Bundy supporters say the media has taken Bundy’s comments about slavery out of context. They provide further comments made during the interview that the New York Times left out:

We’ve progressed quite a bit from that day until now, and sure don’t want to go back; we sure don’t want the colored people to go back to that point; we sure don’t want the Mexican people to go back to that point; and we can make a difference right now by taking care of some of these bureaucracies, and do it in a peaceful way.

They say that taken in the full context, Bundy’s comments come across as “pro-black and pro-Mexican” and anti-federal government for not providing adequate assistance to minorities.