# NRA Members, Would You Want Ted Nugent as President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 31, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918 "2009-01-31T22:01:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/21 "2009-02-01T22:30:42Z")
Benefactor member of the NRA here. Ted Nugent? FUCK NO. Let’s stick to sane and rational people, please. ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/22 "2009-02-01T22:33:51Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I’d like to see Mike try that stunt with Ted. Can you picture the stuffed and mounted carcass of Michael Moore gracing the lobby of the NRA HQ? > > The permanent :eek: look preserved on his face would serve ample warning. Have to agree with you on this. I’ve heard Ted Nugent interviewed several times. He’s articulate and not scared of conflict. I’d vote for him for POTUS, if he ran. I’m not a gun owner so I never joined the NRA…but maybe I will if he wins. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/23 "2009-02-01T22:36:58Z")
> [@Plan\_B](#): > > I’d vote for him for POTUS, if he ran. I’d love to hear exactly why you think he would make a good POTUS. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/24 "2009-02-01T22:39:49Z")
Nugent is an unhinged asshole who represents everything repugnant about gun culture. Plus he’s a draft dodger who once said he wanted to kill American soldiers in their foxholes. I don’t think a spokesperson with treasonous fantasies would do anything to make the NRA more sympathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/25 "2009-02-01T22:45:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, because the NRA is considered so mainstream as it is now. I’m not aware of anyone in the US who doesn’t consider the NRA mainstream. There are quite a few people who _regret_ the fact that they’re mainstream, but they do acknowledge it. And if there are already other organizations which you feel better represent your philosophy, then why does the NRA need to change? Presumably, if they did pursue the same policy that GOA does, then they’d be just as powerful and influential as GOA is. In the meantime, though, despite the difference in underlying philosophy, the NRA and GOA are bound to be political allies more often than not, so you might as well enjoy their company. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/26 "2009-02-01T22:55:21Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Gun Owners of America is more philosophically in line with my beliefs, however, they try to capitalize on emotion and hysteria just like the gun controllers do and I can’t support that. The way their e-mails are structured read like something from the Brady campaign. We shouldn’t stoop to their level - we are better than that. As a lifetime member of the GOA, I rather agree. I support them for their no-holds-barred approach to gun rights, but I do not care for their sensationalistic, dumbed-down emails and reports. Even then, the emails are still an order-of-magnitude better than the NRA’s email reports. As for the NRA, I think they do a good job in the areas of gun safety, hunting, and competition shooting. But the NRA-ILA is pretty much worthless IMO. I really wish they would stay out of the political arena and leave the job to the GOA. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/27 "2009-02-01T23:01:15Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Nugent is an unhinged asshole who represents everything repugnant about gun culture. > > Plus he’s a draft dodger who once said he wanted to kill American soldiers in their foxholes. I don’t think a spokesperson with treasonous fantasies would do anything to make the NRA more sympathetic. Do you have a source for this? I happen to agree that Nugent comes off as a crazy unhinged redneck, but that seems a bit out there. FWIW, I’m not a member of the NRA. If they would take on some better leadership with more respect for my rights, I might join; but while I mostly agree with Nugent’s more hardline stance on the Second Amendment, his personally is way too far into “WOO GUNS GOD AND NASCAR! YEAH!” territory for my tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/28 "2009-02-01T23:05:43Z")
> [@Stealth\_Potato](#): > > Do you have a source for this? I happen to agree that Nugent comes off as a crazy unhinged redneck, but that seems a bit out there. It was in that same Rolling Stone interview where he bragged about how he avoided Vietnam by shitting his pants for a week. I’ll see if I can find a link for it. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/29 "2009-02-01T23:16:24Z")
> **[Ted Nugent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nugent#Military)** > > Theodore Anthony Nugent (/ˈnuːdʒɪnt/; born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock and hard rock. After dissolving the band, he embarked on a successful solo career. His first three solo albums, Ted Nugent (1975), Free-for-All (1976) and Cat Scratch Fever (1977), were certified multi-platinum in the Uni Nug... ---
**Author:** ![spike404](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@spike404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spike404)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/30 "2009-02-01T23:19:20Z")
> [@Dostoyevsky](#): > > The dialogue between Heston and Moore? Probably not. Heston practically screams, “I’m sorry but I’ll lose my job for saying it,” when probed if he regretted holding the meeting so soon after a gun crime. The ENTIRE meeting was presented, from beginning to end? I think not. That, is editing. Nothing about connecting, and editing, more than one speech, to appear as on ongoing statement in a single address? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/31 "2009-02-01T23:49:03Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > [Ted Nugent - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nugent#Military) I think the wiki atribution is wrong unless he told the pants shitting story more than once. All my googling tells me it was the Detroit Free Press. I can’t find a direct link to the DPF interview anymore (though I’m pretty sure it used to be online), but it’s quoted and cited all over the place. [Here’s a site](http://netcool.wordpress.com/2007/08/30/ted-nugent-avoided-service-in-vietnam/) that quotes it: > [@](#): > > In a July 15, 1990, Detroit Free Press interview, Nugent crowed about how he managed to dodge the draft. He claims that 30 days before his draft board physical, he disavowed personal hygiene. The last ten days he ingested nothing but junk food and Pepsi, and with a week to go until the physical, he stopped using the bathroom altogether. When the big day came, he had been living in excrement-caked and urine-stained pants. Always the hero, however, Nugent reassured the Free Press, “ **But if I would have gone over there, I’d have been killed, or I’d have killed all the Hippies in the foxholes**. I would have killed everybody.” I bolded the part where he says he would have killed Americans in their foxholes. I’m aware he’s tried to backpedal off the pants-shitting story in recent years (though not very convincingly), but he stil admits he avoided the draft, and he still said he would kill American soldiers. He’s also got some other charming aspects to his personality like his racism, his xenophobia, his homohopbia and his bitter, incessant sexism. Oh..and his thing for underaged girls. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/32 "2009-02-02T22:51:56Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > He’s also got some other charming aspects to his personality like his racism, his xenophobia, his homohopbia and his bitter, incessant sexism. Oh..and his thing for underaged girls. If a Chicago-based “community organizer” with a history of affiliations with racist religious leaders, unrepentant domestic terrorists, and shady land speculators can be forgiven and elected President of the United States, can’t Ted be forgiven and appointed President of the NRA? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/33 "2009-02-02T23:09:34Z")
Obama has no such history or associations. Don’t believe everything you see on Fox News.Even if you want to believe everything you hear from Sean Hannity, those were still other people, not Obama himself. Having said that, it’s no skin off my dick if the NRA wants to elect a loudmouth, chickenhawk, jailbait chasing bigot as their President. I just don’t expect that he would do much for their image. If you want the soccer moms to stop being afraid of guns, Uncle Ted is not the guy to make the case. ---
**Author:** ![spike404](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@spike404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spike404)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/34 "2009-02-02T23:31:41Z")
“Obama has no such history or associations…” Absolutely unbelievable!!! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/35 "2009-02-02T23:37:13Z")
Never mind. There’s no point in rehashing this. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/36 "2009-02-03T00:01:44Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > If a Chicago-based “community organizer” with a history of affiliations with racist religious leaders, unrepentant domestic terrorists, and shady land speculators can be forgiven and elected President of the United States, can’t Ted be forgiven and appointed President of the NRA? This is really one of the dumbest posts I’ve read in a long time. You need to let it go, buddy. The election is over. Nobody gives a shit about Obama’s “affiliations”. Now, could you please answer the simple question, “Why would you want Nugent as president of the NRA?” So far from you we’ve got, “I like the idea of a President who might just shoot you, eat you, and wear your skin as clothing if you piss him off enough”. Care to expand, or is that the extent of your contribution here? ---
**Author:** ![spike404](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@spike404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spike404)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/37 "2009-02-03T01:31:48Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Never mind. There’s no point in rehashing this. Look in the mirror; and then keep looking. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/38 "2009-02-03T01:33:28Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] Obama has no such history or associations. [/QUOTE] That’s right. I haven’t heard anything about a shady land speculation since the Clinton administration. The hate-monger preacher and unrepentant terrorist part is unarguable, however. There’s just no question whatsoever that it’s true. Sure Obama won despite the circles he hung around, but around those people he certainly was. Someone with a bit of public awareness would, I think, help the NRA immensely. That a large part of the population views them as far right nuts that want to hand out machine guns in schools shows that they have fallen tragically behind the Brady Bunch in PR. Nugent is just a little too crazy. Maybe he could do commercials, but not run the outfit. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/39 "2009-02-03T02:13:16Z")
here is no hate-monger preacher. Wright is not a hate-monger or a racist. Nothing in any of those carefully collected snippets from decades of sermons is racist or hateful. The only thing he even said that wasn’t true was the AIDS thing, which is paranoid, but not racist, and even the paranoia wasn;t totally unjustified given Tuskeegee. Ayers was a guy who Obama barely knew, and it’s hyperbole to call him a “terrorist.” He was a vandal. He vandalized empty government rooms. He did not target people and took careful and successful measure to make sure that no one got, Hurt. Terrorists, by definition, target people. And, since it bears repeating, Obama barely knew the guy anyway. There wasn’t any “circle.” There was no “shady land deal,” that was completely made up. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918/40 "2009-02-03T02:26:08Z")
> [@leander](#): > > This is really one of the dumbest posts I’ve read in a long time. You need to let it go, buddy. The election is over. Nobody gives a shit about Obama’s “affiliations”. > > Now, could you please answer the simple question, “Why would you want Nugent as president of the NRA?” So far from you we’ve got, “I like the idea of a President who might just shoot you, eat you, and wear your skin as clothing if you piss him off enough”. > > Care to expand, or is that the extent of your contribution here? You’ve pretty much been whooshed. Take abreath of fresh air. Maybe I should’ve put a smiley at the end of the “shoot you/eat you” post; then again, maybe _you_ need to lighten up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nra-members-would-you-want-ted-nugent-as-president/483918.md?page=3)