Reince - seriously?

If any of them notice it - and I'm sure more than a few will - South Carolinians are not going to be happy that RNC Chair, Reince Priebus, was in the circle of predominantly men backing up S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley when she called on her legislature take down & remove the Confederate flag from off the statehouse grounds in Columbia.

I didn't realize when I saw yesterday's photo that Chairman Priebus was part of the group around Gov. Haley as she made her statement. But he was there, to her right.  

Tom Scott, Mark Sanford, Lindsay Graham - they all make sense, representing South Carolina in Washington.  But for a quintessential D.C. insider like Reince Priebus to be part of that circle of support - strange.  Especially from someone as politically savvy as the RNC chairman.  

It didn't register with him that he's literally the face of the Establishment GOP, a party that's distrusted & detested by many South Carolinians?  

Just his name would draw frowns from a lot of southerners - not very American.  And he's a northerner, born in New Jersey!  His sole connection with the South was getting his law degree (boo!  hiss!) from the University of Miami.  

What was he doing, literally front & center, at Gov. Haley's call to bring the flag down?  Let's see how his presence directly behind her could be interpreted by folks within South Carolina & outside the state:

• Tea Party - the Establishment GOP strong-armed their governor into making a statement she'd resisted for six days.
• Everyday S.C. citizens - ditto
• African-Americans - ditto
• Democrats - ditto
• Coast to coast Americans - ditto
• The World - ditto

Seems to me that a canny political operator would have been anywhere BUT South Carolina when it's governor called out her legislature to do the right thing.  Because what seems right & proper to folks outside the South can seem a desegration & betrayal to those within it, to those across the country who hold what's considered Southern heritage dear to their hearts.  

Fox News is absolutely correct - lowering the flag, let alone permanently removing it, will be a daunting task.  The Charleston-based Post & Courier newspaper asked every S.C. legislator how he or she would vote on a bill to lower & remove the Confederate flag.  As of this morning, the State Senate - where Clementa Pickney served - seemed on the verge of having enough support, but 44 were still ducking Courier & Post reporters.  It's going to be a heated debate, with the chamber filled with ghosts from 150, 100, 50 years ago, all singing Dixie.  It will be an interesting session.

My Mama always said you can't legislate people's hearts.  It was one thing for the federal government to pass the Civil Rights Acts, but that didn't mean people would feel civil toward each other.  The opinion of African-Americans echoed in CSA Vice President Alexander Stephen's famous Cornerstone Speech runs deep in many parts of the South & other parts of our nation.  The sense of distrust, even fear that many whites felt toward blacks has been exacerbated over the past six years with the relentless attacks against our first African-American president.  We are a nation of tinder, waiting for a spark.

It appears Dylann Roof hoped to be that spark, setting off a race war to restore what he saw as the rightful balance between superior & subordinate races.  Fox is absolutely spot on - millions of people venerate the Confederate flag & the unspecified heritage & traditions it represents.  They will not take its dismissal lightly.  

And they are not going to be at all happy that a carpet bagger - born in New Jersey! - is standing directly to their governor's right when she made a statement she'd made clear for days she'd address after the dead had been buried.  

Reince - what were you thinking?!