Thursday, April 24, 2014

Cliven Bundy Talks About "The Negro" as #GOP Stampedes Away From #BundyRanch

 photo 8fceb82f-56f2-40c6-9b29-73d55aa3d3df.png

Previous Related Posts:
#BundyRanch Stand-Off in Nevada Attracts Wingnuts and Militias
Wingnuts Declare Victory as Feds Leave #BundyRanch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, it was almost inevitable that right-wing "hero" Cliven Bundy would eventually crumble. But wow - his racist rant on "The Negro" who should still be a cotton-pickin' slave is almost sublime. And now the same Fox pundits and politicians who built him up as the best thing since vanilla ice cream are heading for the hills as fast as they can. Might as well make some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show.

From the New York Times
“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. 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.”



From the Washington Post
. . . since those controversial comments were published, he has seen most of his friends in high places vanish overnight. Republican politicians who saw the Bundy stand-off as an opportunity to connect with the far right are now trying to figure out which adverb will put the most distance between themselves and the rancher.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul went with wholeheartedly, releasing a statement on Thursday saying Bundy's "remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him."

. . . (Bundy) went on Alex Jones' radio show, and said, "I'm not racist" and that the New York Times should retract their story. "I would appreciate that. I think they should do that," Bundy said. "They're making it a racist-type thing."
On Peter Schiff's talk radio show, however, he stood by his remarks. "Are they happier now under this government subsidy system than they were when they were slaves, and they was able to have their family structure together, and the chickens and garden, and the people had something to do?”

 photo bundy2.png
 photo bundy1.png

Headline: Roger Ailes (of Fox News) owns Cliven Bundy now: How dumb opportunism became a right-wing nightmare
. . . Surprise! Sean Hannity’s hero, whose cause has been embraced by Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada and Rand Paul of Kentucky along with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, turns out to be an old-time Republican racist, the kind that even Jonathan Chait recognizes, and Fox News and the GOP have a problem.
~ Joan Walsh on Salon



By noon on April 24, Fox had mentioned the rancher only twice, and never covered his racist comments. On Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy drew a parallel between Bundy's standoff and the situation of two Texas landowners, and Fox's Andrew Napolitano told viewers to "forget the battle in Nevada" to focus on events in Texas instead.
While Fox News did not cover Bundy's comments, Fox host Greta van Susteren spoke out on her blog, highlighting the Times' article and noting "Let me make this plain: I condemn what Cliven Bundy said about African Americans."
~ Media Matters for America



(Bundy's racist remarks) are beyond repugnant to me. They are beyond despicable to me. They are beyond ignorant to me
. . . They (Liberals) want to say that conservatives are racist. Conservatives hate women. Conservatives want old people to die, granny over the cliff. They want the young people to fend for themselves. They want to poison the air and poison the water.
People that for the right reasons saw this case as government overreach now are branded because of the ignorant, racist, repugnant, despicable comments of Cliven Bundy.
~ Fox News Host Sean Hannity, one of Bundy's most staunch supporters












A few things. First, to take the quote at face value it’s odd and sounds offensive. You’re talking about government overreach and you go into this story? Secondly, I hope no one is surprised that an old man rancher isn’t media trained to express himself perfectly. He seems to be decrying what big government has done to the black family ...
. . . If Bundy is a racist, that is awful, but what exactly does that have to do with the BLM?
~ Bundy Defender Dana Loesch on her Blog



















If you (GOP) ever want to be taken seriously for your outreach efforts, you might want to start by not defending racists.
~ Mo Eleithee, DNC Communications Director

The Republican's Karmic Chickens of racist dog whistles are finally coming home to roost. Leaders can distance themselves now all they like, but American voters will remember well how recently many of these same people were perfectly happy to stand by on the sidelines taking advantage of racist diatribes they now wish to renounce.
~ HoundDog on Daily Kos

The remarks brought about a quick rebuke from Chandler Smith, a spokesperson for Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV). Heller had previously called Bundy and his supporters “patriots” for their actions and challenged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) description of them as “domestic terrorists.”
Smith told the Times that Heller “completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way.”
~ Raw Story



Nevada State Assemblywoman Michele Fiore . . . spoke with both Sean Hannity on Fox News and Chris Hayes on MSNBC to argue the Bundy cause. Hayes spoke with Fiore over video, as she was attending the Bundy ranch barbecue. She stopped short of saying that she agreed with Bundy in not recognizing the authority of the federal government, but questioned the heavy handedness of the BLM. "I'm not saying I agree with Cliven Bundy, what I'm saying is, the way this was handled was really suspicious." Fiore doesn't believe Bundy owes the government $1 million in unpaid grazing fees — it's probably closer to a couple hundred thousand.
. . . What she's saying now: . . . In a statement, Fiore said Bundy "has said things I don’t agree with," but "we cannot let this divert our attention from the true issue of the atrocities BLM committed by harming our public land and the animals living on it."
~ The Wire

There’s nothing conservative about this man. This is where nihilism about the federal government gets you in trouble every time. This has happened before. It happened when conservatives raced blindly to put their arms around George Zimmerman, a man who gets in all these troubles. They basically pick their friends based on who their enemies are. In this case, a lot of people in conservative media have raced to this guy’s defense. They must be feeling very exposed this morning.
~ Joe Scarborough, conservative host of MSNBC's Morning Joe

At least one politician stood by Bundy - this kind of figures because Joe Walsh is best known for not paying his child-support.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



















No comments:

Post a Comment