This shouldn't even be a point of discussion in 2011. The Confederacy committed treason against the United States 150 years ago. Give it up, South.
At an event in South Carolina yesterday, Newt Gingrich was asked by a town hall participant to offer his views regarding the state’s decision to fly the Confederate flag at the statehouse in Columbia. The woman’s question was met with a smattering of boos from the audience.
“I have a very strong opinion,” Gingrich said, prefacing his weak response. “It’s up to the people of South Carolina.” (He then qualified his answer by assuring that he is opposed to segregation and slavery.)
There's something incestuous about using states' rights in defense of a flag that represented the bloodiest and conpletely racist failure of that idea in American history. And Gingrich uses the name "Lincoln" to inspire him during debates? The president who ultimately was murdered in his opposition to states' rights? That's rich.