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Glenn Beck
Honest Questions with Ted Nugent
Aired September 05, 2008 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): He`s rocked stages across the country and around the world for over four decades.
TED NUGENT, MUSICIAN: Yes!
BECK: Ted Nugent, a.k.a. the Motor City Madman. His passion and opinions on everything from gun rights to drug control are both heard and respected. Good thing he`s not afraid to share them.
NUGENT: Am I out of my mind?
BECK: Tonight an hour of unfiltered, politically-incorrect, shoot- from-the-hip straight talk from the Nuge. Ted Nugent for a full hour of honest questions.
NUGENT (singing): Cat scratch fever!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NUGENT: I should have swung in on a rope.
BECK: This guy -- this guy scares the living bat crap out of me, but at the same time I love him. Ted Nugent.
NUGENT: Well, if you`re not having fun with me, you`re weird. I mean, I am all about fun, doggone it.
BECK: How many people do you encounter day to day that people just go, "Oh, he scares me"?
NUGENT: No, I tell you, Glenn, the positive energy. I mean, I stopped at Starbucks right down here in Manhattan. I can`t even buy a mocha. Everybody wants to buy me a mocha. I can`t go to a restaurant. Everybody wants to buy me dinner, no matter where I am: San Francisco, Detroit, Atlanta. No matter where I am. I represent, on shows like this, logic, and I`m having fun with it. If you`re not having fun with logic, you`re in the wrong country.
BECK: Yes. I have to tell you, before we get into all this stuff, you`re the first person that has every come on the set, and I just asked Mike, one of our cameramen, if this were true. First person to ever come on the set and greet every single person on the set.
NUGENT: These are my blood brothers. I love guys with jobs.
BECK: You don`t have a job.
NUGENT: No, I do. I have a litany. Yes, I mean, I have a lot of friends.
BECK: Do ever consider having a job?
NUGENT: I`ve had many jobs. Yes, I`ve sold night crawlers. I had two paper routes. My dad said, "Yes, you can buy the guitar. Get some jobs."
I have run a guide and outfitting business all September through March. I guide hunters around the world.
BECK: Right.
NUGENT: I manage land. I consult landowners for optimum biodiversity...
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: ... and healthy wildlife conditions. So I`ve got lots of jobs. They`re my fun jobs. They`re my passions. I love everything I do. I just crave it, which is why people think I`m crazy.
BECK: Yes. Have you -- have you -- gosh, I was kidding. Hang on. I promise you we`re going to get to something relatable here. But I have to just ask you this: have you ever met anybody who doesn`t have passion?
NUGENT: All over the place.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: All over the place.
BECK: Have you ever figured out how they survive?
NUGENT: I had this conversation with my road manager, Ted Epperelson (ph), on the way here. And I`m not going to name names, but I see some of the performers on stage. Don`t you have to believe in the music to pursue it?
BECK: Yes. Yes.
NUGENT: Don`t you have to love welding to get that weld perfect? I mean I just did a show with Anthony Bordain. He`s got this cooking, travel, fun show. And he loves to cook, and he loves to travel. He loves the dialogue. Everybody I work with loves what they do. That`s where excellence comes from.
BECK: Right.
NUGENT: And the passion comes from excellence, and it`s a snowball.
BECK: Do you think you can teach passion?
NUGENT: Absolutely. Absolutely. But it starts as a parent. You teach your children to pursue the things they love and put their best foot forward. Excellence, being the best that you can be, is all about finding the things that really draws that spirit and that energy. I mean, it`s really so simple it`s stupid.
That is, too. But when I caught night crawlers and sold night crawlers and painted fences and shoveled snow and washed cars and delivered newspapers, I wasn`t necessarily passionate about it, but I -- my dad forced me. It`s called love.
BECK: Right.
NUGENT: It`s called discipline. When I worked at the gas station, don`t just kind of fill the time. "Hello, what can I get for you? Can I check your oil?" Wash the windows. They didn`t ask me to wash the windows. I washed the windows.
BECK: It doesn`t happen anymore.
NUGENT: Yes, it does.
BECK: Wait, wait, wait, wait. When is the last time -- when is the last time that you went to a fast food restaurant...
NUGENT: It`s horrible.
BECK: And you didn`t, just before pulling out, look at that bag and going...
NUGENT: Glenn, my life is an orgy of scolding. I scold people. I literally go up to strangers and I go, "Stand up straight. Posture, man!"
And my wife is so angry at me right now. She goes, "Oh, yes, I`d like to go out to dinner, but you`re going to scold people."
I want excellence. I want the best. And it`s alive and well, but you`re right, it has been compromised.
BECK: Yes, well, it`s been compromised by a society that says that you have to have guarantees in life...
NUGENT: Yes.
BECK: ... that you don`t -- that there is no failure.
NUGENT: How about the kid who pitches too good?
BECK: Could you believe that?
NUGENT: How about my son Rocco who out-swam everybody at 7? He`s 7. The other boys and girls are 7. It`s a contest to see who swims the fastest. He swam the fastest, and he didn`t get first place because, "Your son swam too fast."
BECK: You`re kidding.
NUGENT: Swear to God. My wife went, "Ted, I`ll handle this."
I went, "Oh, no, you won`t."
How about when I moved to Crawford, Texas?
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: God help us all. I moved to Crawford, Texas. I thought there might be some conservatives nearby.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: I won`t mention the school. I probably shouldn`t have mentioned Crawford. I`m in school, a big giant billboard. "No one short, no one tall, no one big, no one`s small. We`re all the same."
BECK: That sounds like a song you could write.
NUGENT: I said, "Really? Tell Kobe Bryant that. Tell the gold medalists that they`re pretty much the same as the people who didn`t qualify."
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: Who are you -- my heart went, "Ah!" My heart`s going to blow up.
So I`m on a crusade. My new book -- my first book, "God, Guns and Rock `N` Roll." Am I a Motor City Madman? Did I write "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" because I liked it? You bet you. I`m having fun with my music. You don`t like it, you`ve got country and western to rely on.
Anyhow, my point is that I live to live. I want to sponge up this incredible gift of life and maximize my productivity for myself, my neighbors and my family and this great nation and, quite honestly, my buddies in Africa. It`s so...
BECK: I live to live. What a great quote. That may be a motto of mine. That`s great.
NUGENT: Welcome to -- reporting for duty.
BECK: That is fantastic. I live to live.
NUGENT: That`s why clean and sober for 16 years. I admit I was lucky, but my dad disciplined me. If I`d -- if I`d been caught smoking, of -- he`d have played U.S. Army drill sergeant on my head. By the way, I think he did.
BECK: But he was an alcoholic, right?
NUGENT: Well, I don`t know if that would qualify as alcoholic. My brother Jeff could probably tell you better. But they drank, and they drank a lot.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: But they never got loopy. I never saw my parents loopy.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: They were always in charge, and they were always loving and caring.
BECK: That`s the way I was, though, as an alcoholic.
NUGENT: Yes?
BECK: I mean, when I was drinking, I was -- nobody knew. Nobody knew. I was whacked out of my mind.
NUGENT: You got to have it.
BECK: What?
NUGENT: You`ve got to have it. That`s alcoholism?
BECK: Yes. Just -- yes. But you just -- I couldn`t slow down enough. I couldn`t stop my thinking enough. And it wasn`t that it wasn`t -- you know, now my thinking is at 800 miles an hour, but it`s not...
NUGENT: I noticed that about you.
BECK: It`s not negative thought.
NUGENT: It`s effective and logical.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: Which is all the difference.
BECK: It was all negative thoughts before.
NUGENT: Well, you know, I suspect that the "do as I say, don`t -- not as I do" mantra struck a cord with me, because my mom and dad smoked and drank, and they died young.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: And that`s -- that`s a heart breaker. I built a home with a room for my dad, and he couldn`t come because he was [MIMES DRINKING] and then he died.
But I was already committed to clean and sober, because I saw all the hippies, you know [MIMES SMOKING] dropping like flies, man. And I`m going, see, they`re doing because of this, this, and this. I think I`ll avoid this, this, and this. I mean, how simple is that?
Let`s see: 29 people dove in that puddle; 29 people broke their neck. I ain`t diving in the puddle. I`m not that smart, but I can figure out shallow puddles.
BECK: How -- how bizarre was that for you in your business?
NUGENT: It was bizarre. I scared hippies. I think I...
BECK: Got to shake your hand. Here`s another quote for you, quote of the day: "I scared hippies" and "I live to live." I love this guy.
NUGENT: It was -- it was not bizarre, because I`m not a rock star. I didn`t care about rock star. I didn`t even know what a rock star was. I`m a guitar player. I wanted to get that Bo Diddly and Chuck Barry thing.
I just did my 6,000th concert.
BECK: Unbelievable.
NUGENT: Fifty years later, from 1958 with Joe Podorsi (ph), my guitar teacher from the Catholic School of Music on Grand River, Detroit. And he got on stage with me, 50 years later. I`m going to cry. And we played "Honky Tonk," and we played it -- I played it much better this time.
That was my inspiration. I loved the emotion, the primal scream of those black artists. It touched us. Remember the first time you saw James Brown on "Ed Sullivan"? I`ve got to do that. I don`t think I can dance like that, but I`m going to die trying.
And you can`t do that unless you`re optimizing your energy, your level of awareness, your conscientiousness, your work ethic. Hello, so what else is new?
And now I`ve got a brand-new book that celebrates this. "Ted, White and Blue" with the Nugent Manifesto is about how the Motor City Madman can have a glorious, perfect life by adhering to logic and a work ethic and caring more about this guy than me.
BECK: All right. We`re going to go -- we`re going to go into Ted logic here in just a second. Oh, yes, a lot of people want are going, "Ow," because you haven`t exercised that muscle for a while. We`ll continue in just a second with Ted Nugent coming up.
GRAPHIC: How many concerts has The Nuge performed? A, 3,000; B, 4,500; C, 6,000; D, 7,000.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRAPHIC: How many concerts has The Nuge performed? A, 3,000; B, 4,500; C, 6,000; D, 7,000.
C, 6,000.
BECK: He`s going to be 60 -- wow -- in, what, December? Is it December?
NUGENT: December.
BECK: You -- I have to tell you. I mean, I`m not hitting on you or anything. I don`t swing that way. But you -- you look young.
NUGENT: Well, I`d look younger if I had some sleep. But we just did, I think, 70 concerts in 78 days, so I`m just a puddle of my former self. But venison, the hunting lifestyle, clean and sober. I`m telling you, the healthiest food in the world makes the healthiest body in the world.
BECK: I love this. I love this. You`re in New York. You`re like, "I`m just going to go shoot some deer."
NUGENT: But New York has so many deer. You guys are using tax dollars to shoot your deer for you.
BECK: No!
NUGENT: Absolutely.
BECK: No. Come on! No. Jeez.
NUGENT: You were probably solely responsible.
BECK: So let me try out some of the common sense, because that is common sense, you know? I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I remember my grandfather telling me that these environmentalists that won`t let clear- cutting -- or won`t let clearing out the underbrush are going to burn down all of Yellowstone. I remember my uncle and my grandfather sitting around the table, saying, "What, are these people crazy that want to take the wolves out of the wildlife to protect the other animals?" There`s no common sense anymore.
NUGENT: Well, there is, but it`s being pounded and attacked...
BECK: Come on.
NUGENT: ... from the bureaucrats from hell.
BECK: Do you know the -- do you know now the -- have you heard about the wind turbine problem?
NUGENT: Which one? There`s a whole bunch of them.
BECK: OK. A -- yes, A, you can`t put any of the power lines, the transmission lines across any park, so now we can`t get the power from the middle of the country.
NUGENT: So let me guess. Let me see if I get this right, if I can interpret.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: So we, the people, who own the park, because national and state parks belong to we, the people.
BECK: Well, some places...
NUGENT: And we, the people, are looking for energy, but we, the people, have some punk interfering with the production of our clean, environmentally-friendly energy over our ground to our family.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: I`m going to find this punk, and I want to beat him up.
BECK: Now let me tell you -- let me tell you this. Here`s the problem.
NUGENT: Can I borrow a pitchfork?
BECK: Yes, you may, sir. Here`s the -- here`s the thing that -- the new thing is it`s not just the parks now. It`s the bats are dying, because the -- because the wind turbines change the air pressure, and it collapses the lung of a bat. And so now you can`t use wind turbines, because bats are in danger.
NUGENT: Glenn, you want to write this down? From Ted Nugent.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: No, it`s not. It`s not true. Just like the spotted owl need "X" habitat to produce in. Lie. That`s a dirty lie. And if a few bats blow up, have at it. I`ve got some garlic and butter if you`re interested. The bottom line is, that that`s driving me batty, if I may.
BECK: Yes. It`s crazy. It is absolutely crazy.
NUGENT: What you`re talking about is Fedzilla. You`re talking about the boated, gluttonous, slovenly, irresponsible, excuse-mongering Fedzilla.
BECK: OK.
NUGENT: It`s out of control and spitting in the face of people in rush hour. You know who people in rush hour are? People who have an alarm clock, people who are productive, people that bust their ass to be the best that they can be. And they`re getting up early and they`re groggy, but they`ll get in that car and they`ll go into rush hour, because they`re going to work.
Fedzilla doesn`t like those people. Barack Obama doesn`t like those people, because we want you to be the best that you can be, but if you get too good, we`ll take your profits. So we`ve got to -- I`m waiting for Barack to tell me where the ceiling is about excellence. Where does my excellence stop before you start taking my profits?
BECK: Everyone -- everyone knows. Everyone. They just came out with a deal this week that Medicare, it has 31 percent fraud. Thirty-one percent.
NUGENT: Wow.
BECK: I can`t tell you one thing that the United States, the citizens think the government does better than the private sector. Not one damn thing.
NUGENT: It doesn`t exist.
BECK: It doesn`t exist. Everybody knows.
NUGENT: Thirty-one percent fraud in my guitar tour, I`d go to jail.
BECK: Yes. You`d go to jail. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows that there`s a problem with -- our budgets are too blown out. Everybody...
NUGENT: In my book, that I talk all about living within your means. I mean, but...
BECK: But nobody wants to.
NUGENT: I think you`re right. The credit card debt. I mean, I`ve got to tell you, I`m a -- I`m a frugal guy. I work really hard and I make a good living, and I always have. But I teach my children, you don`t buy that. You don`t get bling-bling until you take care of basics.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: You don`t get stuff until -- you don`t buy food and then let it go bad and throw it away. You don`t let the water run. I mean, I`m an old-guard guy. You leave the room, you turn the lights off. When you leave the house, you turn the water heater off and you turn the temperature down.
And during the springtime, you plant trees so this winter we can cut wood. I literally have a forest. I`m the only real environmentalist that will ever sit at this table with you. These ten digits of rhythm and blues doom have planted over 100,000 trees. I was a conservationist...
BECK: Why do you hate trees so much you cut them down to burn them?
NUGENT: Because I love heat in December. And guess what? I produced it. So what is my carbon footprint? I`m so into the positive you can`t even measure it. Because I balance the deer herd. I minimize the agra- orgy out there. You know, that`s why I wrote this book. If I can be an asset to you, I`m an asset to you. I`ve never taken -- I`m giving.
I`m an asset to my neighbors. I`m always there for them. I`m an asset to America. The tax bill, if that ain`t an asset, I don`t know what is. I`m an asset to the environment. I plant trees every spring. I manage wildlife habitat, and I reduce the deer herd.
Do you know that botanists from the university come to my fen? I own a fen.
BECK: I don`t even know what a fen is.
NUGENT: A fen is like a swamp, but it`s cuter. And a fen has endangered flora and fauna. But my fen doesn`t, because I kill a number of -- adequate number of deer every year and fowl and different wild game, so that the fen, the Christmas tree fern can produce Mitchell-Satcher butterflies.
BECK: All right. Hang on just a second. But you`ve got -- you say - - you say you`re the savior, but I know you feed the homeless.
NUGENT: Yes.
BECK: But you feed them deer.
NUGENT: Perfect.
BECK: There has to be -- there has to be people that have come to your -- come to your doorstep and said, "That`s an outrage. How dare you slaughter deer?"
NUGENT: They come to my doorstep. They write about it on the Internet, but they never confront me. They did confront me. One guy confronted me in San Francisco a few years ago. I arrested him. I took him into custody.
BECK: Citizen`s arrest?
NUGENT: Well, not really. I`m a sheriff`s deputy. So...
BECK: So wait a minute. How did you -- what did you arrest him for?
NUGENT: I arrested him. He told me that next hunting season, he would be there to kill my family and I, and you can see how that feels like. Thump. He wasn`t even touching the ground. I introduced him to Mr. Wall.
BECK: Hang on just a second.
(to camera) If that was you, you`re dumb as a box of rocks. What are you doing? Do it to me, not to him. What?
NUGENT: All my cynics (ph) are stoned or deranged. It was just beautiful. And they look like Michael Moore, or smell like him.
So I got things under control. That`s why people call me an extremist. I`m autonomous. I understand that I declare my independence every day.
BECK: They don`t like that.
NUGENT: They don`t like that. And you know what? The more they don`t like it, the more I do it, because what I do is the right thing.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: And anybody has a problem with that, will be hurting tonight.
BECK: OK. Coming up, more with Ted Nugent and a look at his new book, "Ted, White and Blue." Coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: This is quite possibly my favorite hour of television I`ve ever done. Ted Nugent is with us.
Let`s talk a little bit about politics. You been watching the politicians?
NUGENT: I do. I can put up with almost anything. That`s proof of it.
BECK: Oh, my gosh.
NUGENT: It`s bizarro. It is such deceit. You look at a person`s track record, and then you hear their fantasy dream speech.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: And you go, wait, that doesn`t -- which one are you?
BECK: Right.
NUGENT: Which one are you? And are people that dumb? And the horrible answer is yes.
BECK: Do you really think so? Do you think so, or do you think they`ve just given up?
NUGENT: Well, too many are.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: Too many are that dumb. I hope it`s not too many.
BECK: You know...
NUGENT: Of course, the number is too many, no matter how you gauge it. But I hope it`s not too many to vote for the wrong guy.
BECK: Yes. I have to tell you. Is there a right guy?
NUGENT: Well, there`s -- considering that this boat is full of holes and this one, I can at least stick my thumb in and make it across the bay. I think John McCain has shown new greatness lately, far exceeding his track record.
BECK: They just put -- they just put a new platform in the Republican Party platform. There`s a new plank.
NUGENT: I don`t know if I want to hear this, Glenn.
BECK: You don`t. You don`t. Global warming has to be fought. I mean, how do you pull the lever for somebody who is going to go for cap and trade? The person that was for cap and trade, the company that was -- they were -- they were salivating at cap and trade was Enron.
NUGENT: Was this the same global warming that canceled my Colorado concert last week because of the snowstorm?
BECK: Yes. Yes. The very one. The one that`s building up ice on the South Pole but melting it on the North Pole.
NUGENT: The same one that is forbidding the hunting of polar bears, but the Inuits were issued 25 percent more polar bear permits this year?
BECK: Yes. Same one. Same one.
NUGENT: Same one.
BECK: So how do you vote for this party? This Republican Party has lost its way so much. I am usually a guy that can compromise. I can`t -- I think we`ve compromised ourselves into oblivion.
NUGENT: But it is a good metaphor. That -- the Barack boat is going to sink. He is about the most outrageous, gluttonous Fedzilla fantasy. What Barack Obama stands for -- and God bless him and God bless his family. He`s an American, and he is trying. But he is so the wrong guy.
He wants to continue feeding Fedzilla, in proven guaranteed gluttonous behavior that is like a family that is already $100,000 of credit-card debt and they`re still going out to dinner. And they weigh 400 pounds each. And they smoke and they drink, but they want health care. "I need some health care. Somebody get me something."
Shouldn`t you care about your health before you squawk about health care?
BECK: This is who I want to get the news from every night. You should have a news show. All right.
NUGENT: So I am heartbroken like you, but at this point in time, I`m ready to admit on your show that I was not a McCain supporter even three months ago, and I`m not satisfied.
BECK: OK.
NUGENT: I thought Huckabee was a greater man.
BECK: Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
NUGENT: Greater than McCain and Obama...
BECK: No, no. Please, hang on. More in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC: "Cat Scratch Fever")
GLENN BECK, HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Back with legendary musician and conservative, value activist, Ted Nugent. Ted, personally, you just have to say hi to my brother-in-law, Rich.
TED NUGENT, SINGER: Rich?
BECK: Yes, just say hi.
NUGENT: Rich, God bless you Rich. I love you.
BECK: That`s for you.
NUGENT: Live it up.
BECK: He`ll be on his phone, he`ll be on his computer, and everything else. I suddenly am popular in the family because I know you.
NUGENT: You feel the love, don`t you?
BECK: Yes, I do.
Okay. We were talking about Obama and McCain. I want to go down a couple of roads. First of all, with a Congress, we`ve only had Congress with no filibusters two times in our history. First one, we got the new deal, the second one, we got the great society after Kennedy`s assassination.
NUGENT: Oh, my goodness.
BECK: I know. Can you even imagine what`s coming our way this time? It will -- do you believe that it is the death knell of America as we know it with an extremist progressive in the Oval Office and a progressive Congress without any stoppage on filibustering?
NUGENT: All indications are, every word out of the Democrats mouths and way too many words out of Republican mouths is indeed the death knell of America as we know it. It is about punishing excellence and rewarding blood-sucking.
I have a chapter in my book that is the answer and I work with the Governor Thompson and Governor Engler on welfare reform, critically needed at welfare reform. My idea of welfare reform is, it`s over. If you`re hungry, the church has got $8 trillion in golden jewelry. They can make you a sandwich.
No more welfare. Welfare is slavery. I only have welfare for one segment of society and one segment only. The heroes of the military who sacrificed and no need a good wheelchair, that`s who I would help out which isn`t welfare, it`s paying off a due debt to heroes.
Welfare is slavery. And I have to tell, I saw 37.8 million Americans living under poverty.
BECK: Really.
NUGENT: They`re smoking. They`re drinking. They got the bling-bling. They got the cell phones. The children got the iPods. They get their hair done. I don`t get my hair done.
BECK: And it shows.
NUGENT: My hair`s done.
But you see what I mean? They think that making ends meet includes movies and pets and collectible dishes on the wall. It`s not universal, but it`s so corrupt, it`s so over the top. It is what the Democrats and too many of the Republicans represent. Is an orgy of unaccountability.
BECK: Ok, with that being said because I agree with you. I believe that John McCain and whoever he picks as his running mate is going to be the candidate and the party that my grandfather and my grandmother would have voted for and they were Democrats. They would have campaigned hard for John McCain hard, and said that`s the guy.
This is the old Democratic Party. So what we have Marxists, Socialists, absolute Communism without the guns, yet and then, you have the Democratic Party. There is no real option for a Conservative that believes, stand up. Take it yourself. Logic doesn`t play a role.
NUGENT: Accountability -- cause and effect.
BECK: Why would you continue to play the same card and play the lesser of two evils when it is still evil? It is still going in that direction, just slower.
NUGENT: I`m just a guitar player, but I take my duties as a we, the people participant in this experience of self-government to heart. I believe that`s my responsibility as an American is to be involved.
I communicate with elected officials in every state I go to because I`m going to rock and roll there; I`m going to go hunting there. And I want to know where the regulations and the laws are logical and sensible and productive.
I believe that in the last few months, beyond McCain-Feingold, the horrible plan that he had.
BECK: Global warming.
NUGENT: Even still, some of that clings on. I believe that I have seen indicators that John McCain understands he is here to serve we the people. I believe that he shows signals of substance, that he does respect the Constitution and Bill of rights. Not perfect and that`s what you`re talking about. We need to find someone perfect.
BECK: No, I`m not. I just need somebody who will not throw Karl Marx down on the rug and French kiss him for four hours. That`s what I need. I need somebody who says "Oh, kissing Karl Marks -- bad idea."
NUGENT: He is doing that, isn`t he?
BECK: He is. They all are.
NUGENT: But I believe that he is open to communication, where I don`t believe Obama is open to communication whatsoever. He`s locked in. I believe we have to have some kind of dialogue with our elected officials.
I`m going to tell you right now, Glenn. It isn`t even McCain and it isn`t Obama, the real curse in America is the abject apathy of a we, the people who don`t even know they are the people. They have no connection as long as they have a six pack and a ball game to watch, they could give a rat`s ass what`s going on out there. As long as I can live with the pay check, They haven`t taken it all yet.
It`s unbelievable what I see now. Not in my family, not in my crew, not in my band, not in my buddies, but outside, still people are still looking for an excuse. I can tell you so many examples of that.
BECK: Tell me this. I go to Texas and I have said this, I`ve said this now for the last couple of years. Two years ago I went down to Texas. I lived in Texas for a while; it`s great.
NUGENT: I love Texas.
BECK: It`s a republic. They understand a republic. I went down there two years ago and for the first time I had people, suits, normal people; people that you would scare.
They walk up to me and they said, Glenn, it`s time to get our guns back and take our country back. That was two years ago. I believe Texas has had it up to here.
You tell me how much longer the people that do get it, the people who are paying attention, how much longer are they going to be taking, and they`re face pushed down in the dirt and said, hey, racist, hate mongering, want to starve children to death. How much longer are they going to take that?
NUGENT: I`m not giving you a date.
BECK: But there is a date?
NUGENT: Texans are easy going. They are ruggedly individual. They understand the Constitution, why our founding fathers wrote self-evident truths in case anybody had any tyrant aspirations.
BECK: Right.
NUGENT: It`s not just Texas. My buddies in Michigan, my buddies in Utah, my buddies in Florida, my buddies in New York. I play every state. I`m doing the New York state fair, and back stage I got law enforcement and teachers and ranchers and farmers and entrepreneurs and dry clean operators; everybody is, number one, they`re not angry yet. They`re really hurt. But anger is ready; it`s on the precipice from hurt and let down and offended by bureaucrat pigs. And the hurt is ready to bubble over and the anger.
BECK: Here`s what I said. I said, I had this conversation with my producer on the radio show. Before September 11, this was about 2000. I said you cannot give this kind of power to the government. You can`t do it.
And he responded and listeners called and said, things will never go bad in America. And I said, you do two things; you introduce fear which we now have, total fear, and then introduce hunger and people will follow either Jesus or Hitler. Anyone who will look him in the eye and say, I can solve this problem. They will follow that person.
NUGENT: Identify the offenders and identify the victims of the offenders and I would love to see a gung ho, full on voting revolution.
BECK: Yes.
NUGENT: But we`re not going to vote for Bob Barr. And Bob Barr is a dear friend and I love him dearly.
BECK: So who is it?
NUGENT: The answer, here`s how I see it. The answer is to vote for John McCain and stay on his ass and stay on your Senators` asses, stay in you Congressman`s ass and start scolding people and going, what do you do with my tax dollars? What do you mean 31 percent fraud? Who`s going to jail? I want somebody going to jail?
Glenn has got some pitchforks, let`s get him.
I want citizens to sit down, like I do, I sit down, I`m a polite guy. I see my tax bill and I`d like to know if you could tell me where some of that went. If you can`t right now, how about I call you back on Thursday? Thursday at two? Ok. And I do.
I`ve raised enough hell in my own home state of Michigan, who I love dearly, and we have some great people still hanging on there, trying to upgrade. But now I work closely with Governor Perry and the elected officials in Texas and there`s incremental upgrade taking at least being threatened by new we, the people activists. The answer is activism.
BECK: Ok, hang on just a second. Let me -- I want to go there next. I want to go to your Rick here. You know I want to go to your home state of Michigan, and Detroit.
We`ll do that in a second
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: Back with Ted Nugent. We were talking just a second ago about two places and two styles of government. First of all --
NUGENT: Extreme differences.
BECK: Let`s start with Rick Perry, Governor of Texas.
NUGENT: Great man.
BECK: Texas is great but you know what? But where is he on the border, the biggest thing that is --
NUGENT: I know. I`ve almost come to fisticuffs over that one. The Texas border, there`s a military term, it`s a cluster. It`s a wreck. In my book, "Ted, White, Blue" I elaborate.
I don`t have a border problem. There`s no invaders on my property. The message is clear. Invade my property, I`ll kill you. You invade my home, I`ll kill you. Nobody invades my home and nobody`s getting killed. That`s pretty much the style of the message in Texas, but we have not done it as a nation.
I believe that Rick did increase the border security. He called the National Guard. He`s got more and more Texas ranges. He`s got more and more law enforcement down there.
But the two agents, Ramos and Compean, they`re still in jail is an indictment to the flagrant, not injustice, anti-justice and I got to tell you, I wish that Rick Perry and all the governors along the border would come up and go, wait a second.
We like drug runners getting shot. We like drug runners scared. We don`t like drug runners rewarded and used as state witness. This is planet of the apes personified. It is upside down.
BECK: I head a theory. The only thing that makes sense is either we`re in bed for some MexAmeriCanada or, try this one, that Bush has made a deal with Mexico and says we`ve got problems.
We`ve got problems down in your country and South America with real terrorists. We`ll turn a blind eye. You let one guy across the border. We need you to go kill some people down there because we can`t do it. You go take care of some messes for us and we`ll turn a blind eye. You think there`s a chance that`s true?
NUGENT: Yes. Clear and present danger; there`s a lot of manipulation going on down there. But just that our masters, our trained commanders of law and order, all the different divisions of law enforcement, their hands are tied. It`s a horrible message.
BECK: Everybody says they support our troops, but those guys are just as much troops than anybody else.
NUGENT: And they`re ready. They`re ready, willing and able.
BECK: I can`t even imagine what their morale is.
Okay, now, let me take you to Detroit.
NUGENT: God bless Detroit.
BECK: Where they just sold a house for a dollar. A dollar.
NUGENT: Well, here it is. I give you the mayor of Detroit and the corresponding tragedy of one out of four children graduation. We have a gangster mayor, just the lowest form of life, who celebrates all the wrong things about society.
And in the shadow of that mindset and modus operandi, one out of four kids graduate. I want to cry right here on your TV show.
What a great city growing up in Detroit. The Motown Funk Brothers to this day, their work ethic, their spirit, their goodwill and decency as gentlemen that inspired me as a guitar player in the 50s. They`re with me every night on stage.
Then I go back to Detroit and the same buildings that were boarded up in 1967 are still boarded up.
BECK: It`s amazing.
NUGENT: It`s a beautiful river. The number one fishery on the planet. You`ve got the people catching these wonderful fish. It`s cleaned up and wonderful. Then you have this big scab, this self-inflicted scab that people choose to keep that way. It`s a choice. Those are choices.
BECK: This is where I come back to Americans will only take it so long because, we are splitting. I think humanity is splitting. You`re splitting to, you know, I believe in me, I believe in you. I believe in anybody who wants to get in there.
There`s a majority of us who are willing to do, we try to do the right thing. We try to be there and then everybody else, who`s just like give it to me for free.
NUGENT: Not everybody; the good, bad and the ugly.
BECK: I`m saying the other side.
NUGENT: And it`s a growing other side; that`s the tragedy. It`s increasing. The entitlement mentality is that I can get the welfare.
BECK: I can`t do it anymore. I can`t fight against it anymore because no matter where I go --
NUGENT: I`m still fighting. I fight it every day. It`s 2008. I`m with you. All your observations are accurate and demand action. And I`m demanding action of myself.
And thank God for you, but there`s a lot of us. You go to my Website, have a talk back at tednugent.com. You should see these people, you can hear sleeves getting rolled up and shaking hands turning into fists. They`re really getting fed up, but they`re channeling it properly finally in activism.
It`s 2008. We have a lot of problems. There is good, bad and ugly. I fight to optimize the good and Glenn, I got to tell you. I`m having the best tour of my life.
My band is so good, Mick Brown and Greg Smith. My crew, my management, everybody involved with me. This is the best tour of my life. And it`s going to be the best hunting season of my life.
All my hunters, I still hunt every year. They`re all sold out. We have more deer than I can shake a machine gun at. We have lots of game, wildlife is thriving, but I optimize the good while fighting to reduce if not eliminate the bad and the ugly.
Unfortunately there`s a metastizing of that entitlement mentality. And here it is. I hate to say this, but it`s so true. I and all my friends, everybody I know, every walk of life, they don`t want the country to do squat for them. They want to get up and do everything they can for their country.
Yet I`m watching the Democrat convention and I`m going, what happened to what can I do for my country? These people are going, I`m not doing it for my country and here`s a list of stuff you got to do for me.
I want -- you pay for my kids education. I`m not going to make my kid get a job because you are. I want you to take care of my health even though I smoke and drink and weigh 350 pounds.
BECK: This is not going to stop.
Back with "Rapid Fire" in just a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECK: All right, back for our final segment with the author of the upcoming book "Ted White and Blue," Ted Nugent.
NUGENT: Yes.
BECK: Answer as fast as you can. Here we go. Your nicknames, The Nuge, Uncle Ted, Motor City Madman, what`s your favorite?
NUGENT: [bleep].
BECK: Okay. Don`t think --
I respond quickest to that one.
BECK: Okay. I`m afraid to let you nickname me.
We do both answer to that one. Yes, yes. Favorite thing to kill.
NUGENT: Whatever`s broadside is standing right there.
BECK: You should duck.
NUGENT: Duck would be fine.
BECK: Favorite thing to eat.
NUGENT: Dead stuff.
BECK: Okay. Would you cut your hair if you were governor, if you ran for governor?
NUGENT: I don`t think that would be a requirement. I would cut my hair if I felt like cutting my hair. But, no, I like to let my freak flag fly, baby.
BECK: Do you -- you would be the most entertaining governor.
NUGENT: I promise you that.
BECK: The -- will you run for governor? There`s a rumor you might run for governor in Michigan.
NUGENT: I threatened to do so, and I was sincere. I currently am serving the nation as a participating we the people guy, which I think is very effective. But I`ll check with my campaign manager, Mrs. Nugent for the final decision.
BECK: Yes, that`s what I thought. Who would make a better hunting partner, me or Dick Cheney?
NUGENT: I think Dick is better trained, regardless of the accident. But I`d rather have you, because you need me.
BECK: You know what, why do you say that?
NUGENT: Because you are so busy, I cannot adequately impress upon you the soul-cleansing, battery-charging dynamic of the outdoor lifestyle.
BECK: Can I tell you something? He was on the air with me on the radio and we`ve got like 350 stations all across the country and I think it was like the first day in Los Angeles or something. And you get on. I have you on. And you start talking about the cleansing of actually smelling the blood --
NUGENT: That`s true. That, too. There`s an aboriginal primal scream that`s inside of all of us. Not only that but so many deer you have to kill them and eat them. It`s the healthiest food in the world. That higher level of awareness that is the hunting lifestyle will help you in any endeavor, I promise you.
BECK: "Ted, White and Blue" is the name of the book. Comes out when?
NUGENT: Early October I believe.
BECK: Ok. Ted Nugent. Always a pleasure.
NUGENT: God bless you, sir.
BECK: Come back, come back.
NUGENT: God bless America.
BECK: From New York, good night, America.
END
