State NAACP leader blasts Obama

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Charleston SC Post and Courier

Randolph says president's decision to pay tribute to Confederate soldiers would be akin to honoring Hitler

By Yvonne Wenger (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Friday, May 29, 2009


To South Carolina's top NAACP leader, President Barack Obama's decision to pay tribute to Confederate soldiers on Memorial Day was just as wrong as it would be to honor Adolph Hitler or ignore the devastation caused by the Sept. 11 hijackers.

Lonnie Randolph said Thursday that he is drafting a letter on behalf of the state chapter of the NAACP to criticize the president's action. He said he plans to say just how disappointed he is that Obama would recognize the very men who died, as Randolph sees it, trying to keep men who look like the president out of the White House.

"What I am speaking and preaching for is justice and equality for all people," Randolph said. "Very few people will stand up for that."

To Randall B. Burbage of Hanahan, commander of the state division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, what Randolph is doing is making a mean-spirited attack on the country's heritage.

Read more: http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/may/29/state_naacp_leader_blasts_obama84128/

[LostinVA]

1. k&r

[Ian David]

2. "...would be akin to honoring Hitler."

Randolph says president's decision to pay tribute to Confederate soldiers would be akin to honoring Hitler

THAT would be Reagan's job...

[katandmoon]

3. And this would be the ONLY cause on earth these would-be Johnny Rebels would EVER defend Obama on...

That of honoring slavery supporters.

[cali]

4. I disagree with Randolph

I think Obama handled this contretemps beautifully. He continued a tradition that has morphed from the quasi honoring of confederate ideology to honoring the soldiers, and made his sentiments clear by sending a wreath to the AA soldiers who fought for the Union.

To be the first President since Wilson to not send a wreath to honor confederate soldiers would have been a huge mistake- and not just a political error, though it surely would have been that. It would have torn open a wound that is still in the process of healing and been a boost for hate. Obama, by his action, modeled grace and forgiveness. That is a very good thing.

[groundloop]

5. Good points

Obama seems pretty adept at choosing which fights are worth fighting and which ones to leave alone. IMHO, leave this sleeping dog alone.

[firedupdem]

6. +1

The fallout from not attending would be ridiculous.

[redqueen]

7. Yep. Far too many around here don't seem to 'get' politics.

And of course the M$M plays that like a fiddle to sow discord.

It's so banal. If only people would get over their incessant need for a new outrage fix, they'd stop being so easily played.

[MellowDem]

8. That guy is an idiot

The vast majority of Confederate soldiers were not fighting to keep slavery. Many were conscripted or drafted. Honoring dead soldiers isn't the same as honoring the cause, which in any case was much more varied and less simple than "keep slavery". Most of the soldiers that fought for the North would have tried to keep Obama from the White House. Yet this guy has no problem honoring them. Or George Washington, who freakin' owned slaves.

And don't forget that there were black Confederate soldiers. I guess we shouldn't honor them either, given that the war was obviously a black and white affair. This guy needs a history lesson.

[SpartanDem]

9. Every President since 1913 has

done this, Confederate soldiers are recognized no differently than any other American vet. You know that whole reuniting the union thing? Randolph is a fucking idiot and needs to get a clue

[ohio2007]

10. Randolph doesn't have a clue

Is he the one that doesn't know the difference between the flag of the confederacy and the confederate battle flag ?

Confederate soldiers are recognized no differently than any other American vet. You know that whole reuniting the union thing?

It was 'brother against brother' for most of the nation. There wouldn't have been a civil war if it wasn't for slave owners getting more votes then non slave owners in the south.

The points will come up on the teleprompter