Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy appeared on CNN’s New Day on Friday morning to discuss the racist comments he made recently that caused a huge stir earlier this week. The lawless Bundy, who does not recognize the existence of the United States government, attempted to defend his comments where he said “the Negro people” might be “better off as slaves, picking cotton.” As you might expect, the welfare rancher gave an incoherent, rambling interview where he ended up digging himself into a deeper hole.
New Day host Chris Cuomo peppered Bundy with questions over his recent comments as well as his anti-government stance. Bundy was in a far different element than the fawning coverage he had previously received from Fox News, and sepcifically Sean Hannity, the previous few weeks. Now that the network, and the rest of conservative media, has completely abandoned him, his appearances are now limited to less ideologically based media outlets. And, quite frankly, that is bad news for a mush-mouthed racist with limited intelligence like Mr. Bundy.
The interview became heated pretty much right away, as Bundy tried to hold a dead calf in his arms and blame the United States government for its death. Cuomo told him not to do that and then they got into a debate regarding the US government’s right to own property. Cuomo pretty much schooled Bundy on the US Constitution, telling him to actually read it rather than just carrying it around in his pocket.
After that little back and forth, Cuomo segued into Bundy’s recent offensive comments and asked him point blank if he is a racist. The response from Bundy was perhaps even worse than the comments that got him into trouble.
Below is video from that part of the interview:
CUOMO: I understand the government was very aggressive with you and many people think it was wrong. I understand that people are upset with the government. The question is what is our reaction? Your reaction was to say that you wonder if Negroes weren’t better off as slaves. Now, are you a racist?
BUNDY: No, I’m not a racist. But I did wonder that. Let me tell you something. I thought about this, this morning quite a bit.
CUOMO: Please.
BUNDY: And thought about what Reverend Martin Luther King said. I thought about Rosa Park taking her seat at the front of the bus. Reverend Martin Luther King did not want her to take her seat in the front of the bus. That wasn’t what he was talking about. He did not say go to the front of the bus and that’s where your seat was.
What Reverend King wanted was that she could sit anywhere in the bus and nobody would say anything about it. You and I can sit anywhere in the bus. That’s what he wanted. That’s what I want. I want her to be able to sit anywhere in the bus and I want to be able to sit by her any where in that bus. That’s what he wanted.
He didn’t want this prejudice thing like the media tried to put on me yesterday. I’m not going to put up with that because that’s not what he wanted. That’s not what I want. I want to set by her any where in that bus and I want anybody to be able to do the same thing. That’s what he was after is not a prejudice thing, but make us equal.
CUOMO: Mr. Bundy, nobody —
BUNDY: You understand what I’m saying?
CUOMO: You know what — I kind of do. I’m not sure that I understand it. I understand that Martin Luther King’s message was one of peace and freedom. And that when you suggest that you were wondering if blacks were better off as slaves, that’s the opposite of freedom and very offensive to people. I think you probably know that.
BUNDY: Well, let me tell you — I took this boot off so I wouldn’t put my foot in my mouth with the boot on. Let me see if I can say something. You know, maybe I sinned and maybe I need to ask forgiveness and maybe I don’t know what I actually said.
But you know when you talk about prejudice we’re talking about not being able to exercise what we think and our feelings. We’re not freedom — we don’t have freedom to say what we want. If I call — if I say Negro or black boy or slave, I’m not — if those people cannot take those kind of words and not be offensive, then Martin Luther King hasn’t got his job done yet. They should be able to — I should be able to say those things and they shouldn’t offend anybody. I didn’t mean to offend them.
Well, there you go. The right’s latest folk hero just said that if black people, or “those people,” are offended by what he says, regardless if he calls them Negro or black boy or slave, well, that is just MLK’s fault. Freedom, after all, let’s him say whatever he wants without repercussions. Everyone should be free to say and do whatever they want and nobody should take offense whatsoever. This is the same level of thinking that allows Bundy to feel he is in the right to threaten law enforcement with guns and not pay below market grazing fees to the US government.
Later on in the interview, Cuomo suggested to Bundy that perhaps he shouldn’t speak publicly about things he really has no understanding of, such as race relations or what certain ethnic groups might find offensive. However, it didn’t seem like Cuomo was able to reach Bundy.
CUOMO: The point is this. I’ll tell you what I understand, we’re living in and age where we respect each other and respect the right for people to be free and to live in the nature of equality that you’re talking about. The irony is you’re trying to extend that to your own situation, looking at the law and saying is the government over reaching. Am I truly free? Are they taking advantage my ability to do my business of raising my livestock?
This is about fundamental freedom. You touch on some interesting points which is why you got some very respectable people on your side of the political issues. But then when you talk this nonsense about Negroes and whether they should be slaves, you ruin that legitimacy. Maybe you should just avoid that and stick to what you know and deal with those issues.
BUNDY: You know, I would do that except that — I don’t even know how to talk about these ethnic groups.
CUOMO: Then don’t.
BUNDY: But I’m going to because I’m interested in those people. I think they should have freedom and liberty.
It appears that we have more to come regarding ‘the Negros’ and ‘the Spanish people’ from Mr. Bundy.
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