07.06.13
The Troll Piece
I’ve refrained from commenting on the Washington Post’s feature-length profile of Ted Nugent for the 4th of July weekend because of its nature as a troll piece.
The purpose of a newspaper troll piece is to put something up so ridiculous and annoying it guarantees eyeballs from around the web.
And so it is with the piece on Ted Nugent. Reporter Steve Hendrix visited Nugent in Waco, using the opportunity to get the man to admit he’s thinking of running for President.
Of course this is a lie. Even Nugent knows he couldn’t get elected, except in a region that puts people like Louie Gohmert in office.
It’s almost worth wishing for because a Ted Nugent for President run would hasten the GOP’s total collapse. Ted Nugent’s appeal is in rallying the crazy stupid, stupid crazy, and mean — of WhiteManistan.
Hendrix writes this, at one point:
There are Web sites devoted to collecting and sorting and linking to the vast litany of misdeeds and accusations Nugent has accumulated over the rock-star decades: his recent no-contest pleas to deer hunting with bait in California and taking one black bear too many in Alaska (he says both prosecutions were politically motivated) …
That would be here, for one, where Hendrix picked up the information on Nugent being tossed from a big summer festival in Michigan back in 2003 for flinging slurs — one of them being the “n-word” — on a radio show. It was published on DD blog, along with a packet of old clippings about the matter, three years ago.
A correction the Post added to Hendrix’s Nugent profile best captures its meretricious quality:
An earlier version of this article incorrectly says that he raised five children. Nugent fathered nine children, three of whom lived at home with him. This version has been corrected.
Perhaps the correction could have added the majority of Nugent’s children were illegitimate, although the story makes it obvious once you dig through enough of it.
The article makes one good, if obvious, point. Ted Nugent is catnip for the mainstream media. He is one of America’s most visible raging assholes and there’s a lot of money in that.
Nugent-like characters are not uncommon in American history. Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn and Gordon Liddy come to mind. In the past, however, their nasty character eventually achieved a counter-productive critical mass, doing them in. That doesn’t happen now, more just means more.
Yes, by all means, Ted Nugent for President! He’ll be the only person ever to run for the office who was investigated by the Secret Service for potentially threatening remarks made in reference to the current office-holder. When the Secret Service arrives at your door, everyone knows it’s to hand out the John Wilkes Booth Memorial Medal of Good Citizenship.
Could you think of a better qualification in the Republican Party? Bring on the merriment that the world might be made richer with the laughter.
Will really rally the missing women, Hispanic, gay, African American and youth vote.
No link. Too easy.