'Wait, that was racist?', Wild West edition

American Hero Cliven Bundy opines on the African American community:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/us/politics/rancher-proudly-breaks-the-law-becoming-a-hero-in-the-west.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-thecaucus&_r=3

“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.”

 

I like that he's telling a story about how he's driving through random neighborhoods and spying on strangers at their houses, and the point of the story is that he's morally superior to them. That's some impressive mental gymnastics.

 

That's on top of his ignoring that he, too, is on a government subsidy.

 

Oh boy!

Anyone who questioned the BLM's actions, or who think this episode shows the need to take a look at Federal land policy, especially in the West, is surely embarrassed this morning.

Obviously, you must embrace every view of Cliven Bundy if you have any concerns about the BLM.

I just know that the folks who have questioned the treatment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and other detainees, must have been shocked to learn of some of his views. They must have been so embarrassed that they supported KSM.

 

Cliven Bundy: They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton.

John Bender: You forgot ugly, lazy and disrespectful.

Cliven Bundy: Shut up.

John Bender: No Bundy, what about you?

Cliven Bundy: F you.

John Bender: No Bundy, what about you?

 

And that a guy who now does nothing but bloviate in front of cameras about how he's entitled to the free use of land is up on Mt. Pious about how "the Negro" has "nothing to do."

 

It takes a welfare queen to know one.

 

You just might have been snookered into believing something other than the truth on this one, YF.

If I thought Hannity had any nuts at all, I'd watch his show to see what he does with this.

 

I've not spoken a word of support for Bundy.

My default position is not to assume the government story is the whole story, or to believe the (early) media reports are correct, or complete.

This case does raise some issues that deserve to be looked at. Saying that does not mean Cliven Bundy is correct in his stance. Even if you did believe Bundy was in the right, it doesn't mean you also sign onto his beliefs on race.

I'm not sure why it's hard for people to understand this.

 

Well, they are neegros, what else do you expect?


But FREEDUM, and stuff.'

 

Twenty-one years of the latest "look at the issue" isn't enough? How about the "look at the issue" from the Sagebrush Rebellion in the 1970s and 80s? How about every other time this has come up since the mid-1800s, when we acquired the land?

The issues have been looked at, and around every turn, Cliven Bundy has lost. Because he's ignorant of laws and how they work, he's a selfish freeloader, a liar, and a fame whore. This latest display of ignorance is just icing on the cake.

 

It is worth noting that these comments came during one of Bundy's daily press conferences, which do seem a bit odd now that the crisis has passed. NYT hit the jackpot here because the media attendees at the press conference amounted to one reporter and one photographer.