Thursday, April 24, 2014

HERE'S HOW BUNDY COULD BECOME A RIGHT-WING MARTYR/HERO AGAIN

Right-wingers are now distancing themselves from Cliven Bundy's racist remarks about "the Negro." But even if his conservative supporters in the media and in public office now want to hold him at arm's length, I assume his armed followers will stand by him, given the likelihood that many of them feel exactly the way he does about African-Americans, or at least don't consider his opinions a dealbreaker.

But will the right-wing media continue to keep its distance if there's another attempt to bring him to justice? No. Let me tell you what the right-wing noise machine's line will be in that case: Cliven Bundy was a martyr to political correctness. Yes, that's right: Sean Hannity and others will ignore his decades of defying the law and say he was fined/arrested/deprived of his cattle because of what he said about black people. He'll be a free-speech martyr.

He'll be compared to the Innocence of Muslims filmmaker and others the Obama administration is supposedly trying to "silence," including Dinesh D'Souza (charged with violating campaign finance laws by a federal prosecutor) and the tea party groups who had trouble getting tax-exempt status from the IRS. Conservatives such as Ted Cruz and Victor Davis Hanson have lumped those folks together as a class of people punished for speech in the Obama years, and Bundy will be added to the list.

Or there might be a different, non-Obama-centric list: Phil Robertson, Paula Deen, Brendan Eich. The liberal fascists destroyed all of them -- for speech! Bundy will be said to be the latest victim.

Trust me on this. If there's any attempt to hold Bundy accountable now, it will be said that his racist remarks were the real reason. Sean Hannity will be his biggest supporter again.

*****

(This and an earlier post are now edited to remove references to "Cliven Bunker." I'm not sure why I keep making that mistake -- maybe because much of the action in this story takes place in Bunkerville? I'm thinking of Archie Bunker? Or of end-of-the-worlders hunkering down in bunkers? Anyway, I think I've got his name right everywhere now.)

*****

Oh crap, I was probably confusing Bundy with Jethro Tull's old drummer. You cn tak the boy out of the '70s....)

14 comments:

Victor said...

Yup!
You certainly have your finger on the Conservative's pulse.

Now, if you could only reach-up and slice their jugular!

gocart mozart said...

Randy Weaver of Ruby Ridge fame was also a stone cold racist and that didn't stop him from being a conservative folk hero and freedom fighter. See (Weaver + christian identity)

W. Hackwhacker said...

"If there's any attempt to hold Bunker accountable now..." Love it, Freudian slip or not! His views really make him interchangeable with "Archie Bunker!"

BKT said...

I've begun hearing right-wingers comment that the BLM was only interested in getting Bundy's cattle off the federal land because they are opening it up to natural gas extraction via fracking. These comments paint the federal government as errand boys for Big Oil and petrochemical industries.

This puzzles me, since I haven't found anything to substantiate these claims, and I've never seen righties cry "Environmental foul!" in defense of their position before. Plus, why would the BLM care about Bundy's cattle getting poisoned by fracking chemicals if they're such overbearing thugs?

Anyone else seen this claim?

Steve M. said...

"If there's any attempt to hold Bunker accountable now..." Love it, Freudian slip or not! His views really make him interchangeable with "Archie Bunker!"

Or I'm thinking about apocalyptics hiding out in bunkers. Thanks -- fixed now.

I've begun hearing right-wingers comment that the BLM was only interested in getting Bundy's cattle off the federal land because they are opening it up to natural gas extraction via fracking. These comments paint the federal government as errand boys for Big Oil and petrochemical industries.

I heard that it was solar.

There is a solar project planned in the area, but nowhere near Bundy's ranch -- and the company that was planning the project terminated its agreement last year.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/conspiracy/nevada.asp

Danp said...

How do we know the gummint isn't trying to harbor UFO's there?

Anonymous said...

@Victor

Actually you don't want the jugular. It's a mess of veins, easy to botch the target, and more of an urban myth. The real target for a choke out, or knife shot is always the carotid artery.

It's faster, easier target, more important, and someone who's trained isn't going to fuck it up. You also take the pulse on the carotid as well, not the jugular.

Speaking from martial arts, basic emergency medical, and military training. It's always obnoxious when people screw this up.

aimai said...

Bundy will become a free floating signifier, untethered from reality. But they probably won't really bother to rehabilitate him as such--there are other short lived heroes of the right from Joe the Plumber to that guy who claimed to have been knocked down by some union thugs. The thing which is different about Bundy is that he has actually broken some federal laws. Eventually he'll be picked up and fined out of existence and he'll either go to jail or plead out of jail because he's nearly senile or too old and then he will attempt to go on the fox news grift but he won't be photogenic enough or good enough with the whole talking thing. He'll wash up on the fifth tier circuit, like a geek who is used to warm up the crowds.

Ten Bears said...

That land was Shoshone land before you white dogs showed up.

Soon, it will be Shoshone land again.

Food stamps for cows, bwahahaha.

No fear, only contempt.

Victor said...

Ten Bears,
Good to hear from you again! :-)

I was starting to worry!

Ten Bears said...

Thanks Vic, I lurk therefore I am.

No fear.

The New York Crank said...

If we do have another Ruby Ridge over Bundy, the guy will win an award. A Charles Darwin Award, for improving the future of the human race by removing himself from the gene pool.

Yours most crankily,
The New York Crank

Never Ben Better said...

Sorry, Crank, but he's already bred.

Victor said...

NBB,
Too bad he's not toast.