“What’s wrong with America, they can’t even stand a dead calf?”
by digby
There has been a lot said today about Cliven Bundy’s CNN interview with Chris Cuomo this morning over his Rosa Parks and MLK views, but what was just as disturbing is that he held a dead calf in his arms to begin the segment and then blamed the government for killing it. We’re into more than far right fringe politics here now, this is downright Hostel II territory for television news.
Chris Cuomo had to ask him to take it away because viewers might get upset.
Cuomo: I see in your arms you are holding a dead calf. What happened?
Bundy: This dead calf died this morning. He’s been without his mother two weeks.
This is horrible, but if Bundy followed the law like many of the other ranchers do, maybe this calf would still be alive. As he started to describe the calf’s tongue, CNN covered up the calf with a graphic
Bundy: Let me lay the calf down.
Cuomo: Yea, that’s probably a good idea given that its a little early and a lot of families are watching, Mr. Bundy, so we don’t want to upset them too much.
Bundy: You know, well they oughtta be upset. And what’s wrong with America, they can’t even stand a dead calf?
Yes, Cliven Bundy is a stone cold racist, I think we’ve established that. But that would be the most normal thing about him.
Check out this report from the ranch:
On Thursday, we witnessed a mainstream exodus from Bundy’s flank. Sean Hannity, Bundy’s biggest booster, called his racist remarks “beyond despicable,” but maintained that they should not taint the supporters who “for the right reasons saw this case as government overreach.”
Exactly how difficult was it, though, to determine pretty early on that Bundy and his followers were using the threat of force to back up some terrifyingly misguided beliefs?
During the few hours I visited last week, this was what was said.
In the background, a singer with an American-flag guitar warms up the stage with a raspy hollering he explains as Tibetan throat singing. Suddenly noticing a man off to the side shaking maracas, he stops and grips the mic:
“Is there really a black man in the house?” A lone “whoo” goes up from the folding chairs. “You’re with the media, right?” The cameraman nods, and the singer returns his focus to the folding chairs. “So, are we racists here today? That’s how they’re trying to spin this one — this is good. Channel 13 came at me the other day — a cute little blonde, of course. They sent her at me, y’know, go get the story! Go get the radical…” The generator cuts out, silencing the mic, and the story about how he isn’t a racist is lost.
A militia member with the group Oath Keepers named Mark, who drove in from out of state by way of Zion National Park (“which was absolutely beautiful — you should go”), offers to explain to me the truth behind public land management.
“The assumption is that the BLM is part of the federal government. But we need to check the facts on that one. The BLM doesn’t work for the government: they work for the United Nations. They might as well be wearing blue helmets. If we find out there’s money being exchanged between Harry Reid and the Chinese government, no one should be surprised.”
A self-trained lawyer tells me the same. He adds that Bar-certified lawyers, like the ones who prosecuted Bundy, have sworn loyalty to the British government, whose statutes encourage sex with clients. “That’s what they do with all their clients.”
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Get a load of Sean Hannity’s bff:
The crowd, fresh off their victory at the Battle of Bunkerville, gives Bundy a standing ovation. But he doesn’t seem pleased. He reproaches the crowd for failing to follow the word of God – to the letter – which he says is being delivered through him. They failed, for example, to follow his instructions to tear down the toll booths at Lake Mead and disarm the Park Service.
“The message I gave to you all was a revelation that I received. And yet not one of you can seem to even quote it.”
Cliven continues, sermon-like: “The records of our bible — how long have they been kept? Thousands of years. They’ve been turned over generation after generation, buried, and all kinds of things happen to ‘em. And yet, here, something I felt was inspired [by God] and yet we haven’t even carried it forth for even a couple of days. Shame on us.” Smattering of clapping.
He goes on to explain that, although they managed to deter the BLM, they failed to do it “within one hour,” as the revelation had prophesied. So when an hour passes, he decides to get in his bulldozer and march on the BLM himself. The dozer gets stuck in the mud and he receives another revelation.
“It come to my mind real plain — the good Lord said, ‘Bundy, it’s not your job, it’s THEIR job.’ So we come back over here and heard that they had brought some cattle back. So I want you to understand,” addressing the crowd, “This is not my job, it’s YOUR job.
“This morning, I said a prayer, and this is what I received. I heard a voice say, ‘Sheriff Gillespie, your work is not done. Every sheriff across the United States, take the guns away from the United States bureaucrats.’” Lots of clapping for this.
That was followed by a group of politicians.
I think eccentric people are often drawn to events like these so that’s not a surprise. But Bundy himself was being canonized by right wing media for weeks and it was clear that he was a radical and a loon who thought God was telling him to do this stuff. You’d think they would have been just a little bit cautious about jumping on his bandwagon.
Erstwhile supporters Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Dean Heller condemned the racist comments as they should. But have they condemned these?
Every sheriff across the United States, take the guns away from the United States bureaucrats.
Is this kind of talk ok now?
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