Ted Nugent might run for NRA president

[MikeBjerum]

Remember that the NRA President is nothing more than the official spokesman of the organization.  Sure it is more than that and I have over simplified their ability to bring in their personality and beliefs, but there is an entire board and CEO that carry out the actual mission of the organization.  However, at some point we need a spokesman that will sit with the message crafters and find a way to present the pro-gun Constitutional message in a no BS way.

Above all else everyone needs to remember that Ted is a professional performer and entertainer.  He has been successful for four decades because he can present a message to audiences in ways that each audience is open to.  Ted is never going to be brought down the the adrenaline level of Mother Teresa, but he is capable of presenting himself respectfully in a boardroom (I have seen him in interviews in professional settings and he does well).  I have seen him on talk shows and news broadcasts where he behaves better than many politicians while still standing firm and taking no bull or prisoners.

I respect Mr. Heston and Mr. Selleck very much, but I have seen people disrespect them in very ugly ways because of their stance.  So, why not give a person that is both coachable and educated on the issues take a shot of standing up for our organization.  Like I have said before, the other side is rude, crude and inflexible, so why can't we also take an inflexible stance, and I know of no better person Ted Nugent to present it.

On a positive side to all nay sayers:  The people that make policy and deal with our Rights know and understand the structure of the NRA.  Even if they do not like the messenger they know that he is just the spokesman sent to present for the entire organization.

[Michael Bane]

1776, you need to take a deep breath! We are not "ripping our guts out in front of everyone." This is nothing like the NRA battles of the 1970s (and I counted Neil Knox as a friend). I just came back from NRA HQ last week, I've been in touch with NSSF, and I would say that we are in as good a shape as we can be in. We are getting ready to fight a war, and as a culture we're pretty much on point. We are as united as I've ever seen us, and that is going to be our strength in the upcoming battle.

As m58 notes, the NRA President is essentially an "official spokesperson" position...the president doesn't set the organization's policy.
Is Ted over the top? Yes, but these are over the top times. I have seen Ted take on very prepared, very smart and very articulate antigunners — Bill Maher comes to mind — and win every single time. He has consistently put his money where his mouth is and he does not back down.

I am of the opinion that many of our media relations strategies over the years have failed miserably, and yet we have held onto far too many of them. Because we didn't want the other side to think we weren't being "nice," or that we were being "unreasonable" or that we weren't interested in a "dialog." We debated while they lied....but heaven forbid we appear unreasonable, or unwilling to compromise, or, even worse, gun nuts. Here's a flash...the other sides hates us! They hate us because of what the gun represents — our willingness to accept responsibility for our own lives — and what it tells them about themselves — that they are cowards in a world of cowards.

Raygun, you're doing everything right, and here at DRTV we'll be outlining specifics that we can all do...I've been talking about exactly that subject on the weekly podcast recently.

Faith...we've weathered dark times before, and as the current NRA Prez, John Siglar said recently, this is not our first rodeo...

Michael B

[1776 Rebel]

What else can we as gun owners do? I e-mail my elected representatives. I sign petitions. I belong to several gun and grassroots organizations. I live in a relatively pro-gun/sportsman state. I purchase hunting and fishing licenses even though I can only hunt or fish one or two days out of the year.

I punch a time clock. I am not wealthy enough to travel cross country to dinners or to financially support any of those organizations on a regular basis.

There are thousands of people just like me out there. What else can we do?

Raygun you don't have to be wealthy or have a title to be a patriot. You can do much with little. The thing which IMHO is missing is the steadfast local folks who will beat the drum all year long. What you are doing is the right thing. The effective thing. You need to be multiplied by hundreds and then thousands. That is the missing piece. When someone in your local town or city proposes anti-gun stuff you and your comrades need to mount a reply. It needs to be a strong and steady voice. You need to pack the town hall. You need to melt down the phones to your elected officials.

Movements all over the world and all thru time need leaders. Charismatic leaders that motivate vast numbers of followers. Yes there are followers and leaders. But in the end it is the large numbers that make or break movements. Without the motivated base there is no hope. The base is no less noble for what it does than the leader who gets the press. The base needs to be educated. Read the papers/web, stay in touch with what is going on in your town or state. If you belong to a club make sure your club members are motivated. Make sure they know what is going on and what needs to be done. There is no magic here. You have a computer, a mind and a mouth, use it to our advantage. Your asking a question of "what to do" shows what we as a community have failed miserably at. Organization and harnessing of willing hands.


Dare I say it? Learn from the Democrats and the Obama campaign. Its the basic blocking and tackling that needs to be done and then multiplied by millions. Over and over again. Time and time again. Hold your position. Hold the fort againist attack. Work as a team. Work together. If a gap opens up, fill it. Don't give up and don't give in. But your not a robot. Use your brain. Think about options. Think it through always.  Think about the cause and how best to serve it. Don't trust blindly in a "leader" or someone with the microphone. Recruit, Recruit, Recruit. Don't loose faith. Do what you can, but don't do things which will hurt us either.

[brosometal]

I'm not sure that I've ever met anybody whose opinions and instincts are more directly opposed to my own. And yet, in some odd way, I find Ted Nugent impossible to dislike: I think because I consider him to be a psychotic - by the classic definition that he does not perceive the world as others do

This is cited from the article that 1776 Rebel posted.  (A must read from a "limey" journalist's interview in 2006 of Mr. Nugent).

I will take this time to personally endorse Mr. Nugent for NRA president.  As the above quote says he is a hard person do dislike (apparently some folks, here, don't).  I believe he is fully capable of standing up for the 2A in whatever venue it needs to be done.  I would liken what I have read here so far to the demonetization of Sarah Palin by other GOPers after the perennial loser Mr. McCain lost the election.  Now is not the time for "nuance".  There is a street fight and if you are preparing for a fair fight it will be neither. 

[m25operator]

Well said Brosmetal, and humble pie to 1776rebel, I enjoy your rhetoric, but now is the time for boldness, Barack won on boldness and articulation, not on substance, but Ted has both.

Now, your feelings toward grass roots, and personal involvement.  Spot on, and that's what we did in 1994, and should have been doing all along, a call to action is needed, and is necessary, lets once again go into the fiery pit and work toward our goal, " no more new gun laws ",  call and write our leaders, organize our base and let the leaders know our positions, and how it will affect them next time a vote is called. Complacency is failure.

I want a winner, not an also ran.

[Sponsor]

[twyacht]

The result of RINO "moderate" McCain style conservatives gave us the result and political climate were in now. The Far-left stop at NOTHING to get their agenda. The anti-gun movement has George Soros funding, the media on their side, (the local news here in South FL. called the shooting in Liberty City the AK Ambush) last week;;,... all fuel to their fire to get bans, more regulations, etc,...

HR 1022, and HR 45, have been tried before and guess what? They KEEP TRYING!!!! RINO's and "Nice" conservatives get their a** handed to them everytime they play nice with these people. They don't rep. me, Heritage.org, has What would Reagan do?

Evidently, many "politicians", (not all), with a so called (R) by their name, haven't asked this question either.

I say what would Col. Jeff Cooper do?
"Remember that Jefferson told us that the Second Amendment would not be needed until they tried to abolish it. There are people who have that in mind right now. The personal ownership and usage of firearms is not a common aspect of today's culture worldwide. It is up to Americans - those who know what it means to be an American - to uphold the light of liberty in the face of those both here and elsewhere who would extinguish it. We see the hysterics who feel that the abolition of firearms would bring about major changes in the human psyche, and that crime would disappear. We cannot reason with these people because they are impervious to reason, but we can expose them to ridicule and frustrate their political clout. That is a job not just for the National Rifle Association, but for everyone. If you want to make a resolution for the coming century, resolve to do something in defense of liberty every day, and by liberty, of course, we mean true liberty - the right to keep and bear arms. Without that liberty all other liberties are meaningless."
Col. Jeff Cooper

The time for playing nice-nice with the anti gun crowd asking for provisions/crumbs on a gun bill to make us feel[/i better is OVER.  If it takes someone like Ted N, so be it. Has nothing to do with young girls, or what happened 40 years ago.

If he can motivate more gun owners to become more vocal, united, and frankly, pissed off, as C. Heston did, the LIBS back down, just like 94.

[Pathfinder]

I am reminded by this discussion, and others have mentioned this in other threads before, that during the Revolutionary War, no more than 1/3 of the population of this country actively supported the Revolution, another third was pro-king, and the rest didn't care or didn't want to get involved. It is time to find out who our real friends are.

We are in a comparable time. As MB has noted more than once, we are at war, with nothing less than the Constitution and a way of American life at stake. If we lose, then the constitutional republic that has made us the most advanced, powerful country in the world will cease to exist, to be replaced by some tyrannical form of alternative government. We are already heading there, perhaps it is more accurate to think of this as the first battle of the end-game. If we lose, we lose everything.

We need the steadfast Washingtons, but we also need the pre-traitor Arnolds who disobeyed orders and all but single handedly won the Battle of Saratoga, or the Francis Marions or the John Paul Jones, the in-your-face combatants as well. Nugent falls into this latter category, as did Heston with his blatant "from my cold dead hands" speech.

This is no time to be weak (or perceived as weak), polite, genteel or deferential. That will only let us pat ourselves on the back that at least we didn't offend anyone - as they confiscate our weapons.

[ericire12]

WOW! This has become a hot thread......

So, here is my opinion (since you asked).

I think that there have been good points raised on both sides of this debate. Yes, Ted is brash and over the top. He is definitely a wild man and has a larger then life persona...... it is because of this that he might not be the best choice for NRA President. He would really have to be buttoned down and check his persona at the door, and I just dont know if he could or should do that.

Like was stated earlier, NRA president is just a figurehead role and essentially a poster boy for the organization. Ted may not be 100% right for that job....... or rather there may be others who are better for the role. Others like Tom Seleck, Rob Lathem, Jerry Miculek, Jim Scoutten, our own Michael Bane (I'm not kissing ass here), Julie Goloski (Gasp! A woman), Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Bill Jordan, Cindy Garrison (Gasp! Another woman), Charlie Daniels or maybe a retired athlete

I do however LOVE the idea of Ted having a highly involved position within the NRA (or hell, even in govt). Ted is a brilliant man, and his views of where we are as a nation and where we need to be going are 100% on target. Like Bane said earlier, he is also a great debater and can successfully go toe-to-toe with any brilliant mind that the other side could throw at him. He is a man who should have an important role in what the NRA is setting their sights on and how they are going to achieve their goals. He is too valuable of an asset for our side to write him off like many in this thread have done. You may view him as someone who could be divisive, but you cant ignore the fact that he can rally the base. I think to be successful in this climate, that is definitely something that we need to do. The NRA is what it is because of membership numbers and money it can generate - the more we have of both the better.

I like the possibilities of him being NRA President, but I am not completely sold on it. Now Ted Nugent as President of the United States, THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!

[ericire12]

Additional thread for this subject:

http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?topic=4986.msg59247#msg59247

I am interested in seeing who else us gun folk think would be a viable poster child for the NRA...... I will put together a poll for us in a few days with 10 or so candidates to vote on.

[tombogan03884]

, Julie Goloski (Gasp! A woman)
Cindy Garrison (Gasp! Another woman),

The NRA has ALREADY had a woman President, Sandy Froman.
At this point in the gun rights debate we do not need some one who will attempt to counter the misstatements and out right lies of those who would undermine our Republic. What is needed is someone who will convince the forces of internationalist socialism that if they do not restore our rights, and abide by the Constitution we will drag them into the streets and hang them, ala Mussolini. In short we don't need someone who will "negotiare with them, we need someone who will scare the hell out of them.
If socialists want to live in a gun free nanny state that's fine, I understand Cuba is lovely this time of year.
If we fail to defeat this threat America will join Greece and Rome as just another failed attempt at popular rule. We will land on the scrap heap of failed nations like Somalia.