Thursday, July 7, 2011

Levin: Stephanopoulos Is Foolish in Lecturing Bachmann

By Jeffrey Lord on 6.28.11 @ 1:38PM

Sigh.

You'd think liberals would learn.

Of course not.

George Stephanopoulos made the mistake of going after Michele Bachmann on history -- and promptly proceeded to get his history foolishly wrong. Said George:

For example earlier this year you said that the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence worked tirelessly to end slavery. Now with respect Congresswoman, that's just not true.

Actually, George, it is true.

And before we get to Levin's views, allow me.
In 1785, James Madison (as noted by his biographer, Ralph Ketcham in James Madison) took to the floor of the Virginia Assembly, where he was a delegate, and

spoke…favoring a bill Jefferson had proposed for the gradual abolition of slavery (it was rejected), and helped defeat a bill designed to outlaw the manumission of individual slaves. Of this effort a French observer wrote that Madison, "a young man (who)….astonishes…by his eloquence, his wisdom, and his genius, has had the humanity and courage (for such a proposition requires no small share of courage) to propose a general emancipation of the slaves."

Madison was not alone in taking action on the subject. There was another Founding Father, along with Madison a co-author of The Federalist Papers. That would be Alexander Hamilton.

In Alexander Hamilton: A Life, biographer Willard Sterne Randall notes that this Founding Father helped "to found…the Society for Promoting the Manumission of Slaves in New York." Randall on goes to say that:

….never forgetting the slave markets of his St. Croix childhood, Hamilton became a prime mover in the early abolitionist group. He pressured the (New York) state legislature and helped to raise money to buy and free slaves. The society's founders…elected Hamilton chairman to draw up recommendations for "a line of conduct" for any "members who still possessed slaves." He also established a registry for manumitted slaves, listing their names and ages, "to detect attempts to deprive such manumitted persons of their liberty."

There's more with Hamilton, who also demanded (writing and signing a 1786 petition on the subject) the legislature ban the importation of slaves, calling slavery " a commerce so repugnant to humanity."

There is a difference between opposing something and being unable to change the practice in the day -- and doing nothing. But it is just flatly false to say, as Stephanopoulos says, that the Founding Fathers did not work to end slavery. The historical record, if one looks, is crystal clear. Madison did. Hamilton did. Jefferson did. They did not succeed, they were personally flawed, some owning slaves themselves. (Wasn't it George who wrote a book on a flawed president he knew called All Too Human?) But these Founding Fathers started the United States of America down the right historical path, personally "working" to end slavery.

There was a reason for the Three-Fifths Compromise in the Constitution. That reason: there were delegates to the Constitutional Convention (and they would be called Founding Fathers ) who supported abolition -- as well as those who opposed it. Hence -- the compromise. Which was not about declaring a black man three-fifths of a person as, for example, Al Gore and many liberals erroneously say. (Where was George then?) It was about reducing the power of slavery as an institution in the new United States Congress. If, as slave owners insisted, slaves were property -- then the obvious: they should not be counted as whole persons, which would increase the proportional power of the slave states in the House of Representatives, where representation was based on population size. The slave owners wanted it both ways -- to treat slaves as property but count them as persons, effectively increasing the slave owning power in Congress. The abolitionist delegates said no -- hence the compromise.

So Levin is quite correct here -- adding another Founding Father to this list: George Mason of Virginia.

Mark Levin caught you out, George, and his details are here.

But Michele Bachmann was right. There were Founding Fathers who worked to end slavery.

Is challenging Michele Bachmann on fundamental history and getting it wrong embarrassing for somebody in the liberal media who criticizes others on the subject? Yes. Will George be concerned enough to retract and correct the record?

Uh-huh. Sure.

Which is short hand for just why millions of Americans roll their eyes at liberals. And watch Fox.

And listen to Levin.

From: 25 Immutable Truths About Liberals


2. Never try to reason with a liberal. They disregard any evidence that conflicts with their beliefs.



8. Liberals cannot be embarrassed. They lack the gene to blush.



11. There are no honest liberals. If they were honest -- especially to themselves -- they would be conservatives.



16. There are only two types of liberals -- the deceivers and the deceived. The difficulty is telling them apart.



19. Liberals always choke on their own medicine.



22. Liberals not only refuse to learn from their mistakes, they refuse to admit them.

15 comments:

Lone Ranger said...

I( wonder if, 200 years from now, liberals will be trashing us for not ending abortion the way they trash the Founders for not ending slavery.

Democrats commit the most heinous crimes against humanity, but when society evolves to the point where we see the evil in something like slavery, there is not a single democrat on the horizon. They have all fled the scene of the crime.

There is no doubt in my mind that when humanity wakes up and recognizes abortion as the greatest example of genocide in human history, the left will be painting themselves as the people who put an end to it. What's that smell? It isn't roses.

Ducky's here said...

But Michele Bachmann was right. There were Founding Fathers who worked to end slavery.

-------------

Hmmm, how did we get there from "the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence worked tirelessly to end slavery."


Seems there's a stretch here. And to say that Jefferson "worked tirelessly" to end slavery is ridiculous.

Joe said...

Ducky: Jefferson took actions that he hoped would end in slavery's abolition.

He drafted the Virginia law of 1778prohibiting the importation of enslaved Africans.

In 1784 he proposed an ordinance banning slavery in the new territories of the Northwest.

From the mid-1770s he advocated a plan of gradual emancipation, by which all born into slavery after a certain date would be declared free.

Joe said...

LR: I could tell you what the smell is, but I don't use that kind of language on this blog.

Ducky's here said...

Yeah Joe, he took actions like freeing his own slaves? Bore me later.

Joe said...

Ducky: Don't have to. You're bored enough already.

Ducky's here said...

I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means -- except by getting off his back.
--- Leo Tolstoy

I suppose it could have been Jefferson. Right?

Lisa said...

Ducky did you ever do anything you regret?

Apparently Robert Byrd did.

Z said...

Lisa...liberals can do no wrong, you know that; or don't admit it, as Joe says.
Byrd was a recruiter, not just a member, of course.
But HE can change, and anybody with the slightest 'past' who's Republican is branded forever.

Poor Republicans must watch every tiniest word because they'll be scrutinized. Biden can say the F word in public to the president on a bill and NO PROBLEM. He can gaffe from here to Cleveland and NO PROBLEM, but let Bachmann add an extra word, right or wrong, which the left doesn't agree with, and HELL TO PAY.

Lisa said...

You got that right Z and having a corrupt media carrying the water for this president doesn't hurt him either.

Ducky's here said...

Hmmm, Lisa pulls the old straw man with Robert Byrd (what does he have to do with this) and then she tags off to Z the Turtle.

Fact is that Michelle is trying to pass off a false version of American history for the proles. When they start in on founders worship that slavery thing gets in the way, especially in the reconstitution of the south.

The deconstruction then works nicely into the false meme that "states rights" was the cause of the civil war and slavery was all but eliminated. Pure cheese.

Ducky's here said...

Now, I'm not going to say that this is a Fox exclusive but I do believe Fox uses these techniques frequently and effectively. And we become shallower and shallower.

For your consideration

Trekkie4Ever said...

Bravo, Michele! This is one great contender that I support.

George will just do what most liberals do when they are wrong, they deny it ever happened, tuck tail and run, or blame someone else for providing misinformation.

Mark said...

Is challenging Michele Bachmann on fundamental history and getting it wrong embarrassing for somebody in the liberal media who criticizes others on the subject?

No. (see Immutable truths about Liberals number 8)

Ducky's here said...

Go to it Mark.