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You Are Who You Embrace

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The Man who mistook the President for a chair
The GOP has had a bit of a "celebrity" problem over the years.  Clint Eastwood seemed like a sure bet at the Republican National Convention, but when he decided to carry on a conservation with a chair which he mistook for Obama this became a running gag on the late night television circuit.  Then came this motley selection of musicians to sing America the Beautiful with Mitt Romney on the campaign trail, which didn't come off very well either.

However, none can compare with Ted Nugent, who seems to be everywhere on the campaign trail these days, spouting off whatever comes to the top of his head and damn the consequences.  His latest act was calling the President a "subhuman mongrel," while stumping for Texas gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott.  This led to rebukes from Rand Paul and Rick Perry, who are definitely no friends of Obama.  The Nuge was forced to apologize, "but on behalf of much better men than myself," which one assumes is Paul and Perry, as he seemed to leave Obama out of this rather vague act of contrition.

The Nuge and Wheels (aka Greg Abbott) at a gun shop
This led many to ponder why the GOP would even embrace a guy like Nugent, who is not exactly a pillar of conservative values.  All he seems to share with radical Republicans is a love for guns and a hatred for Obama.  The most recent Nuge revelation came from Courtney Love who claimed she gave Ted a blow job when she was 12 years old.  While such accusations would bring most politicians down, this only seems to add to the aura that surrounds Ted Nugent, an unrepentant hard rocker and Libertarian who appears to serve as the GOP stand-in for Hunter S. Thompson.

The major difference is that Democrats tended to shy away from Dr. Gonzo, especially in his latter years when his hard living caught up with him.  By contrast, the Republicans went so far as to invite the Nuge, along with Willie Robertson of the Duck Dynasty (pictured below with Paul Ryan), to the President's State of the Union address.  It would seem that despite the concerns, the GOP is willing to embrace such persons and take advantage of their "celebrity" status on the campaign trail.

Of Ducks and Men
Now, I imagine this works just fine in East Texas and the bayous of Louisiana, but one has to ask do you want these guys around for the next national convention?  One would think the GOP learned from Clint Eastwood's little talk with a chair that these celebrities can't always be counted upon at national events.


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