The Secret Service will be investigating comments made by rocker Ted Nugent, who has backed Mitt Romney in the presidential campaign. Nugent made the comments this past weekend about President Barack Obama. Nugent said that he would be ‘dead or in jail by this time next year’ if Obama is re-elected. The comments were made in the midst of an interview while at the National Rifle Association’s convention in St. Louis. Nugent compared Obama and the administration to coyotes that have to be shot and encouraged voters to ‘chop [Democrats’] heads off in November.’
Nugent said:
“I’ll tell you this right now: If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year. Our president, and attorney general, our vice president, Hillary Clinton — they’re criminals. We’re Americans because we defied the king. … We are patriots, we are bravehearts. We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November.”
When Nugent was asked about a possible investigation into his comments by the Secret Service, he answered with the following:
“They have a duty. I support them. I’ve never threatened. I don’t waste breath threatening.”
“We don’t expect moderation from Ted Nugent,” Michael Keegan, president of People For the American Way, said. “But we do expect a major presidential candidate like Mitt Romney to rebuke a prominent supporter for spewing hate-filled and violent rhetoric against the President of the United States.”
Debbie Wasserman, the DNC chair, said:
“Romney surrogate Ted Nugent’s comments about Pres. Obama are vile & beyond the pale — and the Romney campaign should denounce them immediately.
Andrea Saul, a spokesperson for Mitt Romney, said:
“Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from,” she said. “Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil.”
You can check out the videos of Nugent at the NRA Convention in this post.
