Haley Barbour Says He Won’t Denounce License Plate Honoring KKK: “I Won’t Even Denounce The News Media”

Mississippi governor and possible 2012 presidential candidate Haley Barbour refuses to denounce a state license plate honoring early KKK leader Nathan Bedford Forrest, which is desired by the Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans. The NAACP has asked the governor to renounce the move.

Asked about the NAACP’s stance Tuesday, Barbour replied: “I don’t go around denouncing people. That’s not going to happen. I don’t even denounce the news media.”

Asked to clarify what he thinks is not going to happen, Barbour said he believes lawmakers won’t approve a specialty license plate depicting Forrest.

“I know there’s not a chance it’ll become law,” Barbour said…

Forrest, a Tennessee native, is revered by some as a military genius and reviled by others for leading an 1864 massacre of black Union troops at Fort Pillow, Tenn. Forrest was a Ku Klux Klan grand wizard in Tennessee after the war.

Bedford’s defenders say he distanced himself from the Klan later in life and one should respect Christian redemption.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.