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Opinions/Editorials Title: Wave Goodbye To Confederate Flag's Influence On Virginia's Identity? If the Sons of Confederate Veterans were looking to do prominent Virginia Republicans a favor, they couldn't have done much better than slam them in as public a forum as possible. Which they did: The Sons held a D.C. news conference Tuesday - one day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day - to attack Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and former senator George Allen for their insufficient fealty to Virginia's Confederate heritage. Their version of it, anyway. McDonnell and Allen, said Michael Rose, the group's top official in the commonwealth, "have ignored, denied and even insulted our Virginia history and heritage." It was "Undoubtedly, A Welcomed Criticism," as Too Conservative, a prominent GOP blog, put it. In other words: Those two probably wouldn't have minded much if Rose had shouted that sentiment from the top of the Blue Ridge with an atomic megaphone. McDonnell and Allen are atoning for missteps rooted in Virginia's melange of race, history, symbolism and "heritage." McDonnell famously proclaimed last April "Confederate History Month" without a mention of slavery and then responded to the subsequent uproar by apologizing and renaming it "Civil War History Month." (That, of course, is a special insult to the Sons, who refer to the conflict "so often mislabeled the Civil War" by any name but.) Since then, McDonnell's gone to pains to acknowledge Virginia's complicated racial history. Allen appears to be mounting a run to reclaim the Senate seat he lost in 2006. While he had until that point carefully cultivated a tobacco-chewing, gun-toting, Confederate flag-bearing good-old-boy image dating back to high school, it backfired on him with the 2006 "macaca" controversy. And in the course of performing damage control, he had said some things the Sons couldn't forget, even years later. For instance: "Even if your heart is pure, the things you say and do and the symbols you use matter because of how others may take them" - others, meaning those who aren't Sons of Confederate Veterans. If Allen and McDonnell stand to reap deeper political benefits than detriments from the Sons' broadsides, Stars 'n' Bars politics might be on the wane in the commonwealth. With the rise of tea party conservatism, and its emphasis on fiscal issues, the Confederate Flag stands to be an increasingly less integral part of Virginia conservative identity. The commonwealth is now entering a period where it's going to become even more tricky to navigate a path through the "heritage" thicket. Commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War are starting and will continue for five years - through two Senate campaigns and a gubernatorial race. In July, history buffs and others will commemorate the First Battle of Bull Run, fought in Prince William County. That's the home turf of one of the rising stars of Virginia conservatism: Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart - who, like Allen, is pondering a Senate run. And, like Allen, he's hoping to be talking about anything but the semiotics of the Southern Cross. "I really strongly believe that people are mostly concerned about fiscal issues at this point," Stewart said. "You're always going to have your one-issue voters, but that's not where the election is going to be determined." He added that McDonnell had "clearly mishandled" the Confederate History Month issue. And with the Bull Run commemoration only months away, Stewart said, "We're going to be very careful that we're not going to fall in those same pitfalls." Stewart looks to walk the same path McDonnell's walked in the months since the blowup - framing heritage not in terms of blue and gray, but in terms of history and sacrifice. "This is not about race. This is about remembering the sacrifice of some 700,000 Americans to preserve the Union in a war that ultimately ended the scourge of slavery. We need to avoid being hurtful." Avoiding hurt should become easier as the state's conservative litmus tests move away from flags and toward questions on taxes, spending, immigration and the other hot-button, cable-news-driven issues. "Politicians understand that it's a different state now," said Tom Davis, the former Republican congressman from Northern Virginia. Davis proudly branded himself a moderate, attuned to the fiscally conservative and socially progressive traditions of his suburban district, now represented by Democrat Gerald E. Connolly. Davis, a descendant of Union soldiers, has watched as Civil War-drenched politics have given way to a new conservative discourse in the commonwealth - one that Allen and McDonnell have had some difficulties navigating, no thanks to the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "Virginia's a very cosmopolitan place now," Davis said. "I say give 'em a break."
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#1. To: Brian S, go65, lucysmom (#0)
General Lee and his Confederate army of traitors killed more Americans than Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini, King George III, Generalissimo Santa Ana, Saddam Hussien, Osama Bin Laden, the USSR, The Vietcong, The North Korean and Chinese Reds, Milosevic, and al-Qaeda combined. Once more, General Lee killed more Americans than Hitler and Osama Bin Laden.
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