Georgia Flag Will Not Carry Rebel Battle Flag

CNN.com ^ | 04/25/03 | CNN

[lugsoul]

Georgia flag will not carry Dixie cross Friday, April 25, 2003 Posted: 10:30 PM EDT (0230 GMT)

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- The Georgia Legislature voted Friday to change the state flag to a version that echoes the Confederate battle emblem, but without the familiar Dixie cross that had led black lawmakers to promise an economic boycott.

Lawmakers agreed to quash any possibility of a referendum on reviving the Confederate battle emblem, which black lawmakers called a symbol of oppression and which had been a part of the bill.

If the measure is approved by Gov. Sonny Perdue, Georgia voters next March will choose between the temporary flag and the current Georgia flag.

[lugsoul]

Well?

[Phantom Lord]

Flaggots lose again.

[martin_fierro]

Story link

[goldstategop]

I predict voters will stay with the temporary flag. The NAACLP will never put up with it, which is a plus. Its time to move forward and deal with Georgia's future while the liberals and race poverty pimps are mired in the past.

[wimpycat]

The joke is on the anti-Confederate flag people, really. The new flag is a modification of the real Confederate flag, the real "Stars and Bars", only without the stars.

I don't know why the battle flag gets such bad press, while at the same time they don't care (or even know) about the real Confederate flag. But all they've done is swap one confederate symbol for another.

[goldstategop]

The NAACLP has been had. That's the only thing I really care about and as long as they don't bring Roy Barnes' creation back, it suits me fine.

[lugsoul]

No joke. It's actually simple - the Stars and Bars (upon which the new flag is based) [a] hasn't been used by skinheads, Klansmen, and various redneck hate groups as a symbol and [b] wasn't selected by the Georgia Legislature to "send a message" about desegregation. It isn't the Confederate history of the battle flag that is objectionable. It is the symbol of white supremacy that it has become - thanks to those who use it in that manner, and those who let them.

[lugsoul]

All reports are that Sonny will sign this bill. Gonna go ahead and mount your campaign to unseat him next time around? And the Republican majority in the legislature, too?

It is interesting that there has been little in the way of popular outrage over this decision.

[kcordell]

It is interesting that there has been little in the way of popular outrage over this decision.

That's because most Georgians just want them to pick one and shut up about it.

I noticed that the words "In God We Trust" have been removed. Is that correct?

[Savage Beast]

The one on the bottom is a definite improvement over the one in the middle.

[lugsoul]

Nope - it's just been moved to the blue field.

[lugsoul]

That's because most Georgians just want them to pick one and shut up about it.

I agree. But if you listen to the League of the South types, "the people" were adamant about getting their St. Andrews cross back - and that issue was the deciding factor in the gubernatorial election. I've not heard a single criticism of Perdue for going along with this compromise.

[kcordell]

that issue was the deciding factor in the gubernatorial election

This is not the case. This is the spin that's been placed on this issue.

According to Zogby's post-election poll, the flag came in 6th.

Teachers were the deciding factor in Gov. Perdue's election.

[lugsoul]

That was the reason for my qualifier - "if you listen to the League of the South types." Those who were pushing the flag issue have taken credit for Perdue's election. My view of that, regardless of polls, is that if we have gotten to the point where that issue can decide an election, we are bad shape.

[stand watie]

one would presume from your comments that you think PROMISES made to the PEOPLE of GA are to be freely broken, without consequences, just because the governor finds it convienient to break them.

FRee dixie,sw

[Constitution Day]

But all they've done is swap one Confederate symbol for another.

Exactly!

[lugsoul]

nope - I think a candidate should not be so stupid as to make promises he can't keep - either legally or politically. And I also think that the electorate should be smart enough to know a bill of goods when they see it. And anyone who really thought Sonny was going to ride the flag horse to the bitter end bought a bill of goods. He wasn't going to die on the St. Andrews cross -

Should he go? Hell, not because he finally made the smart choice on the flag. His stupid choice was riding it as an issue in the first place. But y'all go ahead and beat on him. Make him pay for not doing your bidding. See where rigid orthodoxy will get you. It ain't gonna get you a Governor - or legislators - that are MORE sympathetic to your views, that's for sure.

Sure wish you'd a taken me up on that offer for a side bet.

[stand watie]

i'm truly disappointed in sonny (& the GOP). in my book he has proved himself to be a scalawag/compromiser/liar.

i expect EVERYBODY to keep their promises, whether it's "convienient" or not.

had he directed, on his first day in office, that the "placemat" be taken down all over GA and the post-1956 flag put back up (saying that the TRUE FLAG of GA was being returned to it's proper status, until/unless the legislature changes it to a different design.), there wouldn't have been a complaint from a soul outside of a FEW leftist, hatefilled,racebaiting extremists in the DOMocRATS party & the power/money-HUNGRY racists of the naaLcp/splc.

otoh, he could/DID play footsie with the LEFT & racebaiters & thus comes out pleasing NOBODY. STUPIDITY REIGNS!

Free dixie,sw

[lugsoul]

As usual, your take on the mindset of the Georgia electorate seems a bit off. The biggest problem with this issue - and the reason he shouldn't have embraced it - involves the long-term impact of the 2002 elections. The outcome on this issue makes it far less likely that the state GOP will be able to maintain what happened in 2002 as a permanent (or semi-permanent) shift.