The Sophomoric Illogic of Allen Guelzo

Would you think it was odd if John McCain and Barak Obama both agreed that 2 + 2 =4? Or that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west? Or that there are 5,280 feet in a mile? Well, you would if you were a student of one Allen Guelzo, one of the countless Lincoln idolaters whose books read like defense briefs in The War Crimes Trial of Abraham Lincoln.

A friend sent me a link to a commentary of Guelzo’s on the web site of the Churchill/Lincoln cult where he reviews a book written by fellow cultist who claims to have “vindicated” Lincoln of all his war crimes and other misdeeds.

Yours truly is mentioned, in the context of an extremely dumb step in illogic. Isn’t it odd, Guelzo asks, that an “eminent” leftist like historian Howard Zinn, and an “eminent libertarian” like myself agree that Lincoln was a racist and a white supremacist? The answer of course, is “no,” it’s not odd at all. The truth is the truth, regardless of where one stands on the political spectrum. All one needs to do is to read Lincoln’s own words and, more importantly, learn about his actions. But facts are not Guelzo’s strong point. He specializes in using religious rhetoric, as opposed to logic and history, in all of his his defense briefs of America’s greatest war criminal.

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8:05 am on June 26, 2008