November 02, 2024Speaking of the Battle FlagMore evidence of the politcally explosive nature of the Confederate battle flag: Dean's Rivals Decry Flag Remark A comment by Howard Dean about Confederate flags and pickup trucks has drawn critical reaction from other candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. In Dean's defense, I know exactly what he is talking about, and he isn't talking about a Democratic "Southern Strategy" to court racists--which is, of course, the way that his Democratic compadres interpreted it. Still, the uproar does demonstrate the explosiveness of the issue. Dean, of course, ended up backtracking--which damages his straight-talking image, to some degree. Further, one would have thought that he would have known better than to make the comment in the first place. Posted by Steven Taylor at November 2, 2024 08:15 AM | TrackBackComments
Steven, there’s another dimension here which I think ought to be explored as well. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) was on “Meet the Press” this morning and when asked about Governor Dean’s remarks, he likened them to the patronization of the 1998 Dukakis campaign in which when they traveled to Georgia they set up hay bales to give it a “Hee Haw” sort of atmosphere. What’s telling to me, is that while the other Dwarves made a point about possible racial overtones of the Confederate flag (IMNHO I doubt that those flying it are really pining for the days of slavery or wishing to secede from the Union, they’re probably flying it because they know it p***** off a lot of Northeastern “progressives” and because there is a certain regional pride of which the Stars and Bars are a symbol), not one of them challenged it as being an offensive stereotype of Southern voters. Senator Miller is correct IMNHO that the Democrats have some real problems with Southern voters not merely because of a lack of credibility on the party of their party when it comes to national security issues, but there is a perceived snobbery in which the Democrats are seen as thumbing their noses at the South as a “backward” region except when it comes time to get their vote every few years. Maybe a drubbing in the next election might make them rethink this attitude. Posted by: Thorley Winston at November 2, 2024 04:37 PMI earlier posted a comment at the related entry of Matthew Stinson's... It contains a link to a 'Memo to Howard Dean' written by a conservative blogger, containing some 'advice' to Dr. Dean from a conservative perspective, with an idea for an issue that could be used to help him broaden his base, and to appeal to a segment of the electorate that he will likely need if he is going to win the presidency.
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