What does this story tell us about the Republican party's base?
I mean -- if the Confederate Flag (which literally honors TREASON) is not a topic on which GOP candidates can muster moral authority... one wonders on what issue they do have moral authority?
Political considerations color the divergent views of presidential candidates on whether the Confederate flag should be moved from the State House grounds.
For Republicans competing in the Feb. 2, 2008, GOP primary, where white voters will hold sway, the flag is a state issue that the candidates are not eager to discuss.
On the Democratic side, where half or more of the voters in the Jan. 29, 2008, primary will be black residents, candidates have no qualms about calling for the flag’s removal.
“Each side is playing to its basic constituency,” said Blease Graham, a political science professor at USC.
A 2000 legislative compromise moved the flag from the State House dome to the grounds, sparking questions about whether it should be removed entirely.
Among six top GOP contenders reached by The State, only U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., offered more than a suggestion that the issue should be decided by South Carolinians.
A Hunter spokesman, Roy Tyler, said his boss thinks South Carolinians should decide the issue, adding the congressman thinks the flag is fine where it flies.
“We’re talking about history here,” Tyler said. “We don’t think we should be slapping anybody’s history in the face.”
MCCAIN’S CHANGING POSITIONS
No candidate has been as wary of the flag issue as U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican whose 2000 campaign bus was dubbed the Straight Talk Express because he bluntly held forth on a number of issues, no matter how delicate.
But the Straight Talk Express took a detour when it ran into the flag. As he campaigned in the crucial S.C. Republican primary against then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, McCain declined to be drawn into the flag debate, saying it was a matter for state officials to decide.
After he lost, McCain said he didn’t address the issue fully because “I feared that if I answered honestly, I could not win the South Carolina primary.”
McCain said he should have been more direct when asked about the flag, issuing a detailed statement noting his Confederate ancestry.
“Those ancestors of mine might have fought honorably, but they fought to sever the union of our great nation,” he said. “They fought on the wrong side of American history. That, my friends, is how I personally feel about the Confederate battle flag. That is the honest answer I never gave to a fair question. I believe the flag should be removed from your Capitol.”
Fast-forward seven years: McCain is no longer the maverick challenger. As his deep well of big-time GOP support in the state indicates, he is the establishment’s candidate this time.
Danny Diaz, a McCain spokesman, gave a brief statement when asked if the senator thinks the flag should be moved to a different location or remain where it flies.
“A bipartisan solution to this issue was developed by the General Assembly, and the senator applauds their efforts,” Diaz said.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said the response of McCain and his fellow Republicans reflects the views of white GOP primary voters.
“Among white Republican primary voters, they either support the flag strongly or they don’t think it’s a big deal,” Sabato said. “It’s a classic case of a constituency driving candidate positions.”
Of McCain’s changing position, Sabato said: “That was when John McCain was running to win the media primary. Now, he’s running to win the Republican primary.”
Comments