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David Codrea writes [via Ammoland.com]:

Practically everyone, including conservative and gun rights groups, reacted with understandable outrage to rocker and RKBA diehard Ted Nugent’s Facebook post of a graphic featuring Jewish anti-gun politicians with Israeli flags. While quick to distance themselves from a celebrity they’d have happily claimed as an ally the day before his ill-conceived post, none of his detractors even attempted to contact him afterward to ask if accusations of anti-Semitism were true. Wanting to understand what he was thinking and how he managed to make himself a media target for charges of anti-Semitism, Nicki Kenyon of The Zelman Partisans spoke with Nugent, and found her group was alone in asking him what happened . . .

Additionally, Nugent took TZP up on an offer it made a week earlier and ended up joining the group.

The recently-formed organization is comprised of former members of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, who split off in disagreement following JPFO’s acquisition by the Second Amendment Foundation. Naming themselves in honor of JPFO’s founder, the late Aaron Zelman, TZP activists who knew and worked closely with Zelman consider themselves more in keeping with his fiercely uncompromising nature, and believe their approach to be truer to the legacy their friend, colleague and mentor would have wanted.

Perhaps there’s something to that, as JPFO, instead of reaching out to Nugent, merely issued a statement decrying his post. And while they are correct (in a Captain Obvious kind of way) that “Aaron Zelman, founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership was far from anti-gun,” the statement ignores that Zelman reserved some of his harshest criticism for Jewish citizen disarmament proponents, and even coined the term “bagel brained Jews” to describe them.

In many ways, Aaron Zelman and Ted Nugent were alike, particularly in not worrying about who might be offended.

“Do Jewish leaders want us all to be victims?” Zelman asked in one powerful essay. He’s also the man who, in his trademark politically-incorrect, take-on-all-comers style, told the Anti-Defamation League to “burn in hell.”

People are going to have their opinions about Nugent and about what he posted on his Facebook page, and on his adamant refusal since then to back down. In a way, that works in his favor against those who will now claim he only spoke with Kenyon and TZP as a pandering move to try and ingratiate himself back into the good graces of those calling for his expulsion from the NRA Board. He just doesn’t appear to be the type of guy to back down or to bow to political correctness.

Was it ill-conceived? Considering how easy it is to trace back to true anti-Semites who have used the same graphic, it was certainly thoughtless, and Nugent admits as much. Was it evidence of bigotry? Of course not.

And those tripping all over themselves to distance themselves from Nugent ought to know better. What are you guys afraid of, that Media Matters and The Huffington Post will say mean things about you? Like they won’t regardless of how much you try to appear “reasonable“?

My own takeaway from this? I’ve not involved myself that much in Nugent’s doings, aside from writing an article critical of his supporting Tom Tancredo, given some of that politician’s bipolar positions on guns. I’m hardly in the tank for the guy – I’m just looking at what makes sense to me.

On the other hand, I go back years with Nicki, and if there’s one person who will not mince words and is not afraid to rip into someone who deserves it – and colorfully – just ask her readers how timid and reserved they think she is. I’m pretty sure if she perceived Ted was BSing her, she wouldn’t be afraid to publicly field dress the guy, and maybe even not just metaphorically.

Go read her article (and take the poll) and make up your own mind.

 

David Codrea in his natural habitat.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.

He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and also posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

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86 COMMENTS

  1. He never was an anti semite. He was just being an idiot.

    Liberal groups used it to help their anti gun agenda.

    I’m Jewish and I can’t stand nor understand anti gun Jews.

    • I don’t buy that for a second. Maybe I give him too much credit. Maybe Mr. Nugent really is that stupid and legitimately didn’t know the implications of his post, but I doubt it.

      • When I first saw the post on TTAG I had it up on my phone. Saw a bunch of anti-gun “bigwigs” and had no idea what the big deal was. It wasn’t until I read that article that I even realized a Jewish symbol was on the pictures and as it was too small and blurry on my phone to read the writing it wasn’t until this article that I knew there was anti-Semitic comments on the pictures. People screw up and make mistakes and absolutely when you’re in a rush it’s easy to copy and paste something that seems mundane at first glance but has real meaning when read carefully.

        What’s the saying? “To err is human…”

        • That would make sense, except he doubled down even after he was called on it. Instead of admitting it’s an honest mistake, he went the other route. This is another reason I doubt he did this in error, and if he did, he might be more dense than lead.

          Another thing, is that flag isn’t the “Jewish symbol.” It’s the Israeli flag, and the simple fact is that apart from one of two pictured there, most of them don’t hold dual citizenship.

  2. How many words have now been wasted on this non story?

    If people would stop reading between the lines to gin up their faux outrage there wouldn’t be any problems.

    • Asking haters to stop reading between the lines is making the foolish assumption that they have the ability to read (let alone comprehend) in the first place.

    • It’s in bad taste, but so are many things from the Nuge.

      That said many anti-gunners are Jews. Culturally they seem to shy away from a well armed populous for the most part. Even in Israel they don’t enjoy as much freedom as Americans even though the threat of terrorism is far greater.

    • WordPress has added autocorrect to the software and it’s driving me NUTS. It changes the simplest words to what it thinks they ought to be and it’s usually WRONG. You have to keep an eye on the Nanny at all times, and it’s a sneaky little bitch. This accounts for some of the errors in our articles and forces us to proof read every damn sentence. Grrrr.

      • I’m not trying to tell you your business, but shouldn’t somebody be proofreading every sentence anyway? Or do you just do random spot checks to make sure every twentieth word is correct?

        • We DO proof read all our posts. On most occasions, at least two pairs of eyes read a post before it goes live. But if you write as much as I do (over 1m per year) or get to my age or both, you start to hallucinate. You see words that aren’t there and don’t see words that are. Which is why I always go back and read my posts after they’re published. All the other ones too.

          I’m not complaining, just explaining.

        • We used to do this when I was on the editorial board of an academic law journal, prior to sending an issue out for publication.

          It involved printing out two different copies of the article being proofread. Two editors were given copies of the article and sat next to each other. One would read out every word and bit of punctuation, while the other would read through it and mark up errors.

          (I.e., that last sentence would have been read: “One-would-read-out-every-word-and-bit-of-punctuation-comma-while-the-other-would-read-through-it-and-mark-up-errors-period.”)

          Obviously, it was good for catching errors that might have been missed in the previous proofreading. We didn’t care about the length of time it took, because we only had three or four academic articles per issue.

          That process might not work for a blog, though….

  3. So if I get this right, Ted Nugent posted some Jew hating propaganda, like calling Bloomberg the mayor of “Jew York”, but he is not anti-Semitic, he is just an idiot that won’t apologize when he does something stupid. I am totally willing to believe that. So, given that he has now proven, on a national scale, to promulgate something stupid and not apologize for it, why on earth would we want him as a spokesman for our rights?
    He’s not a bad guy. Sure. Ok. But based on this behavior, he is a detriment to the cause of furthering our second amendment rights.

      • “We” are not paying him, he is entitled to his opinion and to be an idiot. Internal criticism for non-2A disagreements is pretty much like self flagellation. I think people who believe in any religion are fruitcakes, does not stop me from welcoming them into the fight for our rights.

        • Larry, I absolutely welcome Mr. Nugent to stay in our fight for our rights. I’m under the same tent of liberty that he is, and it’s a real big tent with space for all of us. I just don’t want him speaking for me, as a spokesman for the NRA.

    • In general, (not Nugent) does this new age burning need for an “apology” heal your delicate feelings? Unwad your panties? More feel good liberal claptrap. The hurt ass is just as likely to reject the “apology” as not heartfelt enough or under duress, etc so why bother. Get over yourself and get on with life.

      Sorry the SWAT team I called down on you shot your wife/kids/dog and destroyed your house.
      Sorry the tree I was cutting down fell on your house.
      Sorry I was yacking on cell phone and ran into your car.
      Sorry you beat your wife last night.
      Sorry you stubbed your toe.
      Sorry it rained.on your open convertible.
      Sorry the volcano blew and destroyed your car and house.
      blab blah blah

      • Well, I guess you just lost a lot of respect for Mr. Nugent then, because this is what he told Nicki:

        I sincerely apologize for my irresponsible re-posting of such a nasty and offensive meme. In my rush between songwriting jams and musical recording frenzy, all I saw was the images of people dedicated to disarm us, I made no connection whatsoever to any religious affiliation.

        In other words, he admitted that what he posted was an error because it gave the wrong impression of what he thought. Which is what I, personally, wanted from him once I was satisfied he wasn’t an anti Semite. (Unlike a bunch of the sewage that popped up from nowhere when this story first broke here.)

        Blindly damning political correctness when an apology is demanded equates to never admitting you’ve genuinely mis-spoken. With an attitude like yours, I’ll bet you don’t have a lot of friends in real life.

        • neiowa, apologies are far from new age, they are the old school norm. More than just polite, they tell people that you recognize what you did was wrong and help toward rebuilding trust. Mr. Nugen’ts original response read like “so what, fu()K you.”
          As SteveInCo points out, his now, appropriate response, and one I am really glad to see, makes me less likely to question his character.

    • Lol this is a good point. Liberals are liberals.

      However it was the image implying that they were anti gun BECAUSE they were Jews. Try to keep up.

      • The image labeled known gun controllers as being jews. It didn’t reach for a motive. The only difference between the two posts is that Ted’s was a low-resolution picture and Haaretz is a respected publication. Only X may criticize X. Y’s criticism of X is a taboo, no matter how well intentioned it may be.

  4. Look, The Nuge took a common meme (I’ve seen it on /b/ many times) and thought he was selling one story, when in fact it came off terribly wrong. This is not surprising, Ted is not what you’d call deeply thoughtful, or terribly rational all the time. Nor understanding of how more sane people may view something.

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – he is what he is. I don’t think that’s generally bad, but it is generally a bit of a loose cannon.

    I’d also bet he honestly believes everything he did was right, and joined this TZP group because he also stridently believes that Jews should own firearms.

    • I have come to agree with this analysis. Nugent posted the anti-semitic meme without thought. But his refusal to remove the post after the error was highlighted by both sides of the gun rights issue shows that he lacks the maturity needed to represent gun owners within the NRA.

      I’m the first to admit that writers in general and 2a advocates in specific make mistakes (e.g., my assertion that the newly elected Obama wouldn’t touch the third rail of gun rights). It’s what you do afterwards that counts.

      • Ted is an adorable, goofy dog, who does some funny tricks. Amuses your friends, but you don’t let him in the house because sooner or later, he’ll lift a leg on something.

        I never understood the NRA putting him on the board. Seriously, who’s doing the vetting? 40+ years of public crazy, nobody noticed that?

        • The board is elected by the members. I think election ballots for this year’s election appear soon.

          There is a LONG list of nominees and some that make the list of “recommended” by the selection committee (or some such). Maybe 1/2 of the names on the list of nominees are names you might recognize. Each has a very short bio. I’m pretty sure that most of those elected are from the list recommended nominees. I have no recollection if Nugent was recommended or might have been elected because he was well recognized.

          BUT does “MOTOR CITY MADMAN” tell you nothing??

        • Thanks, I wasn’t familiar with the process, I’ve sent the NRA money over the years, but I really pay no attention to what comes in the mail from them.

          As Robert noted, it’s that Nugent handled it poorly, which objectively I completely agree with. That said, it’s Sweaty Teddy. He’s a whack-a-doodle swinging from a rope, armed with a bow sporting a flaming arrow. Expecting gravitas from him is seemingly more than a bit of cognitive dissonance. Civility is even a stretch at times.

          Leopards. Spots. Expectations of change…

      • No never apologize. Never retract. Men own their words, and he is not to blame for others taking his post out of context.

        A retraction in this case would have been an admission of guilt which is what the SJW crowd wants, and would serve only as an opening for further attacks. He had absolutely zero responsibility to self censor his free speech because others found it offensive.

        • And actions.

          If was a conscious decision, or due to your inattention/negligence, what the heck does an “apology” mean? If you act to undo/make whole, if possible, that might mean something.

          If was a “accident” (if you believe in such) or an act of God what the heck does an “apology” mean? ibid.

        • @Mack

          He did apologize.

          I sincerely apologize for my irresponsible re-posting of such a nasty and offensive meme. In my rush between songwriting jams and musical recording frenzy, all I saw was the images of people dedicated to disarm us, I made no connection whatsoever to any religious affiliation.

          So I guess you’re in a bit of a pickle, since you don’t seem to think apologies are ever appropriate. Going to condemn Mr. Nugent now?

        • @SteveinCO

          I’m in no pickle. If Ted wants to capitulate then that’s on him. I didn’t condemn him for his original post, and I wont condemn him for his personal choice to surrender to the perpetually offended.

        • “No never apologize. Never retract.”- That’s about as far from manly as you can get, and is the mantra of arrogant cowards too afraid to recognize they screwed up. What’s worse is that people actually think this is some kind of tough guy way of thinking. In reality, attitudes like that only exist is the modern metrosexual society, where they are allowed. That shit doesn’t last long in the culture of real men.

        • @jwt — either Mack is clueless on that point, or Mack genuinely sees nothing wrong with the graphic Ted Nugent posted–in the latter case I could understand thinking that Nugent refusing to apologize would be appropriate, because he thinks Nugent has done nothing wrong.

          But failing to see what’s wrong with the graphic…well, I won’t go there.

      • Mack, you’re exactly right. Perhaps it would be a good tactical move to shuffled Ted off the NRA BOD–I’ve been thinking we need a good far-out group to push the Overton window and represent many of our actual views, and most of the existing claimants to this role are unsatisfactory–but on our own time, quietly, and politely, ABSOLUTELY NOT as a response to media handwringing and pearl-clutching.

  5. I call BS, they’re just happy to have his money and attach their mostly unknown name to the controversy. If Ted really didn’t mean it he’d say so publicly and call out the other folks who used the Facebook posts to push their own agenda.

  6. at least 99% of the people have no clue about “Semitism”. It means being a Semite. Being a Semite means a descendant of Isaac or Ishmael. 90% of israelis are NOT SEMITES. Look up “ashkenaz” in Genesis 10:3 or wikipedia and see they descend from Japheth and not Isaac or Ishmael.
    So, 90% of israelis are IMPOSTERS who got that land because the zionist Rothschilds made an agreement (The Balfore Declaration) whereby if the Zionists could get the USA to join in WWI, the Brits would give that land to them.
    ashkenazi jews (Khazars) are as Semitic as if a Chinese person became a jew (but the WRONGLY love to yell “anti-Semitism” to scare away the ignorant sheeple

      • PROVE I’m wrong!
        What percent of israelis are ashkenazi?
        What are the ancestors of Ashkenaz?
        Who are the ancestors of REAL Semites?

        I don’t hate jews. I just DETEST STINKING LIARS like the zionists, o’bama, the clintons, and a lot of the DC scumbags.
        Time to GROW UP and take off your rose-colored glasses (if you can STAND THE TRUTH)

        • Who gives a crap if you are right or wrong, FLAME DELETED? That much concern about what happened thousands of years ago, and the assumption that anybody even cares, today, makes you a fanatical nut. FLAME DELETED That is pretty much insane.

      • +1,000

        Seriously, will the owners of this site please start deleting this crap and banning people who post such things?

  7. I’ve been done with Ted Nugent for a while now. I have no idea if he’s anti-Jewish, because I lack the ability to see into men’s minds, but I can say this: he isn’t a particularly effective advocate for the right to keep and bear arms anymore.

    Is he actually convincing anyone?

    How much effort has been expended (by he or others) explaining and/or apologizing for things he’s said or done?

    Thanks for trying, Ted. It’s time for you to hang it up and to make room for fresh blood.

  8. The phrase(regardless of who coined it) “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise” seems to validate itself again and again.

    • Ted, you and anyone else can criticize anyone they like. The people criticized — rightly or wrongly — can reply in kind. That’s how it works.

  9. I think there is a lot of room in between not bowing to political correctness and ranting like a blathering idiot. Instead of rationally explaining his intent, Ted just piled on more of the same.

  10. I personally understand Ted’s unwillingness to back down from other people’s vapors. He meant one thing by his post. Other people assumed something else and then condemned him without even asking what he meant by it.

    I’ve faced my own condemnation by people with the same closed minded hateful judgement when I OC. They paint me and others that OC with the worst possible and degrading reasons for OC’ing, without ever asking why I personally have chosen to OC.. This is the true outrage, especially when these attacks come from supposed second amendment supporters.

    Ted is uncompromising in his support for all peoples, regardless of race, creed, religion or gender for the Right to KABA. You never have to wonder on which side of the line of freedom he would stand at the moment of truth, life or death.

    He walks the walk, he doesn’t just talk the talk. More than the majority of people that are supposed “gun advocates” do. And if that “talk” is at times rude, crude and upsetting to the “finer” sensibilities of the the more “refined and erudite”? Too bad. I’ll take complete honesty and committment to the death over erudite and refined any day..

    • Ted is uncompromising in his support for all peoples, regardless of race, creed, religion or gender for the Right to KABA. You never have to wonder on which side of the line of freedom he would stand at the moment of truth, life or death.

      Indeed.

      The graphic he reposted, however, is saying something very, very different. It’s not a case of him saying something he wanted to say, albeit in a very crude manner. He said something he didn’t intend to say and he has acknowledged as much, albeit not on Facebook where it would do the most good.

      I agree, you don’t have to be erudite and refined–that’s a matter of personal style. But one really ought to try not to say shit that isn’t meant, and walk it back when one fails to avoid it. Which he did. Good on him.

    • Well, Ted represents the qualities that I would would most value in a friend. You would get complete honesty. That he would tell you to your face what he really thinks about you, instead of being all nicey, nice to your face while tearing you up to everyone else behind your back.

      And knowing that in that moment of truth, when the Sh–t has hit the fan, that he would he running too sound of guns with you, rather than the other direction.,

      Because, to me, that Is really what we are talking about when we speak about the second amendment.

      In that moment of truth, what will you choose to do,? I see Ted as already having made that decision. That is the guage upon which I determine if a person is worthy of my “like”.

      All the other peripherals of a person’s personality is just that, peripherals. But if the core is not there of what is most important, then the refined, erudite and the “likeable” will shatter like thin glass hit by a super sonic bullet.

  11. I’ll take “Who gives a shit?” for $500, Alex. The antis already wish death and injury upon us daily because we won’t jump on the disarmament bandwagon, I doubt Nugent’s comments will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. And what is it with the SJW-grade reaction by some here? Mayor of Jew York? Gimme a break. As a greater NY/NJ area resident, I’ve heard that one and others a million times from Jews and Christians alike at parties, and nobody got upset.

    There’s a very obvious difference between cracking a tired joke and wishing death upon an entire group of people. Kind of like how there’s a difference between real racism and the “racism” Democrats love to accuse everyone else of spouting. Again, look at what the antis have wished upon us and our families simply for owning guns and then tell me Nugent’s words are a game changer. This is a non-issue.

    • Oh puh-leeeze. Are you braindead? Just cuz you’ve heard “Jew York” before, doesn’t make it ok. If you bothered read the article (http://jpfo.org/alerts/alert20010903.htm), its people like you that have allowed Jews to walk into the gas chambers. Well, guess what? We ain’t taking that crap from you or anybody else that wants to denigrate, libel, or delegitimize the Jews and Israel. Since we make up only 3% of the U.S. population, but are on the receiving end of 60% of the hate crimes, no longer will ignorant Jew-hating posts be allowed to pass without outrage. So all you Jew-haters, you are warned, and we are also armed.

      • Hah, equating harmless jokes at parties with genocide, that’s rich. I’ll take your opinion with a grain of salt, because you’re the only guy on here crying over spilled milk. Nice to know you believe in politically correct “hate crime” logic, btw. I bet you think we should repeal the 1st amendment too.

  12. While quick to distance themselves from a celebrity they’d have happily claimed as an ally the day before

    Just like Grover Norquist. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Translation: SSDD.

    Maybe we should stop eating our own.

  13. Anti-Zionism is not the same thing as Anti-Semitism.

    One is the denunciation of a country’s Political Agenda and the other is the denunciation of a Religious Group.

    People really need to read more and look up words in a dictionary.

  14. Such energy wasted in these rants.
    Nothing was changed or improved,just like snakes eating themselves.
    Has anything positive been accomplished?
    Why does mankind destroy so much?
    Why do most people tear and shred each other instead of merely asking each other for a proper answer?
    People are so quick to judge and convict others without facts.
    This seems more of a mob mentality than intellectuals conversing.
    No wonder this world is such a cesspool.I’m certain this post will get chewed up as well…..good eating.

  15. Meh. Old Ted is too clueless to not recognize the flag of Israel? IQ problem or something deeper? Dunno’. Or care. Quite a defiant rant on the original FB post…

  16. It’s the ultimate “I have [favored minority] friends” defense, and as is usually the case when that defense is invoked, the original statement was completely factually correct. Facts are racist, statistics are racist, if you’re white everything is racist, so if you’re going to bring up anything that that you know will get you called that, you better be ready to own it.

  17. I am part Indian. (Oops, I mean to say that I am part Native American.) I come from a redneck upbringing. (Darn! I meant to say country upbringing.) I believe in what our forefathers said about the Bill of Rights. (Oh, I meant to say that I believe in what our fore’persons said about the Bill of Rights.) I think we have a problem with gangs in the US. (Oops, excuse me, I should have said that I think we have a problem with misunderstood youth in the US.) I believe that in order for our humanity to survive that all lives matter. (Oh crap, now I am really in trouble.)

    I think I figured out why the US is on the verge of collapse: We cannot freaking communicate with each other without someone getting excessively offended and falling off the deep end.

    • and now, if you “offend” muslims, you can go to jail in Europe (coming here, soon).

      Those who try to FORCE their way life/beliefs on mine OFFEND ME!

  18. I want to read a story about Ted Nugent shooting Mosin Nagants while eating chicken Nuggets.

    “Nugent, Nagants and Nuggets”

  19. Thanks Mr Codrea for such a good splainer- I’ve learned to read your stuff carefully to get the backstory- yours and Mike Vanderboegh’s work breaking F&F as best example.

    Yup, the Nuge F’d up in my book, but to his credit he fessed up and did the right thing.
    I’m giving him a pass, lesson learned.

    Glad to hear the TZP effort is up and running. Can always use more voices, raised for 2A civil rights.
    Bookmarked that site for more reading later.

  20. I have been asking the same questions of one side of my family and making them very uncomfortable in the process. I have asked blacks and homosexuals the same questions. They just get angry and keep working to deny civil rights and freedom to people.
    I’m still a ted fan.

  21. Here’s the thing. In the New Testament (too many places to enumerate here), it is clearly stated that those who place their faith in Jesus are counted as spiritual Jews, and heirs to the promise of Abraham. So we are all Jews here, no point in even debating the merits or debits of any other racial groups, we are all brothers under the skin. Even Muslims come under the category of Semites as well, so we are definitely all related. But the important thing is, like MLK said, we should treat ALL men (and women, and those not quite sure) not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. If only we could all only live up to that standard, our problems would be few and far between.

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