Following Ted Nugent’s controversial remarks about President Barack Obama over the weekend, the right-winged musician and activist met with Secret Service members Thursday night.
On Saturday, Nugent, who endorsed Mitt Romney for president, spoke at the National Rifel Association’s national convention in St. Louis along with Gov. Bobby Jindal, former presidential candidate Rick Santorum and presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Romney.
But Nugent’s message held a different tone than many of the other speakers.
“If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year,” Nugent said at the convention.
Robert Hogan, political science professor, said he doesn’t know whether Nugent’s comments have any real merit.
“The context in which language is used matters a great deal,” he said. “However, if you are speaking to a group, you need to be careful about what you say. Words have consequences.”
Hogan also said Nugent’s celebrity status won’t help or hurt his case.
“Simply because you are a celebrity, it doesn’t exempt you from the standards to which others are held,” he said. “If the average person would have said the same thing out loud, they probably would have also been paid a visit [by the Secret Service].”
Becki Meinhold, accounting freshman, said a meeting between Nugent and Secret Service members is necessary in case Nugent’s statements were serious.
Randyl Bouley, criminology junior, agreed but said she thinks his comments were nonsense.
“I think he’s just saying an extreme thing in a joking way, but it’s the Secret Service’s job to take every precaution to protect the president,” she said. “When threats like this are made publicly, they should be followed up on.”
While many have called for Nugent to retract his comments, Nugent defended his speech in an interview Tuesday with conservative radio host Dana Loesch.
“I spoke at the NRA and will stand by my speech,” Nugent said to Loesch, according to The Huffington Post. “It’s 100 percent positive. It’s about we, the people, taking back our American dream from the corrupt monsters in the federal government under this administration, the communist czars he has appointed.”
Some have even called for Romney to denounce Nugent’s comments, including Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
At this time, Romney has not directly responded, but Andrea Saul, a campaign spokeswoman, sent an e-mail washing the hands of the Romney campaign from Nugent’s statements, according to Atlantic Magazine.
“Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from,” Saul wrote. “Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil.”
While Meinhold said Romney should directly respond, Bouley said there is “too much apologizing” in the presidential campaign.
“Mitt didn’t hire him as a staff member,” Bouley said about Nugent. “It’s just someone who endorsed him.”
Hogan agreed that a direct statement from Romney would be unnecessary.
“Everything Romney does is given scrutiny,” he said. “If Romney were to make a statement, it would make the news, but if he doesn’t say anything, it would die off as a story eventually.”
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Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]