Yesterday on the House floor, Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) argued that the United States needs to immediately authorize funds for the war in Iraq. “Congress needs to quit talking about supporting the troops and put money where our mouths seem to be,” said Poe.
To make his case, he quoted “successful Confederate general” Nathan Bedford Forrest, but left out the fact that Forrest was also one of the original Grand Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan.
Why do people vote for idiots like this?
I don’t know or care what Ted Poe had to say, but just because Nathan Bedford Forrest was one of the founders of the KKK doesn’t mean everything else he said and did should be dismissed out of hand.
JPR, you’re sadly confused.
For instance, every reference to Washington or Jefferson simply MUST include a long discourse on how they were both slave-owners, and therefore any ideas they had on any other subject are discredited.
Get with the program!
Jefferson owned slaves, thus every document he wrote should be ignored.
I think quoting American insurgents gives comfort to Iraqi insurgents.
Forrest was a fucking badass. Civil War writer/historian Shelby Foote called him, with Lincoln, one of the two “authentic geniuses” of the war. He had immense personal courage and his innovations in cavalry/mobile warfare are still studied. He started the war as a civilian who knew nothing about the military, and educated himself to become one of the most creative and consistently successful officers in the war, and a persistent thorn in the Union’s side.
Aaand he helped found the KKK and made millions trading slaves in the antebellum South. Life is complicated. =/
Hitler loved dogs. Especially Eva Braun! Bada-bing! Try the meatloaf!
I don’t care what this congresscritter said. If he’s from Texas, he’s dumb! And stupid!
And stupidly dumb!
Hitler also helped create the Volkswagen and made the trains run on time.
The trains didn’t run on time.
He also created the Autobahn and Auschwitz.
Just because someone had different beliefs from you, beliefs that you consider evil, doesn’t mean he wasn’t an amazing general.
Sure, that’s the “Guderian” rule. Or the “Manstein” rule…
True, but if you refer to him approvingly and you’re a politician, then you’re stupid.
It probably plays all right in the South. edit: Well, with some people. I actually read about some protests that were raised over a statue of Forrest somewhere. It does seem odd to enshrine a man who bought and sold human beings for a living, but then, we deify men who owned human beings, so…
This is pretty much true.
That was in Nashville, and the statue is the most brazenly inflamatory physical object I’ve ever seen. It’s on private property at the intersection of two highways right near the biggest mall in the city. It’s about 1.5-2x scale of him on a horse and it’s surrounded by like 15 enormous confederate flags.
edit: Here we go. I lived there at the time, and it was pretty controversial.
It’s still there, and it’s fugly too. Not because of who it is, but because it’s brass and silver and just looks tacky as all hell. It’s actually off the interestate (I-65), so you see it if you are headed south out of Nashville.
It’s right near Cool Springs, though, right? I thought that was when I drove past it.
But yeah, it’s a silver leaf dude on a gold leaf horse and he looks more like a silent movie villain than a war hero. My link has some bad close-up pictures of it.