Fake News: Nikki Haley Did Not Just Defend the Confederate Flag
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.) said that the white supremacist terrorist Dylann Roof "hijacked" what people thought of the Confederate battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia in his heinous manifesto. In an interview with Glenn Beck, she explained that many people in South Carolina saw the flag as a symbol of "service, sacrifice, and heritage." Media Matters published a clip of her interview, and liberals responded with predictable outrage.
"A reminder that Nikki Haley is just as despicable as every other Republican, and coverage of her should always reflect that," Patheos' Hemant Mehta tweeted.
CNN's W. Kamau Bell said Haley — the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under Trump — was not smarter than an 8th grader.
"Remember that brief period of time when Nikki Haley was considered the adult in the Trump Administration? Welp, she just failed 8th grade social studies with this take," he tweeted. "Unless there is another Dylan Roof who was a confederate general or a KKK grand wizard in 1915.
The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart tweeted out an op-ed he wrote in 2013 declaring that the "Confederate flag is no better than a Swastika."
State Senator Marlon Kimpson made it personal. He claimed that Haley "was a sideline Mon(day) morning cheerleader at best" when it came to the removal of the flag. Yet she called for its removal on June 22, 2015, while the State Senate did not vote to remove it until July 6, and the State House followed on July 9. Haley signed the bill that very day.
Former Gov. Deval Patrick (D-Mass.) — now a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate — accused Haley and others of having hijacked the Confederate flag.
"The symbol of the Confederacy was hijacked long ago. It was hijacked by people who tried to make it into something other than a symbol of slavery, white supremacy, and rebellion," Patrick tweeted.
The video traces back to Media Matters researcher Jason Campbell. "Nikki Haley says the Confederate flag was about 'service, and sacrifice, and heritage' until Dylan Roof 'hijacked' it," he tweeted.
Yet in context, Haley was not defending the flag. Instead, she was defending the people of South Carolina.
She starts the clip by describing the victims of Dylann Roof's terrorism in 2015. "This is one of the oldest African-Americas churches. These twelve people were amazing people, they loved their church, they loved their family, they loved their community. And here is this guy that comes out with his manifesto holding the Confederate flag and had just hijacked everything that people thought of."
Haley continued, "We don’t have hateful people in South Carolina. There’s always the small minority that’s always going to be there. But you know people saw it as service, sacrifice, and heritage. But once he did that, there was no way to overcome it."
Then she recalled the media firestorm. "And the national media came in in droves, they wanted to define what happened. They wanted to make this about racism, they wanted to make it about gun control, they wanted to make it about the death penalty," she explained. Yet the people of South Carolina proved their worth. "We didn’t have riots, we had vigils. We didn’t have protests, we had hugs."
As liberals attacked her, Haley retweeted messages from conservatives who set the record straight.
"To be clear, she wasn't saying she viewed the flag that way, but arguing many South Carolinians viewed it that way. (she says 'people saw it as...') She used a similar equivocation in her announcement on removing the flag," The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein tweeted.
The Confederate flag is a sticky issue. While the South seceded in order to protect the expansion of slavery into federal territories, a revisionist version of history has painted the South as a heroic "lost cause," claiming secession was about state's rights and tariffs. Many southerners now see this Confederate flag, once championed by the KKK, as a symbol of their heritage.
Deval Patrick was right to say that those who celebrate the Confederate flag as a symbol of heritage are the ones "hijacking" its historic meaning. However, many Americans who celebrate this flag do not support slavery, white supremacy, or racism. Many see the flag as a historic symbol and an expression of southern pride. Haley was defending this perception, not the flag itself.
Haley called for the Confederate flag's removal from State House grounds early after the shooting. She signed the bill to remove the flag on the very day the State House passed it.
The suggestion that Nikki Haley supports the Confederate flag is false and shameful. Mehta, Bell, Capehart, Patrick, and especially Kimpson should apologize.
Click on the seed link to see the smear campaign in tweets
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pffft, good luck with that...
white supremacy was what the confederate battle flag stood for, as well as did the confederate constitution. service, sacrifice, and heritage on the losing side of a war with the US 155 years ago doesn't count for shit now.
that perception is unique to confederate sympathizers. that flag is nothing but a dog whistle to white supremacists now.
You aren't from the South, are you?
born there. I guess the antebellum heritage bullshit didn't take hold.
Or common sense.
legislated white supremacy isn't common sense
Now, that sounds like something old Republicans would have had to tell the Southern Democrats!
You are correct, but then the Southern Democrats switched sides and became Republicans to oppose civil rights.
Still repeating that left wing myth, eh?
Still trying to rewrite history, eh?
Democratic defectors, known as the “Dixiecrats,” started a switch to the Republican party in a movement that was later fueled by a so-called "Southern strategy."
Sure--which must be why the Democrats kept getting elected in the South for several decades. Explains it all perfectly
/SSSSSSSS
You can claim what you want, but you cannot rewrite history...
What I claimed is the verified truth. Look it up for yourself since you are calling me out on it.
Look at the Southern state legislatures and Senators and Representatives and tell me what you find out on your own.
If you want the truth--seek it!
No you can't, I just love when the left spews their dixiecrats all became republican bullshit, Name 6 dixiecrats that became republican, I'll even help you out with the 1st 3
The fact is that over 90% of dixiecrats remained in the Democrat party but you just keep believing your fairytale.
Just the usual feeble attempt to distance themselves from their very own Democratic Party's sordid past and the party that looked the other way for decades when it kept them in power.
Very good, Tssy.
Looks like you have mastered copying and pasting.
Which should have been OBVIOUS to everyone because she supported taking it down. More than that, she led the charge! Nikki Haley was governor of South Carolina and asked the legislature to make a law to take it down . They did, and she signed it. Here is a quote from her at the time:
So, if you think today in 2019 that Nikki Haley is defending the rebel flag, I'm sorry but you're ignorant.
I don't know how to respond without my comment being labeled with the new hot ticket taunting...
I have no trouble responding. Not just ignorant, but vicious as well and attempting to blacken anyone who isn't a Democrat. The lesson of the reason Jean Chretien won a landslide election in Canada is lost on them, and it will bite them in the ass just as it did the political party in Canada that opposed him.
I hope I live long enough to see Nikki Haley elected POTUS.
good luck with that.
Well, thank you, devangelical, and you, Tessylo, for agreeing with him, for wishing me the good luck of living long enough to see Nikki Haley elected POTUS. I really didn't think either of you liked her, OR me. LOL
Get over it Buzz.
Not going to happen
You're right about one thing though
Oh, you can be sure our feelings are mutual about THAT. LOL
Unfortunately, you really dont have a case. Haley became governor of South Carolina at the beginning of 2011. The Roof murders happened 4 1/2 years later.
If this was something that Haley actually cared about she would have said something during the previous 4 1/2 years. Or was no one feeling pain from seeing the confederate flag proudly displayed on South Carolina state grounds until Jun 22. 2015 ?
You’re changing the subject by talking about priorities and timing. I never claimed it was the most important thing on her agenda. That’s a different topic. I said it was wrong to say she was defending it and the proof is that when it came time to get rid of the flag, she led the way. It’s evident that your agenda involves demonizing her as much as possible by doing everything you can to disregard the simple fact that she is the one primarily responsible for getting rid of the flag ignorant people say she is defending.
What do you mean when it came time she led the way?
She reacted to the FACT that a citizen of her state had massacred 9 black people and was then seen in earlier photographs waving a confederate flag. She reacted in a way that was not only obvious but there was almost nothing else she could do in the circumstance.
Why was Jun 22 2015 "the time to get rid of the flag" ? Why not Jun 2014 ? Haley was governor for 4 1/2 years before she "led the way".
I don't recall it being an issue until more recently. Nor was the removal of Confederate statues. I don't think it's up to you to rewrite history to say that years ago it was such a big issue and use that to pour blame on Haley.
Haley did not defend the Confederate flag.
But she did defend the historical value of 'that time in American history', the honor, chivalry and sacrifice. It is to bad the right wing and neo-conservatism has dishonored and stained 'Old Dixies' place in our history.
I have a couple questions
Nikki Haley asked the South Carolina legislature to write a law requiring the removal of the confederate flag from from the South Carolina capitol grounds on what day again? That would be Jun 22, 2015, 2 or 3 days after this image appeared on news worldwide
Dylan Roof , the mass murderer posing with the confederate flag, was born in South Carolina and lived in South Carolina at the time of the killings.
So let's get something straight. On Jun 22 , 2015, Nikki Haley had been governor of South Carolina for 4 1/2 years.
Suffice it to say that in those 4 1/2 years she didnt show interest in taking down the confederate flag.
Only when there was evidence that a white supremacist mass murderer from South Carolina was seen waving the flag and humiliating her state did she decide the flag had worn out its welcome. We can safely assume that if Roof hadnt killed anyone, the confederate flag might still be flying on the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol.
Nikki Haley's interview with Glenn Beck was simple pandering. She wants to signal to deplorables that she's their girl for the future. Of course she also wants to appeal to non deplorables, hence all the double talk.
There is no place for the confederate flag in public, other than in museums. The Confederate States of America, which the flag represents , was a white supremacist entity that was willing to leave the Union and take part in causing hundreds of thousands of deaths in order to preserve the right to own Negroes.
There is no way to make that palatable to the point where it should be commemorated through displaying that flag.
Those who want to remember great great great grandpa who fought at Gettysburg can fly it in their basements or in their back yards, and thats it.
So what? People commonly pay little mind to traditions until they have a glaring reason to re-examine them. It takes substantial character to be willing to do a thing like that, especially when you have a lot of people around you who maybe aren’t so willing.
But you want to disregard this virtuous act by checking the calendar. How petty!
Oh please. You are more believable when you are endlessly defending Trump.
Now you are telling us Nikki Haley was a hero when she asked for the flag to come down. It should have come down a long time before that, PARTICULARLY if the people of South Carolina were as righteous as she said they were.
But there is more
after the massacre at the church she said
Are you telling us that it took the killing of nine people for Nikki Haley to decide that no one should drive by the statehouse and feel pain (from seeing the confederate flag)?
She couldnt see that or reach that conclusion before the nine people were murdered?
I really couldn't care less what you judge as believable because it's abundantly clear that you will believe what you want to believe in spite of what anyone else has to say.
Didn't use the word "hero" just like I didn't talk about white supremacy before. Is there no limit to the things you will invent about me?
I have already addressed this change in subject by you. You're clearly determined to be antagonistic in this discussion. You have people you need to demonize and the facts be damned.
Simple issue: Is it reasonable to say in 2019 that Nikki Haley endorses the rebel flag? Answer: The facts show it is not reasonable.
Simple question for you John. See if you can answer honestly without getting physically ill: Do you support Nikki Haley's move to take down the rebel flag or not?
So what? You said she deserved credit for leading the way on taking the flag down. I dont have to quote you word for word every time I comment on somehting you said. Thats not the way it works. Do people here quote me word for word? lol. That'll be the day..
Just defend your positions. She had 4 1/2 years to "lead the way" on the flag before the shooting. Did she? Uh, no.
If your petty calendar obsession means that there is no virtue in doing the right thing, then how do you feel about Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton refusing to endorse gay marriage? How do you feel about Chuck Schumer making speeches about controlling the border and limiting illegal immigration? How about Bloomberg's stop-and-frisk policy? How about every Democrat who endorsed the Clinton crime bill?
I can give you a long list of Democrat politicians who have changed their position on issues, but I bet you would give 100% of them a pass. I bet you would give them 100% credit for holding (in your mind) the "correct" position on an issue today, rather than whine incessantly about why they didn't say such-and-such a few years before.
That is not even close to being the question.
So you refuse to answer. Then I'll just assume you don't support it. How bout that?
Your entire role here is to defend Trump and whatever else comes up about conservatives, and to do so in a "reasonable" way. And I will say this - you stick to your role.
No, Haley deserves no credit for asking South Carolina to remove the confederate flag AFTER one of its citizens killed 9 black people and that killer was found to have waved the confederate flag in photos. She was embarrassed to death about it.
It's too bad she didnt ask to remove the flag before the massacre at the church, then she would have taken a principled stand.
I have defended my position. You want me to defend an imagined, invented position that you made up and attributed to me.
My position is that it's not reasonable to say that Nikki Haley is defending the flag. My proof is that she's the one who'd it taken down.
Pretty simple.
But then you want to invent shit like I said she was a hero and demand that I defend that. Sorry, but that's horseshit.
Then no Democrat deserves credit when they call for gun control after a shooting.
That is an excellent point--one I am sure is completely lost on the person you posted it to.
No, he gets it. It’s why he never responded.
The confederate flag is the flag of traitors, pure and simple.
Since I'm not an American and never studied much about American History, I thought that the Confederate flag was the flag of American citizens south of the Mason-Dixon line who back in the days of the Confederacy were not traitors, but if you mean now and not historically, I understand what you are trying to say.
And the U.S. flag is the flag of oppressors and invaders of a sovereign nation. You seem to forget that secession was not deemed illegal until AFTER the end of the Civil War in another court case: Texas vs White, so at the time the South was within their rights to leave a Union they had voluntarily entered into. They exercised that Right and formed their own Nation. The Northern forces were ordered to withdraw, and they refused to do so in some cases, whereas in others, they complied. In one case in particular, the refusal to surrender and retreat actually led to the beginning of the Civil War when Fort Sumter was fired upon. Keep in mind that Secession had already taken place well before then and not ONE single person took the South to court to challenge their right to secede simply because there was no law being broken.
Therefore, your comment is False.
Because American History was only lightly touched upon in Canadian schools, I'm thankful for the lessons I'm learning now.
In the South, the Civil War was actually called the War for Southern Independence while it was ongoing, or The Second American Revolution. While many want to paint the Civil War as being "all about ending slavery", it wasn't.
it wasn't, for the majority of brainless goobers that ended up taking a lead induced dirt nap by the end of it. it was, for the only people in the south that could afford to buy congressmen at the time and wanted to expand their areas of operation. texas, SC, georgia, and mississippi all included slavery as the primary reason for their declarations of secession.
A study was conducted and with the help of a word cloud which denotes how many times certain words appeared in the various secession documents, we can better see what the actual main concerns were with those that chose to leave the Union:
There is no actual argument about what caused the Civil War.
The Secession Commisioners and Their Reasons for Secession
Clare O’Brien
The Secession Commissioners and Their Reasons for Secession
In the winter leading up to the outbreak of the Civil War, the South had begun to preach a secessionist message. Commissioners were sent from Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, and some from Louisiana to preach the secessionist message to other southern states (Dew, 18). Before examining their cause, it is important to recognize who the commissioners were.
The commissioners were a group of men who were widely unknown and therefore, could likely relate to the common people of the other Southern states (Dew, 19). However, these men had an incredible aptitude for speaking, which made them valuable in persuading undecided states to secede (Dew 19). Often, the commissioners were born in the state which they were sent to represent, strengthening their position as a Southern figure (Dew, 19).
These commissioners spread the message of secession because of a few key reasons. They believed that the election of Abraham Lincoln was essentially “an open declaration of war” (Dew, 54), in that he would emancipate the south of slavery. This would destroy the racial structure of the South, degrade the white population, and destroy their economic prosperity (Dew, 32). It is true that states rights were a factor in secession, but the South focused on the states’ right to continue slavery (Dew, 11). These two ideals are so interconnected that it is impossible to separate them when discussing causes of secession.
First and foremost, the Commissioners were concerned with the collapse of the racial structure of the south. With the emancipation of slavery would come the equality of both white and black men, an ideal that completely went against the Southern view that white men were naturally superior (Dew, 55). The South believed in this principle so strongly that the vice president, Alexander H. Stephens, went so far as to say the founding fathers were wrong in saying the enslavement of Africans was morally wrong (Dew, 14). If the South were to remain part of the union, they believed they would face not only racial equality, but race war and racial amalgamation (Dew, 78-79). These possibilities strongly go against the South’s belief that their “fathers had made this government for the white man” as described by William Harris, a commissioner from Mississippi (Dew 85). Harris also went as far to say that the South would rather “see the last of her race, men, women, and children, immolated in one common funeral pile, than see them subjugated to the degradation of civil, political, and social equality with the Negro race” (Dew, 89).
The commissioners were very concerned with this degradation of the southern population, not only by being made equal with the Africans they would have once repressed (Dew, 98), but by being inferior to the North (Dew, 63). Another commissioner, Fulton Anderson, stated that the North held “Southerners in contempt…that [they were] a race inferior to them in morality and civilization” (Dew, 63). This sentiment did not sit kindly with the proud South (Dew, 63). Both William Harris and Stephen Hale, secession commissioners, describe further problems with the north in their addresses. Harris claimed that the North had not upheld law concerning the return of fugitive slaves (Dew, 86). Hale went further to state that the North essentially had stolen property from the South by harboring fugitive slaves and further insulted the South by its claim that no crime was committed (Dew, 94).
Finally, the commissioners were angered that the emancipation of slaves would cause the South to lose four billion dollars in property (Dew, 13). Not only would this cause a face value loss on the amount that slaves were worth, but would also cause a loss in future profits since slavery was the foundation of the entire Southern economy (Dew, 53). Losing the institution of slavery would completely collapse the economic prosperity of the South and, in the words of Stephen Hale, have “her civilization destroyed” (Dew, 101).
The outrage of racial equality, social degradation and the loss of the foundation of the economy of the South were the main reasons the Commissioners preached a message of secession. The commissioner Jacob Thompson best described the differences in the North and South (Dew, 43). He stated that one society was made of one race, free labor, and equality, while the other was made of two races, slave labor, and the rights of equals only (Dew, 43). With these drastically different societies, secession was simply inevitable, as the union of the two would only cause problems.