The 2008 South Carolina presidential primary results reveal that speaking out against the flying of the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds is not “political suicide” as many of our state legislators seem to think. In fact, it appears that the opposite is true.
The Democratic and overall winner of the 2008 S.C. primaries, Senator Barack Obama, said in an April 26, 2007 debate: “I think that the Confederate flag should be put in a museum. That’s where it belongs.” This is the right answer for South Carolina, and Obama was rewarded with 295,091 votes in the Democratic primary – more votes than the top two Republican candidates put together.
The second place overall and Republican winner of the 2008 S.C. primaries, Senator John McCain, received 147,283 votes, even though a group ran radio ads attacking McCain’s support for ending the flying of the Confederate flag at the Statehouse.
Remember that John McCain, prior to the 2000 S.C. presidential primary (which he lost), said that the flag was a “symbol of heritage.” However, he later apologized for making that statement, saying the following about the Confederate flag in April, 2000 (after the February 19, 2000 primary):
I want to tell the people of South Carolina and all Americans that I sincerely regret breaking my promise to always tell you the truth…. My ancestors fought for the Confederacy, and I am sure that many, maybe all of them, fought with courage and with faith that they were serving a cause greater than themselves. But I don’t believe their service, however distinguished, needs to be commemorated in a way that offends, that deeply hurts, people whose ancestors were once denied their freedom by my ancestors. Those ancestors of mine might have fought honorably, they might have fought to uphold a principle they believed was just. But they fought to sever the union of our great nation, a cause that would have terribly harmed America, perhaps irreparably, and, for a time at least, perpetuated the grave injustice of slavery. They fought on the wrong side of American history. That, my friends, is how I personally feel about the Confederate battle flag. That is the honest answer I never gave to a fair question….
John McCain reiterated that stance, in an interview with Katie Couric that aired just three days before the 2008 S.C. presidential primaries, by saying:
The worst advice that I’ve given to myself was when the Confederate flag was flying over the state capitol in South Carolina. And I decided that I would say that’s not an issue that I should be involved in, that it should be decided by the people of the State of South Carolina. I knew that it was a symbol that was very offensive to many people. And afterwards, I went back and apologized. But it was, needless to say, by saying that I wouldn’t have anything to do with an issue like that was an act of cowardice.
Senator Hillary Clinton was the presidential candidate who received the third highest number of votes (141,128) in the 2008 S.C. primaries. In February of 2007, she said this about the flying of the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds:
I think about how many South Carolinians have served in our military and who are serving today under our flag and I believe that we should have one flag that we all pay honor to, as I know that most people in South Carolina do every single day…. I personally would like to see [the Confederate Flag] removed from the Statehouse grounds.
Finally, Governor Mike Huckabee, who pandered to those supporting the flying of the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds, finished fourth overall with 132,440 votes. He wasn’t able to build support outside his evangelical base, and he received 8,688 votes less than Hillary Clinton and less than half the votes of Barack Obama. In case you missed it, a few days before the 2008 S.C. primary, Huckabee, a former minister, said the following about the flying of the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds: “If somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole.”
Thus, legislators, it is clear that you no longer have to avoid speaking out against the flying of the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds in order to win elections in South Carolina. In fact, nowadays, pandering or equivocating about this issue likely hurts your chances of winning an election.
So, please, legislators, show some courage and leadership and act according to your own principles. Don’t make wishy-washy statements like, “I respect the compromise,” or “[Who's right?] It depends on who you ask,” or “We don’t need to be debating this issue,” or “I’d vote to remove the flag from the Statehouse grounds if a bill ever came to the floor, but I won’t advocate for such a bill, and the leadership will prevent the issue from seeing the light of day before we adjourn in June.”
House Bill 3588, which would replace the Confederate flag with the State flag on every day of the year except Confederate Memorial Day, has been stuck in the Judiciary committee for almost a year now. Please see that H-3588 gets taken up for a vote on the House and Senate floors so that the voters can know where their legislators stand. In November, legislators who continue to pander or equivocate on this issue will have a difficult time, but those who support H-3588 will win reelection.
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February 3, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Jim Harrison is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. You may remember him from the bar exam controversy that occurred a few months ago. After his daughter failed the bar exam, he made calls to George Hearn, the chairman of the Board of Law Examiners, and Daniel Shearouse, the clerk of the Supreme Court. A few days later, the Supreme Court posted on its website the numerical ids of 20 additional people passing the bar exam. One of those listed was later determined to be Jim Harrison’s daughter.