Opinionated rocker and outdoorsman Ted Nugent took a break from sharpening arrows on Tuesday to talk about his passion for hunting, his new cable television show, "Spirit of the Wild," and his history as a punching bag for the left.
"I couldn't be more proud that they hate me like they do," Nugent told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner, calling himself a target of liberal critics who will stoop to lying in order to discredit him.
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"They literally will put quotes around words that never came out of my mouth," Nugent said on
Newsmax TV, citing the
failed Texas gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Wendy Davis as one example.
Nugent revisited last year's controversy over his support for Davis' Republican opponent, Greg Abbott, holding forth with his customary mix of earthy language and animated self-defense.
Democrats in Texas criticized then-state Attorney General Greg Abbott for inviting Nugent to campaign on his behalf. Abbott easily won the governorship in November.
A Davis-aligned group branded Nugent "an admitted sexual predator" of underage girls, based on the iconic frontman's comments in a 1998 interview for the Vh1 documentary series "Behind the Music."
A Newsmax contributor and National Rifle Association board member, Nugent said the Abbott episode was a case of liberals in politics and media employing a strategy he described as, "Pick a lie and cling to it."
"Her entire campaign was attacking and lying about me, calling me a draft dodger – I'm not – calling me a racist – I'm not – calling me a pedophile. I'm not," said Nugent.
When Berliner pointed out that some people think he's crazy, Nugent replied, "Sure, and they have a president."
He said the perception of him as overboard in his rhetoric only proves how far-fetched reality has become.
"Nowadays logic is over the edge," said Nugent. "Nowadays the truth is over the edge: Brian Williams; Barack Obama; 'You can keep your doctor, period.' Come on. The truth is outrageous nowadays in this goofy 'Planet of the Apes' America."
Nugent insisted he is "a gregarious guy" who sticks to "logic and truth and science and reality."
He also discussed "Spirit of the Wild," his new show for the Outdoor Channel.
"I was born into the spirit of the wild," said Nugent. "I was raised in a hunting, fishing, trapping, outdoor conservation-aimed, small, disciplined — dare I say 'disciplined?' — loving family, and I've always hunted. I've never missed a deer season since 1949 before I was 1 year old, I was 10 months old, in the Ogemaw State Forest in Michigan with my dad and his bow and arrow."
He emphasized the ecological and economic benefits of hunting, pointing to culling mountain lions as an example.
"We harvest surplus mountain lions every year because where we're not allowed [to do] it – California – your taxes go to pay government shooters to kill the mountain lions, and not use the hide, not use the meat, not use the skull or the claws or the sous, not pay for licenses and fees and permits and guides and outfitters and hotels and food and lodging and travel, not to utilize this precious resource.
He added that mountain lion is pretty tasty. "That's the other white meat," he said.
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