As a student of the Civil War, I’m forever finding parallels between those times and our own. You can’t stretch the parallels too far or they’ll snap . . . but sometimes, the similarities are undeniable. Take Lincoln’s First Inaugural, a speech in which he tried to make clear that he had no intention of interfering with the institution of slavery, that he had no violent intentions toward the South—in short, that he had no agenda apart from upholding the Constitution and laws, as he was sworn to do. Yet secessionists in the South took it as practically a declaration of war. It was as if they’d heard a speech utterly different from the one on Lincoln’s page. I was reminded of that today reading the wrapup of conservative reaction to Obama’s speech on race. By what sort of mental gymnastics could they hear or read what he said and draw the conclusions they drew?

I have been saying for a long time that it becomes pointless to have anything to do with people who have reached a certain level of dishonesty or delusion. It’s why responding to an Ann Coulter provocation is a futile act—at that level of bugfuck insanity, your own belief in the possibility of finding intellectual common ground with such nonsense is a symptom of your own impending bugfuckery. You’ve just got to wash your hands of it and move along. The secessionist response to Lincoln’s First Inaugural made it clear, if it wasn’t already, that there was going to be war, and nothing Lincoln said could stop it—short of agreeing to submit to every Southern demand on the table at the time, and any that might be made in the future. Which is where we’ve been with conservatism for quite a while now—they want everything, and that includes the things they haven’t decided they want yet.

And so they read Barack Obama’s speech on religion, civil rights, and American history today—a clear declaration of “where we are and whither we are attending,” to borrow a Lincoln phrase from a different speech, and they miss the point entirely, as if they’re reading something utterly different from the speech on Obama’s page. Whether it’s dishonesty or delusion—and it has to be either one or the other—it’s clear proof that these people are the new-millennium equivalent of the secessionist dead-enders of 1861. Pity we can’t send an army to where they are and finish them off.

Recommended Viewing: The vaunted Iowa caucuses in January selected delegates only at the precinct level. The next level, the county conventions, were held last weekend. (The district conventions are next, then the state convention, which will finally select the state’s official convention delegate slate.) My oft-quoted pal kn went to her county convention last Saturday, wired up for sound and video. If you’re interested in the dynamics of the caucus system, take a look. I’m a bit amused that she’s ended up an Edwards delegate—she finally got on my team, even if it is couple of months too late.