Klan Announces They Will Have A Presence at Debate

In what is sure to be a headache already for Secret Service members and other security officials in charge of making sure the candidates are safe during tonight's debate, a wild card has been thrown into the deck. The Klan is planning to show.

Confirming rumors that have been circulating the past few days, the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan have announced that they will have members present in the audience for tonight's scheduled Presidential debate between candidates John McCain and Barack Obama at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

The Klansmen will be “invisible,” trying to blend in just as anyone else, the emperor of the MWK said in an e-mail.

The emperor wrote, “The Mississippi White Knights will have officers and Klansmen on hand for the presidential debate on September 26, 2008. Our people will be in Oxford and on the campus ‘invisible.’ That means our people won’t be in regalia or demonstrating. So, I guess you’ll just have to guess which of the people present are Klansmen.

“Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions about the Mississippi White Knights.

‘NON SILBA SED ANTHAR’

Emperor,

Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”

The e-mail came from the address, emperor@mississippiwhiteknights.com, but the sender would not identify himself nor respond to more questions.

The Latin words, “Non silba sed anthar,” translate to: “Not for oneself but for others,” a motto the Klan has used since the 19th century.

Why it should be a surprise to anyone that the Klan should put a presence at a Presidential debate in Mississippi where the first non-white candidate for a major party will be in attendance? This is a possibility and a scenario that should have been expected and made ready for from the outset, for which the Secret Service, undoubtedly, has contingency plans in place and ready. If not, then they are sorely deficient in their security arrangements.

Race has been an under the surface issue for this campaign from the outset, from the primary season in which other candidates tap danced around the issue in order not to be offensive to the Obama campaign to Obama's campaign using his race as a tool, themselves, proclaiming any and all disagreements with Obama to be based in racist attitudes. There are many, many reasons not that Obama is undesirable for the Presidency that have nothing to do, whatsoever, with his race, and those are the reasons that should be focused upon by the voting public who intend not to vote for him in the upcoming November elections.

The Klan, with it's bastardization of Confederate regalia and their adoption of the emblems of a proud nation that lasted for less than five years, has been and remains a thorn in the side for true Southerners who have, since the inception of the Confederacy in 1860, desired nothing more than the rights of the state, and more importantly, the individual, taking precedence over the powers of the federal government.

Does the Klan have the right to have a presence at tonight's debate? As American citizens interested in the political process of the nation, yes. To create a disturbance by promoting hatred based in nothing other than outdated notions of racial superiority of one skin color over another? It is a shame and a disgrace that in the 21st century such attitudes are still around and fomented by those who live their lives promoting the hatred of others who are different. In contrast and comparison, the same can be said of those members of the Islamic world who promote the same sort of hatred from their standpoint. It could be argued that there is no difference between the Klan and al Qaeda save the color of skin of their members.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man

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Reshuffling the Deck

The Iowa Caucuses are behind us. New Hampshire and South Carolina loom on the horizon. Hillary Clinton was shown not to be quite so "inevitable," the little gray men didn't influence things for Dennis Kucinich, and another Arkansas Governor came out as the front runner of his party.

Iowa holds 7 electoral votes. New Hampshire holds 4 votes. It boggles my mind, and always has, why two states with such low impact on the elections hold such significance in the minds of the voters of the nation. Case in point, Wyoming, with 3 Electoral votes, held it's caucuses today, with Mitt Romney taking the Republican win. Where is the media coverage of Wyoming?

It is truly a case of the minority leading the majority, just by looking at the numbers aspect.

They do serve, however, as a good testing grounds for the rest of the campaign season. Candidates can take a look at these first states to hold their electoral process and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their individual campaigns. Some candidates can look into where they need to improve things, others will decide to drop out, as Biden and Dodd on the Democratic side have done in the wake of the Iowa Caucuses.

We move on with the process, now. The debates come back into play, if debates they can be called. The allegations of foul play begin, such as the rumor mill currently spreading whispers that the rumor of Fred Thompson planning to drop out after Iowa are traceable to the Romney camp (thanks, Jay.) We also see the shifting of attention to the front-runners who have come out of the Iowa process. ABC will host debates for the Republican party tonight at 7 pm EST, featuring Giuliani,Huckabee, McCain, Paul, Romney, and Thompson, but excluding Duncan Hunter. They will also host a debate for the Democrats 90 minutes later featuring Clinton, Edwards, Obama, and Richardson. but excluding Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich, who has filed protests at being excluded. It remains to be seen whether this will be an actual debate for either party, or another sound bite gathering, as the previous "debates" have been accused of having been.

FOXNews is going a different route tomorrow night, with a forum format for the Republican candidates at 8pm. The Seattle Times and Union Leader are both reporting that the New Hampshire Republican Party has pulled their support as a co-sponsor of the event because Fox has chosen to exclude candidates Hunter and Paul from tomorrow night's forum.

Party Chairman Fergus Cullen said he has failed in attempts to get Fox to include candidates Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter in Sunday's forum.

"Only in New Hampshire do lesser known, lesser funded underdogs have a fighting chance to establish themselves as national figures," Cullen said. "Consistent with that tradition, we believe all recognized major candidates should have an equal opportunity to participate in pre-primary debates and forums."

The question remains, and will be answered as the debates and the forum recommence, as to what topics will be covered for the candidates to discuss. Still to be seen, as well, as the deck is reshuffled and the cards redealt, is who will have the more impressive hair, Mitt Romney or John Edwards.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man


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