5/31/00 6:30 p.m.
Texas Two-Step?
Is George W. Bush backing away from Johnny Reb?

By Michael Graham from Charleston, SC

"If we are successful in South Carolina, more states will be inclined to do the same thing."-- Kweisi Mfume, national president of the NAACP.

tep one: Bring down the Confederate flag flying over the South Carolina state house.

Step two: The Texas Supreme Court building?

It looks that way. In South Carolina, Confederate flag supporters insisted that the NAACP's boycott of their state was merely the first step in the organization's long march against all Confederate monuments.

Current activity in the Texas governor's office may prove them right.

Media reports and rumors within the self-described heritage movement have convinced Confederistas that George W. Bush is preparing to remove two plaques commemorating the Confederacy from public buildings in Texas. During the presidential primary, particularly in the weeks leading up to the crucial South Carolina vote, Gov. Bush was dogged by repeated questions regarding the Confederate flag's display, both in South Carolina and Texas.

Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas chapter of the NAACP, has called for removal of the bronze plaques — one showing the rebel flag and the other the Confederate seal — from outside the state Supreme Court and Appeals Court buildings, respectively. Bledsoe called them "a symbol of racism, division, and hatred," while the national NAACP president, Kweisi Mfume, has hinted that a South Carolina-style boycott could be in the offing.

But, Mfume added, "I would hope the governor does not need the NAACP to appeal to him, but that his heart would appeal to him." Whether it's his heart or his place in the polls, the Dallas Morning News is reporting that Gov. Bush's office is in negotiations to replace the two plaques commemorating the Confederacy. The Governor's spokesman, Michael Jones, told the Morning News that "no final decisions have been made." But Confederate flag supporters in Texas are all but conceding that the plaques will come down.

Bush chief executive Clay Johnson recently met with heritage activists. "He told us in front of seven witnesses that the plaques are coming down," says Denne Sweeney, Texas state commander for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. "The Bush people won't budge an inch. I don't know why they're so adamant."

Back when Gov. Bush was fighting off a primary challenge from Arizona senator John McCain, the Bush campaign sloughed off questions about the Texas Supreme Court markers by noting "many historical representations of the six different governments that governed Texas in the past" are part of the capitol complex.

On the Confederate flag in South Carolina, Gov. Bush was more adamant, if not more direct: "That is an issue for the people of South Carolina to decide," he said during the primaries.

Meanwhile, his campaign organized a pro-Bush mailing to South Carolina's flag supporters through a third-party group called the "Keep It Flying" PAC. The letter, which accused John McCain of "changing his tune" on the Confederate flag, described George W. Bush as "the [only] major candidate who refused to call the Confederate flag a racist symbol....He has consistently stood up for our right to decide [the flag issue]."

This pro-flag appeal, along with his disastrous appearance at Bob Jones University, has left Gov. Bush with little political capital to spend on defending the disputed plaques in Texas. Al Gore has already made Bush's performance in the South Carolina primary part of his national campaign. A high-profile battle with the NAACP over the Confederate flag could endanger the Bush campaign's strategy of moving toward the center.

In addition, the political climate around the flag has changed since the SC primary. Sen. McCain returned to South Carolina in April to issue a high-profile apology for not speaking honestly regarding his opposition to the Confederate flag flying over the state house. And earlier this month, 33 SC Republicans joined with 30 Democrats in the House of Representatives to push through a measure to move the flag to a Confederate monument on the state house grounds.

With the primaries behind him and support for the Confederate banner flagging in the GOP, the Compassionate Conservative has returned to Texas. Watch for a deal to be announced by the weekend.