I thank you for your response, your respect and for your knowledge. I agree, the party limits our choices and then uses ‘scare tactics’ to force our votes. ‘ I knew this but tend to push it aside as it appears many of us have election after election…Silently, as robots, voting for less and less than what we deserve from our representatives…

A lesser of two (or more) evils is not good enough. Perhaps it is I that will join you in our efforts.

Thank you…
Pauline

If all that you say, about his voting record, etc, is correct, (and I have no reason to doubt it) it bothers me, even more, that Mr. Thompson did not exhibit the “courage of his convictions” when the pressure was on him to do just that.

I would have settled for the simply answer: “To fly the CBF, or not, is up to the people of the respective states and ONLY those folks. What I believe, or do not believe, has no bearing, at all, on the people of SC, or any state, as to how they honor their heritage. It is for the states to decide. It is, without doubt, a state’s right.” (Or something similar.)

Dear lady, I believe, Mr. Thompson is a fine man. I understand the passion in your defense of him. I have been accused of allowing a very small margin for error in those I entrust to represent me in our government. I plead guilty. Oftimes we are given such unpalatable choices, as candidates, that we are called upon to make the choice between what we have come to call the “lesser of two (or more) evils”.

As I have grown older, I find that I am no longer seduced, by my “political party of choice”, to the degree that I was in my youth. I have come to believe that as long as we maintain the two parties we have today, constituted as they are, then true conservatives will forever be presented with candidates WE WOULD NOT CHOOSE if the GOP did not believe the competing party/parties did not offer conservative voters an option (or options). I must say, I bristle at being taken so lightly!

Madam, I commend you for your defense of Mr. Thompson! Yours is an example of fortitude I find sorely missing in America today. Your passion is such that it gives me great pain to be unable to rejoin you in your efforts on Mr. Thompson’s behalf.

I remain, as ever,

Your Obedient Servant,

Longstreet

“The hundreds of thousands of Southerners who feel the same but for whatever reason, find it difficult, or distasteful, to express their support of their heritage publicly will not hesitate to do so in the privacy of the voting booth.”

This is so true…While I will never hesitate to support my heritage publicly, some do, and as you said, the support comes when they vote

Our flag represents the fight for state rights, for freedom from tyranny. Mr. Thompson has continually voted for and rallied for those rights. Check his record…

“Returning authority to the levels of government closest to families and communities—the states—and then protecting states from further intrusion by the federal government, the judiciary, and other states. ” Fred Thompson ‘Building Strong Families’ http://www.fred08.com/Principles/PrinciplesSummary.aspx?View=OnTheIssues

Consideration should be given to him on this matter. While (Mr?)Romney clearly showed contempt and hatred for our flag (our heritage, our people), Mr Thompson, on the other hand, did not. You could see the quandry he was put under in trying to answer…The struggle he had in finding the words to say….

While Romney has been spoon fed the Union education since birth and was (is) too ignorant to seek the truth for himself, Mr Thompson knows the truth. I believe his heart does stay true to his heritage and the beliefs and culture of his people. He shows it with his voting, where it counts.

Was the question itself planned by CNN (the true “scalawags and carpetbaggers”) to damage the Republican party, in particularly Thompson?…CNN clearly set out to destroy Mr. Thompson as obvious in the planted questions in the debate and the shoddy news reports afterwards.

The mere fact that CNN wanted to destroy him made me look at him. In doing so, I had to ask myself “What are they scared of?” I see what they are scared of…The ‘true-bred’ southerner who rallies for state rights in the White House. Read what this CNN reporter had to say about Southern bred candidates and winning back in October…

“Down-home could have downside for Thompson
There’s also this fact: While no Republican has ever won the party’s nomination without winning South Carolina, it’s also true that no true-bred Southerner has ever won this primary either.”
By Peter Hamby
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/06/thompson.sc/index.html

…I don’t know about you..But I will not let the likes of CNN (Clinton Nutty Network) eat one of ours…Don’t be so hasty to fall into their ‘traps’…I encourage you to read what others are saying….I encourage you to look at his voting record and listen to Mr. Thompson, compare it to the meaning of our flag. Mr. Thompson may have not given the ‘perfect’ answer in that debate, but surely he has and does represent our flag where it counts…in his voting.

“But, in many ways, this CNN presentation is a perfect example of the sort of spin that CNN specializes in making the lie to their claims of being purveyors of “news.” They are, instead, purveyors of spin designed to harm GOP candidates — in this case Thompson.”
http://conservablogs.com/blogsforthompson/2007/11/29/youtube-boobtubery-cnn-spins-thompsons-confederate-flag-stance/

1. Yankees, those that live up north…

2. Damned Yankees, they come down to visit, but go home…

3. Goddamn Yankees, they come south with a U-Haul, and stay…

It is never a wise decision to challenge the South… or a Southerner. I come from a state, for instance where dueling was just outlawed in the 1960’s. My grandfather killed a man in a stand up, out in the street duel… otherwise known as a plain old gunfight. That was my GRANDfather… not my great-grandfather, or great-great- grandfather. He carried a pistol round in his left shoulder ‘til the day he died at the age of 96. (Not to mention the double-ought buckshot over much of his upper torso.) It was “an affair of honor”.

I disagree with your assessment of the SCV but I do so with respect.

Oh, one other thing. Less anyone thinks we (The SCV) are singling out GOP candidates, at which to aim our ire, please understand that John Edwards, the Democrat candidate has said the CBF is a racist symbol, as well. He, too, is on the bull’s eye.

I remain in the cause as,

Your Obedient Servant,

Longstreet

Concerning Confederates and Blacks, a bit of research will discover that there were Blacks who fought on the side of the Confederacy. Yes, some were forced but many fought voluntarily.

http://www.forrestsescort.org/blacks.htm

http://www.37thtexas.org/html/BlkHist.html

Also, a bit off subject but still of interest was that in Mayor Nagan’s City of New Orleans, in 1860, 28% of Free Negros owned slaves. One owned as many as 152 slaves.

http://americancivilwar.com/authors/black_slaveowners.htm

BZ