Conservatives are sure going to crazy lengths to defend this symbol of hate.
Remember when Ann Coulter was the crazy one? Poor thing is now just middle-of-the-pack in the GOP clown car, not that she's not trying to reclaim her throne.
Sure, she's claiming that US-born South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is an "immigrant and does not understand America's history," which is the only reason she'd want to remove the Confederate flag from state grounds. And that's crazy and stupid enough. But then there was this:
The Confederate flag we're talking about never flew over an official Confederate building. It was a battle flag. It is to honor Robert E. Lee. And anyone who knows the first thing about military history, knows that there is no greater army that ever took the field than the Confederate Army.
The Confederate battle flag's star-bedecked "southern cross" was the
focal point of the flag of the Confederacy. And that was done on purpose. But let's focus on the "greater army that ever took the field" insanity (below the fold).
For starters, let's state the obvious. If the Confederate army was the greatest in history, what does that make the Union army that defeated it? I mean, this was an army that spent most of the time losing territory, rather than gaining it. Their two invasions of the north were complete disasters. And this was against a Union army mostly led by incompetent buffoons.
But broadening past the Civil War, how could the Confederate Army compare to armies that built entire empires? The Assyrians in the 600 BCs? Persia in the 400 BCs? How about Alexander the Great, who never lost a battle in 12 years of constant warfare, or the Roman Empire of the first century BC? My vote for best army in history would likely go to Attila's Huns, in the 400s, though the Arab (Islamic) empire of the 500s 700s was also quite impressive (from Spain to India). There was the Holy Roman Empire which ejected the Islamic Moors from Europe, and the Byzantines in the early 1000s. And how about the Vikings? Fearsome! (And the last to successfully invade Great Britain.)
The Mongols were back in the 1200s with the largest contiguous empire in world history. The Ottomans and Brits had their own runs at successful empire building. The Russians of the 1800s built an empire that continues to exist today, and the Nazis were no military slouches. And let's not even get into brilliant military campaigns by the likes of Napoleon and Hannibal, since they eventually couldn't maintain their gains.
And then, of course, there is America's modern military behemoth (edit: from WWII to today). Coulter is saying that the Confederate army was "greater" than the most dominant military force to ever see this planet.
It's amazing the contortions conservatives will make when defending their racist heritage.