Ted Nugent Might Run For Governor Of Michigan ("I have threatened to do so and I was sincere.")

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Ted Nugent is exuberantly excited most of the time, but he grows even more animated when asked if he ever tires of playing "Cat Scratch Fever," the 1977 hit he's played thousands of times in a 40-year career.

He shouts repeated obscenities, then picks up a guitar and plays part of both "Cat Scratch Fever" and his 1975 song "Stranglehold" with unbridled enthusiasm.

"When I get on stage, I know what it means to people, I know what it means to me. It's a timeless masterpiece guitar song, how can I not play that?" he said in his dressing room before a recent concert at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

At age 58, Nugent still brims with teenage enthusiasm for hard rock music. He is also one of the nation's most outspoken gun and hunting advocates. And he is considering a run for political office.

Mixing the unbridled personality of actor Robin Williams with the vocabulary of an urban rapper, the father and grandfather still performs about 70 concerts a year in which his music stays true to his hard rock roots with a relentless beat.

"I haven't lost the energy but I have learned how to better and more efficiently channel it."

People close to Nugent confirm his manic ways. "He's pretty much that way all the time," said singer and guitarist Derek St. Holmes, who has played with Nugent since the 1970s.

A board member of the National Rifle Association, Nugent says he spends about 200 days a year hunting, guiding clients to places such as his Michigan hunting preserve, as well as Alaska, Africa, California, Colorado, Texas, and Canada.

He favors hunting many different species, including elephants, mountain lions and tigers, and only when pressed comes up with a few animals he believes should not be hunted, such as penguins.

From Detroit and known as the "Motor City Madman," he has performed nearly 6,000 concerts in his career and releases his 32nd album, "Love Grenade," on September 4, which sticks with the sex and rock formula.

For all of his wild-man antics, the politically conservative Nugent is talking about following in the footsteps of celebrities such as actor Arnold Schwarzenegger or wrestler Jesse Ventura, who won gubernatorial races.

"That would be beautiful," Nugent said when asked if he would run for governor of Michigan in 2010. "I have threatened to do so and I was sincere."

Some of Nugent's antics make even Schwarzenegger's past outspokenness appear measured by comparison.

"Michigan was once a great state. Michigan was a state that rewarded the entrepreneur and the most productive, work-ethic families of the state. Now the pimps and the whores and the welfare brats are basically the state's babies."

Nugent refuses to mince words and often uses a racial epithet to describe blacks that normally would mean political suicide. He says his embrace of the word reflects his respect for the black contribution to rock and roll and has another expletive for anyone who disagrees with him.

Heavy duty weapons decorate the stage during his concerts and at his Las Vegas performance he condemned Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Long a critic of drugs, Nugent wrote a recent opinion article for the Wall Street Journal condemning the widespread drug use during the Summer of Love in 1967. He drank just cold water before his Vegas concert.

Nugent still embraces the carnal part of the sex, drugs and rock and roll formula and peppers his concert dialogue with a word describing women that many find offensive.

He described the availability of sex earlier in his life like this: "It was like when carp breed. You walk across the stream and they are ... splashing in the shallows. Just jump in."

Now Nugent says he is a one-woman man, living with his wife and youngest son in Crawford, Texas, near President George W. Bush's ranch. Life is "peaceful, barbecue every day, a lot of school activities with my son Rocco, a lot of charity work."

Although Nugent appears younger than his 58 years (he says freshly hunted venison meat is one secret to longevity), loud music for decades has caused major hearing loss in one ear.

"The ear's not too good, especially with background noise. That's a small price to pay," he said. "Believe me the journey was worth it."

From his website:

8/20/07
Teditorial: War is the answer

Ted Nugent: Against the evil we face, war is the answer
Seeing what valor looks like, knowing cause is just

By Ted Nugent, Texas Wildman

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Toby Keith and I stood at the bedside of Pfc. Todd Bolding of Central Texas.

We were far from home, having just landed via Blackhawk battle copter on the tarmac of Bondsteel U.S. Military Hospital in Germany.

Visiting with wounded heroes of the world’s greatest warriors from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard and Marine Corps, we were deeply humbled - not only by the courage of these amazing men and women, but also by their commitment to get their shattered bodies repaired as soon as possible to “grab my rifle and get back to the front lines to fight with my buddies.”

God bless America.

We spent two weeks with these heroes, hanging out, eating, shooting, talking and patrolling. We shared hunting and fishing stories and celebrated the American music that apparently bonded us.

Toby and I did our best to keep a stiff upper lip and a positive attitude as we emotionally dealt with such a sacred time with many warriors with life-threatening injuries. We were moved.

Most importantly, continually listening to people who claim to support the troops but condemn and even dismiss the war on terror, I was totally fortified in my confidence that the cause for which these men and women fight is without doubt just and proper.

You see, I’m just a guitar player. So instead of guessing or relying on uneducated emotion, I believe my opinion should be based on the best information I can find on any given subject - particularly when the subject is freedom and justice and those heroes willing to volunteer and possibly sacrifice their lives for such noble causes.

The last thing I want to do is improperly or irresponsibly misstate or misinform anyone in my statements to the media or in my writings.

So I put my heart and soul into digging as deep as I can, researching the facts to the best of my ability and finding those souls most dedicated to the truth.

Historical and current evidence scrutinized is surely a good basis for opinion, but nothing quite compares to information shared by actual hands-on combatants in the front lines of the war on terror.

I so respect these bright, incredibly sophisticated, gung-ho military professionals. They obviously put their hearts and souls into researching the post-9/11 world, so maybe, just maybe, their decision to volunteer stands to be more meaningful than the motives of some U.S.-bashing punk like Michael Moore and his ilk.

The intimate, inside dialogue these brave men and women have shared with me brings me to a single conclusion: The terrorists and those who support them in any way must be destroyed at all costs.

Peace and love and security are procured by killing those who would interfere with such quality of life, and that is exactly what the U.S. military heroes are doing.

Fighting the evil terrorists and tyrants who have held Muslims back to a life of slavery and misery, locked in the 17th century, clearly is the only hope we have to beat down the maniacal extremists who vow to destroy America and take innocent lives around the globe.

That is what our troops are doing where they are doing it, and most people are smart enough to see this.

With the horrific images of those planes flying into the twin towers and the Pentagon still fresh in our minds, we are not about to forget the depth of evil they represent.

Todd Bolding bled to death before my eyes.

I saluted many flag-draped coffins over there. I flew home with the flag draped coffin of Lt. Col. Eric McRae and communicated with his family to say thank you on behalf of all Americans.

I remember the Alamo. I remember D-Day. I remember Iwo Jima. I remember Pearl Harbor. I remember Auschwitz. I remember 9/11/01.

I remember Todd Bolding and all who gave everything so we can be free. I side with those who face the beast. They know best.

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