On April 14, rock star Ted Nugent made statements critical of President Obama at the convention of the National Rifle Association. After stating he would “be dead or in jail next year at this time” if Obama wins re-election, the musician was visited by the Secret Service.
Fortunately, there will be no further investigation of Nugent, as the Secret Service has determined that his statement did not constitute a threat. The unofficial backlash, however, is just beginning. The rocker had been scheduled to play a concert at Fort Knox, Kentucky at a concert celebrating the military…along with REO Speedwagon and Styx. Army brass, however, have decided to scratch Nugent from the show. “After Nugent’s recent comments about the President of the United States, Ft. Knox leadership decided to cancel his performance”. This statement was posted on the Fort Knox Facebook page.
Are we to believe that “leadership” decided on their own to cancel a pro-military performance by an artist who expressed his political opinion publicly? Hmm… Believe it if you will, but I strongly suspect that the word came down from the Obama administration, through the Pentagon, to the command staff at Fort Knox. The Secret Service has determined that Nugent’s statements were not threatening…so if he is not a threat, why would his show be cancelled? After all, he is just expressing his opinion.
Did you ever notice that when a Republican president is criticized by a rock star or celebrity, it is called “speaking truth to power”, but when a Democrat is criticized…it constitutes “hate speech”? President George W. Bush was frequently the target of hatred and vitriol from leftist celebrities (Google them…there are too many to list here). If a performance were cancelled as the result of that “free speech”, it would have been decried as censorship, retaliation, and a violation of the first amendment. Why then is a concert by a conservative, pro-second amendment artist (who has the same free speech rights as the liberal rockers) cancelled?
My bet is that this is only the beginning of Ted Nugent’s headaches…The IRS will probably go after him next, or maybe the ATF will investigate his gun collection. I could be wrong. Maybe the Obama administration’s sinking poll numbers will give them more to worry about as the election nears, or perhaps some other crisis will put Nugent on the back burner. After all, the Secret Service has determined that he is not a threat.
Of course, after what we learned about the Secret Service in Colombia last week…Maybe they just want to party with him. I bet they could teach him a thing or two.
