designated april as confederate month. something his two democratic press predecessors refrained from doing. this caused quite a stir. particularly because the government did not mention slavery in this proclamation. was that a mistake? well, i don t think so. my state legislature has made a legislatively enacted holiday confederate memorial day. done it for years under republican governors and democrat governors and for seven years as governor i have issued a proclamation because of what the legislature s done. my democratic predecessors did so as well. i don t know what you would say about slavery. anybody who thinks you have to explain to people slavery is a bad thing, i think goes without saying. there s this sort of feeling that it s incenttive, that you clearly don t agree. to me it s a sort of feeling it s not significant, that it s not trying to make a big deal out of something that doesn t amount to diddley. barber is catching flak for
explain slavery is a bad thing. i goes without saying. there s a sort of feeling it s incentive. you don t agree. it s a n irk it, not signifi. a big deal that doesn t amount to didly. barber is already catching flak for those comments. slavery is a big deal and barber is defending the indefensible. one of the biggest sports stories of the year happened today the maflsers golf tournament featuring two greats trying to concentrate on golf with enormous family concerns. phil mickelson, the sentimental favorite with wife and mother battling cancer, breast cancer, picked up the third masters title. tiger woods making the return to golf after the personal life was reduced to shambles. finished, fourth, a tie between him and another player. those are the latest headlines. state of the union with candy crowley continues after a break.
of african-american politicians and just people on the street that were interviewed in virginia going, this is offensive, to celebrate something that really was about slavery and have absolutely no mention of it. what do you do in your state? well, maybe they should talk about the democratic legislature, which has done exactly the same thing in mississippi for years. and as far as i know, the democratic legislature, we have a majority in both houses are democrats, i m unaware of them being criticized for it or them having their supporters feel uncomfortable with it. you know what i m trying to get at here, that there s the sort of feeling that it s insensitive. but you clearly don t agree? to me, it s the sort of feeling that it s a nit. that it is not significant, that it is not he s trying to make a big deal out of something that doesn t amount to diddly. i wanted to ask you about health care reform, which you mentioned a little earlier. part of this is going to include
interviewed in virginia saying this is offensive to celebrate something that really was about slavery and have no mention of it. what do you do in your state? maybe they should talk about democratic legislature that does the same thing in mississippi for years. and as far as i know, the democratic legislature, you have a majority of both houses of democrats. i m unaware of them being criticized for it or them having their supporters feel uncomfortable with it. you know what i m trying to get at here is there s a sort of feeling that it s incentive. you don t agree. to me it s a sort of feeling that it s a myth, it s not significant, it s trying to make a big deal out of something that doesn t amount to didly. i want to ask you about health care reform which you mentioned a little earlier. part of this is going to include an expansion of medicaid. how are you going to pay for that in mississippi? that s the problem.
that doesn t amount to diddley. doesn t amount to diddley. barbour is already catching flak for those comments. the democratic national committee issued a statement saying slavery is a big deal and barbour is defending the indefensible. straight ahead, we ll hear from a whole panel of civil war reenactors to hear what they think about this controversy. well, right now we re going to run the story by cnn political editor, mark preston. mark, this is getting really political now. it s gone from a blue and gray issue to an issue about red states or, i don t understand why it s becoming political. what is political about this? what is left and right about this issue? you know, don, it really comes down to politics, right? whatever you talk about race, you have to be very careful about how you put it in the context you put it. if you listen to what governor barbour said right there, he said that, look, why should we why do we have to explain how bad slavery is? we all know that it w