When Ted Nugent speaks鈥�
Ted Nugent talks too much.
I say let him keep talking.
The aging (he’s two months younger than me) rock ‘n rolling, gun-loving, draft-dodging “Motor City Madman,” is never short on words, nor long on intelligent ones.
Ask him a question, and a verbal low blow falls out.
He’s recently called President Obama a “Communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel.”
The “subhuman mongrel” part is bad enough. But a few seconds later he apparently called Obama a “chimpanzee.”
A man whose personal (he once bragged that he’d intentionally soiled his pants to avoid the draft) and onstage antics (he sings, but who cares) just implied our Harvard-educated president is a primate?
There’s no doubt a certain segment of the populace that privately questions Obama’s specie.
Nugent did it publicaly.
He’s a man who found himself sitting face-to-face with the U.S. Secret Service in April of 2012, after his blas茅’ declaration that, “If Barack Obama becomes president in November, I will either be dead or in jail this time next year.”
And he calls Obama a monkey?
First, Obama won re-election. Second, Nugent is still with us.
There’s nothing like a coward with a loud mouth.
This isn’t really about Ted Nugent, or his lack of a follow-through.
His most recent statements were in support of Gregory Wayne Abbott, the current Texas state Attorney General, who’s running for governor.
Nugent likes Abbott, I suppose, because he’s not a Democrat; he’s been known to campaign against Obamacare, and more importantly for Nugent, he’s a big fan of the 2nd Amendment.
Last week, Abbott was joined on the campaign trail by Nugent.
Despite Abbott being aware of a few of Nugent’s past incendiary statements, he didn’t seem to care.
According to one of Abbott’s aides, it’s (are you ready for this?) a matter of free speech. “It’s easy to criticize some of the language he has used in the past. He is protected under the Constitution, like you and I,” the aide said.
It’s baffling that any question about the vile rhetoric launched by some headline-grabbing conservatives can be so easily shoved down that handy old “free speech” escape hatch.
Or, they can simply claim they weren’t aware that the person they’re campaigning with has ignited outrage with his mouth.
In 2007 Nugent was quoted as calling Hillary Clinton a “worthless bitch.”
Predictably the Abbott campaign denies hearing many of those kinds of comments.
“The controversy is what he said in the past. We are not endorsing Ted Nugent, he is supporting us,” said his campaign aide.
Abbott may have strong feelings about the U.S. Constitution, and that Nugent has a “right” to say awful things, but the candidate himself must not have been listening when his parents, most likely, gave him the advice most parents give their kids: “You’ll be judged by the company you keep.”
In this case, that “company” has handed Abbott’s three Republican opponents, and the likely Democratic one, an easy talking point.
Democratic Texas state senator Wendy Davis, who’ll probably face Abbott in the general election, told CNN, “I think the fact that Greg Abbott is embracing those values is repulsive, and that Texas should consider and will consider it.”
The head of the Texas Democratic Party, Gilberto Hinojosa, was even more explicit.
“Texans deserve better than a statewide officeholder and candidate running for governor who welcomes Ted Nugent and his repugnant comments,” said Hinojosa.
Even Newt Gingrich, who’s never avoided making hyperbolic political statements, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, “What Ted Nugent said is stupid; I don’t support it.” Lest you think Gingrich has gone all liberal on us, he added, “I’ve always loved selective media outrage.”
In other words, Democrats are just as guilty as Republicans when it comes to campaigning alongside people who make headlines with their filthy mouths, but the media ignores it.
Well, Newt’s claim is an easy one to make, but a mighty hard one to prove.
Democrats don’t have deceitful flame-throwers who appear in close proximity to Democratic candidates.
But I’m sure Fox News will try to find one.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net