* Haley Barbour, pompous Republican Gov. of Mississippi, weighed in on the celebration of the Confederacy celebrations that some Republican governors are promoting:
TheAtlanticWire:
Last week, we covered the outrage over Virginia governor Bob McDonnell's failure to mention slavery in a speech commemorating "Confederate History Month." McDonnell quickly apologized for the oversight, and the story began to slide out of the news cycle. Days later, as it was beginning to be forgotten, Mississippi governor Haley Barbour brought it back, defending McDonnell's original statement on CNN's State of the Union. Considered a possible presidential candidate in 2012, Barbour didn't see what all the fuss was about.
I don’t know what you would say about slavery, but anyone who thinks that you have to explain to people that slavery's a bad thing--I think it goes without saying. [...] To me it's a sort of feeling that it's just a nit. That it's not significant. It's trying to make a big deal out of something that doesn't matter for diddly.
> My open letter to Gov. Barbour-------
Dear Governor Haley Numbskull:
Slavery was not that significant??????? It "...doesn't matter for diddly"???? Are you crazy???
The confederacy depended upon the work and sweat of slaves. Human beings were owned, beaten, raped, and denied human rights in the slavery-dominated southern states. The confederacy was a horrible time in American history. Why in the world would anyone want to celebrate a time in history in which human beings were subjected to beatings by wealthy, white landowners? Why do you think it is important to rejoice in a time in your state's past when human beings were denied civil rights?
Are you out of your freaking mind?
Sincerely,
An American
It is no secret that Gov. McDonnell of Virginia and Barbour of Mississippi are trying to court the far right extreme of their Republican Party. In pandering to the far right, they've turned off the 85% of the American people who are not accepting of these pro-confederacy, pro-slavery, anti-civil rights statements which seem to be on Barbour's and McDonnell's agenda. The more Barbour and McDonnell persist in this agenda, the more they move the Republican Party to a regional southern party.
When McDonnell and Barbour diminish the family history of millions of Americans whose ancestors were slaves, they deny their suffering, their heritage, and the historical implications of slavery. McDonnell and Barbour demonstrate once again that the Republican Party is open to whites - only.
* Real Clear Politics has some numbers about Ohio politics:
Ohio Senate: Research 2000 and the Daily Kos polled the Ohio Senate race, and found Lee Fisher leading Republican Rob Portman 43%-39%. The other Democrat in the race, Jennifer Brunner (for information on the Democratic primary and their candidates, see below) leads Portman by a point, 41%-40%....
Ohio Governor: R2k shows Ted Strickland leading former Congressman John Kasich by five points, 45%-40%, which was essentially what they found the last time they polled the race last July. Strickland has hammered Kasich over his ties to Lehman Brothers, and most recent polling has shown a dip in Kasich's numbers. We'll see if this can get Strickland through to November. The Governor leads by 1 in the RCP average....
I'll keep my eye on these.
