McCain To Speak At Same Event As Violent Nugent

NUGENT THREATENED LIVES OF OBAMA/CLINTON DURING 2007 CONCERT

Although mostly hidden by his campaign, on May 16, 2008--four days prior to the Kentucky Primary--Sen. John McCain will participate in the 137th NRA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky--in the same event as a right-wing pundit well-known for his violent rhetoric,Ted Nugent.

Sources say McCain is 'penciled in' to the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum, but not officially listed on the schedule.

Why might McCain be reluctant to have himself officially listed on the NRA's event? The answer may well be his concern about being associated with Nugent who, less than one year ago, held up two machine guns at a concert and--in one of the most brazen displays of violent rhetoric by a pundit ever caught on video--threatened the lives of a Governor and three Senators.

"Suck On This Obama...Piece of S--t!"
It is stunning that McCain's decision to appear at the same event as Nugent on the eve of the May 20 Kentucky Primary has not yet became a major story in print or broadcast media, particularly given the prominence of Nugent in the NRA event website and the preponderance of video on Nugent widely available on the internet.

Why might McCain be reluctant to have himself officially included in the NRA's schedule? One reason might be the prominence the NRA routinely gives Nugent on their website and at the event as well as the large amount of video available on the internet showing Nugent using violent language, encouraging citizens to engage in vigilantism, and threatening the lives of sitting members of government.

Nugent's past violent outbursts are well documented and widely available for any reporter who wishes to examine them.

The following video from 2007, for example, shows Nugent at a concert holding two machine guns in his hands and threatening the lives of a governor and three sitting senators:

These are some of the violent lines Nugent shouts at the cheering crowd in the video clip:

• "Hey, Obama! [holds up machine guns] You might want to suck on one these you punk...Obama, he's a piece of s--t!"
• "Hillary! [holds up machine guns] You might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless b---h!"
• "Hey Diane Feinstein! [holds up machine guns] Ride on these you worthless whore!"

In this video from a 2007 edition of Texas Monthly, Nugent explains his position on the Second Amendment. About two minutes into the recording, Nugent appears to urge citizens to take up arms and 'blow the brains out' of criminals:

The quote from that sequence is as follows:

"...instead of arresting people for molesting children 24 times, I would rather the dad walked into the room, found a person molesting that child and blew his brains out."

This video of Nugent was posted on YouTube in 2007, but appears to have been recorded either in late 2001 or early 2002. About two and half minutes into the interview, Nugent expresses his violent belief that certain criminals should be summarily 'destroyed':

These videos are in addition to the interview published in the Detroit Free Press where Nugent said, in reference to his decision to give a conference in South Africa during apartheid,"My being there (South Africa) isn't going to affect any political structure. Besides, apartheid isn't that cut-and-dry. All men are not created equal." Detroit Free Press Magazine, July 15, 1990 (from this CampusProgress.org page on Nugent).

Nugent, apparently, believes that Democracy can be reduced down to one interpretation of the Second Amendment, yet one of the most basic principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence is expendable (e.g., "All men are created equal.")

McCain Hiding From Nugent's Violent Rhetoric
The strategy of the McCain campaign seems to be very simple: benefit from the over conservative program of NRA event without suffering from any association with Nugent.

The NRA for its part seems to be playing along.

Despite past statements critical of McCain by right-wing pundit and NRA spokesman Wayne LaPierre, the NRA seems to have done what it can to accommodate McCain's political need to strike a distance from the well-documented violent language and threatening antics of Nugent.

But what about the media?

When Nugent appeared on stage with the Governor at the inaugural ball Rick Perry--wearing the Confederate Flag--big media hardly blinked an eye.

Certainly, McCain is free to associate with the NRA, and without question there are tens of thousands of NRA members who will disagree in part or in whole with the views of Nugent and other speakers who may appear at the NRA event.

Nonetheless, journalists and producers at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC have an obligation to bring McCain's participation in the NRA event, as well as the concurrent role of Nugent, to wide public attention.

Follow Jeffrey Feldman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JeffreyFeldman

Comments

[tulsey]

Didn't Nugent dodge the draft? Perfect front man for the Bush/McCain crime family.

[McSameisthegame]

If he did-then he has the street cred of Cheney!!!!

[tulsey]

Street cred of Bush,Chaney,Gaingrich, Haster, Santorum, Coleman,Quale, Delay,Reagan, DRAFT DOGGERS ALL!

[JohnIII]

What's wrong with this line?

"...instead of arresting people for molesting children 24 times, I would rather the dad walked into the room, found a person molesting that child and blew his brains out."

[MajorKong]

I can certainly understand why someone would want to do that. The problem is that vigilante justice tends to get out of hand and turn into mob rule.

That's why we have police and courts and prisons. It's not a perfect system but it's better than the alternative.

[NATIONALSECURITY4US]

NOT WHEN THE POLICE / COURTS / PRISONS ARE JUST AS CORRUPT OR EVEN MORE SO MORE CORRUPT & VILE THAN SOME OF THE CRIMINALS THAT WERE PUT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE...

DOESN'T THE LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN VINDICATED BY "DNA" OR OTHER KINDS OF EVIDENCE -- SPEAK VOLUMES TO THESE ATROCITIES...

WHEN SERIOUS CRIMES OCCUR & NO SUSPECT CAN TAKE THE RAP FOR IT -- SOME TIMES A "FALL GUY SCENARIO" PLAYS OUT & SOMEONE = THE INNOCENT TAKES THE FALL FOR A CRIME THAT THE POLICE / THE COURTS / THE JUDGE / THE PROSECUTOR KNOW THAT THE PERSON ON TRIAL OR WHO TOOK THE DEAL -- DID NOT ACTUALLY DO THE CRIME...

ARE YOU GOING TO TELL ME THAT IS JUSTICE = THAT IS PERVERTED JUSTICE...

[robotfog]

because maybe some assheads would just kill someone in an argument and then claim they did it in order to protect their child and the children of others.

[Maury66]

Just further evidence proving how far afield the Repub/Conservative coalition has fallen and will fall in the coming years...Ted N, a parody of himself, caught between a time he was never a part of and a time he will never understand. I went to a Nugent concert in '74....after that I was never a fan....too loud...too many notes....he fell over backwards and kept playing...I thought at least that was pretty cool even though the music was boring. Then a few years later on MTV or somewhere I noticed he was still doing the same thing as a part of the act....cornball crap....not a lot different from what we see now with his politics, if you can call it that.

[PioneerKing]

McCain is the type of guy to throw his brown skinned adopted Asian daughter under the bus in order to court "agents of intolerance," notice McCain never mentions her.
McCain is the type of good old boy who calls his wife vulgar names - in public.
McCain is the type of guy who curses out staffers on Capitol Hill and threatens to have them fired, simply because he feels he is beyond reproach.
McCain is the type of guy who thinks adultery is better than sliced bread.
McCain is the type of guy who would lie about voting for Bush in an effort to establish his bona fides as "a straight talking maverick."
McCain is the type of guy who does not think there is anything wrong with our troops dieing in a war for middle-east oil.
McCain is the type of guy who denied knowing about the horrible conditions at Walter Reed although he had hundreds of letters informing him of the conditions there and at other VA hospitals and VA Outpatient Service Centers.
McCain is they type of guy who will lie with greater ease than the Clintons.
McCain is a former POW who will do anything and say anything to get elected president.
McCain is the best example of the fact that simply because one has served in the military that it takes more than military service and being a former POW to be a the epitome of a hero.

[MajorKong]

I find it surprising that a man with McCain's service record would want to associate with someone like Nugent, who went to great lengths to avoid service in Vietnam.

[tulsey]

What is McCain's record? Bottom of his class at Annapolis. Implicated in flaming the f4 jet behind him on the deck of the forestall causing the death of over a hundred sailors. Shot down on a bombing mission, no randy duke top gun here. Confessed to bombing civilians. Not to mention the keating 5 and his votes against veterans, his support for bush after getting made his bitch in 2000. There's more, alot more, but that's more than enough for me. The nuge for dec def.

[RRonin]

Nugent's a buffoon. He's the only "rock star" the NRA can lay claim to. My step-dad is a loyal NRA member and he cringes at the mere mention of the man. Visit a gun show sometime and see what crawls out of the woodwork, some of the wackadoodle "fellow travellers" the NRA bring out. More importantly, where is Vicki Isenman?

[landoffools]

Little Lolita's and Banjo's !

God I love America !

[ManyColored]

The truth is that many conservative votes are on the planet inhabited by Nugent. In order for McCain to be elected, he has to associate himself with groups that cater to these voters. Give the man credit, he has demonstrated some restraint thus far. They are also in the Democratic Party. After Obama is nominated, he will have to contend with the same problem in a different context as McCain has to. He (Obama) will have to convince Democrats who may be Democrats in name only, because they have traditionally voted Democratic; because they are in a union; or because in order for them to be elesctable they have to reflect the points of view of their constituency. So Blue Dog Democrats are not going to be initially warm to Obama, and this will be a problem. And then there are the bigots. He will lose most of them without question. Of course he will have those that relate to his skin color, just like Hillary has those that relate to her gender, which for those persons is their first priority. So both McCain and Obama have some obstacles in their way as far as acceptance from groups within their party; and they also have factors of the same general type working in their favor. In the end, though, I think the economy and the Iraq War will be the determining factors, and in the end, I think this means McCain will be stomped in November.

[gonavy]

I will not even attempt to defend Nugent's outrageous comments, but, his thoughts on how to deal with child molestors is something I can definetely support. There is only one cure for a child molestor, and that is death.

I know it sounds harsh. Those who have been molested or have children who have been molested understand the devestation that is left behind.

[JohnIII]

Agree 100%. If found guilty.

[robotfog]

I was molested and I'd rather have the man convicted in a court of law than just killed because I identified him to someone.

[chumleypotts]

Agree, but the molester would be required to serve out his his time in the general prison population, where life expectancy for a child molester is very short. Let the inmates do the job the courts won't.

[LARRYB28]

Where are all the Randi Rhodes free speech supporters now you bunch of hypocrates

[robotfog]

I didn't support her. I prefer that people be polite.

I actually don't care what Nugent says. His existence is a reminder that there are a lot of people out there with ideas that may differ from our own.

I would prefer he be more polite about it, of course.

[MrStill]

The freedom to be a complete a$$ is often forgotten lately.

[Johnagain]

From the sound of the crowd in the concert footage video it seems that his audience is shrinking. I remember when I was growing up in Detroit, when he would fill big arenas. Places like Cobo Hall, Pine Knob, football stadiums, were always packed when he did shows there. And him and his band were scorching. Now he seems to have sunk to a level that would only appeal to the most ignorant, racist trash. How sad when a talented person loses their mind.

[newworldman777]

You are so right. Instead of being a teetotaler throughout his tenure in the rock world, perhaps he should have toked a few Js over the years. He might have mellowed out in his advancing years. Now, he is primed for a conniption fit, when Obama gets elected...and I would want to be neither in front of his wheelchair nor within striking distance of his cane when it happens.

[tulsey]

The Nuge has dui's

[bfbenn]

I saw Ted and the Amboy Dukes in concert numerous times during the early seventies. What an amazing guitar player he was! One thing I can say for certain - he was no teetotaler then! Or, if it was all an onstage act, that guy is batsh*t crazy!
I'd say he currently suffers from one too many bad trips...

[jpcline004]

Isn't this the same kind of guilty by association crap we are supposed to be campaigning against? This is stooping to the same level as those conservative blogs with the Rev. Wright crap. Just because Nugent is an insane a-hole doesn't mean McCain agrees with him.

Come on HP, you can do better than this.

Obama '08
..we move forward starting now...

[sueelle]

I agree. We've got much bigger problems to deal with in this country right now. Ted Nugent has always said outrageous things to get attention. Let's not give him any.

[MajorKong]

How many times to we have to get our butts kicked by the Lee Atwater/Newt Gingrich/Karl Rove school of smash-mouth politics until we just admit that the Republicans aren't going to play nice. They play to win, period. It might feel good to take the high road, but it isn't going to win the election.

I really don't want it to be that way. But when you're dealing with playground bullies you need to be willing to stand up to them.

[jpcline004]

You can stand up to people without stooping to their level. I think Sen Obama has shown its possible throughout the campaign and I have done the same my whole life.

Ted Nugent is crazy, we all know that. But associating McCain with him because they are speaking at the same event is as much of a fallacy as, if not more than, the William Ayers/Obama connection. These tactics aren't going to make us win the election. Its the same old mud slinging partisan bull sh*t that we have gotten "our butts kicked" at for the past 8 years.

This campaign is all about moving forward, and a major draw of Obama's "movement" is the fact that we want to end these kinds of politics.

[astein1]

Ted Nugent has turned into a "my God is better than your God" bigot.

[Y2KCockroach]

I remember that controversy, when Nugent was on-stage railing against the Democrats, and I remember thinking that if it wasn't for the 1st Amendment he would be sued for hate-speech. I saw his televised efforts afterward, trying to explain, without actually saying so, that his target audience is knuckle-dragging, misogynystic, mouth-breathers who think hanging "truck nuts" from their vehicles is a statement (well, in a manner of speaking, I suppose that it is). Nugent knows his audience, and he was playing to it. The hypocrisy of the man is that he goes on and on about personal responsibility, and self-determinatoin, and how he knows "the way forward", but he makes bad music, screws girls who are younger than his own daughters, and generally carries on as a loud-mouthed, pedantic buffoon. As a "role model", I suppose the NRA and the Republicans can identify with him, but I have no use for him, nor would I want to be like him. Hell, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as him. Nuff said about that.