Huckabee: "We'd Tell Them What To Do With The Pole"

And you people told me that no one cares about the Confederate Battle Flag anymore. Mike Huckabee is trying to use it against his major competitor in South Carolina, John McCain:

“You don’t like people from outside the state coming in and telling you what to do with your flag,” Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, told supporters in Myrtle Beach, according to The Associated Press.

“In fact,” he said, “if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole; that’s what we’d do.”

[...]

And a radio advertisement paid for by an independent group used the flag issue to attack Mr. McCain, of Arizona, and praise Mr. Huckabee. “John McCain assaults our values,” it said. “Mike Huckabee understands the value of heritage.”

It was a bigger issue in 2000 when the South Carolina legislature caught national attention over its debate removing the flag from the statehouse dome and placing it on a nearby monument. Obviously, it's still an issue for some folks. It is amusing to see Huckabee faking an interest in federalism as he searches furiously for issues with which to connect to the electorate. (For example, he reversed his stance on a national smoking ban earlier this week.)

Meanwhile, McCain, unlike in 2000, isn't ambiguous about what he thinks on the topic:

Asked about the flag at an event on Wednesday in Spartanburg, Mr. McCain said, “My answer, sir, is that I could not be more proud that the overwhelming majority of the people of this state joined together taking that flag off the top of the....” And his answer was drowned out by the cheers of supporters.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 03:34 AM

| Access Comments