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🇺🇸 Haley's History Heresy
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2024
Haley’s History Heresy
The Battle of Antietam was the Civil War's deadliest one-day fight. Illustration by Thure de Thulstrup.
On Wednesday, during a town hall, a voter in New Hampshire admonished 2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley for not mentioning slavery when she answered his question about the Civil War's cause. Haley was asked what she believed caused the Civil War. "I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run," she said. "The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do." The voter who asked the question then said, "In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you’d answer that question without mentioning the word ‘slavery.’" Haley responded by asking, "What do you want me to say about slavery?", before moving to the next question.
Reporting from the Right: Nikki Haley fails to mention slavery as cause of the Civil War during New Hampshire town hall (Washington Examiner)
Reporting from the Left: Nikki Haley Seemingly Forgets Slavery When Asked to Name Cause of Civil War (Daily Beast)
From The Flag: Sources from both the left and right immediately jumped on the story, with many on both sides offering criticism and analysis of Haley’s omission. Following the swift and strong backlash, Haley attempted to backtrack her comments and acknowledge slavery’s role in the Civil War, but she also accused the questioner of being a “Democratic plant.” Here’s more on what both sides are saying.
RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT
Not a Great Look
Haley’s error is not that she’s a racist, it’s that she didn’t trust the intelligence of the voters enough to give them an honest answer.
If Haley is unable to handle gotcha questions like these from Democrats, she is unlikely to survive the general election.
“Biden, DeSantis campaign join chorus of criticism after Haley omits 'slavery' as cause for Civil War..”
Nikki Haley’s Sin Isn’t Racism, Jeffrey Blehar, National Review: “It’s a gimme question for all but the most craven, one where the ‘trap’ is obvious — the answer is “slavery,” don’t pretend it was anything other than slavery for all else truly was mere pretext — and of course Haley completely and embarrassingly whiffed on it. You can watch the clip here if you enjoy cringe humor; I instead listen to the former governor of the first state to secede from the nation and fire upon the Union talk about ‘the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do’ and think of Ellison’s ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.’ … It’ll all be disingenuous nonsense, obviously, not worth taking even the slightest bit seriously. The most predictable and insulting outcome of Haley’s kerfuffle will be accusations that she is a racist. That’s entirely predictable because this is the route that media attacks always take, but in this case it’s particularly inapt as a club against the woman who took the Confederate flag off her own state’s capitol building years ago. … The real gaffe Haley committed on Wednesday was that, when she froze up under an unpredicted question and defaulted to her factory settings in answering, those answers demonstrated such contempt for the intelligence of her voters.“
If Nikki Haley can’t handle Democratic gotchas, how will she survive a presidential debate? Timothy P. Carney, Washington Examiner: “Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley somehow failed to mention slavery in her nonanswer to that question on Wednesday. This not only suggests ignorance about U.S. history but, in these days, it also suggests a cowardice — a fear of offending Southerners who may be defensive about the Confederacy. Haley woke up Thursday and knew her answer was bad, and so she tried to fix the problem, which is fine. But her defense and cleanup effort included a lame excuse. Maybe she’s right! Maybe the local Democratic Party sent someone to her event to ask her a kind-of-irrelevant gotcha question. But that doesn’t matter. First off, the question should be easy to answer, and a good politician should be able to answer it in a way that segues into some more pertinent matter. … More importantly, the news media is largely one big Democratic plant asking gotcha questions! That’s what being a Republican presidential candidate is: answering bad-faith, often irrelevant questions crafted by liberals trying to trip you up.“
One more opinion piece from the Right: Nikki Haley hit from all sides after omitting 'slavery' from Civil War response, Jessica Chasmar, FOX News
LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT
Not Surprising
This isn’t the first time that Haley has tried to downplay the role of slavery and racism in the Civil War.
This question had a very easy answer, but Haley likely didn’t give it because she is trying to pander to hard-right MAGA voters.
“The former South Carolina governor has long avoided criticizing the confederacy.”
Nikki Haley Serves Up a Hilarious Bowl of Civil War Word Salad, Tori Otten, The New Republic: When the voter, who has remained anonymous, politely reminded Haley that it was she, and not they, who was running for president, Haley dug deep and brought forward another few sentences of balderdash. … Haley’s not wrong to assert that the Civil War was about certain “freedoms” and economic rights. It’s just that the main division, as far as rights and freedoms are concerned, centered on whether the South could continue to have an economy based on owning other human beings as chattel. It’s not as if the states that provoked the conflict were trying to be secretive about their grievances. When South Carolina, Haley’s home state, seceded from the Union in 1860, the secessionists explicitly stated that their decision was rooted in ‘increasing hostility on the part of the nonslaveholding States to the institution of slavery.’ … When she ran for South Carolina governor in 2010, Haley said the war was between sides fighting for ‘tradition’ versus ‘change’ and insisted the Confederate flag was ‘not something that is racist.’
Nikki Haley’s Slavery Gaffe Shows How Scared She Is of MAGA Republicans, Matt Lewis, The Daily Beast: “Rather than simply answering “slavery,” Haley gave a convoluted answer that included saying, ‘the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.’ … Rather than simply answering “slavery,” Haley gave a convoluted answer that included saying, “the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.” … One cynical theory is that Haley thought the obvious answer would not be well received by primary voters in the Party of Lincoln. And rather than challenging her audience to embrace their better angels, she gave a nonsensical answer. If true, it’s illustrative to see how much perceptions have changed regarding the GOP electorate in recent years. On Thursday, she sought to clean up her mistake, while also explaining that the man who asked her the question was a ‘Democratic plant.’ … But old habits die hard. And Haley’s answer didn’t just demonstrate moral cowardice, it was also a sign of a flawed campaign strategy.“
One more opinion piece from the Left: Nikki Haley’s Civil War Comments Were No Accident, Andrew Perez, Rolling Stone
FLAG THIS
Is Haley’s Rise Over?
Haley’s comments come at a time when her campaign has seen significant growth in the polls. Before Wednesday’s town hall, A Rasmussen Reports survey of 792 likely Republican voters shows that the former South Carolina governor is the second-placed candidate in the GOP primary at 13% while Trump is way out ahead with 51%. While the gap is still colossal, she is up 4 points from November when she was polling at 9% (Newsweek).
Do you believe this would be the end of Haley's campaign's rise in the polls? |
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Love freshly baked breads and pastries? Us too. That's why we want to introduce you to Wildgrain. They deliver bake-from-frozen artisanal sourdough, fresh pasta, and exquisite pastries from small bakeries nationwide directly to your door, no thawing needed. Enjoy free delivery, tailor your box frequency, and customize your selection. Plus, discover delightful add-ons like fudge brownies and seasonal treats.
WATERCOOLER
Wounded Knee, Mercury in Retrograde, Yesterday and Tomorrow
"The opening of the fight at Wounded Knee", an engraved illustration by Frederic Remington. Appeared as an illustration in Harper's Weekly, 1891
On This Day in 1890: In one of the final chapters of America’s long Indian Wars, the US Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.
Today I learned that even though they are only 2.4 miles apart, Yesterday and Tomorrow Islands are 21 hours apart due to the International Date Line being between them.
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