Just what in the hell was this idiot nimrod thinking when he did this? Can anyone tell me? 🙄

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors — Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — refused to do.

Republican governors George Allen and Jim Gilmore issued similar proclamations. But in 2002, Warner broke with their action, calling such proclamations, a “lightning rod” that does not help bridge divisions between whites and blacks in Virginia.

This year’s proclamation was requested by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A representative of the group said the group has known since it interviewed McDonnell when he was running for attorney general in 2005 that he was likely to respond differently than Warner or Kaine.

“We’ve known for quite some time we had a good opportunity should he ascend the governorship,” Brandon Dorsey said. “We basically decided to bide our time and wait until we had more favorable politicians in Richmond.”

Dorsey said the governor’s stamp of approval would help the group publicize the month and aide tourism efforts in the state.

via Virginia Politics Blog – Despite previous governors’ refusals, McDonnell issues Confederate history month proclamation.

Good Lord. 🙄

Betsy over Betsy’s Page sums it up:

While such a move might appeal to those Virginians who are still motivated by pride in their Confederate heritage, it betrays an ignorance about the history of his state. Virginia was primarily concerned with its status as a slave-holding state and its concern that the Lincoln administration and Republicans would work to limit the spread of slavery. If Governor McDonnell doesn’t understand this, he should get a little remedial education. He could read some of the resolutions adopted by the Virginia Secession Convention. For example, consider this resolution and then try to convince an impartial observer that slavery wasn’t at the heart of Virginia’s decision to secede.

[…]

McDonnell might claim that his statement is in anticipation of the 150-year anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War which starts next year. I know that Virginia is devoting a lot of effort on education and tourism for the 150-year anniversary, but that doesn’t mean that they have to ignore the full history. Those tourists who are interested in coming to Virginia to study Civil War history wouldn’t be deterred by an honest gubernatorial proclamation. Let’s face it, no one would care about this proclamation if McDonnell had followed the pattern of both previous Republican and Democratic governors who had issued such proclamations that included a condemnation of slavery. Instead, McDonnell, who conducted a model campaign for governor will now waste time trying to explain away his myopic celebration of Confederate heritage.

My feelings exactly. One of the biggest gripes that I always had and still do with the damned Paleo-Conservatives is this idiotic idea that the Civil War was not about Slavery. Granted, it was not the MAIN issue at hand, I know this. But it ended up being and still is, the BIGGER issue; than just say, the forcing of centralized Government on the south. Hiding behind that empty claim is just damn bogus. It also is a rather lame attempt to cover up the fact that the majority of the Paleo-Conservatives are just monolithic haters of blacks. Which is why I came to decision that I could not support their beliefs. It is one thing to hate identity politics; it is another to just hate black people in general.

Do not misunderstand me here; as much as I know what the losing the war did to south and the hardships it caused, in the end; Lincoln declaring war on the Confederates was the right thing to do. Because had not Lincoln fought that war —- America would have been a much more frightening, dark place. As much as I know that my roots run through the south. My southern forefathers were wrong in their treatment of blacks and for seceding from the union like they did. Because of that, the south experienced more hardships than it really had to. This might anger some of my southern readers, but it is the truth — and that my friends is what I write; the truth.