An American Lion

William McKinley

Far be it from me to criticize Congressman William McKinley of Ohio. That fellow is going places. Here, he all but destroys the limited credibility of one Representative Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn by repudiating his statements about Southern Appreciation and [pdf alert] by openly mocking his choice of words:

Congressman Blackburn is, of course, speaking of the punitive laws enacted by the Congress which punished the South severely after the Civil War. Well into the late 1870s, politicians were still bitterly contesting these laws. Both Blackburn and McKinley, being veterans of that conflict, were no doubt highly antagonistic towards one another. I put that off to the startling coincidence of history—in 1861, Blackburn enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army, leaving Kentucky to do so. McKinley enlisted as a private in the Union Army—fighting at Antietam and earning a commission by bravely delivering food to the troops under fire.

To have two veterans going at one another a decade and a half after the end of the Civil War is probably nothing new. Old antagonisms and hurts die hard. I think that we will see more of this as the years go by. People who were adamantly opposed to the war on terror may someday clash with adamant supporters of that war decades from now over laws restricting our privacy. That’s my hunch.

I do note that there’s no substitute for the political smackdown, however:

 This is also known as “the dog ate my homework” excuse, and, really, Congressman Blackburn. Your constituents expect more from you, sir.