Guitar-Playing Rep. Thad McCotter on Gibson Raid: 'One More Reason Big Government Doesn't Rock

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, the guitar-playing congressman from Michigan and GOP presidential candidate, had strong words for the federal raids on Gibson Guitar factories this week.

Agents raided the legendary guitar factories in Nashville and Memphis on Wednesday over the their alleged importation and use of illegal wood, citing a century-old endangered species law that was amended in 2008 to protect plants as well as animals. The Wall Street Journal described the raids as “aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.”

"It's one more reason big government doesn't rock," McCotter told host Chris Daniel on Beck radio affiliate KMJ 105.9 in Fresno, Calif. Friday.

"You're looking at American artisans having the federal government come in and tell them they'd be better off if they let people in Madagascar or elsewhere do the work is insane," McCotter said. "That's outsourcing by government fiat from an administration that claims to oppose it."

McCotter added that the move wasn't an entirely surprising move out of this Obama administration, which has made "an effort to pander to every type of radical special interest that they can" -- in this case, "radical environmentalists."

If there can be anything positive to come from the Gibson situation, McCotter said, it would be to "show artists exactly why big government is a problem."

Listen to the full interview below:

In June, McCotter stopped by Fox News to jam with Mike Huckabee: