Ted Nugent issued a non-apology today:
Conservative activist and rocker Ted Nugent apologized Friday for using the term "subhuman mongrel" to describe President Barack Obama.An actual kinda-sorta apology to the president was eventually dragged out of him:
"I do apologize -- not necessarily to the President -- but on behalf of much better men than myself," he said in an interview with conservative radio host Ben Ferguson....
Later on in the interview -- after some people on Twitter argued Nugent's comments weren't a real apology -- Ferguson asked Nugent if he was directly apologizing to the President for the comments.That's insincere, obviously -- though it's amazing he's had to go this far. In the past he's apologized for aggressively offering to have sex with a male CBS reporter and a female producer after the reporter asked him a question he didn't like, and he once apologized for violating federal hunting laws, but this is the first time, as far as I know, that he's ever apologized for one of his drive-by political comments. Something has changed if the press finally decided to call him on one of these bits of invective.
"Yes," Nugent replied.
So maybe -- maybe -- he won't be endorsing candidates anymore. But I doubt we'll be rid of him. He may be shunned by the political press for a few weeks or months, but he'll be back before we know it, probably yammering about guns. And eventually the memory of this moment is going to fade.
Remember two years ago, when Rush Limbaugh's Sandra Fluke harangues seemed to backfire on him? He lost sponsors. He even issued an apology (though it was for using two words to describe Fluke, and not for the 53 attacks on her over a period of days). Notice he's still around? Notice he's still a leading conservative voice, and still a wingnut media star?
Nugent will retain a significant portion of his previous influence, too. You just can't get rid of the SOBs.
I just don't see it that way. There's such a thing as jumping the shark--the way I look at it is that Nugent was a frank attempt by Texas Republicans to capitalize on what they wish was excitement and a youth vote and a telegenic media star. Abbot wanted to campaign with Nugent because he's all that there is on the pro-gun side that passes for exciting.
ReplyDeleteBut as it turns out the pants shitting-pro pedophilia-dog whistling racist vote makes some Republicans uncomfortable so they are going to stuff him back in the closet. That leaves them with no one "fun" to campaign with. They are shit out of star power and the "stars" they have actually have a diminishingly important audience.
Abbot is running against two women--dePutte and Davis--and he just smeared himself with some of the ugliest and most agressively revolting shit possilbe. Sure: ted will still have his fans but that has to be a sliver of the total voting population. Moreover he's played this wrong--as you've pointed out a million times he let them push him into apologizing. That's Josh Marshall's bitch slap theory of politics right there. If Davis and dePutte go in for the kill and keep demanding that he apologize for being such a misogynistic, evil, war coward etc..etc..etc..
What is actually happening is that both Rush and Ted are on their way down, politically. Rush has lost tons of sponsors. You know the whole field is sick and dying because they haven't bothered to replace him with someone younger and more dynamic. Why? Because they can't find anyone.
I agree with each of you, to an extent. Like Steve, I grow tired of disgraced GOP mouthpieces retaining their cachet. I just KNEW that Rush was a goner after the oxycontin scandal, but no...like Michael Myers from "Halloween", there's no killing the fker.
ReplyDeleteBut Nugent was much easier for them to jettison; what's his constituency? Crazy, burnt-out rockers from the '70s who love guns? Not a big crowd.
However, I do think Rush has been much diminished from the Fluke scandal. I think his time is just about over, and Aimai is correct in that there is no real replacement for him. A lot of pretenders, but no one that has Rush's uniquely personal "gifts".
I would hope it stays that way, but history tells me it won't.
They still have Stephen Baldwin, and a handful of other wannabe stars.
ReplyDeleteThe hate-and-fear grift will continue, because it's too lucrative not to continue it.
They'll find another even less talented Rush, and Ted, and Sean, because there's always someone willing to sell-out others of their kind, if the price is right.
Right, but everyone they have is B list, and they know it. They would kill for someone A list.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't help when you give them the attention they crave.
ReplyDelete