David Barton

I'm not a fan of David Barton. Barton styles himself a historian but often what history he quotes is closer to fantasy or perhaps wishful thinking.

This is a man that wrote a book about Thomas Jefferson called "The Jefferson Lies" that has been so criticized by real historians that his publisher pulled the book.

This is a man that has claimed that there will never be an AIDS vaccine because the disease is God's punishment for homosexuality and that the three branches of US government are based upon the Bible.

Not only does Barton seem to be delusional about American history but on occasion has made claims about his own background that don't appear to bear out under scrutiny such as he smuggled Bibles into the Soviet Union and played on the Oral Roberts varsity basketball team.

So imagine my surprise when Right Wing Watch reported that Barton ripped a caller that claimed the Civil War was fought over states rights a new one. Some Barton quotes.

"It was not about states' rights, it was about slavery..."

This just goes to show you why you have to consider everything anyone says on its own merits. Even someone that is almost always wrong can sometimes be right. The one possible exception to this rule is Tony Perkins. Perkins will probably never be right about anything.

"What we've seen as a result of this is a lot of revision of history. And today, it literally appalls me to see that throughout the south, they still have elementary schools named after Nathan Bedford Forrest..."

This is irony of the 1st magnitude. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

..."(Forest) was one of the great Confederate generals in the Civil War. But you know, Nathan Bedford Forrest was also the founder of the Ku Klux Klan ... We've got elementary schools named after a great murderer?" 

Barton then went on to cite the massacre at Fort Pillow where confederate soldiers murdered surrendering black Union troops.

"When the blacks surrendered...they slaughtered them on the spot. I mean, ISIS-like atrocities: they skinned 'em, they burned them alive, the buried 'em, they drowned 'em, the drug 'em, they hung 'em. These were guys who surrendered, they were prisoners of war."

David Barton telling it like it was.

"The Confederacy had a standing order that any black that you capture is to be killed on the spot. That's not similar values to the north, we're not talking the same value base here."

This was a shock but I give the man credit for having the courage to speak the truth. I can't wait to hear all the right wing whack jobs accuse Barton of "Cultural Cleansing."