Ted Nugent may not be a real Bad American, or he may not be the only one. ‘The Bad American’ has been attributed to alot of other folks. According to the invaluable Snopes (thanks to a number of Followers): “Just about any unsourced list of witty observations about our politics and social mores gets credited to humorist George Carlin these days, even when it doesn’t really sound like anything he would write. Carlin may sometimes use the format of stringing together a few dozen pithy comments about a wide variety of topical subjects, but the tone of his humor is nothing like this reactionary piece. If any doubt remained, Carlin himself swept it away by announcing on his web site that he is not the author of the article.

If not Carlin, then who did write it? This piece has also been credited to a number of decidedly conservative, outspoken media figures, such as rock star Ted Nugent, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, and actor-comedian Denis Leary, but the even if the article may seem to echo the political opinions of these men, it doesn’t quite match any of them, nor does the language used sound quite right for any of these figures. (Leary, like Carlin, has been credited with creating some other Internet favorites, such as a vituperative discourse on e-mail chain letters and the “Are You Man Enough?” essay.”