Being a member of the Confederacy is not usually the first thing people think about when Texas becomes a topic of discussion, but the fact is Gen. Robert E. Lee called Hood’s Texas Brigade his favorite troops because “the enemy never sees the backs of my Texans.”
Well, Marse Robert might be a little disappointed today as Texas Gov. Rick Perry opted out of initiating a new skirmish in the late unpleasantness.
“We don’t need to be scraping old wounds,” Perry said when asked by a Florida television reporter if he supports creation of a Texas license tag commemorating the Sons of the Confederacy, as the group has proposed in the Lone Star State.
Since the members of the Department of Motor Vehicles who must decide the issue are all Perry appointees, his statement today probably puts the kibosh on the personalized car tag for contemporary Johnny Rebs in Texas.
The Texas branch of the NAACP, as well as Rep. Shirley Jackson-Lee, D-TX, had called on Perry to oppose the controversial tag. Jackson-Lee took the issue to the House floor yesterday.
The issue might yet be a nettle in Perry’s backside, however, as South Carolina, site of a critical early Republican presidential primary, previously approved such a license tag. And being the cradle of Confederate secession, South Carolina still has more than a few grey-clad partisans who could make trouble for Perry.
The Statesman.com has more here.
