Huck and the Confederate flag

I have a neighbor who flies the Confederate flag on the same flag pole and just under the American flag. (I live in a northern state if that matters.) My heart hurts a little bit every time I go by. He has every right to do this, but I think less of him for it.

Why do Republicans keep supporting the confederate flag. Why do they keep going to talk at Bob Jones University (Bob Jones daughter was my Sunday school teacher)? Notice how McCain has his adopted daughter out front so that he cant be hit again by those rumors that he had a baby with a black woman? Willie Horton ring any bells? The answer is pretty simple. All those southern democrats who left after the civil rights acts were passed are alive and well in the southern Republicans. Over the years the number and percentage of out and out racists have decreased but there are lots still there and there votes count too.

Is Huck a racist? I doubt it but its clear he is not above appealing to those kind of base feelings to get a few more votes. Is this just being PC? I dont think so as it is very clear that symbols can be very important to people. Wasnt it the Republican party that wanted a law against burning the American flag? If private individuals want to fly the confederate flag so be it (or the hammer and sickle for that matter). We should not be flying it over public facilities when it is so clearly a symbol of evil, torture, death and sin to so many Americans.

Steve

What an embarrassment. This guy is an ordained minister? Doesn't he undestand: in Christianity, you pick up your cross and burn the Confederate flag; not the other away around.

Jack Cafferty cracked wise on CNN this afternoon that people who decide who ought to be president in this country based on how they feel about the Confederate flag flying over South Carolina are too dopey to vote. Said Cafferty: "We got real problems in this country, and that flag ain't one of 'em."

I agree with everything Rod says up to this point. But it's this point at which Southerners who are not racists will support the Confederate flag. Comments like Caffertys are a sign of contempt and the South is still as close as the US has to an honor culture -- and that sneering superiority, the North=enlightened, South=backward polarity is guaranteed to produce the middle figure. Today, the Confederate flag and related issues of school- and street-naming is a pure backlash issue. But, as a gesture, it's a response to a real form of cultural-social contempt and thus as valid a political issue as any other form of identity politics.

" I regret that Huckabee picked up this issue today in an attempt to exploit regional resentment for his campaign's benefit. I truly don't believe that's the kind of man he is."

The fact is, we are truly seeing the kind of man he is. He'll say what needs to be said to get to where he wants to be. That's why he'll say he's for homeschoolers then pass a bill restricting their rights. That's why he'll be a "Federalist" on the life amendment until he realizes that he needs to support an amendment. That's why he'll be an amnesty guy until he needs a "get tough" deportation plan. That's why he'll beg for any new tax revenue and then become a "Fair Taxer." Huckabee has few core policies, he's willing to move with the political trade winds. He's in South Carolina and he knows this helps him. And that supporters will excuse this behavior because they believe they know the "real Huckabee."

Did you hear that he wants to take McCain Feingold and restrict speech even further too? He was asked about the people who are "push-polling" for him in SC and said in an NPR interview,

"I personally wish that all of this was outlawed. I think that every candidates should speak for themselves, and that every thing that involves the candidate's name or another candidate's name should be authorized and approved by that candidate, otherwise it shouldn't be spoken...."

Everything that involves the candidates name must be approved by that candidate? Does that mean you'll now need Huck's approval before publishing his name in your newspaper or this blog? How do you define censorship?

But I'm sure you'll reassure us all Rod that Huckabee really isn't the kind of man who would do such a thing. Right? After all, you know the real Mike Huckabee.

My issue with government buildings flying the Confederate flag has always been pretty straightforward: it is the flag of a nation other than the United States of America. Massachusetts doesn't fly the Union Jack, Texas doesn't fly the Mexican flag, Louisiana doesn't fly the tricolors of France. That the stars-n-bars is a symbol of treason against the Union is all the more reason for it not to be flown over official government buildings.

Huck's pandering here is intensely unbecoming.

Obviously race isn't the issue, pandering is -- he wants to assert that he's for states rights (distancing himself from his national smoking ban) and this probably looked like an easy way to do it.

No more dopey than anyone who would vote on who ought to be ... first example of hundreds to jump into my head ... senator from Virginia based on knowledge of tropical primates and slurs in foreign-languages.

Professor Beckwith, I'm aware of that. But since that particular flag is ALSO the official flag of the State of Texas, one of the 50 United States of America, it's somewhat different. The Confederate flag, by itself, signifies only the short-lived Confederate States of America. That it also appears or has appeared within other state flags is frustrating to me, but doesn't quite cross the line that SC did.

As a North Carolinian, I see the Confederate flag all the time. It's not a symbol of Southern heritage, it's not a symbol of regional pride. It's a symbol of Southern resentment and bitterness and insecurity. Insufferable Yankees aren't reason enough to continue to celebrate the sins of the past as virtues.

Allen:

You get no argument from me. Whenever I see the Confederate Flag I think of it as nothing more than a swastika with a southern accent.

Frank

I guess I'm in the minority on this one because the flag doesn't bother me. I realize though that because I'm black I'm supposed to be all up in arms about it. . .

Growing up in NYC I was taught that it was a symbol of racism, and I know for some folks it is, but honestly, I've also met enough white southerners for whom the flag is really just an expression of southern pride. I mean, I've sat down and had long, soul-baring conversations with a coupla friends about this issue, southern white people I respect. As someone who used to sport a wooden "black power" fist around my neck in the second grade -- ahh the 70s -- I can't get too mad about it.

Just because you're pro-something doesn't necessarily mean you're anti-someone else. I feel the same way about Obama's church affiliation.

You can call the confederate flag issue trivial if you wanna. But where I come from, people who waved that flag also put on white sheets. I'm sure there are some people for whom that flag has no racial implication. But I'm also sure those people are in a vast minority.

I was about to vote for Huckabee, and vote R for the first time. Not any more.

I'm not sure how anyone can say with any authority that one speech is the true Huckabee and another one isn't. The fact that he can say exactly what two different groups want to hear doesn't necessarily mean that they are both lies, but it doesn't say a lot for Huckabee's integrity.

That being said, yeah, the Confederate flag is flown largely because of resentment. But I think that the refusal of many Americans to show the South some respect and understanding only fuels Southern resentment and gives Huckabee's rhetoric its power.

Victor:

Why do you say it's a trivial issue when clearly the battle flag is NOT a trivial issue to you?

Just as it is not a trivial issue to the African-Americans of South Carolina -- leaders like Jim Clyburn and heroes like the ones who went through the Orangeburg Massacre (and the three who died).

Rod: "Anyway, Jack Cafferty cracked wise on CNN this afternoon that people who decide who ought to be president in this country based on how they feel about the Confederate flag flying over South Carolina are too dopey to vote. Said Cafferty: "We got real problems in this country, and that flag ain't one of 'em." Yep."

I would suggest that the same could be said of those who would vote based on how they feel about the candidate's minister. But such is the current political climate in America. Guilt by association is simply another tool in the politicians arsenal, to be used when it suits him/her.

However, unlike the "issue" surrounding Obama's minister, this actually involved something that the candidate himself did and said. Where Obama has clearly stated on several occasions that he does not agree with his minister, we have yet to hear Huckabee recant anything he has said on this issue.

No one likes to be told what to do unless the individual would do it anyway. Why not pick the hot button for the South? Does anyone know if hw was making a point other than we don't like to be told what to do? Because I could see this going somehwere truly exciting if he followed up those comments with something to the effect of: But we all know we need to do what is right. We need to honor those with whom we disagree. We must work to both not offend and not take up offense. We ought to do what we are able to live at peace with one another. Of course I have no clue what Mr. Huckabee said of meant by what he said. I hope it wasn't as small minded as it seems from this post and the CNN article. He was after all reported to be in the company of the Gov. who called for the flag's removal.

I'm with allen on this - Huck seems to have amstered the combination of pandering and faux sincerity. Rod, he seems like someone who read Wendell Berry and tell you that he took it to heart, but I'm guessing it wouldn't make him adopt community-friendly policies. I think he's taken St. Paul's message of "be all things to all people" the wrong way.

MargaretE, those "state rights" folks are all upset about losing was about owning Africans, right?

As for Huck, we need to start calling him "Joe" and ask him if he still believes his daughter is the sexiest thing alive.

MargaretE, those "state rights" folks are all upset about losing was about owning Africans, right?
Posted by: harvey lacey | January 18, 2008 8:11

Also integrating public facilities, fair housing laws, and equal employment regulations.

Posted by: John E. | January 18, 2008 8:27 AM

Once again, proof positive that southerners are the one "minority" that it's still okay to freely malign and stereotype. You enlightened liberals kill me with your selective tolerance.

You drive around here in rural Pennsylvania and you can see the Battle Flag all the time. As James Carville once said, Pennsylvania has Philadelphia in the east and Pittsburgh in the west and Alabama in between.

The flag doesn't bother me. It's too complex a symbol to discern the reasons or motives for why one would display it.

Well Huck which one is it? the Confgederate flag or the cross of Christ?

Governor Huckabee, the politician has a problem directly related to Reverend Huckabee, the pulpiteer. Both are inclined to craft witty, pithy sound-bite worthy statements which resonate with the listener and are designed to stick in the consciousness somewhere. However, the politican needs be mindful of political correctness and an audience not likely to be 100% friendly to his message. The preacher's polemic falls on the ears of the already or very nearly converted clearly disposed to find his comments agreeable. Brother Huckabee forgets which group he is addressing and most often reverts to type, preacher, not politician. In my days as a pastor, and there is a difference between a preacher and a pastor, I often felt I compelled to be more of one than the other. My experience over time is the line between the two is murky as Jerry Fallwell, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton all demonstrate. Is Mike Huckabee in the same league with these three lesser pastoral lights? Absolutely not! His comments on the Confederate flag are an example of a sound-bite designed to tickle the ears of supporters and parishioners. Stupid, insensitive, and ill-timed, to be sure. What is really in his heart of hearts? Only he and God know for sure. Steve Kirk writes Making Perfect Sense at www.theperfectsense.com.

Come on, Margaret, that's not fair. I happen to like Huckabee and hope he prospers politically, but I don't think he's the second coming or anything. I think he has the potential to be a transformational figure in Republican politics and in American conservatism, but the transformation would not be revolutionary. I think Obama is a far more transformational figure, and not just for the Democratic Party.

Posted by: Rod Dreher | January 18, 2008 10:03 AM

Sorry, Rod. That "Messiah" comment was a little over-the-top. I apologize. I really like Huckabee, too, and have just been a little disappointed in his campaign over the last few days. Didn't mean to take it out on you! (Chalk it up to the stress of having to vote tomorrow and being completely undecided... I wish there WERE a Messiah on the ballot....)