8/11: Ted Nugent on SB 1070, Sheriff Joe, 'Cat Scratch Fever'
by Ed Masley - Jul. 28, 2010 03:49 PM
The Arizona Republic

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In his '70s prime, when songs like "Cat Scratch Fever," "Free-For-All" and "Stranglehold" were tearing it up on the album-rock side of the radio dial, Ted Nugent - or the Motor City Madman, as he's known - would swing from the speakers while wearing a loincloth and Indian headdress. He's been known to ride a buffalo on stage, shoot flaming arrows at Saddam Hussein in effigy and tell a crowd that President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could suck on one of the machine guns he'd been brandishing on stage before bringing his speech to a close with a holler of "Freedom!"

He may have retired the loin cloth, which is probably a good thing. But at 61, the Nuge's in-your-face approach to live performance, life and basic human interaction shows no sign of mellowing with age. And as the most outspoken neocon in rock and roll, that in-your-face approach is much appreciated on the right, where his folk-hero status is stronger than ever. There's a Fox News clip on YouTube of Nugent performing the "Star Spangled Banner," Jimi Hendrix-style, at an Alamo Tea Party while Glenn Beck looks on, clearly loving every minute of it.

With dozens of prominent national artists calling for an Arizona boycott in response to the passage of SB 1070, Nugent is the name most often cited as being in favor of the recently enacted immigration law, which states that an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest shall, when practicable, ask about a person's legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally. Opponents argue that the law will lead to profiling. Supporters say it won't.

In his latest book, "Ted White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto," the guitarist writes, "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should build huge jail tent cities like my hero, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, has done in Maricopa County, Arizona, for various criminal scum and such. Sheriff Arpaio dresses his inmates in pink underwear, does not provide them television, cigarettes, coffee or pornographic magazines and has brought back the chain gang."

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