Thread by @joesonka, McConnell gives explanation of photo w/ the giant Confederate flag. He says [...]

McConnell gives explanation of photo w/ the giant Confederate flag. He says Confederate group invited him in first term to speak about ancestor soldier, but a '94 magazine says Confederate group invited him after he defended flag w/ Jesse Helms https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/13/sen-mitch-mcconnell-photo-confederate-flag-lives/3291529001/

Decades-old photo of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and Confederate flag lives on and on

McConnell said he thinks the photograph was taken during his first term in the Senate at a Sons of Confederate Veterans meeting in Louisville.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/13/sen-mitch-mcconnell-photo-confederate-flag-lives/3291529001/

From 1994 issue of Confederate Veteran Magazine: "CAMP DEMONSTRATES SUPPORT: Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) is one of the two Senators that spoke on behalf of the (United Daughters of Confederacy) on the floor of the Senate after Carol Mosely Braun made her infamous speech..."

"...He was honored by John Hunt Morgan Camp 1342 in Louisville KY at the October 23 meeting."

Here is some of that "infamous" speech by Mosely Braun against the Helms/McConnell vote on the Confederate flag patent:

And here is some of McConnell's floor speech saying it never occurred to him some might find his flag vote an endorsement of slavery, saying he reveres his forefathers doing "what they thought was appropriate in their time."

While McConnell's explanation suggests he spoke as a guest twice to Confederate groups in the 80's and 90s, his glasses in the flag photo appear to match what he wore in 1993-era, as he rarely wore glasses in public in the 1980s. Anyway, that was McConnell's explanation.

Full story by @morganwatkins26 here, as well as one on McConnell's "complicated history on race," from 60's civil rights support to the John Lewis Votings Rights Act currently stalled in his Senate:

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/13/sen-mitch-mcconnell-photo-confederate-flag-lives/3291529001/ https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2020/08/13/mcconnell-has-a-complicated-history-when-it-comes-to-race/3291516001/

From apartheid to affirmative action: Sen. Mitch McConnell's complicated history on race

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell is up for reelection, and his record on civil rights and other issues that impact Black Americans is under scrutiny.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/08/13/sen-mitch-mcconnell-photo-confederate-flag-lives/3291529001/

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