Jello wrote:
] I also don't agree. There are alot of people that take much
] pride in the confederate flag that are much less racist than
] your average starbucks going suburbanite. These are the
] people he was talking about... its just about Southern pride
] to them. They don't have alot of money, aren't intellectuals,
] and just want a candidate that isn't going to fuck them over.
] That was the image the line invoked for me. Am I missing some
] back story here? Have their been other incidents?
]
] Personally, I think this is all trouble stirred up by a bunch
] of damned meddling yankees ;)

it would appear that most people agree with you... as i said to Decius, if Jesse Jackson's gonna support Dean despite this, who am i to get annoyed by it.

i originally thought Dean was being incautious in his speaking, but now i think, more likely than not, that Dean said what he did on purpose. It could well have been a carefully crafted statement to force his opponents to take issue with it in a way that will alienate them from the south in exactly the way it probably has. Kerry and Lieberman at least never counted on much support from the south, but now they're in worse shape yet, calling those people you mention effectively racists.

For me at least, i never really understood Southern Pride, and i really never understood the confederate flag as a symbol thereof. To me, and possibly to most Yankees, the confederate flag has always been symbol of the civil war, of division, and thus of the issue of slavery. That's how it's taught in school, and it's hard to shake. And even with the benefit of more education on the issue, i find the concept of a banner celebrating sourthern pride to be a statement that the south wants to be separate, that they consider themselves different and that they would prefer to be the Confederate States of America, instead of part of the United States of America.

I certainly don't think most southerners feel that way, and i don't even think most people with the flag on their car have had that thought, but that's what it says to me, which makes it hard to reconcile with a national presidental race.

At any rate, you're almost certainly right about well-to-do suburbanites...

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