Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy is not going away, and he’s now had some thoughts on Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., which he happy to share with CNN in an incredibly cringe-worthy interview this morning.
One minute you’re keeping it real defending a far-right scofflaw rancher who’s skipped out on a million dollars in back fees to the federal government for using public land and is now guarding himself with a crew of heavily armed militia types and the next thing you know he turns out to be kinda racist.
Of all his comments, this little-noticed statement might be what really sinks Cliven Bundy with some of his diehard supporters.
What are the big Bundy defenders saying now about his pro-slavery remarks? Here’s the definitive rundown.
Bundy Ranch Facebook page comes to Cliven Bundy’s defense.
Cliven Bundy tells Alex Jones(!) that the NYT should retract it’s story on his pro-slavery remarks, then in a separate interview tries to explain what he meant — and basically reiterates everything he said initially. Historically, threading the needle of pro-slavery/not racist has been exceedingly difficult.
Shorter Cliven Bundy apologists: His pro-slavery remarks are just a distraction from the righteousness of our cause.
The reaction of Cliven Bundy’s defenders to his pro-slavery rant is proving quite entertaining. Exhibits A, B, C, and D.
The deeply personal back and forth this week between Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor over race is without parallel in the court’s history, legal experts tell Sahil Kapur.
Part of the reason for that of course is the unhappy historical fact that racial and ethnic minorities haven’t had a seat on the Supreme Court bench until the last 47 years. But part of it, too, may have been the calculation by the likes of Thurgood Marshall that a direct public confrontation would not be productive in the long run.
The highlight of Sahil’s piece may be the anecdote offered by a former Marshall clerk in which Marshall pulled his punch toward the other justices in his dissent in a 1973 case.