Howard Dean: "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags"

Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. Praises Dean on Bringing Economic Agenda to the South

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood."-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., March on Washington, August 28, 1963

"White folks in the South who drive pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us because their kids don't have health insurance either, and their kids need better schools too."-- Dr. Howard Dean, DNC Winter meeting, February 21, 2003

Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., today said, "This year we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's famous speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Forty years later, Dr. Howard Dean is reminding us that the great task of uniting the northern black and white urban poor and working class, with the southern black and white rural poor and working class around common economic issues good health care, high quality schools, and affordable housing is the key to wrestling our democracy away from the race-oriented Republican right-wing.

"Democrats were not competitive in the South in 2000, and we have struggled to thrive, and in some instances survive, since Richard Nixon and the Republican Party began using their race-based 'southern strategy' in 1968. The use of race, cultural and social issues have served to distract voters by keeping the focus off of economic issues has been the basic strategy of Bush and the Republicans in the South. That's why they make wedge issues out of prayer in school, the Ten Commandments on public buildings, civil unions, the false allegation that Democrats will take away hunters' gun rights, choice for women, the controversy of having the words 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Confederate Flag. Lest we forget, the Confederate Flag is the Democratic Party's historic contribution to the South, and current Democratic candidates have not been able to figure out how to come to grips with their own historic symbol.

"Normally, rather than directly confronting poor and working class white southerners with a strong economic agenda, Democrats have tried to imitate Republicans on many of these social issues. It is good that we have a candidate offering hope to the South with an economic agenda. It is Dr. Dean who is reminding us that the combination of poor and working class blacks and whites, north and south, united in coalition around a common economic agenda of jobs, health care, education and housing will constitute a winning strategy in 2004," concluded Cong. Jackson.

"If I said I wanted to be the candidate for people that ride around with helmets and swastikas, I would be asked to leave," Al Sharpton, November 1, 2003.

Nice job Howard! How about Trent Lott for a running mate? Allow me to paraphase..." I want all you rednecks out there that think dubya is yer man to vote for me!" Maybe he can learn a few guitar licks from "Sweet Home Alabama" or "All My Rowdy Friends". You cannot get a redneck to vote for anyone other than Bush! It simply cannot be done. It's a law of physics! Just turn on CMT (if you can stand it) and notice all the supprt for Bush. These people eat their young...look what they tried to do with the Dixie Chics.

I was on the Dean bandwagon early on, but he has too many times illustrated that he will do or say anything that he believes will get him the vote. In other words, he stands for nothing other than his own political aspirations. Better this comes out now than after the convention. My money says his comment about the "confederate flag" buries him.

The neocon Sunday talk show circus will have a a field day with this along with right wing talk radio. Good bye Howard.

pete

Raised in the south... now a true Cascadian. But I'll tell ya'll, for most of the southern good old boys riding with Confederate flag in their truck, the symbol ain't about slavery or racism, it's about resistence to central authority. It's about a section of country taking its own way, separating from US monster and starting over again.

Ain't that what we want to do here?

That may be what *you* think of when you think of it. But you can bet that that isn't what Dean is talking about when he talks about that flag.

Sharpton Calls Dean's Agenda 'Anti-Black'
By Brian Faler
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, October 29, 2003; Page A08

Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton launched a blistering attack on Howard Dean yesterday, accusing his rival of promoting an "anti-black agenda."

"Howard Dean's opposition to affirmative action, his current support for the death penalty and historic support of the NRA's [National Rifle Association's] agenda amounts to an anti-black agenda that will not sell in communities of color in this country," Sharpton said in a statement.
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31895-2003Oct28.html

Personally I think Dean is a political genius. Not only does he have to say things like this to get votes from the South to win I think he's also doing it to test candidate waters -- to see how other candidates react and let time and the public decide. Gephardt predictability reacted the most -- suggesting to pundits more and more everyday Dick may switch parties as he's a bona fide traitor to the Democrats with the way he has strategically, inconsistently voted conservatively.

Let's look at history. Abe Lincoln did get the Emancipation Proclamation out on 1/1/1863 (beta version was released on 9/22/1862) but Abe was very careful in how he approached publicly endorsing emancipation because it was a transition for both the North and "neutral" states' economic interests against the secessionist states' interests. Dean can't say he's against the South, nor can he publicly acknowledge the South's racist history so he says something harmless that's taken out of context by the conservative, Bilderberger media who wants a puppet like Gephardt or Edwards in power:

( http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/bios/16plinc.html)

"With Senator Douglas running for reelection in 1858, Lincoln was recognized in Illinois as the strongest man to oppose him. Endorsed by Republican meetings all over the state and by the Republican State Convention, he opened his campaign with the famous declaration: "`A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of seven joint debates, and these became the most spectacular feature of the campaign. Douglas refused to take a position on the rightfulness or wrongfulness of slavery, and offered his "popular sovereignty" doctrine as the solution of the problem. Lincoln, on the other hand, insisted that slavery
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
was primarily a moral issue and offered as his solution a return to the principles of the Founding Fathers, which tolerated
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
slavery where it existed but looked to its ultimate extinction by preventing its spread. The Republicans polled the larger
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
number of votes in the election, but an outdated apportionment of seats in the legislature permitted Douglas to win the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
senatorship.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

...

Strongly opposed to slavery, Lincoln made a sharp distinction between his personal views and his public responsibilities. He had been elected on a platform that pledged not to interfere with the "peculiar institution" in states where it already existed and had sworn to uphold a Constitution that protected Southern rights. From the first day of the war, however, he was under pressure from the more extreme antislavery men in his own party to strike at slavery as the mainspring of the rebellion. Counterbalancing this pressure was the need to conciliate opinion in the border states, which still recognized slavery but were loyal to the Union. Any move against slavery, Lincoln feared, would cause their secession."

Wow, so Dean's discovered the secret of the vote in the South? Bringing up the confederate flag?

I hate to tell you, political genius that invokes these images is not something to aspire to, nor to vote for, thinking we won't have him turn on all of us the same way he'll grovel at any cost for votes.

Bringing up Lincoln won't save Dean on this one.

"That may be what *you* think of when you think of it. But you can bet that that isn't what Dean is talking about when he talks about that flag. "

Spoken like a true Republican: you distort the truth in favor of the version that you like the most, in the face of evidence to the Contrary.

You should get a job on FOX news, Fred.

 http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/712/index.php

((BTW it is Wesley Clark who creates the divisiveness whereof he speaks.))

Thank you Jesse Jackson for putting me back on track

Where? What evidence do you have to the contrary? Why don't you post it.

Antigreen? O-kay . . . .

The issues that were central to the conflict that begat the Civil War have been systematically distorted and covered up by the same foreign banking interests that our founding father, George Washington, warned the future generations to be wary of.
The issue has been carefully redefined as a racial issue to cloud both black and white people from examining the truth. The issue of slavery being incompatible with the Bill of Rights and the Constitution was already being debated and the people were moving forward towards resolving the issue through peaceful application of the law. The British bankers brought slaves to the southern states and then used this as a divisive issue for breaking up the union. The last thing they wanted was for the US to solve this issue using our "new" laws. The taxation of the southern farmers, who relied upon the free labor of slaves, by the Federal governement was the last straw.
Many letters, newspapers, congressional records and other historical documents point up the real reason for the Civil War as being economic and the fomenting of the war between the states as originating from European banker.
Today these bankers own the private federal reserve banking system which controls our government. The issues that were never resolved by the Civil WAr still haunt our nation today and slavery(discrimination) is still used as a distortion of the truth of the ecomnomic enslavement of black and white as well as the entire world, by these parasitic globalists.

The Confederate Flag IS American. The so-called Civil War re-united the divided country. The Southern Rebels were brought back into the Union. Veterans of both sides of the battles over the future of America met for reunionions. They reconciled their differences: Why can't modern Americans? The Confederate flag was a symbol of rebellion against a nation founded by rebels. It was a revolt against an all-powerful, central government that was not what the sovereign states joined when they entered the Union. Whenever Americans feel their liberty is in danger they go to war against their oppressors. It was not necessary to fight a war to end slavery: England didn't do it. I believe the United States is the only nation in the world that fought a war to end slavery!

[The anti-slavery radicals were like today's rabid anti-abortionists. I am anti-abortion but I don't believe it's right to attack abortion "clinics" and the doctors who commit these cruel "murders". The law of the land needs to be attacked, not the people.]

The South did not start the "Civil War". They seceded peaceably. The Yankees moved troops into Fort Sumter when there was an agreement to keep troops in place until a peace commission could meet. Calls for the utter destruction of the South were issued by Yankee newspapers BEFORE the loss of the first soldier. In the battle for Fort Sumter, a mule was killed!

It doesn't change the fact that the confederate flag is racist. People can talk all they want about it being a symbol of "rebellion" but what blacks in the south (where I grew up and lived most of my life) have told me is that when they see that flag they know they are not welcome or safe. Although I hate to reinforce the stereotype the south is a very racist place (although not really any more so than anywhere else in the country) and what differentiates it is that people are often very proud of their racism. They flaunt it, with jokes, by displaying the confederate flag, and with antagonism. Personally, like many, I like the rhetoric that southerners try to dress the confederate flag in. I'm all for the idea that bioregional areas should have the right, and perhaps the duty at this point, to secede. But that still does not change the fact that the war was about slavery, whether it be the "economics" of slavery or a "states right" to allow slavery. I would suggest that if people in the south want to have a symbol of rebellion they choose a different one. The confederate flag is not only a symbol of racism, but one of failure as well. And all the pretty rhetoric in the world cannot change that and just serves to insult the intelligence of all.

As if any Southerner didn't already know, Howard Dean doesn't know anything about the South. And the last thing a politician from Vermont should do is go down to Virginia, North Carolina or Tennessee and start telling people what they "should" be doing if he or she wants to win any votes.

It may surprise everyone else -- especially from the Northeast and the left coast -- but I'm from the South, I'm not stupid, and I'm actually not ashamed of it.

And yes, there are guys with trucks with Confederate decals, but most of them are not racist.

Understandably, some people think so. The Civil War is believed to be a war entirely about the distgusting institution of slavary, and radical racist groups like the Klan have adopted the Confederate flag, giving the flag a bad name by association.

But that's not the point most Southerners are trying to get across with the flag. Would Mississippi still have Confederate state flag if everyone in state believed the flag stands for the KKK and racism?

Probably not. If you think so, you just denounced about 80% of Mississippi's white population as racist, and that's a perfect example of Dean's condescension. Remember, Mississippi is about 35%-38% African-American.

Most of us Southerners fly the flag because our ancestors fought in the Civil War (like my ancestors), and -- because it's a "rebel" flag -- it stands for individual independence from mother government and many Southerners are just plain tired of the condescension from the media and other elitists have for people from the Southern states (i.e. "Well you know, those Southernors are just a bunch of gun-toting, Bible believing, stupid, right-wing racists") .

For most Southerners, the Confederate flag is about heritage and a perfect way to stick a big middle finger up to the rest of the country -- who, of course, are smarter, more refined and just generally better than any stupid Southerner -- at least that's what you guys keep saying.

"And yes, there are guys with trucks with Confederate decals, but most of them are not racist. "

I disagree. Every time I talk to someone displaying a confederate flag within 5 minutes a racist remark comes out of their mouths. My guess is that like many people in the south you are just desensitized to the racism because you hear and see it every day, just like I do.

I think the poster above was right; if people in the south want a flag of rebellion they should use one that's not tied to slavery and racism and one that isn't a symbol of abject defeat.

James Loewen wrote quite a bit about the south that might be of interest to people here. What he wrote was that the south actually won the war because they controlled what people thought about the war afterward. For example, go to Richmond VA and marvel at all the confederate flags that are displayed. Richmond was deliberately set on fire by the confederates (despite promises by the government that they would not ever burn Richmond) and hence the people of Richmond welcomed the union soldiers. The same is true of many cities and towns in the south. But you would never no that today because southerners have been told that supporting the confederacy is part of their "heritage". Well, for some it is, and for many it isn't, but most people in the south remain blissfully unaware of how much of the south did not want to secede and did not support the confederacy.

Again, you can talk all you want, and everyone understands that you're just regurgitating the things you've been told all your life, but the civil war was about slavery. It was about wanting the right to treat people as property. It was about not wanting the federal government to tell people that they couldn't own other people. That's what it was about; it's time to accept it. Your hollow statements to the contrary will simply not convince anyone other than those who wish to be convinced.

"Most of us Southerners fly the flag because our ancestors fought in the Civil War "

Bullshit. I've asked so many people who displayed the flag if they had ancestors that fought in the war and so far not one of them has said yes. Most people display it because they buy into the myth that the flag represents rebellion, or because they just plain don't like black people (or brown, yellow, red, or any other color).

"Would Mississippi still have Confederate state flag"

Do you even know about the history of Mississippi and the confederate flag? And let's not forget Mississippi's proud racist tradition that would suggest that a large number of people that live there are racist. Look at how many people were killed there during the civil rights movement. That was only 40 years ago so many of the killers are still alive today.

independent thinker, it's time to become more independent and do some more thinking. This isn't a question about how other people perceive the south; it's not a question of whether people in south are any less intelligent or "refined" (whatever that means). The question is, who do the people of the south want to be, and how are they going to choose to get there. Are they racist? Then by all means continuing to display the confederate flag is a great way to make that statement. If the south wishes to make a statement about their desire for independence, their dislike of the federal government, and their acceptance of the legacy of slavery and the desire to move past it then the people will have to start making some very different choices. The choice is all of ours, but don't let your independent thought be drowned in a sea of deception. Or, to put it another way, you're a southerner, don't believe the lies that people tell you.