@SarahPalinUSA, Your Crazy Boyfriend @TedNugent Is At It Again

I have a theory about mediocre guitarist/serial ranter Ted Nugent, whose Twitter persona can be found here. And the theory is: he’s not so much a political conservative as he is just plain nuts. As in, if you think Gary Busey is a bit, uh, bizarre, Nugent makes Busey look like the sanest, most rational person you’ve ever met.

But crazy or not, Terrible Ted loves him some Sarah Palin. Last spring, The Motor City Mediocrity shared his rock ’n roll fantasies about Gov. McQuitter with Time magazine, and it was, well, kind of creepy:

If Sarah Palin played a loud, grinding instrument, she would be in my band. The independent patriotic spirit, attitude and soul of our forefathers are alive and well in Sarah. In the way she lives, what she says and how she dedicates herself to make America better in these interesting times, she represents the good, while exposing the bad and ugly. She embraces the critical duty of we the people by participating in this glorious experiment in self-government.

(H/t Huffington Post.)

(A “loud, grinding instrument”? You mean, like this?)

And Sarah, apparently, loves her some Terrible Ted:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gun rights enthusiasts welcomed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as she made an appearance Friday [July 10, 2009] on a radio talk show, whose callers included rock n’ roller turned avid hunter Ted Nugent.

Palin spoke on the Michael Dukes’ “Firearms Friday” show on KFAR radio in Fairbanks. She was in Alaska’s second largest city to sign a gun rights bill and several resolutions.

Nugent, well-known for the 1970s hit “Cat Scratch Fever,” told Palin from his home in Michigan that he was firing up the grill to cook up some Alaskan black bear backstrap in her honor.

The governor told Nugent that she thought that was “awesome.”

Really, it’s like these two were caught passing notes in study hall or something. Just ask her to the prom, Ted. You know she wants you to.

Anyway, if you dip into Ted Nugent’s utterly insane Twitter stream, you’ll normally find bizarre nuggets of testosterone-fueled rage, juvenile hyperbole about his latest crappy rock concert, and, of course, a lot of warped nonsense about hunting disguised as spirituality (not altogether unlike that “Monty Python” skit about mosquito hunting: “I’ve been a hunter all my life. I love animals – that’s why I kill them …”). But every so often Ted really lets his creep flag fly, saying things that make you wonder whether he’s just insanely stupid, or maybe genuinely depraved. To-wit, yesterday’s offering:


Wait. Final solutions?! Really? It’s not like that ominous phrase – The Final Solution – is obscure, even to a washed-out draft dodger like Nugent. I’d like to chalk it up to stupidity, that Nugent tweets like he plays guitar or writes lyrics. Which is to say, stupidly. Then again, it sure looks like Nuge chose his words carefully: As my friend Jesus’ General points out, the word “operator” is commonly used in military circles to refer to commandos (see, e.g., here); and I highly doubt a macho guy like Ted Nugent chose that word accidentally.

Of course, this is not the first time Nugent has said things that make you wonder whether he’s a bigot. Just last month at a concert in Dubuque, Iowa, he blurted out: “There’s a lot of white people in this crowd -- I like that! (Dubuque) is a white town.” Nugent also “pointed out at least one audience member and questioned his race.” And that, according to the Dubuque Tribune Herald, is par for the course for Detroit’s most infamous has-been:

This wasn’t a first for Nugent. For example, there was the Texas governor's inaugural ball in 2007. A newspaper reported that Nugent, whose conservative politics and pro-gun beliefs are well known, “appeared on stage wearing a cut-off T-shirt emblazoned with a Confederate flag and shouting unflattering remarks about undocumented immigrants, including kicking them out of the country.”

Enter Ted Nugent’s name in Google and you'll be treated to many racist and sexist gems. Here’s a Nugent rant delivered at a National Rifle Association conference: “Remember the Alamo! Shoot ’em! To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want ’em dead. Get a gun, and when they attack you, shoot ’em.”

(If you want more of Ted’s lunacy, Media Matters has gathered links to several of his more “incendiary” comments here.)

In any event, as to Ted’s use of the term “Final solutions,” I recognize that he was referring to hunting rather than genocide. So, I’ll give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I’m willing to believe that he’s not anti-Semitic – at least, not genocidally so – but he is a racist jerk.

And at a bare minimum, Ted Nugent is so out of touch with the world outside his narrow, Sarah-Palin-loving right-wing political cult, he apparently didn’t realize how stupid and offensive it is to use a phrase like that. Which speaks volumes about the both of them.

Time for Self-Refudiation: @SarahPalinUSA Goes Full-Metal Bigot

Really, it was bound to happen. Staring down the end of another long hot summer of right-wing craziness – last year it was the health-care-town-hall insanity; this year it’s mosques and gay marriage – it was just bound to happen. Right-wingers have been race-bating so long, skirting right up to the edge of common decency and beyond … you had do know that one of ’em was going to lose it; that one of ’em was going to embrace his or her Inner Bircher and go full-on racist.

Enter “Dr.” Laura Schlessinger, a self-professed advice-giver/relationship specialist with a PhD in … physiology? Anyway, last week “Dr.” Schlessinger went on a now-infamous rant all full of n-wordy-goodness, explaining to an African American caller who was offended by her white husband’s friends’ racist remarks that black folks are just too darn sensitive about race; that African American comics on HBO (that, apparently, being the gold standard of African American culture to “Dr.” Laura) use the n-word regularly, so it’s okay for a right-wing white radio host to do the same … and ultimately telling the caller, “If you’re that hypersensitive about color and don’t have a sense of humor, don’t marry out of your race.”

Yeah. Um. Sure. It’s only Two-thousand-friggin’-ten. If you’re in an interracial relationship you’d better expect to face racist interrogations by alleged friends of your spouse. So, suck it up!

Of course, even the usually unapologetic “Dr.” Laura quickly realized she’d taken a long walk off a short pier, career-wise; so, she came back the next day, metaphoric tail between her legs, saying:

I was attempting to make a philosophical point, and I articulated the “n” word all the way out - more than one time. And that was wrong. I’ll say it again - that was wrong.

So she acknowledged she was wrong to say the n-word, but she stood by the rest of her rant – including her comments to the effect that African Americans are too sensitive about race and that if you marry “outside your race” you should expect to face a racial inquisition every time you get together with your spouse’s friends.

Hey, “Dr.” Laura, 1967 called. It wants its racially charged dinner party back.

Meanwhile, “Dr.” Laura’s apology tour continued earlier this week when she appeared on Larry King’s show on CNN. Once again, she said she felt bad that she’d offended people, but nonetheless reaffirmed her view that African Americans are too sensitive, and she went on to tell King she intends to leave her radio program at the end of the year to “regain [her] First Amendment rights.” Oy. Because, you see, conservatives have the First Amendment right not to be criticized for the insanely stupid things they say. Got it?

Anyway, you’d expect “Dr.” Laura to have become a pariah on the right, especially after the Breitbart/Palin/Tea Party wing of the Republican Party spent the entire summer insisting they’re not racists while calling anyone who criticizes them … racist. After all, if they really want to prove their racial neutrality, their “color blindness” as they like to say, you’d think Sarah’d get out her Big Book of Refudiation and throw it at the n-word-spewing, interracial-marriage dissing “Dr.” Laura. Right?

Wrong:

Allow me to translate from Palin-Speak to English: “Dr. Laura – don’t retreat, reload. ([Schlessinger] Step[ped] aside [because] her First Amend[ment] [rights] ceased [to] exist [thanks to] activists trying [to] silence [her] [and that] ‘isn’t American, [and it’s] not fair’).” I’m not sure who Palin was quoting when she said “isn’t American, not fair”; maybe it was the voices in her crazy-scary right-wing head.

But, so, between opposing the construction of the Park 51/Cordoba House project in lower Manhattan – which necessarily means she equates all Muslims with the 9/11 attackers (and that folks, is the very definition of racism) – and endorsing “Dr.” Laura’s views on race and interracial marriage, what else can you say about the Half-Term Wonder? She’s finally showing her true colors (pardon the pun); she’s finally putting down the dog whistle and shouting out loud: I’m a bigot and I’m proud of it!

Glad we got that cleared up.

Garland Jeffreys’ 1973 tribute to New York City, “Wild in the Streets,” also included on his 1977 album, Ghost Writer.

Uh, @SarahPalinUSA, Looks Like You’ve Got Another “Tea Party American” to “Refudiate”

Well, our good friend the Half Term Governor may find this interesting. It seems that while a federal judge in Arizona recently enjoined the worst aspects of that state’s infamous S.B. 1070 – the law that requires local law enforcement to ask for proof of citizenship or alien status whenever they stop someone whom they “reasonably believe” might be in the U.S. illegally – Arizona Tea Partiers are more fired up than ever. Witness this, a planned August 15, 2010 rally in the border town of Hereford:

The organizers of the event describe the even this way:

The United Border Coalition Tea Party Rally’s purpose is to show support for Arizona and its rights to enforce the ‘Immigration Laws’ that the Federal Government won’t. SB1070 is a common sense law that enables Arizona to enforce federal law on illegal immigration.

Which might sound prosaic enough, were it not for this:

Local AZ Carpooling Coordinators:

Phoenix: Chris Flowers (Click to contact)

Tuscon: Tony Venuti (Click to contact)

Because as it turns out, this Tony Venuti – one of the apparent organizers of the United Border Coalition Tea Party Rally – has some rather interesting (one might say, repulsive) views on race in modern day America. Take it away, Tony:

The Abomination and the Abolishment of Slavery

To all of the Black/Negro professionals athletes and media star, I say the following
….where would they have been without that abomination slavery…..think about it…..I know it hurts…but still…where would you be….

African leaders THEMSELVES are co-conspirators of this abomination called Slavery. We will convince you that you should……you must..

Stay down, we will take care of you, you are the leg to which we stand.

just make sure you know WHO is BUTTERING your bread….Yes as my mouth is Wattering in success, I’m Buttering your bread please don’t forget that I enable you.

Yes, that’s right. Mr. Venuti thinks that African Americans benefited from slavery, because without it they would never have come to America and become … wait for it … professional athletes and media stars! Plus, Mr. Venuti says, “African leaders” are trying to convince African Americans to “stay down” and are “enabling” … what, exactly? Poverty? Discrimination? The lack of equal opportunities? Mr. Venuti’s rambling tract doesn’t quite clarify that point.

But wait, there’s more:

Again, Whitey’s think about it….give yourself some credit…..If those poor souls, the first slaves, the true victims, if they were to come back to witness ..
first hand, generations ahead, the 2 minute time clock of the Super Bowl or the NBA Championship watching one of their own,… 10 score forward,…. make the grade…
what do you think great, great, great, great grandfathers thoughts might be? Don’t know…well perhaps …talking story…..

So, um, African Americans are responsible for the two minute warning? So, who’s responsible for the rule that says the half can’t end on a defensive penalty, huh? That’s what I want to know.

But so, anyway, Mr. Venuti’s on a roll:

Open your eyes “White America”….it is inability to face these questions and to talk about the bitterness we all feel from both sides of the racial issue.
The racial issue is simple…I’m more concerned with Human Relations we are all failing at…and in this “Error of Obama” notwithstanding,

We are risk of losing the very nation that we struggled to become…overnight…..and we did it to ourselves…

.wake up…Black and White America

Look at all of the Black/Negro professionals athletes and media stars….where would they have been without that abomination slavery…..think about it…..

I know it hurts…but still

Think about it!

Well, sir, I am thinking about it. I’m thinking about the fact that you keep saying African Americans, whom you call “Negroes,” should be thankful for slavery. And the more I think about it, the more my brain hurts. Please make it stop.

Anyway, here’s the thing. Sarah Palin likes to say that “Tea Party Americans” have been “falsely accused” of racism, but I’m having a hard time seeing how Mr. Venuti – one of the organizers of next week’s United Border Coalition Tea Party Rally – isn’t treading on the same racist ground over which Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder waddled back in 1988. It’s really simple, my fellow white folks: If you try to excuse slavery by saying it was good for black folks, you’re a racist. And that, Ms. Half Term Governor, is something worthy of “refudiation.”

(By the way, a major tip of the old helmet to my good friend, Jesus’ General, who brought Mr. Venuti’s work to my attention via Twitter.)

Will @sarapalinusa "refudiate" Andrew Breitbart and FOX NEWS?

Well Andrew Breitbart and FOX NEWS have succeeded in getting the USDA/Obama administration to force Shirley Sherrod's resignation over comments that many people interpreted as racist, however after further review it would appear that those folks were peddling a heavily edited video, manipulated to make her look bad.

Sarah, please "refudiate"

From: MediaMatters

Full video vindicates Sherrod, destroys Breitbart's accusations of racism

July 20, 2010 10:39 pm ET by Matt McLaughlin

The NAACP has posted the video of Shirley Sherrod's March 27 speech, and it definitively proves false Andrew Breitbart's claim that the edited video he posted at his BigGovernment.com website is "evidence of racism."

In his first post about the video, Breitbart wrote: "In the first video, Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn't do everything she can for him, because he is white."

Media Matters previously documented that Breitbart's original post suggested that the actions Sherrod described in the video came in her capacity as the USDA Georgia Director of Rural Development during the Obama administration. In fact, the actions she described came 24 years ago, when she when she worked with the Georgia field office for the Federation of Southern Cooperative/Land Assistance Fund -- before she began working for the Agriculture Department.

And in the full video, Sherrod recounts how she ultimately helped the farmer avoid the foreclosure on his farm. Indeed, while Breitbart's video included Sherrod saying that she initially didn't to everything she could, it omitted her explanation that later she went to much greater lengths to help the farmer:

-snip-

From our partners
The Political Carnival: ClusterFox-O’-The-Day: Fox’s Misleading Sherrod Headline
Windy City Watch: Dear Mr. President its time for "A More Perfect Union" to fight the race baiting