Update: Bundy took the mic this afternoon and doubled down. Even Sean of Hannity is backing away now. Story here:
Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher currently under fire for remarks he made about “the Negro,” explained himself on The Peter Schiff Show today, saying that he’s just “wondering” whether black people are better off being actual slaves or better off being slaves of the federal government.
You’ve probably seen the spectacle of Clive Bundy and his band of militia who chased off government officials attempting to collect the hundreds of thousands of dollars he owes in grazing fees last week. After the government left, the militia hung around and it turned into sort of a gubmint bashing party right down to the barbeque, with Teabagger pols lining up to swear their allegiance with Bundy and his newfound hatred of the government. Oddly, they did this all while waving US flags around. But now Bundy opened his mouth one too many times and the party is probably over:
Raw Story — Republican politicians began backtracking on their support of Nevada anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy after the New York Times caught Bundy making racially-inflammatory remarks blaming African-Americans for willingly submiting to dependency on federal assistance.
“They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton,” Bundy was quoted as saying to a group of supporters last Saturday. “And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”
Incidentally, the land Bundy owes grazing fees on is federal land, he’s demanding he get that for free even though every other rancher has and continues to pay a nominal fee. That chirp about being ‘better off under government subsidy’ was apparently said without a clue or hint or irony.
Sympathizers had a big hoedown last weekend where they wore firearms and name tags reading ‘domestic terrorist.’ Imagine someone doing that after 9-11 during the previous administration. One of the common complaints is ‘the government owns 85% of the land’ in Nevada. Which should probably be checked considering the way these clowns play fast and loose with facts, but if it’s true, by all means, buy all the land you want.
I just checked online and there is plenty of land available in Nevada, for sale by the acre or square mile or larger tracts. Some of the fed land is parks and military bases used for secret stuff or missile ranges. But there’s no shortage of land for sale. You can buy scrub, land bordering or on old bases, lots for commercial or residential development, up to whole ranches in that sprawling state. Bundy was mooching on other people’s land, specifically, Our Land, got caught, and authorities tried to work with him for two decades and finally got fed up.
Not that it changes the message a whit, but the douche’s name is Cliven, not Clive.
Come to think of it, I’ve never heard of anyone named Cliven before. Was his mother a Wiccan or something?
“But now Bundy opened his mouth one too many times and the party is probably over:”
Oh come on, after all the racist, misogynist, homophobic, anti-anyonenotevangelicalicalChristian crap the right wing nutballs have spouted w/o any measurable effect you know that aint’ happening.
… name tags reading ‘domestic terrorist.’
Please, out-of-state Bundy groupies – keep those tags on when you go to the airport to go home!
That would be the case expect for the fact that Bundy failed to use the officially sanctioned codewords. That’s why many of the more prominent among the right-wing will distance themselves from him now. As with any authoritarian group, appearance matters far more than substance. No matter how abhorrent, petty or blatantly false or harmful your opinion or actions, so long as you can dress it up all nice and pretty, it’s all good*.
One example of this, during the run-up to the ’12 presidential election, Mitt Romney stated that the problem with Rush Limbaugh’s vileness in regards to Sandra Fluke was only in how he said it, not what he said. Even when pressed Romney never expressed any real disagreement with Limbaugh’s contemptible assessment of Fluke, only in the impolite manner he used to voice it.
*So long as you are one of the approved members of society. If not, then you’re screwed no matter what you do unless you express unwavering fealty to your proper masters. Even then you should hope your luck holds out.
Darksyde, I think you are a cockeyed optimist. It’ll slow down most of the politicians and many of the pundits, but the true believers, the TeaParty, will be even more encouraged. Faux News, of course, will simply not report it at all. Unless it’s to accuse Lieberals of making it up.
I’m puzzled at the name “Cliven”. Is it a Mormon thing?
I think we all need to take a moment to absorb the fact that a bunch of right wing asshats were both honest and accurate.
Ah, but do you not see the difference? At least he’s working while mooching off the government! In his mind, that probably makes things OK.
I heard the Government officials gave him a pass on the land issue. I’m sure he will get a pass on this business as well.
Sympathizers had a big hoedown last weekend where they wore firearms and name tags reading ‘domestic terrorist.’
I’m sure their pictures are on file, now, in every intelligence agency in the police state. I guess none of them merited a drone strike. Yet.
Conservative tax-dodging Republican turns out to be racist as hell.
This is unprecedented and surprising. :P
Marcus: If they’re not on file, some folks weren’t doing their jobs, that’s for sure. I’ve been giggling about that all week. I also wonder if the ones who also turned up for Mark Kessler’s little tantrum are getting any extra scrutiny. It seems like there would have to be a few, odd as traveling to these things is for a weekend hobby.
“They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton,”
Ouch … that’s gonna leave a mark.
And … I’m shocked, shocked I tell you, that the teabaggers, pro gun, anti-government and militia types are racist.
So Wesley Snipes was busted because… he did not pay taxes or because he could not pick cotton?
What’s with all the flags? I thought he didn’t recognize the US government as even existing.
I’m always puzzled by right-wing “patriotism”–they love the country, but they don’t think it exists. Then there are the ones that fly the confederate flag. If you identify with the confederacy, you have waived your right to call yourself a patriot of any kind. There are a lot of those guys in Pennsylvania, which is of course north of the Mason-Dixon. That’s a special kind of confused.
“Diversity” means chasing down the last white person.
Guess this fool never learned what the smarter teabaggers have – you can have these racist views, you can even act upon them if you’re careful, but you never never never actually come right out and say it – especially if your pet subject is black folks.