CNN’s Wolf Blitzer presses Texas Gov. Perry on Ted Nugent’s ‘vile’ ‘disgusting’ comments

By Tom Boggioni/Raw Story

Appearing on

CNN’s The Situation Room, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was pressed repeatedly by host Wolf Blitzer to condemn the comments made by musician Ted Nugent calling President Obama a ‘subhuman mongrel’.

“These words that Nugent said, you have to admmit that they are vile,” Blitzer said. “To call the president of the United States a ‘subhuman mongrel, that’s pretty disgusting.”

“They’re pretty tough words,” Perry responded before Blitzer cut him off, telling him that it was okay to call Nugent’s words “disgusting.”

“We agree that that is not appropriate language to use of the United States president.” Perry replied.

Blitzer then asked Perry if it was appropriate for gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott, whose campaign is employing Nugent, to continue to “embrace” him.

“I’m not going to get into this side of whether it’s appropriate or not,” Perry said “There are people who say things all the time. The idea that Ted Nugent has said something that’s outrageous shouldn’t surprise anybody.”

Blitzer responded by calling Nugent’s words “beyond the pale.”

Watch the video below:

NRA's Ted Nugent: The Real Racist Is President Obama, Not Me

TIMOTHY JOHNSON/Media Matters For America

National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent claimed that he is "the antithesis of a racist" and that instead President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder "are clearly guilty of racism" because "they make public judgments based on the color of someone's skin instead of the content of their character."

In his regular column for conservative website Rare, Nugent attacked the "hateful media" for leveling charges of racism against him afterhe made a series of racially charged comments in wake of the acquittal of George Zimmerman. According to Nugent, the people he meets across the country are "aghast at the vulgar dishonesty of a media that has plummeted into the soulless abyss of hurling the hateful accusation of 'racism' at [him] and anybody they disagree with."

The real racists, according to Nugent, are Obama and Holder, who he suggests judged Zimmerman -- who was acquitted of murdering Florida teenager Trayvon Martin -- on the basis of his race and not his character:

We are most offended that the president of the United States and the U.S. attorney general are clearly guilty of racism when they intentionally bring race to the fore when they make public judgments based on the color of someone's skin instead of the content of their character in total defiance of the findings of the FBI, Department of Justice, entire state's investigative resources and a jury verdict.

In his column, Nugent also grouped "racist scam masters" Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and "other black panthers" before writing that "the foodstamp scam is being allowed to enslave so many able-bodied Americans."

Since the acquittal of Zimmerman on July 13, Nugent has made a number of offensive generalizations about the African-American community, leading to calls for his removal from the NRA board of directors.

During a July 16 appearance on conspiracy theory radio program The Alex Jones Show, Nugent claimed that African-Americans could fix "the black problem" if they just put their "heart and soul into being honest, law-abiding, [and] delivering excellence at every move in your life," also adding his belief that "racism against blacks was gone" by "the late [19]60s."

On July 23, Nugent joined entertainer Nick Cannon's podcast to claim that he was an "anti-racist" just moments before suggesting that African-Americans should be profiled the same way members of a community might profile a breed of dog that was attacking children. Nugent doubled down on these comments in a July 24 opinion piece for conspiracy website WND, claiming that the black community has a "mindless tendency to violence" and that an inability to "read or speak clearly is the root of unemployment for blacks."

Nugent also leveled a number of attacks on Martin and his family, labeling the deceased teenager a "dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe," an "enraged black man-child," and a "Skittles hoodie boy."

His recent comments follow a long history of inflammatory rhetoric on race and other topics:

Nugent Doubles Down: "Enraged Black Man-Child" Trayvon Martin Is A "Skittles Hoodie Boy"

HANNAH GROCH-BEGLEY/Media Matters For America:

National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent is doubling down on his attacks on Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, calling Martin an "enraged black man-child" and a "Skittles hoodie boy."

On July 13 a jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the death of Martin. Zimmerman had said he acted in self-defense when he shot Martin, who was carrying a bag of Skittles and wearing a hoodie, during an altercation in Zimmerman's gated community on February 26, 2012.

In a July 14 column for conservative news website Rare, Nugent called Martin a "dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe" who was "responsible for his bad decisions," claiming that the "only racism on that night was perpetrated by Trayvon Martin, and everybody knows it."

Nugent doubled down in a July 15 World Net Daily column titled "What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Do?" describing Martin as "an enraged black man-child" and a "dope-smoking, dope-peddling, gangsta wannabe, Skittles hoodie boy:

[A]ll thinking people are very relieved that George Zimmerman was found not guilty by the intelligent, justice-driven women of the jury, in spite of the façade presented by the prosecution and forced by the threat of racism by everyone from President Obama, to Eric Holder, the New Black Panther gangstas, NAACP, excuse makers of every stripe and even the governor of Florida, but still this innocent man who simply defended his life from a violent, life-threatening, bloodying, head-and-face slamming attack by an enraged black man-child has so wrongly paid an inexplicable price financially and emotionally.

The parents of Trayvon Martin get a huge million-dollar-plus payoff from the gated community just to shut them up, and so obviously to fend off the ambulance chaser racist lawyers for the simple fact that their son was guilty of a vicious, violent attack on a man for no good reason whatsoever.

What did the gated community have to do with any of it? Where is a judge capable of making a justice call in this travesty? Does anyone care at all anymore?

The entire system is screwed up.

But George Zimmerman and his entire family, innocent of any wrongdoing, have lost everything and will be in debt for a long, long time for having to fight the trumped-up charges that he "profiled" and/or set out to murder the poor, helpless, dope-smoking, dope-peddling, gangsta wannabe, Skittles hoodie boy.

Ted Nugent: Blacks Are Only Ones Who Don't Realize Democrats Are Destroying Black America

MATT GERTZ/Media Matters For America

Add racist numb nut.

Conservative commentator and National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent wrote in his latest column that African-Americans are the only ones who don't realize that President Obama is continuing the Democratic Party's decades-long destruction of black America.

The comments are the latest in a long line of racially inflammatory statements from the rocker, who has said of the Confederate battle standard, "I am going to wear it forever." 

In his February 20 WND column, titled "I Honor Blacks - The Dems Destroy Them," Nugent highlighted several metrics by which black America is struggling and commented:

Barack Obama, the guy who received roughly 93 percent of black American votes, is the clear and present engineer of the destruction of black America.

It's not all the president's fault, but the economic and social policies he endorses are destroying what is left of a once proud and strong black America.

[...]

The truth is that the Democratic Party has been the engineer of the destruction of black Americans, and everyone knows it except the very people who need to know it the most - black Americans.

The turbo-destruction will continue for black Americans until they realize that dirty Democrat politicians are their true enemy, not their salvation. Fortunately, some are beginning to embrace this self-evident truth.

The truth will set those black Americans free who want to be free, who want to be the best they can be, who want to leave their grandchildren a better, stronger America.

Elsewhere in the column Nugent praised "the tapestry of black America" as "rich and vibrant," and claims that "black musical thundergods" influenced his "fire-breathing musical career." He concludes, "Say it loud: my music is black and I'm proud!"

This year alone, Nugent has attacked President Obama's "racist agenda"; accused civil rights leaders of speaking "ebonic mumbo-jumbo"; and claimed that gun owners will become the next Rosa Parks and offer nonviolent resistance if President Obama issued an executive order confiscating guns (a statement for which he was condemned by leaders of the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and National Urban League). Such comments have not prevented Nugent from being praised by hosts at CNN and Fox News.

Others at the NRA have offered similarly insensitive comments related to race. Former NRA president Marion Hammer drew widespread criticism after she compared a proposal to ban assault weapons to past racial discrimination, and commentators have criticized the "racial overtones" they found in executive vice president Wayne LaPierre's recent op-ed.

MSNBC host: Ted Nuget ‘appears to have some kind of obsession with fecal matter’

By Stephen C. Webster/Raw Story

In a rather blunt analysis of rocker Ted Nugent’s reaction to the State of the Union address, MSNBC host Martin Bashir said Wednesday that the well known gun enthusiast “appears to have some kind of obsession with fecal matter.”

The characterization was in part a reaction to Nugent’s assertion that Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) has “shit for brains.” Nugent elaborated on that point during an interview Wednesday with NBC’s Luke Russert, claiming Langevin’s criticism of his bombastic rhetoric about gun controlimplied that he has “genuine fecal matter” inside his skull.

During the odd interview with Russert, in which Nugent grabbed the reporter’s face and insisted he apologize for “being a lying bastard,” the rocker also mocked media coverage of his own explanation of how he dodged the draft during the Vietnam war, saying, “I actually shit my pants to get out of this interview!”

Bashir was not amused. “Mr. Nugent appears to have some kind of obsession with fecal matter,” he said to The Washington Post‘s Jonathan Capehart. “Is this, do you think, a personal fetish or a personal problem?”

“Oh lord, Martin,” Capehart replied. “It’s a personal problem.”

This video is from MSNBC’s “Martin Bashir,” aired Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This video is from MSNBC, aired Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Glenn Beck talks Ted Nugent down: Waco cultists were ‘really nice guys’

By Stephen C. Webster/Raw Story

In an interview aired Wednesday, former Fox News conspiracy host Glenn Beck seemed to talk National Rifle Association board member Ted Nugent down from staging some kind of armed revolt against the government, urging that the Waco cultists were “really nice guys,” but “you want your day in court.”

Nugent called into Beck’s radio show Wednesday for a chance at clearing the record over his comments at a recent gun show appearance,  when he was caught on camera saying that he and some “buddies” were ready for another fight along the lines of the revolutionary-era Battle of Concord, famous for the “shot heard ’round the world” that kicked off the war for independence.

The Detroit native and longtime southern rocker said he recently spent time with CNN reporter Deb Feyerick, who he said mostly just asked him “gushy and positive” questions. But he was bothered when she touched on “questions about an armed revolution building steam across the interland.”

“I squinted at her and said, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nugent insisted. “I know there might be someone talking about that, but I hang out with some pretty wild eyed guys and I’ve never heard a hint of any reference to an armed revolution. We’re going to have a revolution at the voting booth.”

He instead blamed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) for causing “some people” to become “very frustrated and angry,”leading them to say “something that hinted at” armed revolt. But he insisted, again, “we’re going to vote the bad guys out of office as soon as possible.” He also insisted that every time Feyerick touched on that subject, “I made sure I mentioned that if you argue with me, you would be taking the side of the devil.”

The wide-ranging conversation then turned to the media and how awful they are, and suddenly Beck announces that he has “officially given up” on the GOP. “I don’t… I don’t care for them at all anymore,” he said. “They won’t get a dime. I will campaign against people giving them any money.”

“Isn’t that a shame, Glenn?” Nugent reacted. “I agree,  but it’s a shame. We have to work to fix that. Yeah.”

Beck said that he does not think the party is “fixable,” and instead proposed to Nugent that they form their own separatist group, based upon “principles” instead of just the desire to win. Nugent was on board immediately. “I concur,” he said. “I concur the time has never been more obvious than right now.”

Then the conversation shifted into a more sinister tone, with Beck seeming to discourage the possibility of any future incidents like the standoff at Ruby Ridge in 1992 that left a white separatist family dead — giving impetus to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who cited the massacre as part of his motivation for killing 168 people.

“People have to know, don’t stand off,” Beck said. “Do not do that. You call this number and somebody in an attorney firm will come and represent you because you want your day in court. You want your day in court.”

“I think you’re absolutely correct,” Nugent said. “And that positive sense, that common sense is alive and well in hundreds of sheriffs and sheriff departments in this country that are standing up to this government and the federal government with their constitutional violating Second Amendment infringement. So, I think there is a growing pulse. But you’re right about that. If you attempt to stand up to what’s right, you will be shot and killed.”

Beck closed the interview by blaming the Clinton administration for the massacre in Waco as well, insisting that the local sheriff thought the  Branch Davidian cultists, who stockpiled hundreds of guns and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, were actually just a bunch of “really nice guys.”

“If the federal government would have gone to the sheriff, they sheriff probably could have gotten that all done without killing all of the families,” he said.

“I believe that,” Nugent replied.

This video is from “The Blaze TV,” aired Wednesday, January 30, 2013.

Nugent At Gun Industry Trade Show: "If You Want Another Concord Bridge, I've Got Some Buddies

TIMOTHY JOHNSON/Media Matters for America

National Rifle Association board member and Washington Times columnist Ted Nugent alluded to the start of the American Revolution in an interview with Guns.com during the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show, claiming that the Obama administration "is attempting to re-implement the tyranny of King George" and that "if you want another Concord Bridge, I got some buddies."

NUGENT: I'm part of a very great experiment in self-government where we the people determine our own pursuit of happiness and our own individual freedom and liberty not to be confused with the Barack Obama gang who believes in we the sheeple and actually is attempting to re-implement the tyranny of King George that we escaped from in 1776. And if you want another Concord Bridge, I got some buddies. 

Nugent's mention of "Concord Bridge" is presumably a reference to the Battle of Concord, which was fought on the North Bridge. The battle, one of the early encounters of the Revolutionary War, forced the British to retreat.

Throughout his comments, Nugent directed vitriol towards President Obama, claiming that he is "an evil dangerous man who hates America and hates freedom" who "hangs out with" communists.

NUGENT: But here is what is wrong with America today. We have a president, and everybody better write this down, and memorize this. The president of the United States goes to the Vietnam Memorial Wall and pretends to honor 58,000 American heroes who died fighting communism and then he hires, appoints and associates with communists. He pretends to pay honor to men who died fighting communism, and then he hangs out with, hires and appoints communists. He is an evil dangerous man who hates America and hates freedom. And we need to fix this as soon as possible.

This is far from the first time that Nugent has used inflammatory rhetoric. In April 2012, Nugent drew the scrutiny of the Secret Service after telling audience members at the NRA's annual meeting that he would be "dead or in jail" if President Obama was reelected to a second term. During his remarks, Nugent also exhorted the crowd to "ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November." Rolling Stone reported that during a June 2012 concert in Fort Worth, Texas, Nugent told the crowd "put a fucking gun in your hand, Texas, stormtroopers coming."

At a concert in 2007, an assault-rifle-wielding Nugent told the crowd that "piece of shit" Obama should "suck on my machine gun" and also referred to then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as "a worthless bitch":

NUGENT: I was in Chicago last week. I was in Chicago and said, "Hey, Obama you might want to suck on one of these you punk." Obama, he's a piece of shit, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. Let's hear it for him. And then I was in New York. I said, "Hey, Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch. Since I'm in California, how about [Senator] Barbara Boxer [D-CA], she might want to suck on my machine gun. And [Senator] Diane Feinstein [D-CA], ride one of these you worthless whore. Any questions? 

Nugent also sparked controversy in July 2012 after he wrote in his Washington Times column, "I'm beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the South won the Civil War." 

Discovery Channel kicks Ted Nugent to the curb

By Stephen C. Webster/Raw Story

In addition to cancelling its popular “American Guns” reality show, The Discovery Channel confirmed to Raw Story on Tuesday that firearms enthusiast Ted Nugent will also not be returning to the channel in any form or fashion.

Speaking to Raw Story in remarks specified as “not for attribution,” a spokesperson admitted that “Ted Nugent’s Gun Country” didn’t do very well when it aired in October, even with fellow firearms fashionistas. Nielsen Ratings placed the viewership at about 864,000 people in all. But the network’s decision is not just about the numbers.

After Friday’s devastating massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the spokesperson said that Nugent would definitely not be returning to the Discovery Channel.

Nugent and his allies at the National Rifle Association (NRA) repeatedly claimed that his hour-long Discovery Channel special was actually a planned “series.” The Detroit native and longtime southern rocker even told Armed America Radio listeners in October to “expect that there will be at least a dozen shows a year.” The channel’s spokesperson confirmed that this was never actually in the works.

Nugent, who endorsed Mitt Romney for president, was investigated by the Secret Service earlier this year after he urged NRA members to “chop [Democrats'] heads off in November.”

“I’ll tell you this right now, if Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year,” the rocker said in April.

News of Nugent’s fall at Discovery comes the same day that the channel confirmed it is cancelling “American Guns,” a popular reality show that glamorizes a family that produces deadly weapons.

“‘American Guns’ concluded earlier this year,” the network’s prepared statement explains. “Discovery Channel chose not to renew the series and has no plans to air repeats of the show.”

Although the Discovery Channel’s statement did not directly link the cancellation of “American Guns” to Friday’s massacre, the channel’s spokesperson did say the tragedy “has really started something,” but didn’t specify what that something may be.

Nugent’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Discovery’s Embarrassing Embrace of Ted Nugent, And The Value of Public Broadcasting

By Alyssa Rosenberg/Think Progress

Normally, when celebrities embarrass the networks who are about to dedicate programming hours to them, it’s something of a shock. VH1 had no idea Chad Johnson would batter his wife, Evelyn Lozada, shortly before a reality show about the couple was slated to air. And normally, when something like that takes place, the network responds quickly: VH1 cancelled “Ev and Ocho” before a single episode of it had even aired. But the Discovery Channel is in a decidedly different situation with Ted Nugent, the subject of an hour-long special called “Ted Nugent’s Gun Country” which airs on the network at 10 tonight.

Nugent, in the course of promoting the special, tossed in an accusation that the Obama administration had participated in a treasonous “criminal complicity to murder” American citizens by not upping security somewhere on September 11. If it were anyone else, Nugent’s comments might be shocking. But it’s not as if the Discovery Channel didn’t know what they were getting when the decided to collaborate with him. For a long time, Nugent’s stock in trade has been indulging the ugliest impulses that occur to him. He’s your go-to guy if, for example, you think Hillary Clinton is “a worthless bitch” and get excited to hear someone say it out loud. Discovery won’t pull the special because comments like these don’t reveal anything new or surprising about Nugent’s character, opinions, or sense of what constitutes appropriate public discourse.

What is sort of depressing is the way Discovery’s presenting the special, and Nugent, as “a strong and vocal advocate for guns, hunting and all things America.” There is not actually consensus that gun ownership or hunting are essential American pursuits. And I wasn’t aware that denigrating women in public life or engaging in violent fantasies about people you disagree with politically, both staples of Nugent’s rhetorical and on-stage arsenal, counted as “all things American.” Nugent may declare, in promotional material for the show that appears on Discovery’s website that “Our American Dream is measured in ballistics.” I’m not sure Discovery realizes how crabbed and depressing that formulation is. It would be unattractive for Discovery to work with Nugent under any circumstances, but if the network is going to do a special on him, it would be nice if they could find their way to a more limited characterization of him, unless, that is, the network finds his politics as interesting and worthy as his enthusiasm for firearms.

Programs like the Nugent special are also a reminder of why public broadcasting funding is so important. It’s not that the funding is crucial to keep shows like Sesame Street, which is a viable brand on its own in production. It’s a matter of distribution. As LeVar Burton wrote in an op-ed for CNN, “What most people don’t realize is that if federal funding for PBS were cut, much of the loss would be on the local level. The vast majority of taxpayer funds for PBS ($1.35 per person per year) goes to local stations, many of which serve rural areas, where losing funding would mean stations going dark.” Discovery is in 100 million households in the U.S. and another 314 million internationally. If PBS goes dark there, it’s not as if Discovery has an incentive to go back to its educational roots and fill the gap when its current programming slate has been so successful. It just means that viewers in those areas will have fewer options for genuinely educational programming.

Ted Nugent says it might have been best if South had won Civil War

By David Ferguson/Raw Story

Seventies rocker turned conservative firebrand Ted Nugent has penned a column for theWashington Times in which he slams Chief Justice John Roberts for his decision on the Affordable Care Act and posits that the world might be a better place if the United States had dissolved into separate powers following the Civil War. The firearms enthusiast, avid bow-hunter and recent Secret Service Interviewee has made headlines before with his unvarnished opinions and occasional emotional outbursts about liberals and Democrats, including an exhortation to fellow Republicans to “ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November!”

Nugent has taken the Supreme Court decision upholding “Obamacare” hard, and finds no joy in the fact that fundraising for Mitt Romney has skyrocketed since the announcement of the opinion was made last Thursday. Like many conservatives, Nugent seems to feel that taking away insurance companies’ ability to deny coverage to children with bone cancer and muscular dystrophy is a knife through the heart of democracy, a potentially lethal blow to the free market, from which the American experiment may never recover.

“Unlike other conservatives, I don’t care if his vote to save Obamacare turns into a cash cow for the Mitt Romney’s presidential political machine and galvanizes the GOP,” he wrote. “There are some things more important than politics and elections. Striking down un-American, Constitution-violating Obamacare is one of them.”

Nugent, who scored minor hits with the single “Cat Scratch Fever” and the album “Weekend Warriors,” maintains that the America he believes in has been so sullied by the Affordable Care Act, that it might be better if the Union had been conquered in the U.S. Civil War so that the American dream might have died before it could be so degraded.

“Because our legislative, judicial and executive branches of government hold the 10th Amendment in contempt, I’m beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the South won the Civil War. Our Founding Fathers’ concept of limited government is dead,” he wrote.

“Obamacare will now join Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as another unaffordable, unsustainable, runaway, unaccountable social program,” lamented Nugent, “Limited government is dead. The smothering era of socialism is here.”

Enraged Ted Nugent threatens to ‘f*ck’ female CBS producer

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Ted Nugent recently said presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign “expressed support” after the musician made comments that caused the U.S. Secret Service to wonder if he had threatened the life of President Barack Obama.

In a recent interview where the conservative rocker flew into a rage, Nugent revealed to CBS reporter Jeff Glor that he had spoken to Romney’s campaign after he told a crowd at the National Rifle Association (NRA) convention that he would be “either be dead or in jail by this time next year” if Obama was re-elected.

“We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November!” he exclaimed to the NRA audience. “Any questions?”

Glor wondered if the Romney campaign was “unhappy” over those remarks.

“No,” Nugent replied. “They expressed support. … I got the sensation that it was — not from Mitt himself or Ms. Romney — ‘Stay on course, Ted.’ Freedom of speech is beautiful thing.”

The Romney supporter recalled that he had an “adorable” meeting with the Secret Service for as long as 40 minutes after making the controversial comments.

“I feel sorry for liberals who can be that brain dead as to take a clear statement of fear on my part and turn it into a threat against somebody else,” Nugent explained.

“If Mitt Romney wins, he needs at least some of the moderate vote,” Glor noted. “You are many things, you are not moderate.”

“Call me when you sit down across from someone who has more families with dying little boys and girls who get a call to take them on their last fishing trip in life!” an enraged Nugent screamed. “Call me when you meet someone who does that more than I do because that’s really moderate! In fact, you know what that is? That’s extreme! I’m an extremely loving, passionate man! And people who investigate me honestly — without the baggage of political correctness — ascertain the conclusion that I’m a damn nice guy! And if you can find a screening process more powerful than that, I’ll suck your fucking dick!”

“Or fuck you!” he said, turning to Glor’s female producer. “How’s that sound?”

Glor told CBS hosts Charlie Rose and Erica Hill that Nugent later offered a “full apology” for his outburst.

“Yesterday, he called me on the phone after we got back from New York,” Glor said. “And said after our interview, he was rushed to the emergency room and had a kidney stone removed. So, that’s what he said may have contributed to his high level of energy.”

The CBS reporter added that Nugent’s musical career was not suffering because he is “more known now” after the controversial comments.

“His quote to us was that his ‘guitar eats faces,’ as only Ted Nugent can say it.”

Watch this video from CBS’s This Morning, broadcast May 4, 2012.

Ted Nugent: Romney Camp ‘Expressed Support’ After Anti-Obama Screed

 by Benjy Sarlin/TPM


Rocker Ted Nugent has a history of violent rhetoric against President Obama and other leading Democrats, but after saying he expected to be “dead or in jail” if the president won re-election, he found himself interviewed by the Secret Service. Nugent, whom Mitt Romney personally reached out to in order to secure his endorsement, told CBS that he spoke with the Romney camp again after the incident and that they “expressed support” for him. TPM reached out to a Romney spokesman to confirm his account and will post their reply. 

Did The NRA Pay For Nugent's Inflammatory Obama Attacks?

by Oliver Willis/Media Matters

Ted Nugent may have been compensated by the National Rifle Association for incendiary comments he made at the 2012 NRA annual meeting, according to documents obtained by Media Matters.

At this year's convention Nugent accused President Obama of having a "vile, evil America-hating administration" that is "wiping its ass with the Constitution" while telling the crowd that "We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November." Nugent also claimed that "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year." Nugent's comments are reportedly beingreviewed by the Secret Service.

According to a 2012 "report of the secretary" memo released to the annual meeting of NRA members detailing payments to board members in excess of $2,000, Nugent was paid $50,000 plus travel expenses for his presentation at the 2011 annual meeting:

The payment to Nugent by the NRA is well above the $35,000 "average fee" listed on his profile pagewith Celebrity Talent International, a booking agency for performers, speakers, sports figures and actors.

It is likely that Nugent, who is a member of the NRA Board and has appeared at the last eight NRA annual conventions (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004), had a similar arrangement in place for this year's events.

In an interview yesterday with Dana Loesch, Nugent said "I would stand by my speech," and claimed he was being attacked with the "Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals playbook."