Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) elected not to denounce Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s racially charged remarks Thursday.
CBS This Morning’s Norah O’Donnell gave Perry the opportunity. “Clive Bundy made some very inflammatory racial comments that were reported in the New York Times today. Do you denounce those comments?” she asked.
“I don’t know what he said, but the fact is Clyde (sic) Bundy is a side issue here compared to what we’re looking at in the state of Texas,” Perry said. “He is an individual. Deal with his issues as you may. “
“What we have in the state of Texas … the federal government is coming in and attempting from our perspective to take over private property,” he continued.
Perry had previously made remarks critical of the armed federal presence during the Bundy Ranch standoff over cattle grazing. “I have a problem with the federal government putting citizens in the position of having to feel like they have to use force to deal with their own government,” he said Wednesday on Fox News.
Perry and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott are in the midst of their own feud with the Bureau of Land Management.
