The Confederate Flag and Politics
January 22, 2000
Several weeks ago, I spent the weekend in South Carolina, flying into Myrtle Beach and buzzing into Columbia just in time to fork over $120 for the Silver Elephant dinner and watch the Presidential debate.
The cheap flight from LaGuardia having run late (I would have made it in the same time if I had just driven from NJ to SC), I missed the cocktail hour and walked into this cavern of 3000 people. I’d never been to a Presidential debate before but it’s like any other, you don’t get the real feeling unless you watch it on TV.
The setting was a former home improvement warehouse with no acoustics. The whole event was made for TV and if you try to watch on a monitor and listen on speakers it isn’t the same. Grabbing the last Budweiser before the bar closed, I found a spot on the wall near one of the monitors (which didn’t work for the first five minutes of the show).
Now this was a real Bush room, this is the mainstream party Establishment. I’d heard a slew of McCain ads that revolved around the theme that people should vote for him because he was a POW and supports Clinton’s campaign finance scheme and he had some support here. As of the debate, McCain’s support seemed to be among the more conservative types in the state and seemed to be more of anti-Bush thing than anything else. That will change. I think McCain’s support overall is overrated and that Forbes and Bush will go head to head in the final analysis…more on that later.
I thought Forbes had an off night, he did better in Iowa last week. Bauer did good. My wife thought he was the best. Keyes was down from his earlier performances. He seems to be running out of steam. Bush was the clear winner. Not only did he have a built in crowd in his favor but also refused to support the PC call to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State House.
Any doubts that the flag would remain flying, in spite of the much heralded NAACP boycott of the state, were erased this weekend. Bush refused to attack the flag, sending a message to mainstream Republican types in the Palmetto state that it was ok to vote to keep the flag flying. The next day a crowd that was estimated by the media at 6,000 and which looked like twice that to me marched from a Confederate cemetery to the State House, half of whom were in Grey uniforms carrying rifles, to speak out for keeping the flag flying. Ironically, the parade marched down the same street burned by Grant at the end of the war.
I was impressed by several things. First was the unfriendly attitude taken towards Klan types, etc. One guy was made to take off an offending T-shirt. I couldn’t find any kind of literature that even bordered on “nutty” and found that everyone was “on message.” There was a lot of emphasis on blacks who fought for the Confederacy in one role or another, including descendants of war veterans. One aspect of the “Heritage 2000” weekend was the reading of the names of the 26,000 South Carolinians who died in the war. The last 10 names of the dead were read at the rally and consisted of a bunch of Jewish guys named Zimmerman. A true multi-cultural event.
There was a media blackout in South Carolina, yet the night before, everyone I spoke to in this “private club” that I am now a member of knew about it and half of them planned to attend. Word was spread over the internet, and was successful to the degree that the organizers appeared clearly stunned by the large size of the turnout. The aggressive use of the internet to generate interest in this rally clearly made it work.
This flag issue will grow in significance not just in South Carolina but elsewhere. This fall, my wife and I saw Lynard Skynard at the Meadowlands here in NJ. The biggest cheer came when a hundred foot long Confederate flag dropped down as they opened “Sweet Home Alabama.” Virtually every booth at the Sussex County fair (which next year will be the New Jersey State Fair) was selling Confederate merchandise.
Because the legislature’s approval is necessary for any change in the flag status, the issue will override all others in this year’s races. If Republicans hold the State House, which is highly likely, efforts to remove the flag will end. If they take the State Senate. You will see expanded efforts in other Southern states to provide recognition for the Confederate flag, seen by some as a symbol of heritage and others as a symbol of rebellion against political correctness.
I saw some very strong intensity on this issue, something the PC types in the media and others do not understand. This is a strong single issue vote. The “respectable” business and church interests in the state who switched sides and called for the flag to be taken down made a serious mistake here and will find that they will not be able to count on the “redneck vote” when the chips are down. Bush is smart enough to realize he cannot win the White House without these voters. McCain doesn’t believe in anything, and therefore is able to take the SCV and the NAACP position at the same time. This is why he isn’t going anywhere.
P.S. For those of you in New Jersey, go to www.stopthetest.com and sign the petition. I have to go for the new PC emissions test in February.
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