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(116,464 posts) Wed Apr 30, 2014, 11:25 AM Apr 2014

Dean Heller has second thoughts on Bundy

Dean Heller has second thoughts on Bundy

By Steve Benen

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) responded two weeks ago to the standoff at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch in very forceful terms. “Those people who hold themselves out to be patriots are not,” Reid said. “They’re nothing more than domestic terrorists.”

And while most Republican officials were reluctant to publicly disagree, Reid’s fellow Nevadan, Sen. Dean Heller (R) decided to stick his neck out. “What Sen. Reid may call domestic terrorists, I call patriots,” Heller said. “We have a very different view on this.” The Republican senator added that federal officials have “made a lot of people very uncomfortable” by trying to enforce federal law.

That, of course, was before Bundy’s jaw-dropping racism changed the political calculus. Heller is now reevaluating his position.

As criticism has mounted over the controversial Nevada rancher’s comments and tactics, the GOP senator is distancing himself from Bundy and his supporters after referring to them as “patriots” earlier this month.

“I am very quick in calling American citizens ‘patriots,’” Heller said in an interview. “Maybe in this case, too quick.”

You don’t say.

Heller went on to explain, “I want to make it very clear that I never called Bundy a patriot. And I believe Bundy should have been paying those fees.”

I haven’t found any evidence that the GOP senator specifically called Bundy a patriot, but let’s not lose sight of the context: Heller said, “What Sen. Reid may call domestic terrorists, I call patriots.” He appeared to be referring to the well-armed protestors and militia members who’d rallied to support Bundy in his crusade to ignore laws and court orders he doesn’t like – because he doesn’t believe the United States government exists.

- more -
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/dean-heller-has-second-thoughts-bundy