MCDONNELL CAMPAIGN BOOTH RAISES A CONFEDERATE FLAG

HOLY CRAP.  THE OFFICIAL MCDONNELL BOOTH AT A GUN SHOW IN RICHMOND HAS A CONFEDERATE FLAG UP!

Now we know what the Republicans mean this year with their "states rights" focus!

Comments

[BM]

it was next to the McDonnell booth. the guy was selling confederate artwork. No McDonnell volunteers or staffers put a flag of any type up at that booth.

[Not PWC - GOP Gay Sex 24-7]

LOL!! That flag is in the effin' booth!!! Nice try, BM.

[not easily swayed]

The official McDonnel booth? Guess reading is too much to expect from a Democrat. Please take a closer look at the picture, genius.

[Anon]

It is clearly in McDonnell's booth. The division in the backdrop marking the booths is 18" or so to the right of the flag.

Nothing like lies to cover up hate. Is that the lesson they learned from Macacca, that they just needed to lie more?

Because this is totally a macacca level event.

[KCinDC]

Why is it 320 x 240? Isn't there a higher-resolution version? And why no toupees?

[Not Larry Sabato]

Sportsmen for McDonnell is not an independent group- it is part of the McDonnell campaign. For those claiming it is not the campaign- please show us where sportsman filed with SBE as their own group. (They didn't).

[KC]

Didn't Ben run a campaign for a candidate that drove a car with the confederate flag on it?

[KCinDC]

Okay, toupees have been added. I feel much more excited.

[Anon]

If you look at all of the artwork that is displayed in the next booth, they all have confederate flags in them. So, unless the McDonnell booth was also selling confederate flag artwork/pictures, it's clearly not their booth. Nice try though to take the picture from an angle instead of head on to try and manufacture an issue and make it seem to be in the McDonnell booth.

[Anonymous]

Be careful Ben, I think this is a trap by McDonnell so that he can defend the confederacy and rally the base for support in August while nobody is paying attention. Then try to appear moderate after Labor Day while he spends all the KKK money.

Clearly this is in his booth and who would make such a mistake? Are they trying to make this an issue?

[PWConservative]

So? this seems pretty natural considering that Virginia was the Capitol of the Confederacy, This is just a historical symbol.

[Rtwng Extrmst]

NLS is really getting desperate... This is really funny to watch the Dems implode... Yep, Republican = Racist... Keep on trying guys. You look like fools.

[PWConservative]

I'm a little confused, what does the Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia do with racism?

[Not PWC - GOP Gay Sex 24-7]

Makes sense. Several members of the GOP are confused about their sexuality, too.

http://www.outragethemovie.com/

[what?]

"Be careful Ben, I think this is a trap by McDonnell so that he can defend the confederacy and rally the base for support in August while nobody is paying attention."

This

[Not Timothy Geithner]

PWConservative,

The Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia is also the flag of traitors. They committed treason by opposing the Constitution of the United States.

And the best part is they lost.

[AS]

It's really clear that the flag is on the opposite side of the partition and is part of the booth wear they are making confederate t-shirts. Give me a break!

[NB]

It's pretty obvious that the flag was next to the booth, not part of it. Use your eyes, people. Don't be quick to jump to conclusions on matters like this.

[SatiricalAlexandria]

"AS" wrote: "WEAR they are making confederate t-shirts...". God help us all if this kind of person votes in Virginia...

The racist flag is in the "Sportsmen for McDonnell" booth. There is no way out of this for McDonnell. The macaca moment is upon is.

[NB]

God help us all if people who are so quick to assume are the ones voting. OHMYGOSH, the sky is falling!

[Ed Molehair]

Please stop being brainless. The white partition on the floor obviously is separating some vendor on the left from the sign on the right.

It's called visual perspective. Credit the operative who chose his angle shrewdly, knowing plenty of tools would be too rabid to consider the basic principles of translating a three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional photo.

God help us all is right.

[J. Tyler Ballance]

I'm no fan of McD, but this photo is just a misrepresentation. The booth at that show was selling Confederate t-shirts, and other novelty items and the banner in the background was not related to the vendor in the foreground.

The fact is that both Deeds amd McD have shunned the Confederate heritage shared by most Virginians. This trend of Confederate bashing is counterproductive for Virginia, especially at a time when we are searching for every possible economic opportunity.

Virginians sit atop a gold mine of Confederate era tourism.
Rather than suppressing our Confederate heritage and history, Virginians could rake in a Billion dollars annually by promoting Confederate era tourism.

Some who worship at the altar of political correctness try to bury anything related to Virginia’s Confederate past, especially in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy, saying that talk of the Confederate era might offend African Americans.

This foolish and short-sighted approach would be like the citizens of Plymouth, Massachusetts, refusing to make money from Pilgrim-era tourism, because the Pilgrims may have exploited some of the Indians.

What better justice would there be, than for the Virginia citizens of today, the offspring of the survivors of that horrific War, to make good livings, in whole or part, through a well orchestrated Confederate era tourism program?

We are in the Twenty-first Century and through no fault or credit to anyone living today, we live in a State with a rich historic legacy. People from all over the world study the War for Southern Independence, and are eager to tour the sites associated with that major facet of our Virginia and National history.

We should fully develop this resource and make sure that Virginians of today may profit to the fullest extent by promoting Confederate era tourism.

[Not Michael Jackson]

Look at the angle its taken at. Thats in the back right hand corner of a booth selling confederate memorabelia @ a gun show. The booth is next to the McDonnell booth. The McDonnell booth isn't even set up yet, look at its table to the right of the picture display, completely empty and no one standing there.

[Not Michael Jackson]

It also may not be a McDonnell booth, it might just be a sign owned by a supporter who put it up. It is RIGHT NEXT to a door prizes booth, that might be by the entrance, a PRIME LOCATION to hang a sign.

McD, apologize for having supporters that hang signs by the entrance/heavily trafficked areas. They should know they shouldn't even have visibility at gun shows!
McD its time you need to fess up and admit you are supported by people who own guns AND APOLOGIZE FOR IT!

(the tools who thought this photo was of a confederate flag in McD's booth, the last two sentences I wrote were dripping with sarcasm, cause you probably didn't catch that)

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

Here we go again. Let's not talk about legitimate issues - anything but that.

It's unfortunate that the high point of the blogosphere was the Macaca nonsense four years ago. Ever since then, it seems like Ben and all the other liberal bloggers are desperately trying to one-up that moment - to the point of absurdity.

I can almost guarantee that if you go to a Deeds rally in southwest Virginia you'll see more Confederate flags than are in that photo.

Personally, I don't see what the problem with that is. This is Virginia. The war is part of our history.

[kelley in virginia]

people on this blog are not keeping up. if you call someone a "socialist", that is code for calling them a racial slur. (was on MSNBC the other night).

The Virginia/Confederate battle flag is old news.

[PWConservative]

Not Timothy Geithner

We could argue all day about seccesion rights, However Lincoln also committed treason (By your rationale) by allowing West Virginia to Secede into the Union.

[Dan]

Brian,

Yes, the war is part of our history. But it is more than a bit disingenuous to pretend that the symbol in question has no other powerful historical meaning. It takes a pretty selective reading of our history to deny it is more than just a symbol of our Confederate heritage.

The swastika was a symbol that had only positive connotations and was widely used throughout the world at least 1000 years before the birth of Christ. But you'd have to be a damned fool to think you could walk into the local Jewish community center wearing a shirt emblazoned with swastikas and expect to receive a warm welcome.

During the 1950's and 1960's the Confederate flag was adopted by segregationist haters who were some of the most vile sons of bitches who ever crawled out from underneath a rock. To feign surprise that a very large segment of our population who were the victims of these racist pigs might take offense at having that symbol promoted is very dishonest. Kinda like acting surprised that Jews might take offense at the swastika being paraded about. I mean gosh, it was only a negative symbol in the 1930's and 1940's. What's the big deal?

Like many Americans, I had ancestors who fought on both sides during the Civil War. I certainly have no objection to the flag they fought under being flown over the graves of Confederate veterans. Their bravery in battle is not diminished by the wrongness of their cause. But the subsequent use of that symbol dictates a rather different attitude to its use in most venues.

I would take issue with Mr. Balance's notion that the flag is essential to promoting tourism related to the Civil War in Virginia. With sixty percent of the war's battles being fought in Virginia and the ongoing fascination with the struggle I hardly think that drawing tourists will be a problem.

South Carolina insists on clinging to that flag to the extent that they are the subject of boycotts by rightfully offended groups. As one who has recently moved from Virginia to North Carolina I greatly appreciate the pinheads in South Carolina directing millions of dollars worth of business to North Carolina. Perhaps I should encourage you to do the same in Virginia and then smile when Virginia revenue is redirected here too.

Oh? War of Southern Independence? When did you stop referring to it as the War of Northern Agression?

[Mr. GOP]

Hey Ben, “play” back your Twitter “macaca” moment where you accused Deeds of conducting a “deliverance tour”. “Play” it again. Remind us of how bigotry courses through your veins…bigotry against rural people in Deeds district.

Then please, continue to carry on about the Confederate battle flag. Do that a lot…and oh by the way, make sure you hide your buddy Deeds from any town hall meetings where he might have to defend O-Blah-Blah’s so-called health reform….

[K in VA]

Either (1) the flag is in McDonnell's booth, or (2) the McDonnell campaign seeks to hang out with groups that worship the flag.

Frankly, there's not much difference.

[Bush Inc. stole and killed more]

Confederate flag = America's swastika. Deal with it.

[Deeds Is A Self-Described Liberal]

Hey, doofus. That flag is in the booth to the left of the McDonnell booth. You know, the booth that is selling confederate artwork.

[Deeds Is A Self-Described Liberal]

OH NO!!! The TV show "Chuck" must be racist because they had an episode last season where the General Lee was in the audio install bay at Buy More and the Confederate flag on the roof was prominently shown!!!

[Ed Molehair]

"Either (1) the flag is in McDonnell's booth, or (2) the McDonnell campaign seeks to hang out with groups that worship the flag.

Frankly, there's not much difference."

OK, so let me get this straight: Any candidate who has a presence at any gathering where confederate flags are displayed now "hangs out with groups that worship the [confederate] flag"? And that is the same as the candidate worshiping the flag?

No friend of logic, eh?

Oh, and if this is true, please don't tell this to Creigh, because I guarantee at least one of the 33 "Sportsmen for Deeds" has attended a Virginia gun show where confederate flags are displayed, worn, and sold.

So I guess you don't have much choice this November.

[Joseph]

The Stars and Bars are a historical sign of treason.

Fuck you cracker.

[dennis]

right on, joseph.

[Wuud52]

Hey, I am a black guy, and I wanted to believe this, but I can see that it is not true. If you follow the row of photo holders all the way to the back wall, you can see the flag is to the left of them. This looks bad, but the flag is not in his booth.

[Chuck]

To those trying to run from it and make it appear that this has nothing to do with what's his name, when you've got a booth at a convention, they let you know ahead of time who's going to be next to you. If you're a politician running for Governor, I think more than ever, you wouldn't want to be associated with something that's going to put you in a bad light. As a Virginian, being linked to the Confederacy might help you in the South of the state and work against you in the north, around Richmond, and SE which is pro-military but heavily minority. For the ones trying to make it a "we're digging for something," I'm sure what's his name meant nothing by it by calling that student that was born and raised in the US Macaca, but the fact that he didn't see something wrong with it is what got him. Not the actual event.

[Jarrod]

I do not care whether it is was from his booth or the one next to it. It should not be there. There is nothing anyone black wants to remember fondly about the Confederacy. Not pre-civil war before they officially the became the confederacy and endorsed slavery. Not during the civil war when they fought to keep the state of slavery. Not after the civil war when they instituted jim crow laws and lynching. Sometimes I think the Republicans are trying to get zero black votes.

[Dan]

Jarrod,

It would seem that they are indeed trying to get zero black votes. But I actually believe they are genuinely perplexed as to why they do so poorly with black voters. I have often heard them essentially blame black voters for not being smart enough to know they should be voting Republican. They are dogged in their determination to do anything but look in a mirror and examine themselves as a possible source of the difficulty.

There have been exceptions to the rule. Jack Kemp was a Republican who wanted to actually speak to African Americans. And, more importantly, to listen to them. In the monstrosity that the Republican Party has mutated into in recent years his efforts were not particularly appreciated. He certainly wasn't encouraged in his efforts. In the modern Republican Party nothing beyond lip service is wanted when it comes to minority outreach.

George Voinovich, who did a darned fine job as mayor of Cleveland, listened to the black citizens of that city and got quite a few black votes. He got those votes in statewide elections too. Funny how people will vote for you if you listen to them and they know you are hearing them.

Of course, Voinovich is out of favor for daring to allude to the truth about how far the Republicans have gone off into the weeds and why. And the only thought the Republican Party gives to black voters in Cleveland is how to insure there are too few voting machines in their precincts so that they might be discouraged from voting. So much for the party of ideas.

And yet, these guys are baffled as to why black folks don't flock to their banner. But is has nothing to do with their party. Just ask them. They'll tell you.

[AL]

If I were the person running for office. I do not think I would want a rebel flag flying next to my booth. I would rather close down my booth then to be next to a booth with that type of stuff in it. If his judgement is lacking in this issue-it will be flawed on the major issues.

[Nathan Bedford Forrest]

The flag of of the Confederate States of America represents Heritage, not Hate!

[Mr. GOP]

Hey Ben, talk to us about Deeds' “Deliverance Tour” as you called it, you know...your "Macaca" moment...

or maybe get back to real issues...this ain't one

[RicJohn]

**BREAKING**

Rasmussen Reports
August 11, 2009

VIRGINIA

BOB MCDONNELL 47
CREIGH DEEDS 38
SOMEONE ELSE 3
UNDECIDED 12

Leaners
BOB MCDONNELL 49
CREIGH DEEDS 41

*Interesting
"Forty-two percent (42%) like McDonnell's idea of privatizing Virginia's state-run liquor stores as a way to help finance transportation projects. Twenty-eight percent (28%) oppose that plan."

Is this what people want? Transportation funding from booze profits? What about a dedicated, reliable source for funding. Virginia really can be a odd place sometimes.

[Mr. GOP]

Hey Ben, is it true your buddy Chuck Caputo said the following in your forum last night?

“Republicans don’t want felons to vote because they know they’ll all vote Democratic.”

If so, start referring to him as the FORMER Democratic Delegate from Fairfax.

[change]

Many believe this flag represents “states rights” which is a basic tenet of the 10th amendment to the constitution.
The belief in state sovereignty has been supported and resolved in legislation in almost 40 states.

Those who profess that people who use this as a symbol of racism and a desire to return to “slave days” are only trying to practice racial division and elitism.

This type of suggestion should be below any “thoughtful” person. The only slavery currently being practiced in our country today is by our government taking more and more of the fruits of our labor.

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

How many Confederates were convicted of treason?

Zero.

[SatiricalAlexandria]

That is no "white partition." It is a TABLE with "Sportsmen for McDonnell" lit on it with the flag. The "partition," to the extent there is one running on the sides, not in the back, is the board with Confederate t-shirt designs on it. The flag belongs to the Sportsmen's group, NOT the t-shirt group. Just ask them.

[kelley in virginia]

1st: who instituted the jim crow laws? Democrats.

2d: who led Massive Resistance? Democrats.

3: how many felons do you think would vote for Republicans who sometimes offers itself as the party of "law & order"?

4th: get a grip about the Confederate flag.

[Jarrod]

TO Kelly in VA,

The South was largely democrat until they passed the Civil rights Act in 1964. After that a large majority of whites in the south switched parties. Also telling me to get a grip about the Confederate flag would be the same as asking someone jewish to get a grip about a Nazi flag or asking americans to get a grip about a al queda flag hanging from a state capitol.

Clearly you are not black.

[R.Smith]

The Washington Post has exposed this story as false.

How about trying some ideas instead of relying on the same old race baiting that the dems have exploited since the days of Jefferson Davis?

(For you highly educated college graduates in NoVa...theres no difference between race baiting white segregationists and nursing black resentment. You're the same as you ever were....the same book, just a different cover)

[Not Larry Sabato]

The Washington Post has reported the McDonnell campaign says this was false, not that they have verified it was false.

[Don't Drink the KKKoolaid MCD is a racist]

If you are going to be at a gun show supporting your candidate and you are right next to a confederate flag whether in the booth or not you must take some responsibility for the situation. Your campaign choose to go to a gun show and choose to be right next to a confederate flag. If your candidate was not racist then the people at the booth should not have put up the flag and if the flag was in another booth which some are claiming then you ask the people in the next booth over to A. move the flag B. take it down or you can say look we shouldn't be here let's either move our booth or leave the convention.

A gun show is typically filled with racist types or those who would be sympathetic to a racist cause or to the racists not a positive gathering of people who enjoy guns who are also anti racist and sexist and such. I happen to like guns but I also happen to hate racism, sexism, homophobia heterosexism...and be queer and be damn proud of all of it. I don't go to gun shows because the people who tend to populate them have very few brains in their heads, they like guns because they enjoy killing things and just randomly shooting at things not because they care about anything (except those who care about the hate) or they tend to collect nazi or confederate memorabilia (sometimes they are racist sometimes not). I like guns because I want to protect my self and my friends and comrades and if need be stand up against a racist force or a military force or be used in a revolutionary context.

Guns are not toys and improper use of them is very common especially by those who tend to go to gun shows and have confederate flags or have badges or something like that.

Oh and on the flag, if you believe in that heritage not hate B.S. you should know that your heritage is hate and there is no way around it. The flag stands for slavery and oppression and war. It is not about rebellion (as I once thought) and it never will be. If you want rebellion than take a good hard look at yourself and read up on anarchism most especially insurrectionary anarchism (Alfredo Bonnano or the Invisible Committee or Tiqqun are recommended) otherwise don't bother with politics because you politics suck!

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