This is part #1 of a story about how a movement became a force. It wasn’t by accident. It wasn’t by wishing. It wasn’t done by one man, alone. It was accomplished through dedication, organization and discipline.
Yesterday, while campaigning in Myrtle Beach, Mike Huckabee had this to say, “…if somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we’d tell them what to do with the pole; that’s what we’d do.”
You realize, of course, how much it means to the self esteem of millions of South Carolinians, and Southerners, generally, that this man felt it necessary to say, and felt confident enough to say, those words, and more, before the world news media. It was immensely important. A governor of a Southern State, and a viable presidential candidate, said that he supports South Carolinia’s rights in this regard. And he said it colorfully, emphasizing that Arkansans, too, have State pride.
One hundred and forty-two years of mis-education have failed to defeat the spirit of South Carolinians. Southerners have not been cowed. Southerners are destined to be the ultimate winners of the War Between the States. Mike Huckabee is riding a wave, the ascendance of the South. No Trent Lott, he, Mike Huckabee is a confident man. The tide has turned, and Mike Huckabee knows it.
But, do you know the story behind why Mike Huckabee would so boldly announce his high regard for the right of Southerners to proclaim their pride, unmolested? He got a little help from his friends, and therein lies a tale.
For those of us determined to kill outside meddling in the internal affairs of South Carolina, and for those of us determined to make a South Carolina 100% proud, yesterday was the payoff for many, many years of non-stop effort.
While Huckabee was in Myrtle Beach making the aforementioned statement, several men were steadily walking up and down Gervais Street, in Columbia. The temperature was near freezing. The steady drizzle was turning to sleet as the men paraded back and fourth in front of 1600 Gervais Street.
One of the men had driven in from Fairfield County, another, from Lexington County. Veterans of hundreds of such events, they had come prepared. They carried signs and flags, South Carolina state flags and the Confederate naval jack.
1600 Gervais Street is the South Carolina headquarters for the John McCain presidential campaign, and inside were gathered, some one hundred McCain supporters. A big bus, labeled “Straight Talk Express,” was parked in front, but the straight talk was coming from the signs carried by the men steadily parading back and forth in front of the building.
The signs read, “John McCain hates South Carolinians,” “John McCain Go Home,” “The South Does Not Want John McCain,” “Honk for Dixie!,” and “John McCain is a Liar.”
The weather was turning nasty and there was talk that McCain had canceled the meeting, and, for these reasons, a number of individuals declined to participate, and yet, despite these impediments, something important was taking place.
The South Carolina League, represented by men wearing Confederate-flag shirts and carrying signs reminding the world that John McCain had come to our State eight years before to publicly hate our flag.
All throughout the present campaign, John McCain, when confronted with questions referring to his past public hate for our flag, has said that the issue has been settled and that people should move on. He certainly wishes for that.
Nor would he further condemn the flag, stating only that the issue has been settled. Is he satisfied that the symbol he publicly so heartily hated should continue to fly proudly, directly before our Capitol building? He is too wise to say. No, John McCain has been burned, over and over, as the South Carolina League has hounded him from one end of the State to the other. Even after we thought he was dead, politically, we continued to “flag” him, just for good measure. Oh, how he hates the flag issue now.
But it is too late for John McCain.
The South Carolina League has an unofficial motto, “We don’t forget, and we don’t forgive.” John McCain has been in our sights from the day he made this statement.
The results are that he will be an also ran, once again, in South Carolina.
