Forrest For the Win! Confronting Stupidity (and yankee Arrogance)
yankee-Supremacist Bill O’Reilly vs. Nathan Bedford Forrest
yankee-Supremacist Bill O’Reilly vs. Nathan Bedford Forrest
bill o’reilly’s ghostwriter missed it entirely. No Contest Whatsoever. - DD
I have read Chapter 5 of Mr. Bill O’Reilly and his co-author’s book, Confronting Evil: The Worst of the Worst. This chapter deals with Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Congratulations, gentlemen! You got almost every important fact wrong.
O’Reilly labels Forrest a “brutal” slave trader but does not elaborate. Actually, he was considered the best of a bad lot in the 1850s. He did not ever beat his slaves, refused to separate families when he sold them, and kept a list of people who were brutal slave traders—and he would not do business with them. (Refusing to beat slaves was not altogether altruistic. If a potential buyer saw that a slave had been beaten, it signaled to him that this was a troublesome slave. The last thing a master wanted was an unruly slave, so he would lower the offering price, if he didn’t cancel the sale altogether.)
O’Reilly points out that, in April 1861, Forrest was visiting the Gayoso House, a hotel which, according to Bill, included a brothel. He states that Forrest visited the Gayoso because he wanted to play cards and enjoy the “company of women.” He probably did want to play cards, but he had absolutely no romantic or sexual interest in any woman except his wife and would not tolerate men who felt otherwise. No man was even allowed to tell a questionable joke in a woman’s presence if Forrest were present.
Mr. O’Reilly asserts that Forrest’s favorite adult libation was Barbados Rum and water. The problem here is that Forrest never tasted Barbados Rum. He drank one time. As a teenager…