The Morning News has a more complete story about Greg Abbott’s pal Ted Nugent, who is in for a campaign appearance with Abbott.
Democrats and women’s groups assailed Republican Greg Abbott’s choice of Ted Nugent to appear with him Tuesday, citing the rocker’s abusive name-calling and early penchant for relationships with underage girls.
Abbott’s campaign for governor said Monday he might not agree with some of Nugent’s language but praised the Motor City Madman as an avid defender of the Constitution. The campaign did not comment regarding Nugent’s inappropriate affairs from 30 years ago.
As attorney general, Abbott has touted his office’s Internet Crimes Against Children division, which works with law enforcement to identify predators who go online seeking young women. Calling it his cybercrimes unit, Abbott frequently mentions its efforts to arrest those who would solicit minors.
The Lone Star Project, a Democratic group, slammed Abbott for pledging to protect young Texans while booking appearances with Nugent at two North Texas events to highlight the start of early voting.
“Greg Abbott has crisscrossed our state publicly promising to protect Texas women and children while he’s been making plans to appear at campaign events with an admitted sexual predator,” said Lone Star Project director Matt Angle.
Nugent is a polarizing figure who became famous for his hard-rocking songs of the 1970s.
In a 1998 documentary on VH1 Behind the Music, Nugent admitted having affairs with several underage girls. “I was addicted to girls. It was hopeless. It was beautiful,” he said.
He also said he had worked to charm their parents.
“I got the stamp of approval of their parents,” Nugent said on the video. “I guess they figured better Ted Nugent than some drug-infested punk in high school.”
I commend the DMN for reminding us of this bit of The Nuge’s history, which neither the Trib nor the Chronicle mentioned. I note that unlike their canned response about Nugent’s frequently offensive rhetoric, Team Abbott had nothing to say about his sexual history. Still, the DMN story leaves out some pertinent information. Let’s go to Wikipedia to see what we’re missing:
In 1978, Nugent began a relationship with seventeen-year-old Hawaii native Pele Massa. Due to the age difference they could not marry so Nugent joined Massa’s parents in signing documents to make himself her legal guardian, an arrangement that Spin magazine ranked in October 2000 as #63 on their list of the “100 Sleaziest Moments in Rock”.
Here’s the citation for that. Nugent was 30 at the time. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the “age difference” that prevented their nuptials – which, according to Wikipedia, never happened anyway – but the fact that Ms. Massa was not yet 18. I don’t know about you, but my reaction to this is “Ick”. Too bad we don’t know what Greg Abbott’s reaction to that is. A more detailed examination of Nugent’s rhetoric and some further words from Abbott about it would be nice, too.
UPDATE: Good on Jake Tapper for calling out Nugent for what he is, and Dana Bash for explaining why Greg Abbott is fine with it.