I saw another gentleman who said that he has been receiving input from many constituents that they won’t vote for him again if he votes to take it down. He’s been in the house for 30 years. He said that his mom was a proud and active Daughter of the Confederacy who displayed a large collection of memorabilia, but she also told him to always do what he feels is right. He said it would honor his mother to vote to take it down.
Yea, heaven forbid we offend a single yahoo.
People are marveling at how quickly this movement to take down the flag has advanced. Actually, I have a theory that many people felt it was the right thing to do all along, as well as necessary for Republicans to start winning back some of the black vote, but it would have put their re-elections at risk. The murder of the 9 people in church was the tipping point that gave them an opening to do something they knew was right and necessary for their party. As a perfect example, look at how fervently Gov Haley defended the flag in her last election, and how strongly she supports bringing it down now.
^They were finally shamed into it. But I agree, many of the Pols probably hated that this symbol of racism was flown on the state capitol grounds but knew their base would flip out if they said so publicly and they would be primaried by someone even further to the right then they are.
Did BBC go out of its way to find the most hillbilly, ignorant woman in SC to interview:
“It’s not a symbol of racism. It’s not a symbol of ‘facy-ism’, or whatever you call it”
lol
so the flag is down…
will this be the beginning of something good? or is this where any “progress” stops?
It is good that there was momentum to take that flag down. It was also inevitable that there would be an “idiot reaction” backlash. There always seem to be a certain percentage of idiots! Hopefully, it will blow over without further incident.
Perhaps the more pragmatic reason for the SC Republicans to want the CSA flag gone is to attract business, but they previously feared primary challenges from the CSA flag waving voting base in their districts.
Huh? What exactly are you asking? You seem to have very specific thoughts about this development, yet have not expressed them in such a way as to allow people to respond without making assumptions on the your position. Care to elaborate?
“It was also inevitable that there would be an “idiot reaction” backlash.” Hopefully, it will blow over without further incident.’
Seems the “idiot reaction” moved from SC to the US House of Representatives.
“Idiot” and “House of Representatives” are redundant.
“Idiot” and “House of Representatives” are redundant.
Here’s a video of the flag coming down. Quite a happy crowd was there. Curious that they roll the flag.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-live-south-carolinas-confederate-flag-removed-from-capitol-grounds/
Well, now that we’ve had a nice definition of the word “redundant”… 
well, I did post my basic view many many pages ago, which was: taking the flag down will happen quickly and will not make any tangible difference in anything. It is just a bit above irrelevant.
This shooting could be a catalyst for making needed improvements in society… do you think it will? Or will people declare “victory” because the flag is down, pat themselves on the back, and basically move on from the difficult conversations about race?
edit: to clarify further my position - I believe most people, including politicians and the media, will believe they have accomplished something and no momentum for real progress will be had. It’s easy to make symbolic gestures… it’s harder to make real progress, and I believe real progress will take work that most are unwilling to do.
Good news is that today we found out more “gun control” would not have helped, as this guy shouldn’t have been able to get the gun with the laws currently on the books.
It doesn’t matter what the laws are if you aren’t enforcing them.
I don’t know if that is good news. The NRA and its ilk will use that as an excuse to not do a thing differently in the future.
I know I’m getting ready to open up a whole new can of worms( let me just say I’m a gun owner as is my husband) , actually better gun control laws may have prevented him from legally purchasing a gun IMO . The reason he was able to purchase the gun in the first place even after he confessed to being in possession of a controlled substance that was not prescribed to him, was the FBI could not confirm his charges and confession in the jurisdiction he was charged within the 3 day time period required because of law enforcement jurisdictions with similar names leading to a crazy paper trail . If there was a national data base or longer wait period to purchase a gun, IMO things may have been different . Again , I know this is a heated argument on both sides, so I’m only stating my opinion.
That is a good question. How long would you be willing to wait to purchase a gun if there was shown to be a significant benefit in terms of keeping guns away from people who should not have them?
I personally would be willing to wait a week.