Bob McDonnell Still Taking Heat for Confederate History Proclamation
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell yesterday attempted to tamp down the controversy he created by leaving out any mention of slavery in his recent proclamation of Confederate History Month. His back stepping doesn't appear to be appeasing liberals, however, and has some conservative grumbling about "pandering."
After civil rights groups, McDonnell's own prominent supporters and several others complained yesterday about the proclamation, McDonnell apologized for what he called a "major omission."
"The failure to include any reference to slavery was a mistake, and for that I apologize to any fellow Virginian who has been offended or disappointed," he said. "The abomination of slavery divided our nation, deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights, and led to the Civil War."
McDonnnell also added a new clause about slavery to the proclamation.
At least one African-American Virginia lawmaker said that the governor's actions are not enough to make up for the mistake.
"This is the latest in a series of insults to a sizeable segment of Virginia," Democratic State Sen. Henry Marsh III said Wednesday night on CNN. "And I just think that we need to be careful - that you can do something and apologize and keep on doing it again."
Liberal commentators online have also been slow to forgive.
"If you think that slavery 'divided our nation, deprived people of their God-given inalienable rights, and led to the Civil War ... was an evil, vicious and inhumane practice which degraded human beings to property, and it has left a stain on the soul of this state and nation,' why in the hell are you honoring this abomination in the first place?" writes a blogger at the liberal Daily Kos.
The progressive site FireDogLake on Wednesday criticized McDonnell for writing the proclamation in the first place, given the nature of the group that lobbied for it. The Washington Post reported that it was pushed for by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a group that says its mission is "preserving the history and legacy of these heroes, so future generations can understand the motives that animated the Southern Cause."
FireDogLake highlights the Southern Poverty Law Center's report on the group, which says, "Although the 31,400-member SCV has always billed itself as a 'non-political' and 'non-racial' heritage organization devoted merely to preserving the legacy of Confederate soldiers, SCV leaders have long been tied to segregation and white supremacy."
It turns out members of the SCV have their own complaints about the proclamation, now that McDonnell has added the slavery clause.
Will the Civil War Ever Die?
SCV member Brandon Dorsey told Talking Points Memo that McDonnell was "pandering to people who never would have voted for him nor supported any of his policies."
"We would probably have rather not had a proclamation whatsoever, than for him to add a clause that says that everything that we support and everything we hold dear has to do with slavery," he said.
However, SCV member Brag Bowling told Talking Points Memo that his colleague Dorsey was "off base" and that McDonnell was "courageous" for simply issuing the proclamation.
"It's not an insult," Bowling said. "No one in their right mind is in support of slavery."
Meanwhile, prominent conservative David Frum wonders what all the fuss is about, questioning whether anyone has actually read the proclamation.
"It does contain the eyebrow-raising language that the Confederates 'fought for their homes and communities and Commonwealth.' None of those things were in danger in 1861," Frum writes. "Beyond that, however, it's a bland invocation of the importance of studying history."
