Bush Still Not Done Confronting Confederate Flag
By Craid Crawford

Congressional Quarterly Columnist

Forget gay bashers. President Bush has big trouble in Dixie.

Endorsing a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages won Bush some points with his party's right wing. But a new lawsuit in Texas shows that he has other problems with his conservative base.

Still angry that Bush in 2000 ordered the removal of Civil War memorabilia from the Texas Supreme Court when he was governor -- but also the presumed GOP presidential nominee -- local members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans are suing the state. And, in a recent flurry of telephone calls and meetings, they are urging their counterparts throughout the South to use the presidential campaign to blame Bush for abandoning Dixie.

"This is just another glaring example that shows how George Bush is no son of the South," said Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a Democratic consultant and also a member of Virginia's Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The debate over Civil War symbols demonstrates how tricky it is for Bush to stand on his conservative base without slipping. While most Americans cannot understand why anyone still defends the Confederacy, many descendants of the South's bloody war against the North see it is a matter of reclaiming their heritage. And in recent years, most have been reliable voters for Republicans.

Southern Democrats are hoping the court fight over Bush's removal of Confederate symbols four years ago presents an opportunity to weaken support for the president among Dixie conservatives. The case goes to a state district court in Austin on March 22.

Saunders -- a political adviser to Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat -- believes that his party can appeal to Confederate descendants while at the same time condemn slavery and lingering racism.

"Our ancestors defended their land and homes against invasion, like any American would have done," Saunders said. He and other Confederate descendants hope to overcome their racially divisive image with programs such as college scholarships for African-American students. They also plan protests of an expected Ku Klux Klan rally in Virginia this year.

Bush's efforts to work both sides of the Confederate debate worked for him in 2000. He carried every Southern state against Democrat Al Gore, a Tennessean, and he avoided a backlash among voters who are repelled by the old Confederacy. Removing Civil War symbols in his home state proved to be a political winner back then, but it could haunt his re-election bid as he seeks to bolster his standing among conservative voters.

The plaques outside the Supreme Court chamber included images of the rebel flag and quoted Robert E. Lee praising the bravery of Texas soldiers. On June 9, 2000, Bush aides quietly replaced the plaques with a new sign containing no Confederate symbols and stating: "The courts of Texas are entrusted with providing equal justice under the law regardless of race, creed or color."

At the time, Bush was preparing the battlefield for the 2000 general election and seeking to counter his refusal earlier that year to take sides in a similar flap during the South Carolina Republican primary.

In that campaign, Bush refused to join his presidential rival Sen. John McCain in condemning the flying of the Confederate flag above the State Capitol in Columbia. Appealing to Confederate sympathizers helped Bush win South Carolina, overcoming McCain's earlier victory in the New Hampshire primary and serving as a turning point in the 2000 GOP nomination race.

After securing the nomination, Bush needed to reach beyond the conservative voters in Republican primaries. Removing the Confederate plaques in a Texas public building did the trick. The NAACP and other anti-Confederate groups around the country praised the move.

But the current Texas lawsuit proves that Bush did not put the issue to rest. While it might be an underground battle garnering little national media coverage, the tightly run network of Confederate believers is on the move against him.

On another front, Bush appears to be winning his duel with his likely Democratic opponent over their Vietnam War experiences, according to the University of Pennsylvania's recent National Annenberg Election Survey. At the very least, Bush seems to have neutralized criticism of his National Guard service by highlighting John Kerry's anti-war activity following his combat service in Vietnam.

In their questionnaire, Annenberg pollsters noted that after returning from Vietnam, Kerry "demonstrated against the war, he testified in Congress against it, and he threw his campaign ribbons away in protest." When asked, "Do you approve or disapprove of Kerry's anti-war activities?" 44 percent expressed disapproval, and 40 percent said they approved.

Bush fared better in questioning about his Vietnam-era military service. "Some people say that when George W. Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard in the '70s, he often did not show up for duty," the pollsters told respondents. "Bush says he did fulfill his obligations and has presented records which he says prove that he did. From what you have heard or read, do you think he fulfilled his military obligations, or do you think he did not fulfill them?" Sixty-two percent of the public said he had fulfilled his obligations, and 38 percent said he had not.

© February 26, 2004, The Congressional Quarterly.  Craig Crawford is a special contributor to Congressional Quarterly and a news analyst for MSNBC, CNBC and "The Early Show" on CBS. He can be reached at (202) 419-8644 or at ccrawford@cq.com.

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