Rocker Ted Nugent, a Republican and a fierce defender of the Second Amendment, said this about President Obama: "I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame, enough Americans to be ever-vigilant not to let a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States of America."
The reaction, not surprisingly, was strong.
Nugent apologized, sort of: "Instead of using terms like 'subhuman mongrel,' I'm going to get right to the meat of the matter where our president is a liar. He lies about you can keep your doctor, period. Over and over again he lies about Benghazi. He's lying about the IRS. So I won't call him names anymore. I'm going to get right down to the nitty-gritty and identify the criminal behavior by the people abusing power in the United States government."
Now another apology is in order.
Director Spike Lee is an Obama supporter. For a fundraiser, Lee had a $38,500-per-plate dinner for Obama and about 60 people. Curious, did Lee's and Obama's guests commiserate on "racial oppression" and "income inequality" while dining in Lee's home, currently on the market for $32 million? But we digress.
Lee sided with Minister Louis Farrakhan when the leader of the Nation of Islam accused President George W. Bush's administration of intentionally blowing up levees during Hurricane Katrina. "It's not far-fetched," Lee said, "And also I would like to say it's not necessarily blow it up. But, the residents of that ward, they believe it, there was a Hurricane Betsy in '65, the same that happened where a choice had to be made, one neighborhood got to save another neighborhood and flood another 'hood, flood another neighborhood ... " Far-fetched? "Presidents have been assassinated," Lee said, "So why is that so far-fetched? ... Do you think that election in 2000 was fair? You don't think that was rigged? If they can rig an election, they can do anything!"
No apology from Lee for accusing Bush of mass murder?
Lee also called a sitting U.S. Senator a "card-carrying member of the Klan" Former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., celebrated the 100th birthday of Sen. Strom Thurman, R-S.C. In 1948 Thurman, then a Democrat, ran as an independent candidate for president as a segregationist. Fast forward to Thurman's birthday celebration in 2002, where Lott said, "When Strom Thurmond ran for president, (Mississippi) voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."
Lott apologized, insisting he did not mean he wants America segregated. But the damage was done. Lott's a "racist"! On ABC's "Good Morning America," Lee said, "(Trent Lott) is a card-carrying member of the Klan. I know he has that hood in the closet."
This brings us to Lee and the Trayvon Martin case.
In Chicago, Obama's hometown, murders in 2012 topped 500. 2013 saw a "low" murder total of 421 - the equivalent of a Sandy Hook every three weeks. Most of the killers and the killed are black. Worse, only about one-fourth of these cases are "cleared," where a suspect has been identified and arrested. Nationwide, the No. 1 preventable cause of death among young black males is not accidents - as it is with whites - it is homicide, almost always committed by another black person.
But when a black is killed by a non-black, even where the shooter could reasonably claim self-defense, out comes Lee's agenda. To Lee, the killing of Martin, a 17-year-old black teen, by non-black George Zimmerman was a referendum on how America's criminal justice treats black victims. Incensed that authorities had not yet arrested and charged Zimmerman, Lee tweeted what he thought was the home address of Zimmerman's parents. Wrong address. Lee did apologize for this one, later paying a financial settlement to the owners of the "wrong" home.
Lee also once publicly stated his opposition to "interracial couples." About a year after he released "Jungle Fever," a film about a black-white couple, Lee said: "I give interracial couples a look. Daggers. They get uncomfortable when they see me on the street." This might have been news to Obama's parents.
Lee, a gun control proponent, seems okay with the use of a firearm - depending upon the target. He once verbally threatened NRA head Charlton Heston. Lee said somebody should "shoot him with a .44-caliber Bulldog."
No president ever held a fundraiser in Ted Nugent's mansion. Lee, on the other hand, has a close relationship with Obama. Will Lee apologize for calling Lott a "card-carrying member of the Klan," for urging the assassination of the president of the NRA or for affirming accusations against George W. Bush of mass murder?
Nugent apologized. Now it's Spike's turn.
Larry Elder is a best-selling author and radio talk-show host.
