It sounds like the Republican Party has an awful lot of image reconstuction work to do. When President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address tomorrow, look for the media to note a contrast: many Democrats are inviting gun shooting victims, while a GOP Congressman will be inviting former rock star Ted Nugent, whose verbal hate was a big story during the campaign and even sparked an inquiry from the Secret Service:
Outspoken musician and gun right supporter Ted Nugent will be Rep. Steve Stockman’s guest Tuesday night at President Obama’s State of the Union address.
Nugent is well known for his defense of the Second Amendment and for his criticism of Obama’s politics. Obama is expected to make gun control a central part of this address.
While appearing at a campaign stop for then-GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney last year, Nugent declared, “If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”
The Secret Service later interviewed Nugent about his comments.
Many Democrats are bringing victims of gun shootings to the State of the Union address, and Obama has invited the parents of a teenager who was slain in Chicago just a week after performing at the president’s inauguration.
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was seriously wounded in a mass shooting at a constituent event two years ago, is also scheduled to attend.
Stockman said in a Monday news release, “I am excited to have a patriot like Ted Nugent joining me in the House Chamber to hear from President Obama.”
GOP: NOT good imagery.
It adds to the imagery of the GOP as being what Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called the you-know-what party. It makes a statement to be sure. And Republicans’ and the NRA’s foes will be pointing to Nugent as the face of opposition to gun regulation and the Republicans being in the NRA’s pocket.
The only thing that could make it worse, is if in the middle the speech Nugent yells out at Obama: “You lie!”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.