Confederate flag supporters upset by Romney, Thompson
November 30th, 2007 . by TexasFredAssociated Press - A group that supports the flying of the Confederate flag called two Republican presidential candidates “scalawags and carpetbaggers” Friday for their criticism of the divisive banner during this week’s GOP debate.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans said it was upset by remarks by former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. A news conference outside Romney’s headquarters is planned for Tuesday.
“This will kick off a concerted effort by the SCV to let scalawags and carpetbaggers know that the road to the White House hits a dead end when they smear the good name of our Southern ancestors,” Don Gordon, an official with the state division of the organization, said in a statement.
Romney’s South Carolina spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The flag, long seen as a symbol of racism by some and as an emblem of Southern pride by others, once flew atop the Capitol in this early voting state. A 2000 compromise removed it from the dome, though it remains on the Statehouse grounds and flies next to a Confederate soldier memorial beside one of the busiest streets in the city.
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Confederate flag supporters upset by Romney, Thompson
What do you expect from Romney?? He’s a Yankee, and we ALL know that Yankees just aren’t too bright, and as far as losing any respect for Romney, I didn’t have any to begin with, I wasn’t going to vote for the man anyway, under ANY conditions, so, as far as I am concerned Romney is a non-entity and of no consequence, his opinion of the Confederate flag means NOTHING to me.
When asked about the banner during the debate, Romney said, “That’s not a flag that I recognize.”
“My own view is that this country can go beyond that kind of stuff, and that instead we can do as a party what we need to do, which is to reach out to all Americans,” he said.
Romney is entitled to his opinion, I firmly believe that, and I support his right to speak that opinion, even if I don’t agree with it, regardless, Romney will NEVER have MY support, but now Romney needs to be asked this question, ‘Do you recognize the flag of the United Nations?’, I’d love to hear that answer.
Thompson, according to CNN.com, said he does not believe everyone who flies the flag is a racist. “I also know that for a great many Americans, it’s a symbol of racism,” he said.
I can’t fault Fred Thompson in any way for that statement, he spoke the truth, not everyone that flies the Confederate flag is a racist, but, regrettably, some are, that’s a fact of life and it will never change, but for MANY of us that flag does not, IN ANY WAY, represent racism or hatred, it represents our heritage and family histories, nothing more.
Sen. Thompson is dead on the money when he says that the Confederate flag IS a symbol of racism to a great many Americans, mostly to the ignorant among us who use the Confederate flag as a symbol of hatred and racism and the even MORE ignorant among us who believe that the Confederate flag was the cause of, or somehow represented the enslavement of a race and that it continues to cause the many maladies that race suffers even today, but as I said, they are the even MORE ignorant among us.
I won’t drop my support of Sen. Thompson for that statement, he spoke the truth, and the truth is NEVER out of season…
Arizona Sen. John McCain also has drawn the ire of the Sons of Confederate Veterans for comments he made after losing the 2000 primary here to George Bush.
While McCain echoed the then-Texas governor during their debate, he later said he had not been honest about his feelings and his ancestors who fought for the Confederacy “fought on the wrong side of American history.”
As to John McCain, he too is entitled to his own opinion, no matter that by voicing that opinion he has shown himself to be a ‘flip-flopper’, does that bring back any presidential campaign memories for you??
For me it all boils down to this, the Confederate flag is many things to many people, to some it represents hatred, to others it is heritage and history, I just thank God I am one of the chosen few to know that heritage is the heart of the matter and that hatred is reserved for the ignorant among us, no matter which side that hatred comes from.
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We’ve talked about this both during and after the debate and I agree with all this, I believe Fred was more than fair with his response and completely honest about it…
Mitt the Twit don’t know Shit.
The only thing that bothers me about the Confederate Flag issue is those that complain about it being a symbol of ‘white oppression’ convienently ignore the Cherokee that fought under the stars and bars. They also ignore that the flag really only had racist overtones within the last ten years when the idiots that do use it as a symbol of hate really started to loose their influence.
I’ve known plenty of guys that have flown the Confederate flag that don’t have a racist bone in their body.
Personally, my idea of a rebel flag is the Gonzalas (Come and Take it) Flag or the Gadsen (DONT TREAD ON ME) Flag and the symbol I use for my personal freedom is a Peacemaker.
Quite frankly, the SCV don’t factor. They are not a considerable voting element and, until they are (and that will never occur) they receive the consideration they are due. This is essentially a non-issue with me. Ho-hum. BFD.
BZ
Being a Yankee myself, born and raised in the Peoples Socialistic Republic of New York, I don’t usually weigh in on these matters of the Confederate Flag. I do know it’s not a symbol of racism because the Civil War was never fought over Slavery or freeing the Slaves. But, they’re people today on both sides that want it to be a symbol of racism.
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, if I may respectfully disagree with you on the SCV… please understand that the SCV is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re (I’m a Lt. Cmdr. of an NC SCV Camp.) the guys who are dedicated to what we believe enough that we don’t mind, in the least, expressing our support for Southern Heritage, including the CBF, publicly and defending it when it is necessary. 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. Therein lies the secret of the strength of the SCV’s power at the polls.
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 honorâ€.
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
BobF, you DO know that we consider Yankees to come in 3 types??
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…
I no longer live in NY; left when I enlisted back in the 70′s but I did do just about my whole military career at Northern Tier SAC bases. Now, I’m in Missouri.
BobF: Well, you’re getting better…
I know I”m a little late commenting on this - I’ve been buried deep in pre-Civil War South Carolina doing genealogy on Mark’s family for the past two days. I’m a big genealogy buff and being “part European, part Yankee”, have developed a great appreciation for the South since beginning this trek into history ten years ago.
Every one of his ancestors fought for the South. While most of them are buried in Arkansas, Sam Reep is buried at the battlefield in Franklin, Tennessee. We have the Confederate battle flag hanging beside the US Flag in honor of these men.
It is those with an agenda who turned the battle flag into something it isn’t, brainwashing skulls full of mush in our government run schools to believe it has to do with racism.
I’m using “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the South”, along with letters, photos and documents from Mark’s ancestors to teach our son about the Civil War.
For us, the battle flag is a piece of our history - and flown with prid e for the men who fought bravely for what they believed. And…. anyone who thinks it is a symbol of racism is misguided, misinformed or has an agenda beyond what the flag means.
Ok, I’m done with my rant and going back to South Carolina in the 1860s.
Mr. 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/
Thank you, Pauline, for your thoughtful comment. Although I cannot totally agree with you, I must say, in all candor, I sincerely hope I am wrong.
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) evilsâ€.
As I have grown older, I find that I am no longer seduced, by my “political party of choiceâ€, 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
Mr. Longstreet,
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