Why They Fought: Abraham Lincoln Is Spinning in His Grave Department
The Confederates in the Gettysburg campaign--all the way up to Major General and Division Commander George Pickett and Lieutenant-General and Corps Commander James Longstreet. From Edwin B. Coddington (1968), The Gettysburg Campaign: A Study in Command (New York: Scribner's, p. 161:
What the new Governor Robert McDonnell (R) of Virginia thinks is worth celebrating. Matthew Yglesias:
Matthew Yglesias: McDonnell Moving Virginia Backwards, Celebrating Slavery and Rebellion: Anita Kumar and Rosalind Helderman report that Virginia is once again a red state:
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors — Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — refused to do. Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) said he was “stunned” to learn of McDonnell’s decision and even more stunned that the proclamation did not include any reference to slavery. “It’s offensive,” he said....
It’s important to note that this isn’t simply someone going along with a longstanding abhorrent bit of symbolism that’s traditional in his state. Mark Warner, rightly, broke this tradition and refused to grant wink-nod symbolic affirmation of the idea of unleashing massive violence in defense of the principle that white people should own black people as property. Tim Kaine upheld the new status quo. And now McDonnell’s ondoing it, which is offensive on its own terms and will also raise the political cost to any future governor who wants to do the right thing. In other news, since the RNC is determined to stick with Michael Steele come what may, I’m sure black people will start loving Republicans soon.
