Cliven Bundy keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole, but refuses to throw down the shovel and get out. After making racist and bigoted remarks about "Negroes," on Wednesday, he went on CNN to try and clear things up. He started well enough, but wound up steering his remarks into blaming Martin Luther King for not doing a good enough job fighting for equality and against racism.
BUNDY: 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. 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 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 offended, then Martin Luther King hasn’t got his job done then 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.
We do have the freedom to say what we want, but that doesn't negate any consequences we face if you what you say is as insane as this:
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.”
Cliven, you didn't go to jail for saying that garbage. That's real freedom. being a Mormon doesn't give a person the right to make believe the federal government doesn't exit.
“I abide by all of Nevada state laws. But I don’t recognize the United States government as even existing.”
This saga is far from over because eventually he'll try to graze the land again with his cattle and the Feds will want their million dollars that he owes them.
(h/t Think progress for the transcript.)
