THE STARS AND BARS FOREVER

If anyone were actually reading Tina Brown's Daily Beast, this article by Michael Lind defining the rejection of the Obama stimulus plan by the largely Southern GOP as neo-Confederate conspiracy might be generating a lot of talk. As it is, the only blogger I know of who's responded to Lind's piece is Don Surber, who obviously skimmed it -- no, Don, Lind isn't saying this is simply about racism. Some excepts:

... The vote about the stimulus package was not about economics. It was about nullification. It was the bipartisan Confederacy sending a message to the rest of America, stricken by the greatest crisis since the Depression. That message? DROP DEAD.

... The slogan of the segregationist Democrats -- "massive resistance" -- characterizes today's Southern conservative resistance to necessary federal economic action, just as it inspired yesterday’s Southern conservative resistance to equal rights for black Americans.

...Southern opposition to capable national government is nothing new. In the Confederate Constitution, provisions modeled on those of the US Constitution that empowered the federal government of the Confederate States of America were followed by clauses frantically limiting the very powers that had just been bestowed....

This is the only constitution in history, to my knowledge, which banned the government from promoting and fostering branches of national industry....

So according to Lind -- and this seems right to me -- what we saw in segregation was a template that Southern politicians (and white Southern voters) are still following, a template that once led to a resistance to integration but can also lead, as it does now, to a resistance to any number of things advocated by the non-Southern part of America. Like using government power to put ordinary people back to work.

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I was thinking about Lind's article when I saw this post at Hot Air last night...

Video: Beloved president gets rousing ovation at basketball game

It's in Waco, granted, but after eight years of Bush Derangement Syndrome culminating in boos at The One's inauguration, any moment of appreciation is a sweet one....

...and this news story:

... Former President George W. Bush and wife Laura attended Wednesday's game. The two entered several minutes before the opening tip, flanking Lady Bears coach Kim Mulkey, and received a prolonged standing ovation from the fans at the Ferrell Center....

Another round of applause followed during the initial TV timeout at 15:57 of the first half, when the 43rd president was introduced again....

Here's the video:



Are they cheering him? Or do they just wish they could nullify the most recent presidential election, as well as the last 150 years of American history?