Dean Repeatedly Invoked Confederate Flag

The press is pretending it was a one-time blooper when Democratic Presidential frontrunner Howard Dean advised his party last week to begin courting Confederate flag-carrying Southerners, leaving the impression that Dean's remarks were a mere slip of the tongue; the kind of mistake that all candidates make from time to time.

However, reports reviewed by NewsMax.com show that Gov. Dean has repeatedly invoked that symbol of the old South's slave days. In fact, the sentiment he expressed in Iowa last weekend is part of the liberal Democrat's standard stump speech.

In July, for instance, the former Vermont Governor was quoted telling California Democrats: "I want to go to the South, and I'm going to say to white guys that drive pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back of their car, 'We want your vote, too, because your kids don't have health insurance either.'"

That was a full three months before the flag hit the fan for the progressive's favorite candidate.

In April, Dean did it again, telling a Chicago audience, "White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals ought to be voting with us because their kids don't have health insurance and need better schools."

Two months before that, Dean engaged in more rhetorical flag waving, telling a Southern audience, "White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals in the back ought to be voting with us and not [Republicans], because their kids don't have health insurance either, and their kids need better schools, too."

According to Cox News Service, "That line produced Dean's 'most prolonged response.'"

In January, Dean went so far as to defend South Carolina's decision to fly the Confederate flag over its state capital, telling CNN, "I don't like it, but that's a matter for the people of South Carolina to settle, not me."

When pressed on whether he thought flying the symbol of slavery was a good idea, the annoyed sounding Vermonter shot back, "I just said, I don't like it, but it's not for somebody from out of the state to fix that problem. That's an in-state problem"

Still, despite his repeated episodes of Confederate flag waving, the New York Times urged the Democratic front-runner yesterday to "demonstrate that his Confederate flag moment was a one-shot recoverable gaffe and not a symptom of something more haunting, like a pattern of misspeaking."

If the New York Times had done its homework, it would know Dean's reference last week to the Confederate flag was no "one-shot-gaffe."

DEAN: "I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks," Dean said Friday in a telephone interview from New Hampshire. "We can't beat George Bush unless we appeal to a broad cross-section of Democrats."
( Des Moines Register, Nov. 1, 2003, by Thomas Beaumont, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1013261/posts?page=1)

DEAN: ``"I intend to talk about race during this election in the South because the Republicans have been talking about it since 1968 in order to divide us. And I'm going to bring us together. Because you know what? You know what? White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals in the back ought to be voting with us and not them, because their kids don't have health insurance either and their kids need better schools too."
(Dean's Speech at the Winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee, FDCH Political Transcripts)

DEAN: "I don't like it, and it ought to come down, but it's not a presidential issue."
(The Hotline, Jan. 15, 2003)

DEAN: "It's a racist symbol but I also think the Democratic Party has to be a big tent," Dean said Tuesday night, refusing to recant his statement that the party must court Southerners who display the symbol of the Confederacy in their pickup trucks. Poor white people need to vote their economic interest," he said.
("Dean Gives No Ground on Confederate Flag Remark at Democratic Debate", by David Espo, 5-Nov-2003)

DEAN: "But I think there are lot of poor people who fly that flag because the Republicans have been dividing us by race since 1968 with their Southern race strategy. .... I want to go down to the South and talk to people who don't make any more than anybody else up North but keep voting Republican against their own economic interests."
("Dean Gives No Ground on Confederate Flag Remark at Democratic Debate", by David Espo, 5-Nov-2003)

DEAN: "I understand the Confederate flag is a symbol of heritage for some folks ... But there are also a very significant number of folks in this state to whom it is a symbol of oppression and slavery. I don't think you can have symbols like that be flown on the Statehouse ... If someone wants to fly that from their house, that's their private business. But I just don't see how that fits into state government."
(The Hotline, Jan. 28, 2003, "Dean Switches Position on SC Flag Issue")

DEAN: "There's no reason why white guys who have a Confederate flag in the back of their pickup truck shouldn't be walking side-by-side with blacks, because they don't have health insurance, either."
(Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, by Steven Thomma, Feb. 2, 2003)

DEAN: "I understand the Confederate flag is a loathsome symbol," said Dean. "But if we don't reach out to every single American, we can't win...I make no apologies for reaching out to poor white people."
("Dean not sorry for courting 'poor white people", Boston Herald, Andrew Miga, Nov 5, 2003)

DEAN: "I regret the pain that I have caused, but I will tell you there is no easy way to do this and there will be pain as we discuss it and we must face this together hand in hand as Dr. (Martin Luther) King and Abraham Lincoln asked us to do," Dean said.
("Dean Regrets Pain of Confederate Flag Remark", The Washington Post ^ | Wednesday, November 5, 2003; 1:16 PM | By Ron Fournier)

DEAN: "Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean told a Tallahassee audience today that southerners have to quit basing their votes on "race, guns, God and gays."
("Howard Dean campaigns in Tallahassee", Tallahassee Democrat, Nov. 04, 2003)

DEAN: ``That was an apology,'' Dean told The Associated Press. ``You heard it from me. It was a remark that inflicted a lot of pain on people for whom the flag of the Confederacy is a painful symbol of racism and slavery.''
("Dean Sorry for Confederate Flag Comment", The Guardian UK, Ron Fournier, Thursday November 6, 2003)

DEAN: ``My remarks were misunderstood, of course, with the help of my colleagues'' in the race, he told the AP.
("Dean Sorry for Confederate Flag Comment", The Guardian UK, Ron Fournier, Thursday November 6, 2003)

DEAN: "People who fly the Confederate flag I think are wrong, because I think the Confederate flag is a racist symbol," said Dean in heated remarks about the banner on Tuesday evening.
("Locals React To Latest Confederate Flag Controversy Created By Democratic Presidential Hopefuls", KAIT8, November 5, 2003, Jonesboro, AR)

This whole issue just illustrates the effects of revisionist history in the government schools. Although it works to ill-educate the masses, it does not erase true history.

The War Between the States was not about slavery, it was overtaxation and tyranny from the overburgeoning Federal government.

Lincoln was not opposed to slavery. He said so himself in several speeches. He profited from the sale of his father-in-law's slaves two years after the end of the war. The Emancipation Proclamation was a propaganda tool only. It did not apply to ANY of the Union territory (in which slavery was active), and had no jurisdictional effect on a separate country (the south). It, in effect, was a worthless document.

The South had a Constitutional right to seceed from the Union. Lincoln didn't want that to occur, however, because of the loss of a massive tax base.

Anyone who is offended by the Confederate flag should do some research into factual accounts of history to counter the intended effect that public shools have had on them. Once they find that they have been misled (lied to) and achieve for themselves a proper education, they should express their most sincere gratification to any and all who continue to spread garbage and lies.

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