04.19.12

Laff this one off, Ted

Posted in Extremism, Ted Nugent at 8:20 am by George Smith

UPDATED

News of Ted’s NRA moment went viral. And the Secret Service took the opportunity to take a really close look at the YouTube video.

That spawned this:

Rocker Ted Nugent has been summoned to meet with Secret Service officials after making threatening statements aimed at President Barack Obama at a National Rifle Association convention in Missouri over the weekend.

The staunch conservative, who endorsed Obama’s leading rival, Mitt Romney, for the presidency last month, will meet with agents on Thursday to discuss what he said …

Confirming the news that he’ll be speaking to Secret Service agents during a radio interview with broadcaster Glenn Beck on Wednesday morning, Nugent said, “We actually have heard from the Secret Service and they have a duty. I support them. I salute them. And I look forward to our meeting tomorrow. We’re going to have a little barbecue get-together.

“I’m not trying to diminish the seriousness of this, because if the Secret Service are doing it, they are serious. They are dedicated and I will be as polite and supportive as I possibly can be, which will be thoroughly.”

The Secret Service won’t be having barbecue with Ted Nugent, no matter how he dresses it up. He won’t be laughing it off.

Perhaps nothing will come of it. (Eventually, so it was. Ted Nugent off the hook, from the LA Times. On the other hand, the NRA — perhaps not feeling so strongly about the great sentiment expressed in the interview, removed it from YouTube the same day as the Secret Service interview. )

But the Secret Service is not chatting with Ted because they wanna be his pals and pin a medal on him for being a swell free speech-exercising American. They will be trying to make a determination on whether he was threatening the president or contributing to the creation of a threat environment.

Ted is being probed for a potential crime and while it may make him popular with other right wing radicals it’s not something for you resume.

Average Americans get a big case of worry and anxiety if they’ve done something that has triggered the Secret Service to come calling.

The mainstream news has done kind of an iffy job on the story, reporting only Ted’s most attention getting lines from the NRA show.

But I’ll bet you the Secret Service has looked at the video carefully, beginning to end. And they’re going to ask Ted what he meant, right at the conclusion, when he told the crowd: “Keep your eyes peeled, I may need you soon.”

I bet the Secret Service will ask something like, “What exactly did you mean, Mr. Nugent, and what are you planning to need these men for?

It would be interesting to hear this interview. Is Ted going to have his lawyer present? He might think about it. Given the context of his appearance and calling for war against criminals said to be infesting the government. At a big gun show. In a country which has a history of presidents and politicians getting shot.

I’d bet the Secret Service is also interested in plumbing how much may constitute rhetorical incitement of an audience to commit violence against the president. And the intent.

I’ve emphasized before that Ted’s speech is functionally indistinguishable from the words of the right wing extremists, put into FBI affidavits when they’re banged up — at the rate of a couple times a year — for domestic terror plots.

These people don’t view themselves as terrorists. Like Ted, they invariably speak of themselves as patriots. They are defending the Constitution against violations, coming to the decision that a violent solution is necessary to correct the wrongs. They exhort each other in this.

And that’s just what Ted Nugent has been doing for the last few years. He’s a panderer and this part of his career, which has nothing to do with his music or rock and roll legacy, is all about goading an audience of right wing extremists, all armed. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows what they want. He regularly plays to their worst instincts.

They want to hear Ted walk up to the line and call for violence against the opposition while he hides behind linguistic tricks that don’t work for those who do the same thing everyday, but who aren’t public figures, some of whom become targets of FBI investigations for it.

And here it has backfired on him. If you have read this blog, it’s not like Ted acted differently at the gun show than he normally does. Finally, perhaps out of coincidence and the luck of the draw, some started looking at his words a little more intently.

Watch that video. I know it’s tough to bear. It’s horrid, twenty pounds of excrement in a ten pound bag.

But you tell me if the crowd is really up for Ted Nugent while he goes on in his way. Why is the NRA host looking just a tad uncomfortable, adding “What a silent crowd.”

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