Gina,

It is probably over correctness.

I grew up on an Indian Reservation in the upper Midwest, I attended A Catholic Indian Mission School on the Reservation for twelve years.

I remember vividly, in the third grade, our music class teacher, a Benedictine nun, playing the piano, instructed us in singing songs of the old south.

Some of the songs we learned and sang:

"Dixie's Land", "Battle Cry of the Freedom" southern version, "When Jonny Comes Marching Home", "Yellow Rose of Texas", There were others, I do not recall now.

This was early 1950's, only eighty-five years after the Civil War ended. At that age, I was aware of the Civil War, (04/12/1862-04/09/1865).

I understood the North won the war, I understood the war had to be, because the Southern States succeeded from the Union, that it was not a war to free the slaves of the South. The freedom of the slaves of the South was the best result of the war.

I think that just about Any reason to cancel Dukes of Hazzard reruns is sufficient. 1000 channels and nothing's on.

Definitely over-the-top PCness.

But the outrage over the flag plus the rainbow-wash sure distracted everyone from TPP and the crisis in ISIS conflicts though...

Let's be very clear: taking the flag off state-owned property was/is absolutely the right thing to do. The south lost the war and appeasing them with that flag was stupid. It's offensive and represents the absolute worst in human behavior.

Everything else, from banning DoH, to prohibiting the sale of the flag through other commercial means step beyond political correctness and into parody.

Dan and All,

The Confederate flag is unconstitutional Period! I wish someone would file a legal action that goes to the Supreme Court. The Civil War wasn't about slavery. It was primarily about the Confederation even more than secession. A confederation of states was banned in the original Constitution.

Article I

Section. 10 (paragraph 1)

"No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility."


There it is. It cannot get plainer than that. Lincoln had to declare war on the Unconstitutional Confederacy, which makes the flag Unconstitutional too.

SC Gov. Nikki Haley showed a lot of courage asking the Assembly to take that flag off the State House. She's ambitious and wants to run for President, but would probably settle for Veep, but her demand to take down the flag will probably hurt her with Southern Republicans.

That flag should never have been supported by State or local governments anywhere, since it represented an unconstitutional confederacy, but individuals or businesses that want to fly the confederate flag should be able to.

Roz

It's been 150 years. The confederacy lost. It's time for them to get over it. Flying their flag has become a symbol for violence and prejudice. Get rid of it-- not by law but by shunning all idiots who embrace its message.

Roz,

"...her demand to take down the flag will probably hurt her with Southern DEMOCRATS."

FIFY.

Never forget that the Democrats are the party of confederation (and by extension, slavery) and Republicans are the party of Lincoln.

A very inconvenient fact.

Dammit, just when I was gonna agree with Formerly Dan and compliment the remarkable clarity of his thinking on his first comment, he goes an splatters his semi-solid of a second comment onto the thread. (My earlier comment was intended as a joke, in case it needed an emoticon).

It is a factoid, devoid of historical context. He might've added that so was MLK a Republican, prior to the very cynical, conscious and successful Southern Strategery of the 1960s. It converted the Dixiecrat south into a GOP stronghold by flipping on civil rights. We could power California entirely with the energy of Mr. Lincoln, spinning in his grave over attributions like FD's.

Today's GOP is the Party of Trump..

Regular Reader/Dogfather/Tom/whatever sock puppet you'll claim tomorrow..

I suppose Robert Byrd was a Republican too, huh genius?

The "Southern Strategy" peddled by the low info leftist progressives like Dogfather has been debunked many times over. As always, these blowhards like to THINK conservatives used "codewords" throughout the 60s/70s/80s to convince southerners to vote republican, they actually used sound and open policy.

Was there segregationists that were Republican? Yes! Were they Democrats? Yes!

Keep the poor on the plantation Tommy Boy (the resemblance is uncanny, no?) and you other "progressives". Scare them with racist boogiemen designed to keep them in line. Feed on their ignorance because one day, they might just figure you out and then you will be in a world of trouble.

See ya sock puppet!

FD: thanks for confirming that the logic and calm rationality of your first post above was an aberration for you.

Let's pretend your claim is worthy of a response. When the GOP Chairman apologizes publicly for his party's Southern Strategy, it's hard for most folks to claim that it didn't exist:

"Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman apologized to one of the nation's largest black civil rights groups Thursday, saying Republicans had not done enough to court blacks in the past and had exploited racial strife to court white voters, particularly in the South.

"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization," Mehlman said at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."

Mehlman's apology to the NAACP at the group's convention in Milwaukee marked the first time a top Republican Party leader has denounced the so-called Southern Strategy employed by Richard Nixon and other Republicans to peel away white voters in what was then the heavily Democratic South. Beginning in the mid-1960s, Republicans encouraged disaffected Southern white voters to vote Republican by blaming pro-civil rights Democrats for racial unrest and other racial problems. USAToday Web Link

You have adopted the tactic that many among the current GOP's crop of candidates use to seek attention -- say any old thing that you want, and maybe some folks will believe it's true. Nope.

Personally I'm sick of Republicans vs. Democrats on who can be smarmier. I think Donald Trump has settled that one once and for all. Of course Hillary and Bernie and anyone else considering running for the Democrat nomination are wishing on a star for Trump to get the nomination. They couldn't hope for a better (or is it worse) opponent.

Right now I'm for Rand Paul. I'm not for ethnic cleansing of the Republican Party, which some candidates like Trump appear to be, but for fiscal conservatism. Government waste and well-intentioned boondoggles need to go.

It's too bad Al Gore didn't win in 2002, or maybe he really did, because he was supposed to clean up wasteful spending. G. W. Bush spent money on wars we didn't need and wasted billions so Chaney and his buddies could get very, very rich and thousands of patriotic Americans and innocent Iraqi's could get very, very dead.

Thomas,

You often cite the NY Times as a reference for your opinions.

I give you the NY Times Magazine on the Southern Strategy: Web Link

Sure, you'll say something like "this is only pointing out two authors...!" But you won't dare read the findings will ya'?

Thanks for playing Tommy.

:)

And here's what Ken Mehlman was quoted as saying which is entirely consistent with what I said earlier (emphasis mine): "SOME Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization..."

Of course you disingenuously quoted the author of the article which means nothing. Again, your ilk MUST put up the divisions to keep YOUR people on plantations. We all know it, just admit it once and for all!

And since you so conveniently didn't address it, how about that Robert Byrd character? Care to talk about HIS history in YOUR party?

Have a nice evening Dogfather.

Oops...I double posted what you said. Either way, made my point.

First, let's be clear: I use the NYT as a source because it's credible, and accurate in its reports -- not because it necessarily endorses a particular political view expressed in a book on which it reports. It's an easy distinction to miss if you watch Fox.

Second, the authors do not say there was no conscious, race-baiting Southern Strategy by the GOP -- you know, of the kind that the GOP Party Chairman apologized-for, as he clearly did in that speech. IF they're right, they're saying that it would have happened anyway, for economic reasons.

Their view is interesting, but I'm dubious -- in my significant experience living among that population, if you scratch many sons of the New South just a little, the Old South comes right out from underneath. I think that phenomenon finds expression when the ballots are secret -- cf. the Bradley Effect.

I hope that Gina is paying attention to this thread. The comments demonstrate that a lack of rules and enforcement lead to a worthless discussion of the topic.

Gina writes a somewhat light hearted article about political correctness and asks if has gone too far. Of fifteen comments, only two make an attempt to stay on topic. By comment four we are hearing about ISIS, then insults begin to bounce around, followed by criticism of Fox News, the New York Times, Donald Trump, anyone who lives in the south, the Republican Party and on and on.

Sadly many of these comments come from Mr. Cushing who is not content to just drive readers away from his own articles on the PW Blog site. He contributed four of the fifteen comments here. He is responsible for many of the insults and off topic comments.

The PW blog sites needs to establish rules and enforce them. And enforce them on the bloggers as well. Here are a set of rules copied from another site that I would propose:

1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.

2. Stay on topic.

3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.

4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.

5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.

"Second, the authors do not say there was no conscious, race-baiting Southern Strategy by the GOP -- you know, of the kind that the GOP Party Chairman apologized-for, as he clearly did in that speech. IF they're right, they're saying that it would have happened anyway, for economic reasons. "

Saying that "SOME" in the GOP is very different then saying "ALL" the GOP, counselor. That's been my point all along, dude.

And who cares what you think is dubious, the facts speak for themselves.

And since you repeatedly avoid the topic, here's a little background on Grand Kleagle Robert Byrd DEMOCRAT Senator from West Virginia who, up until 2007, was the one of the most powerful Senators in DC: Web Link

But the GOP is FULL of racists!! <--- sarcasm

Been fun...

Doug,

I agree with your suggestions for rules.

Where I think I differ is containing Tommy to his blog and not allowing him to bring up his thoughts on other blogs no matter how off-topic.

I agree with you that Tom has driven away people from his blog with his comments and censoring (he knows this), I STILL believe that he has every right to make whatever statements and posts he wants ANYWHERE.

To not let Tommy comment as he wishes is to be just like him. Who wants that?

My 2c.

Didn't suggest that Mr. Cushing should be prohibited from commenting elsewhere. I just would prefer that he and the other bloggers stick to their own sites most of the time. Their extra time would be better spent on the rules issue.

Doug,

My mistake...sorry.

I do find it strange that Tommy hasn't commented here today and instead, has elected to comment at his own blog.

He never did respond to my Robert Byrd link; wonder why that is...?

Come on Thomas, I KNOW you're out there! :)

I'm really impressed with Nikki Haley now. She took a stand and showed some real leadership, which we don't often see in politicians from either party. If she does run for President I'll jump ship from Rand and vote for her.

This is as sweetly as I can put it: Web Link

Sorry.