So, back during the days of Rupert Murdoch wooing the Bancroft family, the conventional wisdom was that the Wall Street Journal's Murdochian future was one in which the respectable paper would make some sort of headlong descent into tawdry, tatty, disrepute. But doesn't it speak to the great, wide, wonder of existence that Rupert can, right now, make a simple decision that every one of his critics would have to regard as a significant step toward classing up the Wall Street Journal? It's true, it's true, and all Rupert has to do is let occasional contributor Ted Nugent know that his fulminations are no longer welcome at his paper.

In this way, we echo Hilzoy, writing at The Atlantic's Daily Dish, who says: "I'll be interested to see whether they continue to publish him after his rant at a concert a few days ago."

Nugent's rant? Well, if you haven't heard it yet, we're glad you asked!

"I was in Chicago last week, I said, "Hey Obama, you might want to suck on one of these, you punk!" Obama, he's a piece of sh*t and I told him to suck on my machine gun! Let's hear it for them. I was in New York and I said, "Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch. And since I'm in California, how about Barbara Boxer? She might want to suck on my machine gun! Hey, Dianne Feinstein, ride one of these, you worthless whore!""

Oh, and not to undercut the subtlety of Nugent's discourse, but he was brandishing a pair of machine guns onstage at the time.

Now, it's important to note that the rock and roll--it's chock full of metaphors. You know, the "love pumps" and the "cherry pies" and Def Leppard's late 1980s call for people to demonstrate the quality and measure of their affection by quickly and abundantly dispensing sugar over top of one another. One must, I suppose, allow for the outside possibility that what looks like a hate-filled rant about auto-fellating various pieces of artillery is some kind of rockish term of endearment, and that maybe there's a minute chance that "worthless whore" is somehow complimentary or affectionate--perhaps speaking to some unresolved maternal complex from Nugent's childhood. I'm not sure how this rationale squares with the commentary on Barack Obama, though, with all their talk of bolts and shafts and tautness, it is perhaps possible that crossbow enthusiasts, like cowboys, are frequently, secretly, fond of each other.

Still, seeing as how Nugent's poesy only rarely gravitates beyond the strategic use of words that rhyme with "wang," we find it hard to believe that his onstage blather can be read in any way other than how it sounds--like a violent threat toward two prominent Presidential candidates, both of whom are currently under the protection of the Secret Service.

Of course, this has all happened with the memories of Bill O'Reilly defaming the DailyKos website as a "hate" site--the equivalent of the Ku Klux Klan--still fresh in our minds. So, with Nugent's indisputable hate-speech front and center, we wonder: Outrage, much? As you might imagine, it's all over the lefty side of the blogosphere (and bully to them for reminding us of the ignominious cowardice to which Nugent resorted in order to avoid having to defend our country), while the right wing has been, as David Neiwert describes, a chorus of "crickets chirping." Which is odd, especially when you consider the ferocious, scorched-earth foaming engendered by Ward Churchill. We can only assume that if Churchill had simply suggested that various Americans deserved to kiss the business end of an automatic weapon, instead of making an academic allusion to Adolf Eichmann, the right wing would have been just fine with it.

For his part, Fox's Sean Hannity made a bold attempt to break his own land speed record for crazy-face by defending Nugent. You can watch this for yourself, if you want, but it is somewhat vertigo inducing.

At any rate, we have to imagine that Nugent has more or less disqualified himself as a commentator for any sort of respectable print organ. So, it comes back to you, Mr. Murdoch! Will you promise to keep the Wall Street Journal's pages free of the Motor City Moron? After all--aren't you and Hillary BFFs, now?

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