out ahead when it comes to amassing complaints from well-known rockers who were not pleased with his campaign’s use of their material.

From Heart to Jackson Browne, the McCain camp may have done itself more harm than good by selecting songs to use without considering the backlash from the artists, whom one might say where not properly “vetted” before the laser beam hit the CD during various well-publicized campaign events.

With the long Presidential campaign behind us, the dust up between the rockers and politicians seemed to have run its course and faded from the public eye. Until now.

Newly-chosen Republican Golden Boy and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor is said to be the man behind a video that was intended to inform the world that the Republicans are still in the fight, despite losing the White House and both houses of Congress to the Democrats. Not to mention the recently-passed stimulus bill that most Republicans opposed.

The mistake Cantor seems to have made is the selection of Aerosmith’s “Back In The Saddle,” which has not only resulted in an unfavorable reaction from the Boston-based rockers, but is also a song that is apparently all about the joys of sex with a prostitute. Not the kind of image Republicans want to associate themselves with, I’m sure.

Maybe that’s part of the reason that Aerosmith, having a Republican in their midst in the form of guitarist Joe Perry, was not so crazy about having their tune associated with the Cantor video.

The video was posted on YouTube but was yanked after a complaint by Stage Three Music, which happens to own the rights to the Aerosmith hit.

After all the hubbub over songs used during the Presidential campaign, you would have thought that politicians would have learned a lesson from it. But then again, I guess we need to realize that we are indeed talking about politicians here.