Sunday, January 19, 2003

Backbone implant

Memo to Dick Gephardt: See, it doesn't hurt to have a spine:

Mo. Confederate Flag Removals Protested

Steve Mahfood, director of the Department of Natural Resources, ordered the flags removed Tuesday after Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt's declaration last weekend that the Confederate battle flag shouldn't fly ``anytime, anywhere.'' Gov. Bob Holden — a Democrat who once worked for Gephardt — later said he endorsed Mahfood's decision.

What the story doesn't mention, of course, is that Gephardt made those remarks while backtracking from his craven cowardice of the last week (and inspiration for a Spineless Worm Alert), when Gephardt declined to criticize the Dixie flag in South Carolina.

Also noteworthy:

Mark Trout, who attended the rally, said he was a member of the Sons of Union Veterans and considered suppression of Confederate heritage or emblems to be a ``direct attack on the overall history of the Civil War.''

He said singling out the Confederate flag was unfair because slavery existed in the United States longer than the Confederacy existed.


Well, sure Mark, except for one little difference: The United States' raison d'etre was not the defense of institutional slavery.

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