Not content to simply disregard the existence of the Federal Government, Nevada Rancher and Fox News current "Joe the Plumber" Cliven Bundy also believes that black people might be “better off as slaves" than living under the government.
The full quote: “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'm not sure what terrifies me more - that 150 years after the US Civil War there are still people who believe and promote these beliefs, or that this statement was just "one more thing" that he wanted to tell the reporter and thus the world.
So what does that mean for all our GOPpies that fell over themselves to defend him? Let's go down the list from CNN
Rand Paul, the Kentucky Libertarian who criticized Harry Reid's description of the group as domestic terrorists, released a statement, saying "“His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him."
Dean Heller, the Nev Senator who made national news for what might have been the first time ever last week for saying “What Sen. Reid may call domestic terrorists, I call patriots,” also backtracked, releasing a statement saying "completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way."
Reince Priebus, RNC Chairman and one of the 13 notable residents from my hometown according to Wikipedia who had not previously weighed in on the land dispute, said in a statement that "Bundy's comments are completely beyond the pale. Both highly offensive and 100% wrong on race."
Meanwhile on the Dem's side:
Harry Reid said "Bundy revealed himself to be a hateful racist. But by denigrating people who work hard and play by the rules while he mooches off public land he also revealed himself to be a hypocrite."
And the Nevada DNC "These comments are reprehensible, and every Republican politician in the state of Nevada who tried to latch on to Cliven Bundy's newfound celebrity with TEA Partiers and the militia movement should be ashamed of their actions."
"Every Republican elected official who risked inciting violence to gain political capital out of Cliven Bundy now owes the people of Nevada an apology for their irresponsible behavior of putting their own political future ahead of the safety of Nevadans,"