Why It's Okay to Hate Cliven Bundy

American Thinker ^ | 4-28-2014 | J.R. Dunn

[servo1969]

It has become clear that Cliven Bundy was transgressed by the New York Times, his words taken out of context and retailed in such a way as to mean something they were not. Bundy is no racist, and the attempt to make him look like one is another step downward in the collapse of American national media.

But conservatives still have a right -- in fact, a responsibility -- to be annoyed with Bundy.

To wit: Bundy did not walk, not stumble, did not swerve into the trap set by the New York Times. He was not ambushed, he was not taken by surprise. He instead ran full tilt and threw himself into that trap, exactly like the kid at the end of Million Dollar Hotel.

Bundy sat across from a reporter for the NYT, the most vicious, calculating, untrustworthy, and dishonest nest of vipers in the entire U.S. media network, and talked straight to him about matters of import and controversy, under the impression that he would understand and transmit his thoughts the way that he actually expressed them.

Nobody, a full century into the progressive era, seventy years into the epoch of big government, and fifty years after the mass media turned anti-American as a matter of course, has any right to do this. Nobody has a right to be that stupid, to be that ill-informed, or to be that self-centered.

Granted that Bundy, a lifetime Nevada rancher, is not the epitome of sophistication. He is not the typical Times reader, even for Nevada. He may well have never held a copy of the paper in his hands, much less read it. But that’s no excuse, because the status and nature of the New York Times has become a truism of American political culture.

[sickoflibs]

He seems attracted to those cameras like a fly to fly-paper.
But there are some who will defend anything he says no matter how dumb it sounds.

[driftless2]

Dunn does have a good point. I wondered myself why Bundy would choose to talk about a subject far removed from the controversy he was involved with. Obviously, the stooge reporter from the Slimes set a trap. And Bundy fell right into it. Nagourney could just have easily asked Bundy a question about homo rights or women's rights, and Bundy would have put his foot in his mouth about those topics. I rightly don't care what Bundy said concerning black people and slavery. He never said he wanted to make black people slaves again, he just said he wondered if they exchanged one form of slavery for another.

Naturally, the leftists twisted his words into a club they could beat him and conservatives with. And this is where Dunn really has a point. Any person who purports to lead a conservative cause does damage to all conservatives when they don't properly articulate their thoughts. Better to keep quiet about certain subjects than make us all wince.

[Jarhead9297]

What is it day 14 we are still talking about this tripe and not returning to the issue at hand?

[driftless2]

Yes, I understood what he meant too. But he should never have allowed a jerk like Nagourney to deviate from the main topic: federal overreach. When Nagourney started asking Bundy questions about blacks and/or race, Bundy should have stopped him right there and said he would only be answering questions about the fed. gov taking land. Nagourney knew that someone like Bundy would probably have non-lib opinions about many topics other than fed. land-grabbing. Why answer his stupid questions about race relations in the first place?

[TStro]

I was really annoyed at all the conservatives (for example, Shawn Hannity, who I can’t listen to because he isn’t that smart)who immediately jumped on this. So many who are supposed to be on our side are really ready to “eat their own” but let the other side slide. Hannity had Sharpton on his show many times and treated him as if he weren’t a race pimp.

[SatinDoll]

I do not believe BHO2 ordered that. It was the Democrat Party that ordered no campaign access to Fox News. He doesn’t know what he is doing - he is just following directions. That is why his administration is considered a failure, though so far successful in destroying the United States.

90% of the media is not worth talking to and thanks to online communications, one doesn’t have to in order to get a message out to the public.

[MortMan]

In other words - RANCHER Cliven Bundy isn’t a democrat politician (the republicans don’t do much better many days).

My only annoyance with him is that he should limit his discourse to the subject at hand - BLM and its terroristic tactics.

[driftless2]

I'm more on the side of Bundy than not, but that doesn't mean I have to accept everything he stands for. If he said he doesn't recognize the existence of the federal government, then he might be a real nut. The federal gov. is a constitutionally set up system....there's no getting around it. Bundy has a point when he argues over fed. overreach. Period. And it does seem he likes the attention. In short, I'm a little wary about making him to be some kind of hero. But that's beside the point.

The fed. gov. cannot just decide to grab land wherever and whenever it wants. And the same libs who are lambasting Hannity and other conservatives for hypocrisy about obeying laws, do not mind in the slightest when leftist agitators break laws or occupy and appropriate public areas for their causes.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

I don't think any thinking blames Bundy for stepping into it.

How many times was I quoted correctly? Not once. Not a single time. Reporters typically mangle quotes, misunderstand what you’re saying, shift contexts, or deliberately rearrange statements to make them work the way they want. (And there’s nothing you can do about this. Once you speak to a reporter, what you have said is the newspaper’s property. That’s right. Your words no longer belong to you -- according to their interpretation. Your statement is theirs, to do with as they see fit, with no input from you, the schmuck who merely spoke the words. Of course, there’s no legal backing for this whatsoever. But there’s no legal backing for airline baggage handlers destroying expensive musical instruments. Yet they still get away with it.)

"Once you speak to a reporter, what you have said is the newspaper’s property . . . Your words no longer belong to you."

Like the land Bundy's cattle was on.. it did not belong to him. He should undersstand that (article continues below)

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[sergeantdave]

Stupid article. Let’s stop being naive. Bundy could have been the second coming of Socrates and spoke eloquently and with sophistication, and still the neo-Nazi oinkers at the NYT would have judged him racist.

Fight fire with fire and call these leftist pigs Nazis. The smear makes them foam at the mouth and makes them physically act like Nazi punks. They will literally start throwing stuff, cry, scream and pound the table. Labeling them Nazis is the liberal’s Achillis heel.

[MrB]

I think everyone notice that the left reached immediately for their “magic word” in order to deflect from the government overreach and the citizens’ response.

[Elsie]

My only annoyance with him is that he should limit his discourse to the subject at hand - BLM and its terroristic tactics.

You want to CONTROL this person?

I say go

Joe, the Plumber

On the whole rat's nest!!

[MortMan]

I have no wish to control him. But my advice to him is that limiting his comments to the issue at hand will enhance his effectiveness in combating the BLM.

Just as he is allowed to express any and all parts of his opinions, I have expressed mine! ;-P

[JimRed]

He shot his mouth off without first considering the consequences. But then, which of us has not?

[Gritty]

The Race Card is the most powerful weapon in the tyranny arsenal. Even those on our side who should know better fall for it and plead to be known as “tolerant”.

[Elsie]

Smile!

[NorthMountain]

What needs to happen is for this racist accusation needs to blow up in their faces. Smart people need to figure this out.

Not just this racist accusation, but EVERY racist accusation. The idea of calling someone a racist needs to be exploded. The left no longer (if ever) uses it in a meaningful way; it's just a nasty label they apply, irrespective of the facts, to anyone whom they wish to destroy. Their behavior is no different from that of a Nazi with regard to Jews or a Maoist with regard to "intellectuals" or a Stalinist with regard to "counter-revolutionaries".

[Georgia Girl 2]

I’m annoyed at the left wing state run media and the communist totalitarian govt. Mr. Bundy on the other hand is a true patriotic American.