One of the duties of this blog going forward will be to deconstruct the Right Wing crap machine, and expose every aspect of it to you. To that end, it's time to expose you to right wing "demi-god" Ted Nugent. I got the following e-mail from "Human Events" this morning:
Dear Fellow Conservative:
You don't have to be fan of rock music to love rocker/hunter Ted
Nugent. You just have to share the unabashed patriotism and
"rock"-solid
conservative values that come through in his music and bestselling
books.
Now comes the Motor-City Madman's wildest, most politically incorrect book yet. In Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent
Manifesto,
"The Nuge" lays out his plan for defending red-blooded, full-throated
Americanism against pantywaist politicians, nanny-state judges,
and tofu-eating Obamamaniacs -- calling on readers to "Roll up your
damn sleeves, sharpen your crowbars, and think hardcore."
Ted, White, and Blue rocketed to #8 on The New York Times bestseller list in its first week of release. But now, HUMAN EVENTS is making it available to
you FREE.
"You're gonna love this!" -- Gov. Mike Huckabee
In your FREE hardcover copy of Ted,
White, and Blue you'll discover:
CLICK HERE to get your FREE copy
of Ted, White, and Blue today.
Sincerely,
![]()
Thomas S. Winter
Editor in Chief, HUMAN EVENTS
Yes, I've removed the various links from this e-mail. I'm here to critique this e-mail, not give free publicity to "Human Events." If you've always wondered who puts idiots like Ann Coulter and Ted Nugent on the best seller list, groups like this do it. They buy boxes and boxes of these books, put them onto the best seller lists, and then give the books away as "premiums" for paying them an annual fee for absolutely nothing, except the opportunity to spam your e-mail inbox with a half dozen sales pitches a day.
So, if you're wondering how Ted Nugent made the "best seller" lists, even though you've never seen his books in stores, now you know why.
Ted Nugent is one of the greatest bullshit artists of all time, and he is paying his bills by preying upon the idiot hordes on the far right. You would think, by listening to the right wing, that Nugent was this great rock and roller; a masterful guitarist with a huge following. Hell; listen to them, and you'd think he was the second coming of the Beatles. He was, at best, a mediocre talent with a big mouth. He's released 31 albums overall, and one album with the Damn Yankees, was his greatest success, selling about 5 million on its own. He had one other album that sold more than one million copies. You can do the math to figure out just how successful he is as a "rock legend."
As a guitarist, he's average, and after so many concerts (he has reportedly done more than 6000 concerts over the years), one would think he'd be better. He's had one hit on his own, and one hit with Damn Yankees, in a career that spans 40 years. (Nugent claims he has been playing professionally for 50 years, starting in 1958, but no one with a brain would pay to see a 9 year old play guitar, except as a novelty, so his actual career dates back to 1967.) In other words, as a celebrity, he's excellent at attracting attention, but he's a second- or even third-rate rock talent.
Why do I think Nugent is a bullshit artist? Let's look at the following paragraph from the e-mail for a clue:
Now comes the Motor-City Madman's wildest, most politically incorrect book yet. In Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent
Manifesto,
"The Nuge" lays out his plan for defending red-blooded, full-throated
Americanism against pantywaist politicians, nanny-state judges,
and tofu-eating Obamamaniacs -- calling on readers to "Roll up your
damn sleeves, sharpen your crowbars, and think hardcore."
First of all, who but a right winger takes pride in being "politically incorrect"? That term is actually code for "I'm going to say nasty things about brown people and gays, but you can't call me a bigot." The whole "political incorrectness" movement is a fiction, perpretrated by the right wing, to give it an excuse to be racist, and blame the reaction to it on "liberals." Yes, there are some on the left who overreact to certain things, but most of us don't care, as long as something is not overtly racist or sexist, or portrays a point of view falsely ir unfairly. When used by someone on the left, "politically incorrect" means you're about to tell the truth about someone, and you know certain people on the extreme sides of the political spectrum will either take offense (left), or pretend to take offense (right).
When a right winger like Nugent is "politically incorrect," however, it's because he's going to say something mean and hurtful, or something untrue, or both. It's a signal to all that he intends to say something nasty and personal about someone based on something they say politically. Nugent's entire "conservative" viewpoint is actually a parody of the right wing's viewpoint on everything, although I'm not sure whether it's intentional or not.
Oh, who the hell am I kidding? He's a walking parody. He can't possibly believe the bullshit he throws. For example, he's supposedly virulently anti-drug and anti-alcohol abuse, at the same time he's done 6000 concerts (and continues to do them) in front of high and shitfaced audiences. He claims he's in favor of hunting and "conservation," but he runs a "canned" hunting facility, where he charges exhorbitant fees for killing animals. Now, except for a few anti-huntin fanatics, most of us understand the value of hunting to thin animal populations, which is actually quite a healthy activity that protects the animals themselves. But canned hunting is nothing but wasteful and pointless, and only far right extremists could possibly rationalize such activity.
I would also point out that true conservatives actually have respect for the political views of others, just as true liberals (like yours truly) actually have respect for true conservatives. It truly is possible to respect someone who sees a situation from a different angle, and simply differs in approach to solving problems. But right wingers are not conservatives, despite the fact that they call themselves by that name, and Ted Nugent is one of those, not a conservative.
How many true conservatives would call for the "clubbing" of an animal rights activist on the radio and receive a $75,000 fine for doing so, as Nugent did? How many true conservatives would say, "Our failure (in Iraq) has been not to Nagasaki them."? And how many true conservatives would ever request at a consert that prominent Democrats, including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama "suck on his machine gun"?
Ted Nugent is not a conservative. In fact, one of the major themes of this blog will be the request that we stop calling these extremist bastards "conservative" altogether. They're not conservative. They are parodies of "conervatives." They're actually radical extremists. And you should not believe anything they say, because they will always lie to make you believe what they want you to believe.
For example, when you hear this second-rate guitarist and first-rate asshole talk in glowing terms about the military, remember that he, like many of his right wing brethren did everything they could to make sure their own asses didn't get shot off in Vietnam.
Yeah, that's right; this self-described "patriot" avoided Vietnam. What isn't clear is how he avoided service exactly, because he has given two different stories as to how he avoided serving. One, he gave in an interview with High Times magazine in 1977, when he said;
"I got 30 days' notice of the physical," Nugent told them. "I ceased
cleansing my body. Two weeks before the test I stopped eating food with
nutritional value. A week before, I stopped going to the bathroom. I
did it in my pants. My pants got crusted up."
Now, the first thing that came to my mind was, why would someone who was so incredibly "anti-drug" since the 60s, and has bragged about it since then, even even give an interview to High Times magazine in the first place? But worse, Nugent tries to explain this away, and come up with a new version of "the truth" that falls in line with this "conservative" self-parody he's created:
"You've got to realize that these interviewers would arrive with glazed
eyes and I would make stories up." He explained that he did not go to
Vietnam because he had a 1 year student deferment. When questioned, he
admitted that he had "not wanted to get his ass blown off in Vietnam,"
but made note of a tour he made with the USO in 2004 to Fallujah and Afghanistan
as support of his assertion that "I am not a coward." He also said that
"Because I failed to serve in Vietnam, I feel an obligation now, to do
everything I can to support those defending our freedom. Do I feel
guilt and embarrassment? Yes."
No, he doesn't. If he did feel guilt and embarrassment, he would bend over backward to understand why our soldiers are in Iraq and Afghanistan in the first place, and would be doing his best to make sure as many as possible came home alive. Someone who actually supported the troops would actually be disgusted by the Bush attitude, in which he basically said, for years, that more soldiers had to die so that the soldiers that had already died would not have died in vain. You don't just do a few USO shows and claim a moral high ground. You should do the USO shows and also work to bring those soldiers home alive and in one piece.
But that wouldn't fit in with the phony persona he's created for himself. He claims he's a Christian, but a true Christian would never run a "canned hunt" and would not be an apologist for racist views. (Don't you wonder why Ted would "start a revolution" if he was Mexican? Or how he would "control our borders" since he's not?) While he's in favor of his view of Second Amendment gun ownership rights, he demonstrates no tolerance for any of the other rights mentioned in the Constitution, preferring to denigrate pretty much anyone who doesn't agree with his extreme views, so it's difficult to take him seriously as a gun advocate. True conservative gun rights advocates understand why gun controls, such as registration and licensing, are useful tools to enhance gun rights for owners, rather than insidious tools for government confiscation of guns. But "The Nuge" is outspoken, to the point that he considers gun ownership and hunting to be something akin to religion.
This guy, divorced, with more children than he acknowledges and takes care of; who claims an affinity with the military, despite the fact that he reportedly shit himself to get out of serving in Vietnam; who publicly ridicules and occasionally calls for the death of, anyone who doesn't share his extremist views, is nothing but a parody of the far right, who think of themselves as "conservative," but are anything but, and he is a tool used by other right wingers, like those who own Regnery Press and "Human Events," to make money off ignorant morons.
Wingnuts should get a clue. You're fools, and they're taking advantage of your foolishness...
