Ted Nugent: Romney Camp ‘Expressed Support’ After Controversial Comments on Obama
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Randy Snyder/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Ted Nugent, after a Secret Service investigation, a canceled Army concert and an outpouring of criticism, said presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s camp “expressed support” for the controversial comments he made about President Obama in April at the annual National Rifle Association meeting.
The no-holds-barred Texas rocker told CBS’ This Morning that Romney’s campaign told him to “stay on course” and not to tone it down after Nugent said he will “either be dead or in jail by this time next year” if President Obama is re-elected.
“I got the sensation it was, not from Mitt himself or Mrs. Romney, stay on course Ted, freedom of speech is a beautiful thing,” Nugent said in the interview, which aired Friday morning.
The Romney campaign responded by re-issuing the statement it put out two weeks ago, shortly after Nugent’s comments at the NRA went viral.
“Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from,” Romney’s spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in the statement. “Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil.”
Nugent said Romney actively courted his endorsement, personally calling the rocker to ask for his support, which he officially gave via Twitter in March.
Nugent’s inflammatory remarks landed him in hot water not only with Obama supporters, but with the Secret Service, which he said met with him for 35 to 40 minutes to ensure that he did not pose a threat to President Obama.
“It was adorable,” Nugent said of the Secret Service meeting, which took place in an Oklahoma hotel room prior to his concert there in late April. “They did their job perfectly, I answered the questions perfectly.”
Despite calling Obama and members of his administration “criminals” and calling on conservatives to “chop their heads off in November,” Nugent maintained that he never threatened anyone.
“Couldn’t. wouldn’t. I wouldn’t waste a breath threatening someone.” Nugent said. “I feel sorry for liberals who can be that brain dead as to take a statement of fear on my part and turn it into a threat on someone else.”
In an interview with the Texas Tribune, which also went online Friday, Nugent doubled down on the remarks that have earned him so much attention over the past two weeks.
“If Obama is elected, I will either be dead or in jail because I’m on his enemies list and if they come and get my guns, if they come to take my property, I will either be dead or in jail,” Nugent told the Tribune. “Do you really find any ambiguity in that?”
The Motor City Madman insisted that he is “not provocative” compared with liberals and the media.
“I’m almost like a little puppy dog compared to these monsters,” Nugent said, adding that “the left hates me” because “I promote the right to self defense.”
Nugent cited Fort Knox’s decision to cancel his June concert at the Kentucky post as one example of how “bread dead” liberals are “out to get” him.
“When I hear the political correctness that has somehow metastasized into the decision makers of the military, I was really let down that political correctness has any role at all in the military,” he said.
Commanders at Fort Knox announced earlier this week that were eliminating Nugent from their annual summer concert because of his comments about President Obama.
While Nugent has endorsed Romney, the Detroit rocker said Friday that his first pick for president was Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out of the race in January.
“I wish he was the president right now, man!” Nugent told the Texas Tribune. “My problems would be over.”
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