Ted Poe Goofs Up With Nathan Bedford Forrest Gaffe
U.S. Rep. Ted Poe got himself into a political pickle this week when, during a House floor speech, he quoted - and perhaps even misquoted - Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who helped invent the Ku Klux Klan.
Trying to whip up support for more money going to troops, Poe noted Forrest's military strategy to "get there firstest with he mostest," a variation on "git thar fustest with the mostest." Forrest's actual quote in response to a question, if he even made the statement at all, was, "Well, I got there first with the most men," according to various historical sources.
It doesn't really matter what Forrest said. What matters is that Poe quoted a guy who became the KKK's first grand wingnut and wasn't exactly kind to blacks during the Civil War.
Poe's speech was about military strategy and not racism, of course, but Adolf Hitler was a military strategist, and you don't hear many politicians quoting him, right?
With liberals waiting with sharpened knives to attack anything and everything Republican, Poe handed them a fat, juicy political steak to carve into.
The gaff quickly burned up the blogger world, got mentioned in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call and drew a pile-on from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who added Poe to his comedic "worst in the world" list. The story also went out over the Hearst news wire and appeared in today's Houston Chronicle.
The Beaumont Enterprise did its own story:
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18322069&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6
Whether the story snowballs or dies a quick death will be known in the coming days. As a noted history enthusiast, Poe should have known better than to quote a controversial American figure such as Forrest.
Only time will tell how much political damage has been done. I'm figuring it won't, but I'm not exactly a political junkie, so who knows?
Trying to whip up support for more money going to troops, Poe noted Forrest's military strategy to "get there firstest with he mostest," a variation on "git thar fustest with the mostest." Forrest's actual quote in response to a question, if he even made the statement at all, was, "Well, I got there first with the most men," according to various historical sources.
It doesn't really matter what Forrest said. What matters is that Poe quoted a guy who became the KKK's first grand wingnut and wasn't exactly kind to blacks during the Civil War.
Poe's speech was about military strategy and not racism, of course, but Adolf Hitler was a military strategist, and you don't hear many politicians quoting him, right?
With liberals waiting with sharpened knives to attack anything and everything Republican, Poe handed them a fat, juicy political steak to carve into.
The gaff quickly burned up the blogger world, got mentioned in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call and drew a pile-on from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, who added Poe to his comedic "worst in the world" list. The story also went out over the Hearst news wire and appeared in today's Houston Chronicle.
The Beaumont Enterprise did its own story:
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18322069&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6
Whether the story snowballs or dies a quick death will be known in the coming days. As a noted history enthusiast, Poe should have known better than to quote a controversial American figure such as Forrest.
Only time will tell how much political damage has been done. I'm figuring it won't, but I'm not exactly a political junkie, so who knows?
posted by Brian Pearson at 9:54 AM
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