The Cheap Shots Become More Contrived

When I first read about this foofraw being generated by the a few of the left wing blogs over at Memeorandum, I thought immediately of the rank hypocrisy. After all, the same folks hyperventilating about this say not a single word about the real, live former klansman in their own party. Ed Morrisey nailed this one down tight, however:

It's more than a little ridiculous to say that using this quote indicates some kind of support for the KKK. It's an anecdote used by people to talk about military strategy, as Poe clearly did, instead of some invocation of racism. It's not particularly bright of Poe to quote Forrest — especially since the quote is essentially meaningless as well as fabricated — but discussing Forrest's military acumen (which was considerable) doesn't mean people support the Klan, a point that is rather obvious when considering authors such as Catton who catalogued Forrest's strategic thinking.

For instance, do lawyers who reference Hugo Black support the Klan as well? If not, why not? Poe referenced Forrest's military strategy, not his views on race. Referencing Black's viewpoint on law should also then connect to his activities in the Klan … right? That's the Carpetbagger standard.

Besides, if Carpetbagger wants to note latent Klan support, why doesn't he mention Robert Byrd? Byrd has been in the Senate for almost fifty years now, and he filibustered the Civil Rights Act when it first came to the chamber in the early 60s. He worked as an organizer for the Klan as a young man. Here's a direct link to Forrest's organization … but Carpetbagger seems less interested in actual connections between the Klan and a Democrat than using silly quotes as some sort of revelation about a Republican.

It is asinine in the extreme to say that quoting someone means that the person doing the quoting endorses that person's viewpoint – unless that is exactly, explicitly stated. (In this case, the quote is fabricated as well.) I don't endorse the viewpoint of many of the people who I post about and run quotes from. Trying to project what you assume to be someone's secret, unconscious thought process is even more foolish and says quite a lot more about your mindset than about your victim's. But, as AllahPundit points out, there is no reasoning with this kind of sophomoric "gotcha" logic, either. The hyperventilating screeching will go on no matter how you try to reason with these folks. Now, if they denounce Robert Byrd and run him out of the Senate for what he, in fact, did as opposed to what they have projected onto what someone else said, we'll talk. Otherwise there is no point.

Other Links to this Post

1. Sister Toldjah » Doing what they do best: The left foams at the mouth with outrage over a non-issue — May 8, 2007 @ 6:43 pm

2. Sister Toldjah — May 8, 2007 @ 6:43 pm

3. Blue Crab Boulevard » Let’s See, Character Assassination, Check. — May 9, 2007 @ 10:04 pm