MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Bundy Standoff

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

MADDOW: Are they better off as slaves? That is what`s causing lots of conservative media outlets and Republican politicians into a fire sale of their Cliven Bundy American hero stock today. It maybe should have been a tipoff that this is where he was coming from when Mr. Bundy said he only recognizes the authority of the county sheriff and that in his mind, the federal government does not exist.

If Mr. Bundy did recognize the federal government as existing, he would need to know that this is his congressman, Nevada Congressman Steven Horsford, represents the district where Mr. Bundy`s ranch is located in Nevada.

Congressman Horsford, I know this is a trying time for you. Thanks very much for being with us tonight.

REP. STEVEN HORSFORD (D), NEVADA: Thank you, Rachel.

MADDOW: So, this obviously has become a national story -- a very hyped national story. What are the most pressing concerns for your constituents regarding this situation?

HORSFORD: Well, thank you for asking me that question and having me on. Actually, I spent the day in Mesquite, meeting with residents who actually live in Bunkerville, who are neighbors of Cliven Bundy, who live in the Moapa Valley community.

And they, like myself, are extremely frustrated by the fact that we have these armed militia in our community, the fact that children in Bunkerville, which is a community of only about 1,200, 1,300 people cannot walk around the corner to their school without armed militia on the hills of our community, that they can`t go to church on Sunday without armed militia being in or around the church because Cliven Bundy is there and the armed militia are there.

And his comments today do not reflect our community. They don`t reflect the majority views of Nevadans or the Western way of life and the way that most of us feel.

They are racist. His comments were racist. They are infused with bigotry and hatred. And they belong in the dustbin of history.

He profiled the African-American community, and it`s so ironic and hypocritical because he says that people don`t understand his way of life, but yet he would profile and make judgments about another community`s way of life.

He`s wrong. He`s racist. And we need to have the armed militia leave our communities.

MADDOW: Because there has been such widespread attention to these remarks that he made over the weekend and that he reiterated today after the publicity, my sense is that the conservative media and a lot of the Republican politicians who have really front-paged his story, who have made him a national history, I have a sense that that will wane now, that that will die down some because they`re embarrassed to be associated with these racist comments.

Do you -- locally, though, in terms of your district and Mesquite and Bunkerville and these communities, do you have a sense that this is going to calm down, that this is going to become a safer and less stressful situation?

HORSFORD: Well, that`s what we want. That`s what the residents of Bunkerville and Mesquite and Moapa Valley want. The conservative media and the Republican elected officials who spoke out calling Cliven Bundy a hero when in fact his comments are anything but.

And we want the armed militia to know that we want you to leave. That`s what the residents told me today. The neighbors of Cliven Bundy told me that they want their community back, that they want it to be back to normal, and that this doesn`t reflect our community.

And these people are not here to solve local land use problems. They have come with an agenda. And that agenda doesn`t belong in Mesquite, in Bunkerville, in Moapa, or any place in Nevada.

MADDOW: When you are talking to your constituents and when you`re traveling to the different in your geographically very, very large district -- when you talk to other people in the line of work, same line of work as Mr. Bundy, when you talk to other people who are using big tracts of land, whether they`re ranchers or farmers or any other kind of large land use employed in that way, are you hearing sympathy on the issues for him, whether or not there is sympathy for him personally?

HORSFORD: In fact, some of the ranchers that I met with today and that I`ve met with previously feel like he is breaking the law, that he`s getting special treatment, because we have a lot of responsible ranchers who have paid their grazing fees, who have cooperated to move their cattle to other areas, and were compensated fairly for doing so, but because Cliven Bundy doesn`t want to follow the law he is trying to hold himself out as some type of victim here, and it`s not reflective of other responsible ranchers who have done the right thing, who have paid their fees, and who recognize the rule of law.

MADDOW: Congressman Steven Horsford, dealing with an unusual and I`m sure very stressful situation in your home district with one of your constituents -- thank you for being with us, sir. Good luck to you.

HORSFORD: Thank you, Rachel. Good to be on your show.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source