inignoct wrote:
] can't say i blame the other dems. they may be opportunistic
] in making this the top story right now, but they're not wrong.
] first major tick against Dean in my book. I don't care what
] he *meant*, because he said it in a way that charges the
] statement with unwelcome elements.

I don't agree. I don't think confederate flags are racist by default. Its always said redneck more then racist to me. Sometimes those things are the same, but not always. People in Canada had them. Several state flags contained it until recently. It was on a big orange car in a popular TV show in the 70's. Lately there seems to have been a effort to equate it with the klan. I think thats dishonest really. The Klan certainly uses it, but its not something exclusive to them. The person who is getting offended is assigning a meaning that the people who are speaking do not intend.

It reminds me of a school play I was in high school. The students wrote the script. The word "sucks" was in the script. We said "sucks" all the time. It means "not good." We did the play and a bunch of parents got angry and went after the principal on it. It didn't even really occur to us that it could be taken as a reference to oral sex. My opinion was that it was the parents that had the problem, and not us. We weren't talking about oral sex. They were thinking it. Its wasn't our fault. Its a problem in their heads and not our speech. This situation is similar I think.

RE: Dean Is Criticized Over Remark on Confederate Flag (washingtonpost.com)