Toby Keith Sticks Up for Sarah Palin

Toby Keith is fed up with the Democrats' treatment of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

"The kooks in the Democratic party -- this extreme left -- are hammering Palin so bad, that they're gonna cause John McCain to win this thing," the country superstar tells CMT. "I've never been a huge John McCain fan ... I appreciate everything he did for this country. But at the same time, the wackos are hammering her so hard, that they're gonna make that ticket win. They can't get out of their own way. They've got a chance to win it, and they're gonna blow it by hammering her."

Keith, a longtime Democrat, says he is now re-registering as an independent.

"My party that I've been affiliated with all these years doesn't stand for anything that I stand for anymore," he reports. "They've lost any sensibility that they had, and they've allowed all the kooks in. So I'm going independent."

While Keith has gone on the record praising Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, he has never publicly endorsed either candidate. But he tells CMT that he'll likely go with the Republican ticket this year, partially because of his admiration for Palin.

"Palin's about the least political-looking, acting, resembling person that's ever run for office," Keith says of the Alaska governor. "All the women in America can relate to everything she's done. She's real normal. Her kid is pregnant, she hunts, she snowmobiles, she's backwoods. I just think a lot of women are going to appreciate her and feel that they have to vote for her."