Ron Paul takes on Abraham Lincoln ...

[Galraedia]

... And is answered by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic magazine's fantabulous blogger, has begun a series of posts addressing the question of whether the Civil War was fought over slavery and whether Lincoln could have averted the war by simply buying slaves from their southern owners. The series was prompted by a couple of videos (here's the longer one, co-starring a Confederate battle flag) in which presidential candidate Ron Paul has argued the answer to the first question is "not so much" and the second "yes."

The first installment of Coates' response, published Monday, was titled simply "Lincoln" (part 2, Tuesday, was "Economics&quot . Crowd-sourced with the help of Coates' awesome stable of commenters, "Lincoln" is a history lesson all by itself. You should read the whole thing. But here's the money quote:

"I have come to a fairly recent regard for Lincoln. He rose from utter frontier poverty, through self-education and hard work, to the presidency and the upper reaches of American letters. His path was harsh. His wife was mentally ill. His son died in office. He was derided in newspapers as ugly, stupid, a gorilla and white trash. For his patience, endurance, temperance and industry in the face of so many troubles, Lincoln was awarded a shot to the head.

"Now in some sectors of the country for which Lincoln died, patriotism means waving the flag of his murderer. The party he founded ... now gives us a candidate who would stand before that same flag and peddle comfortable fictions. What hope is there when those who talk of patriotism brandish the talisman of bloody treason?"

Read more: http://www.sj-r.com/blogs/alo/x364055916/Ron-Paul-takes-on-Abraham-Lincoln