The endorsement of ex-relevant-person Ted Nugent has unsurprisingly resulted in some distracting backlash for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was forced to respond today through spokeswoman Andrea Saul to a quasi-threat the rocker made over the weekend on President Obama's life.

While stumping for Romney at the NRA convention in St. Louis, Nugent called the President "vile" and "evil," and told attendees that "if Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year."

This isn't the first time Nugent has directed vaguely threatening remarks at Obama. In 2007, Nugent called then-candidate Obama a "piece of shit" and invited him "to suck on my machine gun." (He followed that up by calling Hillary Clinton a "worthless bitch.")

The Secret Service, which, unlike Romney, probably welcomes any and all distractions, vowed to investigate Nugent's latest remarks.

Meanwhile, Romney, via Saul, distanced himself from the mishuggeneh Michigander: "Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil."

At least one person is adhering to Camp Romney's call for civility: Press Secretary Jay Carney, who would not comment on Nugent's remarks except to call them "noise."

[video via Right Wing Watch, photo via Getty]