Putz calls criticism of Ted Poe (R-TX) a "cheap shot."

Like the good, loyal soldier in the right wing army he is, Putz toes the line:

SO I SEE THIS HEADLINE and it reads "Rep. Poe Quotes Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard On House Floor."

Big deal, I think: Everybody quotes Robert Byrd eventually. Then I find out it's about quoting Nathan Bedford Forrest. Well, he knew more about military matters than Byrd, anyway. The whole stink is one of the most contrived in recent memory, which is saying a lot. Come on, guys. You can come up with better cheap shots than that.

What the does Robert Byrd have to do with this (or Al Sharpton for that matter)? And just how is this "contrived"?

Is it really appropriate for a US Congressman from a Southern state, on the floor of the US House of Representatives, to call a slave trader and war criminal who later founded the most murderous terror organization in US history a "success"? And quote him approvingly to support the policy in Iraq?

We're not talking about Robert E. Lee here.

The severest of the criticism of Forrest — subjects studiously avoided by today's neo-Confederate activists — centers on three indisputable facts:

• Forrest was a Memphis slave trader who acquired fabulous wealth before the war;
• He commanded the troops who carried out an 1864 massacre of mostly black prisoners; and
• He led violent resistance to Reconstruction as the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

Make no mistake, Poe should apologize. Invoking a thug like Forrest -- and misquoting him to boot -- is clumsy and stupid, to say the least.

UPDATE

A reader writes,

What Robert Byrd has to do with this is a little disingenuous, and I think you're smart enough to know that BT. Sure he was only the "Exalted Cyclops" of his local klan chapter and not a "Grand Wizard", but the point is still made. Every time someone quotes Byrd on Senate floor they are quoting someone who was a "klan leader".

The topic is Ted Poe, and whether he not what he said on the House floor was appropriate. Period. Robert Byrd is a red herring. Logical fallacy.

"You shouldn't criticize Ted Poe for praising a terrorist racist war criminal because Robert Byrd was in the KKK 60 years ago" is not a valid argument.