This flags make me feel soooo...sick because it remends
me of The British Colonies which brought slaves to the
North American continent.
Coleman, you big
BABY!
Inflatable Hand + St George Cross
Coleman if you have a bone to pick speak
to these KINGS & Queens relatives!
Somebody likes this flag!
Now you've done it, Dick
November 3, 2003
Dick Gephardt may have given the Republicans an issue with which they can smack us over the head.
Republicans probably wouldn't have picked up on this. The only people who really care about the Confederate Battle Flag are certain Democrats. That's not my attitude, so don't flame me, but that's the way it is. If Dick Gephardt had kept his mouth shut, it probably would never have become an issue at all.
We do not need divisive issues like this to drive the 2004 campaign. If you think about it, Howard Dean has solved the "they want to take your guns away" issue by declaring it a state issue, saying there are already enough federal laws on the books to provide a template for the states to deal with their own gun issues. Taking this particular wedge issue off the table enables Howard Dean to focus his campaign on what really matters - the economy, Iraq, the unconstitutional parts of the PATRIOT Act, and so on. Win or lose, the Democratic nominee is relieved from the burden of having hundreds of NRA yahoos showing up at every campaign stop.
Believe it or not, the vast majority of people DO NOT equate the rebel flag with racism. People who put it on their vehicles (which are more likely to be pickup trucks than in other parts of the country), are the same people who also put the number of their favorite NASCAR racer on the back glass. To them, it is the same thing.
Unlike the Third Reich flag, the Confederate Battle Flag is freely available at just about every gas station, auto parts store, discount department store, etc., in the Southeast, even in black majority neighborhoods. I know. I used to live there. Heck, I bet I could survey gas stations and convenience stores in upstate New York and find rebel flag stickers with no problem at all. Yes, there is popular outrage at this particular symbol of our nation's past, but the time to express this outrage is after the election. Expressing it now is more likely to enrage more pickup truck driving Southerners than satisfy CBF opponents.
We could have, if Dick Gephardt hadn't opened his big mouth, kept this thorny issue off the table, just as we have the gun issue. The attitudes of those who run today's GOP on race is well-known. It should not require much effort for Democrats to compete with Republicans on racial issues, given their propensity towards gutting landmark laws aimed at ensuring equal opportunity for all Americans. It is patently ridiculous to suggest that the attitudes of any of the nine Democrats running for President resemble those of neoconservatives in any way. It is the neocons, after all, who (among other things) scour the nation for like-minded minority nominees for court appointments and such to keep Democrats from digging too deeply into their qualifications (or lack thereof) or their public records.
Howard Dean is making an attempt to relate to working-class Southerners, an admirable goal which many actual Southern Democrats have problems achieving. Whether this is a good idea for someone from Vermont by way of Long Island remains to be seen, but at least he's making the effort. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the same thing as going to Bob Jones University to tell its student body and administration he endorses their "values."