Ted Nugent Supports Rick Perry, But Will Back Off From Working on Campaign

Famed rocker Ted Nugent is a close friend of Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry, but said he will not take a close role in the Texas governor’s campaign since he might be viewed with distaste by much of the electorate.

The die-hard conservative and gun enthusiast told Billboard.com: As dear a friend as I consider Gov. Rick Perry, I won't be surprised -- and he and I have talked intensively -- if I'm not given an authorized position in the campaign because I'm too divisive.

Nugent, who moved to Crawford, Texas, six years ago, also said: I don't know if I'll get a stamp of approval because I am so volatile and because the line in the sand in a political campaign can be so ambiguous -- and I'm anything but. The reality is that Perry must penetrate what is presumed to be the non-Perry demographic, and if I scare them away so he doesn't get their ear, then I'm being counterproductive.

However, Nugent vows that he will express his support for Perry through his concert tours.

“[We are] already booking next year's [concert][ tour to be the most effective in its geographical impact and its statement, he said. That bully pulpit can also have a serious tone to it.

That likely means that Nugent’s concert tour will include key swing states that Perry would need to win the election.

The ever-irreverent and highly controversial Nugent further pontificated: On a rock 'n' roll stage, I can tell Hillary Clinton to straddle my machine gun. The more something causes problems with people, the more I'll say it 'cause it's rock 'n' roll… But that's a rock 'n' roll show. I know how to change the tone. If you can differentiate between what goes on on a rock 'n' roll stage and a dialogue ... then we can actually move forward.

In a recent editorial in the Washington Times, Nugent (also known as the Motor City Madman), endorsed Perry’s assertion that Social Security is nothing but a Ponzi scheme.

“Social Security has much more in common with a criminal enterprise known as a Ponzi scheme than not,” Nugent wrote. “This scam is anti-social and insecure.”

He further raged: “The Democratic fear-mongering machine is on a full-tilt boogie to scare the elderly into believing that Mr. Perry wants to throw them out in the street. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. When elected president, Mr. Perry won’t order the Treasury Department to stop mailing out Social Security checks to the elderly. What he is going to do is revamp the program so that future generations of Americans aren’t subjected to the same Ponzi-scheme-like fraud that has been forced on retirees.”

Nugent explained: “Social Security is like a Ponzi scheme in that it relies on the money provided by those of us still working to pay the benefits of those who are retired. It is a classic illegal pyramid scam. When the pool of Social Security recipients becomes as large as the group providing the benefits, the Ponzi scheme comes crashing down. And that’s basically where we are.”