Rock guitarist and outspoken conservative  Ted Nugent attended last night’s State Of the Union address as a guest of Texas Rep. Steve Stockman. But as Nugent pops back into public view (as he occasionally does for saying something predictably horrible, or vaguely threatening the President), several sources are bringing up a questionable episode from his pre-flag-waving past.

In 1977, Nugent reportedly gave an interview to High Times Magazine, saying he intentionally failed his Vietnam draft physical by going a month without bathing, eating only junk food, going to the bathroom in his pants, and doing crystal meth just before the actual exam. I’ll spare you his more graphic descriptions, but it’s available here at DangerousMinds.

The team at Snopes, the online rumor verification site, did a pretty thorough investigation of the claim, and found conflicting reports. But in a later interview with the UK’s Independent, Nugent claimed that he made the whole thing up… before once again saying that he did do crystal meth before his draft physical in yet another interview (with CREEM Magazine).

Nugent also claimed that he got a student deferment; even then, he admits that he did not want to go to war, telling the Independent interviewer that he “didn’t even understand what World War II was” and “did not want to get [his] ass blown off in Vietnam.”

Snopes also confirmed with publicly available records that Nugent had both student and physical deferments at various times.

But Nugent’s ego seems to have been fully grown early on. Amazingly, in the first interview, he concludes saying that he’d “make an incredible army man,” becoming “a colonel before you knew what hit you.”

Avoiding the draft in a notoriously messy conflict is one thing. But coming up with all kinds of lame excuses for why you deserved to cheat- and then growing up to insult the loyalty of half the country- is another. (And, if this reporter is to be believed, Nugent didn’t even bother standing or applauding for the troops at the SOTU.)

Of course, this is the same guy who is a serial pedophile adulterer who once adopted a minor so he could sleep with her- and now endorses “the party of family values.”

What do you think?

[via Gawker; image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty]

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