Conversatives 'feeling exposed' by Cliven Bundy says Joe Scarborough. Paul backs off, video of Bundy

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Thursday April 24, 2014 · 10:04 AM PDT

2014/04/24 · 10:04

Many conservatives now rush to distance themselves from racist comments by recent Libertarian ranch hero Cliven Bundy after his shocking interview in the New York Times yesterday in a comic parade of reversal.

In Joe Scarborough: Fox News Was ‘Exposed’ By Cliven Bundy Saying That Blacks Are ‘Better Off As Slaves’, The Cajun Boy brings us this YouTube clip and partial transcript of Joe Scarborough saying "I told you so" to conservatives who embrace Clive Bundy despite his warnings.

On MSNBC this morning, Joe Scarborough, who’s been calling bullsh*t on this guy since the get-go and has blasted his fellow Republicans who’ve championed his cause, had some things to say about Bundy’s racist remarks.

“There’s nothing conservative about this man. This is where nihilism about the federal government gets you in trouble every time,” Scarborough noted. “This has happened before. It happened when conservatives raced blindly to put their arms around George Zimmerman, a man who gets in all these troubles. They basically pick their friends based on who their enemies are. In this case, a lot of people in conservative media have raced to this guy’s defense. They must be feeling very exposed this morning.”

It should be noted that 2016 GOP presidential hopeful Rand Paul has also been hailing this guy as some kind of hero. (UPDATE: Paul is now distancing himself from Bundy.) Take it away, Joe…

Youtube: MSNBC Joe Scarbourogh

For those of you without the patience to watch the full nine minute segment Seth McLaughlin, of the Washington Times provides a more detailed descriptiont in ‘Conservatives’ should feel exposed by Bundy’s racist comments: Scarborough.

Former Florida Rep. Joe Scarborough said that the “conservatives” that rallied to Cliven Bundy’s side “must feel very exposed” now that the rancher has used his standoff with the government over illegally grazing his cattle on federal land to pontificate on race.

Mr. Scarborough, a Republican co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” suggested that Mr. Bundy’s comments show that he is not the sort of character that conservatives should embrace.

Mr. Bundy said, according to the New York Times, that African-Americans “abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton.”

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” Mr. Bundy said, according to The Times, before talking about a public-housing project in North Las Vegas.

“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.

Adam Nagourney reports Senator Rand Paul's statement this morning distancing himself from Clive Bundy, in Nevada Rancher Cliven Bundy Makes Ridiculously Racist Comments, Says Blacks Might Have Been 'Better Off' As Slaves

Bundy's case has won support from prominent national conservatives, including Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Dean Heller of Nevada. In a statement provided by a spokesman for Paul to Business Insider on Thursday, Paul denounced Bundy's comments.

"His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him," Paul said.

Heller also immediately distanced himself from Bundy's new controversial remarks.

"Senator Heller completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way," spokesman Chandler Smith said in an email.

Yes, friends, these leaders are "shocked, truly shocked to discover racism rearing its ugly head in right-wing extremist politics, of all places!" Who could have imagined this? Senators Rand Paul, and Dean Heller must feel so betrayed and duped.

Joe Scarborough: Fox News Was ‘Exposed’ By Cliven Bundy Saying That Blacks Are ‘Better Off As Slaves’

From the New York Times:

“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.”

Libertarian Hero Cliven Bundy Shockingly Turns Out to Be Gigantic Racist by Jonathan Chait, in New Yorker Magazine, provide a philosophical perspective about the links of racism to the core conservative ideological beliefs.

So apparently there’s more to Bundy’s cause than the existence of the federal budget deficit. Or, at least, his views on land rights and individual freedom come attached to a large side order of racism.

As it happens, just the other day, Tuccille expressed outrage over something I wrote. In a longer argument about the future of American politics, I suggested that conservatism in its current incarnation has no future in American politics because “America’s unique brand of ideological anti-statism is historically inseparable … from the legacy of slavery,” and thus will have little natural appeal to an increasingly diverse electorate. Tuccille shot back, “It's tempting to say 'what the fuck?' and take Chait's argument as an exercise in self-congratulatory lunacy.”

Where we differ is that, I’d argue, it’s not exactly a coincidence that Bundy also turns out to be a gigantic racist. Just like Ron Paul’s longtime ghostwriter turned out to be a neoconfederate white supremacist. And like the way Rand Paul’s ghostwriter also turned out to be a neoconfederate white supremacist. Presumably all these revelations have struck Tuccille as a series of shocking coincidences. Why do all these people with strong antipathy toward the federal government turn out to be racists? Why do all these homosexuals keep sucking my cock?

Well, some of these questions may be hard to answer and we may have to wait to hear the responses. Clive Bundy certainly has stirred up a hornets nest of discussion.

The Republican's Karmic Chickens of racist dog whistles are finally coming home to roost. Leaders can distance themselves now all they like, but American voters will remember well how recently many of these same people were perfectly happy to stand by on the sidelines taking advantage of racist diatribes they now wish to renounce.

10:41 AM PT: Please also check out this post from yesterday where Former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus provide an inspiring and skillful example for all Democrats on how to confront Republican bullshit head on. He recognized Paul Ryan's "culture of inner city unemployed men" statement as an unacknowledged quotation from notorious and vile racist Charles Murray who Cleaver says is famous for "spewing racist sewage" so now Rep. Paul Ryan is going to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus next week for a "consciousness and awareness raising session" on racial sensitivity which I can't wait to see the press on. Cleaver has some fantastic quotes in here. Please check it out.