On Democrats and slavery, Nikki Haley needs to learn to play hardball

The Nikki Haley slavery tempest in a teapot continues to roil some circles. 

I’m certainly not bearing the torch for Haley, but the episode seems to offer lessons all Republican candidates should learn. 

For those who have a life and have been spending it with family and friends this Christmas, some background: The candidate for the Republican presidential nomination is in political hot water for her answer to a questioner at a New Hampshire campaign event in which she failed to list “slavery” among the causes of the American Civil War. 

She’s subsequently admitted slavery was among those causes, while adding that she thought the question was posed by a Democrat plant in the audience. 

The New York Times continues to stoke the story, claiming her answer could “dent her crossover appeal to independents and moderate Democrats.” 

Three thoughts:

First, NEWS FLASH: For many of us challenged by the cost of living, the rise in crime, the influx of illegal aliens, and the woke agenda being pushed on cultural-social issues, the enumeration and hierarchy of causes for why something happened 163 years ago is something we do not care about.  I’ll even venture to say that unless those “independents” caucus with the Democrats in legislative bodies, they also probably are not burning with concern about the ranked causes of the Civil War. 

Second, the Democrat reaction to “of course it was about slavery” is rather rich.  Given the historical illiteracy that dominates our schools (we have no time to teach history after spending time on gender, sex, and critical race theory lessons), let’s recall a few facts.

It was South Carolina Democrats, not a South Carolina Republican, who initiated the treason of secession.

It was mostly Democrats who, in the last days of the Democrat Buchanan administration, tried to amend the U.S. Constitution to preserve the Missouri Compromise and, thus, preserve slavery.

It was Democrats who were for “popular sovereignty,” i.e., whether slavery would exist in a territory would depend on the vote of its residents.  Popular sovereignty was the standard of the 1860 Northern Democrat presidential nominee, Stephen Douglas. 

The real insurrectionists whom the South sent back to Congress under the terms of Lincoln’s “moderate” Reconstruction plan—those for whom section 3 of the 14th Amendment was written—were Democrats.

The party that wanted to preserve slavery were the Democrats, especially southern Democrats. 

Third, regarding the accusation of a “plant,” two observations:

Part of the purpose of a campaign is to see how a candidate reacts spontaneously to the unexpected, how he deals with a curve ball.  Life, unlike politics, does not come with talking points.  The ability to think on one’s feet is a vital presidential skill. 

And even if the questioner was a “plant,” so what?  I very much support closed primaries, i.e., only the voters of a particular party should have a say about whom the standard-bearer of that party is. 

But campaign events are not primaries.  They are open, not closed events.  Even before the primary, campaign events are preparation for the main event: post-convention campaign season.  So, if a “plant” raises a tough question, be ready to answer, because those questions will come up later.

And, if what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, how about some GOP “plants” at Democratic campaign events (if such things still happen) asking some of the real tough questions the party faithful and mainstream media (but I repeat myself) do not?  Questions like:

“I know you say you are for the ‘right to choose.’  In every state, parents must provide consent for medical treatment of their minor child.  Explain to me why I should have no say -– in some states not even be told -– that my minor daughter is getting an abortion.”

“Do you support or oppose a school district concealing from or lying to a parent about the name and ‘pronouns’ used to address a child in school?  Do I or do I not as a parent have a right to know those things?”

“Do you think America began in 1776, when we declared independence, or you do support the version of U.S. history that ties America to slavery and the ‘1619 Project’?”

“Do you believe a child living today should have to pay, either through future taxes for ‘reparations,’ or by his rank for admission to college, or by whether he receives a scholarship, for historical events 160+ years ago supposedly connected to slavery?”

I’m sure our smart readers can add to the list.

I don’t see what happened to Nikki Haley as a debacle as much as an opportunity that a smart politician will know to turn to their advantage and their persecuting “plant’s” pain. 

Ready?

Image: Screen shot from Forbes Breaking News video, via YouTube