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He stood on a makeshift outdoor stage decked with American flags, with supporters occasionally shouting their approval of him. At the end of the event, a few supporters cursed and yelled at the reporters. Bundy, meanwhile, continued sharing thoughts on "the Negro community" in comments that tracked with the attempted clarification Bundy had given to conservative radio hosts throughout the day.

"The question is: Are they slaves the way they are, the way they live, slaves to charity and government subsidized homes?" Bundy said. "Are they slaves when their daughters are having abortions and their sons in the graves and prisons?"

"This thought goes back a long time over the years," he said.

Of seeing black people in their government-subsidized homes in Las Vegas, he said: "I thought, 'Would they be happier if they was home, talking about the South, where they come from? Would they have been home with their gardens and their chickens and their children playing around them?'"

"Would they? That was the question I ask, and I ask you: Would they be happier?" http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/cliven-bundy-press-conference-n
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"That shows you how unhinged from reality this guy is,” he said. "You wondered if blacks were better off as slaves picking cotton and having a family life? They didn’t have a family life! That’s the real key to what he said. And there’s no way around that sentence.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/04/24/rand-p
aul-and-other-republican-leaders-back-away-from-bundy/?tid=pm_pop

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Republicans distance selves from Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy over racial remarks

Prominent Republicans and conservative news media outlets rallied in recent weeks around the cause of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose armed standoff with authorities over grazing rights on federal land had made him an instant folk hero on the right.

But Bundy’s GOP defenders, including Sens. Dean Heller (Nev.) and Rand Paul (Ky.), rapidly abandoned him on Thursday following reports of incendiary remarks that the white rancher made about minorities. Bundy wondered aloud whether blacks would be better off as slaves picking cotton, and alleged that people of color are “against us.”

The controversy marks another major headache for establishment Republicans working to build better relationships with blacks and Hispanics — crucial voting blocs that have increasingly supported Democrats in recent elections. The GOP is in the midst of a messaging tour aimed at reintroducing the party to minority voters, including lawmaker visits to minority neighborhoods and to historically black colleges.

“It undermines the broader, more important goals to rebrand and reestablish a conversation with a community that looks suspiciously upon most of the things you say,” said former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, referring to African Americans in particular.

Steele, who was the RNC’s first black chairman, added that Republicans must declare that “there is no place for this level of ignorance and stupidity around matters of race in our party.”

Bundy said he “hardly ever” saw a black person until he was almost a teenager and noted that he is surrounded by white faces.

“Where is our colored brother? Where is our Mexican brother? Where is our Chinese — where are they?” Bundy said. “They’re just as much American as we are, and they’re not with us. If they’re not with us, they’re going to be against us.”

Before those comments were publicized, a number of prominent Republicans had offered support for Bundy’s cause. Heller, Nevada’s junior senator, said Bundy and his makeshift militia were “patriots” during a local news interview.

And Paul said he was sympathetic with Bundy’s opposition to federal ownership of grazing land, while distancing himself from the militant side of Bundy’s resistance. “I’m for obeying the law, and I’m not for a violent outcome,” Paul said Monday.

Much of that support evaporated Thursday. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called Bundy’s racial comments “completely beyond the pale” and “100 percent wrong.” Paul said the remarks were “offensive,” while a spokesman for Heller declared them “appalling and racist.”

The rancher is the latest in a series of figures — including rock singer Ted Nugent and “Duck Dynasty” reality show star Phil Robertson — who made controversial racial remarks after being championed by conservatives. Republican operatives acknowledge that those associations have damaged the party’s attempts to rebrand itself.

Crystal Wright, a conservative commentator, said, “Republicans are part of our own problem,” given the regular embrace of figures such as Bundy.

“My parents didn’t sit-in at lunch counters so that they would be told that they would have been better off learning how to pick cotton,” Wright said. “We as conservatives don’t do a great job of cleaning up these racial missteps.”

Some Democrats and political scientists argue that conservative ideology focused on “state’s rights” — an issue linked with preservation of slavery and Jim Crow laws — makes it exceedingly difficult for Republicans to attract minority voters. Bundy’s comments, they said, show a common connection between anti-government ideology and racial animosity.

“He is a window into the soul of modern conservatism,” said Ian Haney López, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, who wrote a book called “Dog Whistle Politics.” He added, “A demonization of minorities and a demonization of the government in modern conservatism — those are inextricably linked.” More at http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-distance-selves-fro
m-nevada-rancher-cliven-bundy-over-racial-remarks/2014/04/24/76a72780-cbe3-11e3-95f7-7ecdde72d2ea_story.html?tid=pm_pop

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Cliven Bundy's Daughter Rips Fox News Host Sean Hannity

Cliven Bundy doesn't think Fox News host Sean Hannity "abandoned" him in the wake of his racist, pro-slavery rant, but one of the Nevada rancher's daughters thinks otherwise.

Shiree Bundy Cox on Thursday took aim at conservatives who rallied and amplified her father's cause on national television only to abandon him after the media "turned this into a circus side show."

"Sean Hannity was all for reporting the happenings at the Bundy Ranch until this popped up. I wonder if someone hoped it would be that way….By the way, I think Mr. Hannity is more worried about his ratings than he really is about what my dad said. If he supports a supposed racist, what will that do to his ratings? He's already lost his #1 spot on Fox," she added.

Hannity condemned Bundy's comments as "despicable" and "repugnant" on Thursday, and his network has gone all but silent on the matter. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hannity-bundy-fox-news-daughter

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Weir at one point challenged the Nevada rancher about whether he was any more or less a "welfare queen" since his cattle have been feeding off the government, literally, by eating grass on public land.

Bundy's response: "I might be a welfare queen. But I'll tell you I'm producing something for America and using a resource that nobody else would use or could use. I'm putting red meat on the table." http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/24/politics/cliven-bundy-interview/

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CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: I agree entirely with Chuck. First of all it isn't enough to say I don't agree with what he said. This is a despicable statement. It's not the statement, you have to disassociate yourself entirely from the man. It's not like the words exist here and the man exists here. And why conservatives, or some conservatives end up in bed with people who, you know, he makes an anti-government statement, he takes an anti-government stand, he wears a nice big hat and he rides a horse, and all of a sudden he is a champion of democracy. This is a man who said that he doesn't recognize the authority of the United States of America. That makes him a patriot? I love this country, I love the Constitution, and it is the Constitution that established a government that all of us have to recognize. And for him to reject it was the beginning of all of this. And now what he said today is just the end of this.

And I think it is truly appalling that, as Chuck says, there are times when somehow simply because somebody takes an oppositionist stand, he becomes a conservative hero. You got to wait, you got to watch, you got to think about it. And look, do I have the right to go in to graze sheep in Central Park? I think not. You have to have some respect for the federal government, some respect for our system. And to say you don't and you don't recognize it and that makes you a conservative hero, to me, is completely contradictory, and rather appalling. And he has now proved it. http://mediamatters.org/video/2014/04/24/foxs-krauthammer-blasts-conse
rvatives-for-their/199022

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GALLAGHER: From day one, I said let’s not get too excited about this guy. We don’t know anything about him. He’s not exactly—this is probably not a guy who could be – is the poster child for being folk hero status. That’s what I said.

WALLACE: Well, that’s wise. ‘Cause I must say, some of your colleagues on the conservative side jumped on this bandwagon way too quickly… and, you know, I’ve never quite understood why this guy was a hero. I mean I understand you say, “Well, government overreach, big government.” But as Charles Krauthammer said yesterday, “You know, if I wanted to graze my sheep in Central Park, do I have a right to do that?”

…The guy had had judgments against him. They went to court… we have a system…. If you don’t like what the court does, then you appeal it in the court. He’d been in the courts for ten years and the courts kept ruling against him….

I’m not saying that the government acted perfectly. On the other hand… there are obligations. It would be like saying, “Well, I’m not going to allow myself to be screened at the airport. Because that’s government overreach.”

GALLAGHER: No, you’re right. You’re right. http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/04/25/fox-news-host-wallace-conserva
tives-jumped-on-b/199029

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