So another front has apparently now been opened up in the continuing attack on Mr. Cliven Bundy. So in addition to Mr. Bundy and his family having already been labeled as being "domestic terrorists" there seems to be many in our state-controlled media now very willing to jump on the bash Bundy bandwagon. Because in recently making what were nothing more than some very valid statements, it was in very short order that the left seized upon those statements, and began accusing Mr. Bundy of being a racist, which is always the standard fallback position for those on the left whenever confronted with the likes of Mr. Bundy. Because when all else fails, just throw around accusations of racism.
The rancher, who won his first showdown this month with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over grazing rights for his herd, simply made the point regarding African-Americans and their choice to live off of government assistance. He also claimed that they abort their children and end up in jail because they have no jobs. Bundy said, "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." So I’m just not seeing how his statements can in any way be seen as being racist. So I guess that would make me a racist too?
And then in recalling the time that he once drove past a public-housing project in north Las Vegas, he continued, "I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro…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." Again, he’s doing nothing more than to make what I see as a very valid point. And I wonder if the reason that so many now appear to be so angry, might be because Mr. Bundy’s comments are maybe a little too close to the truth.
And we shouldn’t be all that surprised that many Republican ‘leaders’ are now backing off from their support of the Nevada cattle rancher after he made his recent remarks that were then reported in The New York Times. Nevada’s Republican Sen. Dean Heeler, for instance, had previously claimed that Bundy’s supporters were "patriots," but following Bundy’s remarks he’s started to "backtrack." His spokesman, Chandler Smith, told the Times that the senator "completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way." Personally, I don’t see how anything that Mr. Bundy said makes him any less of a patriot than he was before he made his comments.
Next taking part in this kneejerk reaction, is Rand Paul. Sen Paul, as you may be aware, is one those who may make a run for the White House in 2016, and is someone who had supported Bundy’s cattle battle with the government. But in a recent statement provided by a spokesman for Paul to Business Insider on Thursday, the senator denounced Bundy's comments. Paul said, "His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him." While I like Sen. Paul, I just think in this particular instance he’s being just a bit too quick in his willingness to throw Mr. Bundy to the wolves, as are the many other Republicans who have now taken a similar position.
And the same thing goes for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott who is currently running for governor to replace Rick Perry. Mr. Abbott had jumped into the controversy by stating that the BLM was planning to claim thousands of acres in the Lone Star State along the Red River, and he had made it clear that he had told the agency to back off. But his spokeswoman Laura Bean tried to distance the Republican gubernatorial candidate from Bundy by telling the liberal newspaper that the letter Abbott wrote to the BLM "was regarding a dispute in Texas and is in no way related to the dispute in Nevada." So I guess all it takes is accusations of racism to scare off Mr. Bundy’s supporters.
In responding to all of this hoopla, Mr. Bundy said, "That’s exactly what I said. I said I’m wondering if they’re better off under government subsidy, and their young women are having the abortions and their young men are in jail, and their older women and their children are standing, sitting out on the cement porch without nothing to do, you know, I’m wondering: 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? And so, in my mind I’m wondering, are they better off being slaves, in that sense, or better off being slaves to the United States government, in the sense of the subsidies. I’m wondering. That’s what. And the statement was right. I am wondering."
Now if Mr. Bundy can be said to be guilty of anything, it’s the fact that he may have been just a little too blunt in making his statements. And while I don’t know the man, I have a feeling that that’s just the kind of man he is. A no nonsense, blunt and straight to the point, kind of man. And I would also have to say that I think that to some degree his statements have continued to be taken out of context. This is just more the same double-standard that those on the right are always made to contend with. Let’s face it, how many truly racist things have we heard come those on the left, without there every being nary a word mentioned in the press. But let someone on the right make what are obviously some very valid points, and we see just how quickly the knives come out.
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