Mood:

Now Playing: Accuradio.com
Topic: The Return of Copperheads
The recent actions of the Democrat-led congress to undermine the troops with their spineless non-binding resolution has brought to mind what I wrote way-back in 2003:
The country regrettably finds itself at war. Anti-war pundits abound. Which dilettante said the following: “Defeat, debt, taxation, sepulchers, these are your trophies. The war…is a most bloody and costly failure.”
1) Al Franken
2) Michael Moore
3) Howard Dean
4) Democrat Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham
Answer: Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham.
Never heard of him? That’s not surprising as he was an Ohio “Peace Democrat” who served during the Civil War. In fact, he uttered the above quotation on January 14, 1863 and, soon thereafter, was labeled as a sympathizer of the Confederacy and found himself being deported to the C.S.A. (he later returned north to haunt the Lincoln administration during the 1864 elections)!
Now why do I mention this?
My point is simply this: just as there were Peace Democrats then, we also have them today as well (perhaps ‘Peace Liberals’ would be a better appellation?). While Franken, Moore, and Dean did not utter the above quote, they have expressed similar "peace at any price" sympathies. And just like it would have been ill-advised for Lincoln to take politically motivated criticisms of the war effort seriously, it would likewise be a grave mistake for President Bush, or the American people, to heed the remarks of contemporary Vallandighams. These latter-day Copperheads are nothing more than fifth columnists seeking to derail the war effort for all sorts of reasons, some springing from well-intentioned motivations, others from not so noble origins. Regardless of the motive, the advice is poison for the well-being of the American and Iraqi people. As Lincoln himself remarked, “The enemy behind us is more dangerous to the country than the enemy before us.”
And so it is today.
Looks like I was right on the money with that one.
Others have become interested in Copperhead Democrats too. Once such person is Jennifer L. Webber who has written a book entitled, Copperheads: The Rise and Fall of Lincoln's Opponents in the North. Civil War historian Gary W. Gallagher describes the book as an:
"Excellent study of the most conservative element of the Democratic Party during the Civil War offers a powerful reminder that the North, even as it sought to put down the Confederate rebellion, suffered from deep political divisions. It fruitfully argues that Copperheads more than once threatened the Union war effort before ending the conflict as a group despised only slightly less in the North than the vanquished rebels."
Sound's awfully familiar, doesn't it? I only hope the last part of the sentence repeats as well....