During Tuesday’s broadcast of Morning Joe, MSNBC correspondent Katty Kay led a discussion on the recent developments surrounding the standoff between the federal government and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. The Bureau of Land Management states that Bundy owes grazing fees over the past 20 years. Bundy has allowed his cattle to graze public land and has stated that he does not recognize federal law prohibiting him from doing so. This eventually led to a standoff between federal law enforcement and Bundy’s supporters.
Kay played a clip of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stating that this issue is not over. Basically, he said that we cannot have citizens deciding which laws they want to follow and ignoring the ones they dislike. This was followed by a clip of Mike Huckabee standing up for Bundy, saying that this is all just about blades of grass and that the federal government is grossly overreacting by sticking guns in private citizens’ faces.
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Kay followed up the playing of Huckabee’s clip by stating that Huckabee had ‘lost the plot a bit.’ Essentially, she was saying that Huckabee was completely letting Bundy off the hook, as she said Bundy’s actions aren’t libertarianism, they’re anarchy.
Somewhat shockingly, Joe Scarborough completely agreed with Kay. While Scarborough did try to place some blame on the BLM for acting aggressively with Bundy and his supporters, he pointed out that Bundy has been breaking the law for 20 years and needs to be acted against. He stated that every other rancher has to follow the same laws and that Bundy has to follow the rule of law.
Thomas Roberts ended the segment by highlighting that Bundy simply doesn’t believe in federal law; that he feels it doesn’t apply to him. Therefore, it is likely that additional action needs to be taken against him, above and beyond what would normally occur with a rancher who did not pay certain fees or taxes. This appeared to be a way from Roberts to refute some of Scarborough’s criticism of the BLM.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
