Now that he’s won a confrontation with the Bureau of Land Management over grazing his cattle on federal land, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy has time to hold court on everything from abortion to the current state of “the Negro.”
Bundy made some racially charged comments about government assistance in his daily news conference Saturday, according to a New York Times story published Wednesday.
“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” the rancher began as he described a “government house” in Las Vegas where he recalled that all the people who sat outside seemed to “have nothing to do.”
“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he said, as quoted by the Times. “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.”
The Times reached out to spokespeople for Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Dean Heller (R-NV), who have spoken in support of Bundy, and for Texas Attorney Gen. Greg Abbott (R). Those who responded distanced themselves from Bundy and his remarks.
A spokesman for Heller, who had called Bundy and his supporters “patriots,” told the Times that the senator “completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way.”
A spokeswoman for Abbott, who asked BLM to respond to reports that it planned to acquire land near his state’s Red River in the wake of the Bundy ranch standoff, told the Times that the gubernatorial candidate’s letter to the agency “was regarding a dispute in Texas and is in no way related to the dispute in Nevada.”
A spokesman for Paul told the Times that the senator wasn’t immediately available for comment on Bundy’s remarks. In a statement later provided to Business Insider, Paul denounced the comments.
“His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him,” Paul said through a spokesman.
In the aftermath of Bundy’s standoff with federal authorities, conservatives were quick to champion the rancher’s cause, going as far as to compare him to civil rights icons. Richard Mack, a right-wing former sheriff who helped organize the militia that gathered at Bundy’s ranch, said the rancher and his supporters were like “Rosa Parks refusing to go to the back of the bus.” National Review correspondent Kevin D. Williamson wrote that the Bundy’s struggles with the law paralleled those of Mahatma Gandhi.
Watch the video below, courtesy of Media Matters:
This post has been updated.
I wonder how Hannity is going to spin this one?
Tonight’s Daily Show should be fun to watch.
Big surprise, the guy is an ignorant,racist yahoo. Who would have guessed.
Another American moron pontificating about social policy. Too much manure on the brain.
… the senator “completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way.”
Most people don’t have to exert themselves to condemn racism. I hope Heller didn’t injure himself getting all strenuous.
After the smack down Jon laid on Shammity last night, I’m thinking he’ll leave the statement to Colbert. It’s the kind of RW racist crap Colbert just goes off into Geniusland on.
On a serious note, I do give Heller props for calling the shit what it is. Greg Abbott ran from it like a scalded dog, and Wendy Davis should slam him hard for it.