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"VA
Pilot editorial this morning [see box, below] agrees with what I was pleading
with Dems to see in my Roanoke Times.com column this week [see bottom box,
below] where I point out what the Pilot now concedes is self-evident: While
Dem candidate Ben Jones and State Dem Chairman Larry Framme are good people
... the fact is that Jones' Confederate Flag strategy, endorsed
by Chairman Larry Framme and the State Democratic Party, is not some innocent
political position that has unexpectedly backfired.... but as a certain
VA professor likes to say, "too clever by half" for they had to
know what they were doing was going to deliberately create the very controversy
they claim was never intended and which they criticize others for reacting
to.
Governor Warner and LG Kaine and former Governors Wilder and Robb took
the right position: and Framme and Jones need to get on their page as soon
as possible. In this business, everybody makes a lot of wrong turns. So
you get on the right path, promise to learn from your mistakes, and get
on with the real issues.
In my column this week for the Roanoke Times.com edition, I ask the following
the question:
"Would you expect Virginians to believe that if Ben Jones, the Democratic
candidate in the 7th Congressional District, had been the mechanic for Fred
Flintstone's Dinomobile, he would be campaigning in the 7th District in
a car with rocks for wheels?
Apparently Mr. Jones and Mr. Framme, the state Democratic chairman, do.
They say the only reason Mr. Jones is using Confederate flag imagery in
his campaign is because he once played car mechanic "Cooter Davenport"...
Later, I answer the question above with another question: "Has Mr.
Jones always wanted to provoke a situation where he could paint himself
as the fighter for Southern heritage against certain Democratic straw men
and women?"
Naturally, the Pilot editorial answers my second question a lot gentler
and better than I do.
They conclude: Mr. Jones surely knew that by his actions, he was not
being innocently naive, but rather, he knew -- as did Mr. Framme - that
it would stir a purposeful controversy for a crass political purpose they
had always calculated. To think otherwise -- to think it was purely innocent
and a total surprise to them -- is to insult the people of Virginia, not
to mention those of us who have fought against this kind of thing for years.
The Pilot said the strategy has backfired.
But it is never too late to do the right thing; people always appreciate
that. We all make mistakes, especially those of us in the political process.
You admit them, promise to learn from them, and move on.
Mr. Jones and Mr. Framme are good guys. They need to get back on the
right track and when they do, I will be the first one to praise them for
doing it and put the matter to rest."
Editorial
The General Lee hits a pothole
Ben ``Cooter'' Jones is a smart man. He was educated at the University
of North Carolina. He parlayed his popularity as a character on the TV sitcom,
``Dukes of Hazzard'' into two terms as a Georgia congressman. He is no slouch
when it comes to debating federal issues. So it is a given that Jones, 61,
knows what he's doing when he campaigns in the orange hot rod with the Confederate
flag on top, known to Dukes' lovers as the General Lee. He is drawing attention
to his celebrity status, a claim to fame that gives him slightly better
odds than most Democrats in the uphill battle to unseat 7th Congressional
District incumbent Eric Cantor, a Republican. And he is subtly appealing
to those Southern whites who embrace Confederate symbols. Jones, who grew
up in Portsmouth, cannot be unaware of the mixed nature of that appeal,
some based on pride, some grounded in good-old-boy slapstick, some connected
to deep-seated racism.
Nor, having spent a significant portion of his youth in the civil rights
movement, can Jones be unaware of the hurt and resentment experienced by
many black Southerners when the Confederate flag is on display. Jones argues,
as do members of such groups as the Sons of Confederate Veterans, that his
interest in the Confederacy reflects his pride in the valor of Southern
ancestors. ``I think Stonewall Jackson was a heroic figure. I think Martin
Luther King was the greatest man I ever met. I don't see any conflict in
having those thoughts,'' he said recently. Some others do. Jones is savvy
enough to have known that his use of the General Lee would stir controversy.
It was a self-fulfilling prophesy when former Gov. Doug Wilder criticized
the campaign tactic, and Gov. Mark Warner and Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine distanced
themselves from it last week. Given Jones' involvement in civil rights sit-ins
and demonstrations four decades ago, he is more credible than many in arguing
that rejecting slavery and embracing those whose victory would have preserved
it aren't incompatible. Perhaps this is a useful conversation, given the
South's ongoing preoccupation with the late war. But our guess is that the
voters of the 7th District would be better served by a campaign that does
not distract from more current issues: the state of the economy, the prospect
of war, the focus on terrorism. To the extent that the General Lee muffles
Jones' larger message or brings out voters for the wrong reasons, it backfires.
The Virginian-Pilot © September 24, 2002 |
Democratic chief Framme publicly opposes his party's No. 1
This is the first-ever such disagreement in party history. The
issue is far bigger than Framme's support and Warner's opposition to the
Confederate flag strategy of Democrat Ben Jones.
By PAUL GOLDMAN
Let me ask you a question: Would you expect Virginians to believe that
if Ben Jones, the Democratic candidate in the 7th Congressional District,
had been the mechanic for Fred Flintstone's Dinomobile, he would be campaigning
in the 7th District in a car with rocks for wheels? Apparently Mr. Jones
and Mr. Framme, the state Democratic chairman, do. They say the only reason
Mr. Jones is using Confederate flag imagery in his campaign is because he
once played car mechanic "Cooter Davenport" on the TV comedy The
Dukes of Hazzards. For those who didn't get to watch the show, one of the
main attractions was the show's popular 1969 Dodge Charger [dubbed the "General
Lee"]. By design [it had originally been slated to go on the hood],
the producer's emblazoned what they said was the confederate flag on the
roof of the car. Thus, Mr. Jones and his supporters say he is only using
this Confederate flag imagery to remind people of his fame as a way to innocently
bring attention, and recognition, to his campaign.Naturally, there is no
way to know for sure what is in Mr. Jones' mind. However, we do know this.
He is running as a "Harry Byrd" Democrat. He is very dismissive
[read newspaper clip below] of those who disagree with him on the use of
the Confederate Flag. He regularly castigates what he says are the "liberals"
[he never gives names] in the Democratic Party who look down on Southern
heritage [see the CNN interview below]. On the flag issue, it came as a
big surprise when Framme backed Jones' use of the Flag after Gov. Warner
had said publicly that he thought it was wrong. No previous chairman, including
Mr. Framme himself when he served under former Gov. Baliles, has ever publicly
disagreed with a sitting Democratic governor on a policy issue, not to mention
such a supercharged one. We all thought such public action would undercut
the governor and his leadership, making it harder for him to deal with other
issues. So Larry's opposition is quite striking. Yet what is even more striking
is the dismissive way Mr. Jones deals with the legitimate concerns others
have on the issue. When questioned at a debate on Saturday, the Richmond
Times Dispatch reported as follows: "Asked about his display of the
Confederate flag on the General Lee, the 1969 Dodge Charger that was a popular
feature on "The Dukes of Hazzard" show, Jones made no apologies.
He has been criticized by former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, Gov. Mark R. Warner
and Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine for using the flag during his campaign. "Get
a life," Jones said."
*** This comment raises a question: Has Mr. Jones always wanted to provoke
a situation where he could paint himself as the fighter for Southern heritage
against certain Democratic straw men and women?
Take this CNN interview clip:
Bruce Morton: Most of the [7th] district is not this rural. It
is the Richmond area... But Cooter Jones says he can run as a conservative
Democrat and win.
Ben Jones: A lot of people now, who used to be yellow-dog Democrats
are yellow-dog Republicans. They are not sure why. It's just that they have
a bad image of the national Democratic Party and see it as a bunch of leftists
and hippies and radicals, which, of course, isn't the case. In the South,
though, we can still speak the language
*** Who, pray tell, is Mr. Jones talking about? Moreover, this tactic
of raising a straw man to then knock it down is classic Sen. Harry Floyd
Byrd who used to rail at those "liberals" coming into Virginia
with no appreciation for Virginia culture. Which leads to this whole notion
of running as a "Harry Byrd" Democrat. Under the ruse of "fiscal
integrity," the Byrd Machine refused to invest in our schools, our
roads, our health care system, our safety net. Plus, Mr. Byrd was the 20th
century Virginia politician most reposonsible for denying equal political
and legal and economic rights to African-Americans, women, Jews, Catholics
and other minorities. The modern Democratic Party in Virginia was built
on opposition to Harry Byrd's destructive social policies and antibusiness,
anti-education fiscal policies.
So let me close by asking: Has the modern Virginia Democratic Party ever
condoned the deliberate use of the Confederate flag imagery as Mr. Jones
is doing? The answer: No. So why start now? (The Roanoke Times, Sept.
2002)
(c) Copyright. All rights reserved. Paul Goldman. 2002 |
Paul Goldman (electronic mail, September 24, 2002)
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