Rand Paul Condemns Cliven Bundy’s Remarks on Blacks

Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican and potential 2016 presidential candidate, joined a line of Republican and Democratic leaders on Thursday in denouncing Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher at the center of a standoff with the federal government over land use, for suggesting that blacks might have been better off in slavery. “His remarks on race are offensive, and I wholeheartedly disagree with him,” Mr. Paul said in a statement. The senator’s remarks came after he had offered support for Mr. Bundy’s case as the rancher resisted the federal Bureau of Land Management when it sought to confiscate his cattle because he was not paying fees for their grazing on public land. The government backed off after federal authorities encountered hundreds of Bundy supporters, many carrying guns, who had flocked to his ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., as the dispute intensified. With his remarks, Mr. Paul joined other Republican leaders — among them, Senator Dean Heller of Nevada — in assailing Mr. Bundy for comments published online by The New York Times on Wednesday evening after they had previously expressed support for the rancher...more