Message To Indiana GOP: Civil War Was About Civil Rights

Brian Howey of the Howey Political Report Online is blogging from the Indiana GOP convention in Indianapolis. It seems some in the party think that the Grand Old Party's battle to retain control is something akin to the Civil War. Howey writes:

Mourdock told the story of the 20th Maine holding Little Round Top during the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg with a "bayonet charge." Mourdock said, "We hold the high ground, but beyond the slope, forces are gathering. They think they can come up AND take it away. There will be no surrender! This hilltop is ours." Pence picked up on the Civil War theme, saying that with three Hoosier congressional seats in play, "We could be the place where the Republican Majority, minted in 1994, could be lost. We may be Little Round Top. If we hold on to Congress, we may hold it here."

In case Mourdock and Pence have forgotten, the Civil War was fought to end a civil injustice against one class of Americans and resulted in the adoption of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to erase discrimination from the U.S. Constitution. There's a bit of irony in tonight's civil war analogies given the modern-day attempts by the same party to write discrimination back into the U.S. and Indiana constitutions against another class of Americans.