‘Motor City Madman’ headed this way

Posted 7/29/14

The “Motor City Madman,” as he has long billed himself, has focused much of his energy on conservative politics as well as gun and hunting rights in recent years. Nugent is scheduled to speak at noon Saturday at the Big Horn Basin TEA Party …

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‘Motor City Madman’ headed this way

Posted

After almost a half century as a rock star, Ted Nugent has become better known for his fiery conservative political stances and statements that have made him a favorite of the Tea Party movement.

To his critics, however, Nugent is outspoken, outrageous and out of control.

The “Motor City Madman,” as he has long billed himself, has focused much of his energy on conservative politics as well as gun and hunting rights in recent years. Nugent is scheduled to speak at noon Saturday at the Big Horn Basin TEA Party picnic in rural Emblem, and he plans to serve up political red meat to the audience, he said in an online interview with the Powell Tribune.

“It is painfully obvious to anyone with a functioning brain that this president and every liberal Democrat is out to destroy the last best place,” he said.

“They are bad, bad people, doing terrible things to our country, and they must be called out and stopped,” Nugent wrote. “I only regret that so many Americans have succumbed to the scourge of apathy and the scam of political correctness that has forced me to make such bold and adamant stands.”

His harsh words are costing him some shows, including three at casinos owned by Indian tribes.

Nugent had been scheduled to perform at the Coeur D’Alene Casino in Worley, Idaho, on Aug. 4, but after the Southern Poverty Law Center contacted tribal authorities, the show was canceled, with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe condemning his “racist attitudes and views.”

Nugent responded in typical fashion.

“I take it as a badge of honor that such unclean vermin are upset by me and my positive energy,” he said to Gannett Wisconsin Media. “Put your heart and soul into everything you do and nobody can stop you. Sometimes you give the world the best you got and you get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you got anyway.”

After that went public last week, a pair of shows at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash., this weekend also were canceled by the Puyallup Tribe.

Big Horn Basin TEA Party co-founder Rob DiLorenzo, who will host the picnic at his farm on the edge of the tiny community of Emblem, said Nugent will be there Saturday.

In the past, Nugent has called Obama a “chimpanzee” and a “piece of s###” and invited him to “suck on my machine gun.” Many of the comments were from blog posts Nugent wrote or were recorded by reporters and observers and are available for viewing online.

“Ted Nugent is in the cross hairs of the left because he is effective in displaying their hypocrisy and combating their efforts to ‘fundamentally change’ America,” DiLorenzo said.

However, he said Nugent is not the type of person who backs away from a fight.

“Like so many others who refuse to kneel before the God of political correctness, Ted Nugent will not surrender to the left,” DiLorenzo said. “Thus, to the left, he must be destroyed.”

In February, however, Nugent apologized for calling Obama a “sub-human mongrel,” saying he was using “street-fighter terminology.” He said he should have referred to the president as a liar who violates his oath.

The Detroit native never has sought public office, but he did say a decade ago he was considering a run for governor of Michigan and has also said he might run for president in 2016.

Nugent said he feels at home in the Tea Party movement, which arose in 2009 and has a stranglehold — to use the title of one of his better-known songs — on the conservative wing of American politics right now.

“The Tea Party movement is pure grass roots Americana, performing the basic duties of ‘we the people’ to demand accountability from our elected employees. Period,” Nugent said.

“I believe the Tea Party spirit is strong and growing, and it’s about damn time,” he said. “I don’t know if one must sign up to be an official Tea Party ‘member,’ but there is no question that I qualify as a full-on Tea Party member.”

Nugent said he has been in Wyoming a few times and looks forward to coming back in the future.

“I dearly admire the rugged individualism and fierce independent spirit of real Wyoming people,” he said. “I connect with them on a purely American level and wish to put forth the effort to help in any way I can to keep Wyoming from becoming a suburb of San Francisco like Colorado has dwindled to.”

Long a rock star

Nugent’s turn to the far right came after decades as a rock star, with The Amboy Dukes in the 1960s, as a solo artist from the 1970s to the present and as a member of Damn Yankees, a supergroup of rockers that had some chart success in the early 1990s.

He was known for his guitar solos and fanciful songs, many with overt sexual themes and references. Nugent, 65, admits his late-in-life focus on conservative politics and gun rights has cost him some fans and CD sales.

DiLorenzo said their shared interest in politics and rock music helped lure Nugent here after he wrote a letter inviting him to Emblem.

The fact that retired Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely is the keynote speaker was another attraction, DiLorenzo said.

“Ted calls him ‘The Big Dog,’” he said.

The event will include the raffle of an AR-15 rifle autographed by Nugent and Vallely.

Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn was scheduled to pick up Nugent and deliver him to the event, according to DiLorenzo, who wrote a guest column on Page 4 of today’s edition about Nugent and the event. The sheriff’s office said Monday final details are being worked out.

Nugent, in the exchange with the Tribune before his shows were canceled, said he plans to “fire up” the audience at the picnic.

Nugent’s personal life, from his efforts to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War to his self-professed “addiction” to women, has received increased scrutiny in recent years. He has twice been cited and fined for illegal kills during hunting expeditions.

However, in other ways, Nugent is far from a typical rock star. He has long said, despite his decades in rock ‘n’ roll, he has never drank alcohol or used drugs.

He has been married twice and has eight children from the two marriages. Nugent’s second wife, Shemane, wrote on her website that Nugent has four adult children from “previous relationships.” She said she looked forward to meeting them.

In addition to music and politics, Nugent, an avid hunter, hosts “Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild,” which is shown on the Outdoor Channel.

He said he feels his political involvement and activism is both his right and his duty.

“A real American worthy of the freedom has an obligation to participate in this sacred experiment in self-government,” Nugent said.

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