A Grand Wizard on My License Plate

At least they aren’t calling it the War of Northern Aggression which is what Frank Luntz and Fox News would call it if it happened today.

A fight is brewing in Mississippi over a proposal to issue specialty license plates honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

The Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to sponsor a series of state-issued license plates to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which it calls the “War Between the States.” The group proposes a different design each year between now and 2015, with Forrest slated for 2014.

“Seriously?” state NAACP president Derrick Johnson said when he was told about the Forrest plate. “Wow.”

Yeah, why the hell not? If you already have a confederate flag on your vehicle, why not a state-issued license plate honoring one of the founding members of the Ku Klux Klan? What’s a few lynchings between friends?

The country is not getting healthier. But at least there is some opposition.

11 Comments

sherifffruitfly on February 10, 2011 at 9:28 am

(shrug) Mississippi. ’nuff said.

And in b4 “it’s just as bad in the north!” lying.

BooMan on February 10, 2011 at 9:43 am

Dude is from Tennessee. I mean, WTF?
- sherifffruitfly on February 10, 2011 at 9:47 am
  
  So?
  - BooMan on February 10, 2011 at 10:58 am
    
    They should find a wizard from their own state.

shergald on February 10, 2011 at 10:23 am

When the Mississippi governor said he didn’t remember the South’s Citizens Councils as being that bad, it was no gaffe–he was speaking to his likely 2012 voter base.

Most of the uproar over Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s comment, “I just don’t remember it as being that bad,” misses the point entirely. When the potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate made the remark to Andrew Ferguson in an interview for The Weekly Standard, speaking in defense of racist Citizens Councils that ruled the South before and during the civil rights era, it was no mere slip of the tongue. Barbour was simply playing the “Southern Strategy” card.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-12-22/haley-barbours-racist-remark-was-no-mistak
e/

With a black president, you have to wonder if these developments aren’t just part of a belated attempt to play the “southern strategy card” again, the theme that got Reagan into office. It was pretty effective in the 70s, and even brought Democrats on board, if we recall the racist Reagan Democrats, who in Michigan at least really voted against Detroit (read lazy welfare dependent Blacks).

It’s not going to happen again, sorry.

utried on February 10, 2011 at 10:31 am

People who get stuck in an ideology can’t do new things. They keep repeating what they did before, thinking it will work again.
MassCommons on February 11, 2011 at 6:03 am

shergald, with an African-American president, the demographic changes reflected in the recent census, and the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, it’s kind of a perfect storm for pushing racist buttons. (When Bill Clinton ran for president there was lots of talk about “bimbo eruptions”; I predict lots of “racist eruptions” over the next four years.)

I am cautiously hopeful that all these eruptions will both reflect and accelerate a changing dominant view of our history. It may be that by 2015 those who talk about “The War of Northern Aggression” and who say that “states’ rights” was the cause of the Civil War will be as discredited as those who say, for example, that Columbus’ 1492 expedition was an unadulterated good for humanity. (Compare 1892 observances of Columbus’ voyage with 1992 observances.)

Andrew Longman on February 10, 2011 at 11:19 am

Let ’em

Shows which cars to key 🙂

rikyrah on February 10, 2011 at 1:09 pm

there’s the South…

and then there’s MISSISSIPPI.

why am I not surprised.

ejmw on February 10, 2011 at 1:26 pm

I had a friend who lived in Memphis TN for a couple of years (fortunately he has since escaped). Every time I drove to visit him, I’d pass the exit on I-40 for Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park, and it would creep me out a little.

</CoolStoryBro>

Knut Wicksell on February 10, 2011 at 3:43 pm

Bedford Forrest was a war criminal. He executed black soldiers who surrendered.

sherifffruitfly on February 10, 2011 at 9:28 am

(shrug) Mississippi. ’nuff said.

And in b4 “it’s just as bad in the north!” lying.
- BooMan on February 10, 2011 at 9:43 am
  
  Dude is from Tennessee. I mean, WTF?
  - sherifffruitfly on February 10, 2011 at 9:47 am
    
    So?
    - BooMan on February 10, 2011 at 10:58 am
      
      They should find a wizard from their own state.
shergald on February 10, 2011 at 10:23 am

When the Mississippi governor said he didn’t remember the South’s Citizens Councils as being that bad, it was no gaffe–he was speaking to his likely 2012 voter base.

Most of the uproar over Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s comment, “I just don’t remember it as being that bad,” misses the point entirely. When the potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate made the remark to Andrew Ferguson in an interview for The Weekly Standard, speaking in defense of racist Citizens Councils that ruled the South before and during the civil rights era, it was no mere slip of the tongue. Barbour was simply playing the “Southern Strategy” card.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-12-22/haley-barbours-racist-remark-was-no-mistak
e/

With a black president, you have to wonder if these developments aren’t just part of a belated attempt to play the “southern strategy card” again, the theme that got Reagan into office. It was pretty effective in the 70s, and even brought Democrats on board, if we recall the racist Reagan Democrats, who in Michigan at least really voted against Detroit (read lazy welfare dependent Blacks).

It’s not going to happen again, sorry.
- utried on February 10, 2011 at 10:31 am
  
  People who get stuck in an ideology can’t do new things. They keep repeating what they did before, thinking it will work again.
- MassCommons on February 11, 2011 at 6:03 am
  
  shergald, with an African-American president, the demographic changes reflected in the recent census, and the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, it’s kind of a perfect storm for pushing racist buttons. (When Bill Clinton ran for president there was lots of talk about “bimbo eruptions”; I predict lots of “racist eruptions” over the next four years.)
  
  I am cautiously hopeful that all these eruptions will both reflect and accelerate a changing dominant view of our history. It may be that by 2015 those who talk about “The War of Northern Aggression” and who say that “states’ rights” was the cause of the Civil War will be as discredited as those who say, for example, that Columbus’ 1492 expedition was an unadulterated good for humanity. (Compare 1892 observances of Columbus’ voyage with 1992 observances.)
Andrew Longman on February 10, 2011 at 11:19 am

Let ’em

Shows which cars to key 🙂
rikyrah on February 10, 2011 at 1:09 pm

there’s the South…

and then there’s MISSISSIPPI.

why am I not surprised.
ejmw on February 10, 2011 at 1:26 pm

I had a friend who lived in Memphis TN for a couple of years (fortunately he has since escaped). Every time I drove to visit him, I’d pass the exit on I-40 for Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park, and it would creep me out a little.

</CoolStoryBro>
Knut Wicksell on February 10, 2011 at 3:43 pm

Bedford Forrest was a war criminal. He executed black soldiers who surrendered.

A Grand Wizard on My License Plate

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