What the Civil War wasn’t about

Last night I stayed up too late, again. But in a way, it was worth it, because of what I found on YouTube.

The Bonzo Dog’s “Urban Spaceman” gave way to Artie Shaw’s “Nightmare,” which led to some Mose Allison, then I stumbled onto an old Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks clip from the Flip Wilson Show. Yes, it’s easy to kill time in the wee hours, finding and watching/listening to old music videos on YouTube.

Anyway, I also found some footage from a countrified television variety show I rarely watched 40 years ago in its, ahem, heyday -- Hee Haw. That thread eventually led to a recently made video that was a hilarious send-up of Hee Haw. It was done in a style that borrowed from JibJab’s visual style. It had to have been made in the last week or so.

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s chattering heads were in the six-minute film, stuck on cartoon bodies. They were taking turns popping up in the cornfield to shout out their jokes, which were all sort of about the Civil War. Each guy tried to top the other. With banjo music serving as bumps between the jokes, it went something like this:

McDonnell said: “The Civil War wasn’t about slavery … it was about the bravery of Confederate soldiers!

Cuccinelli said: The War Between the States wasn’t about slavery. It was about preserving a cherished way of life. Most Southerners didn’t even own slaves.

McDonnell said: Hey now! But those who did usually treated ‘em pretty darn good. It was the slaves who had it easy … they didn’t have to pay taxes!

Cuccinelli said: The War of Northern Aggression wasn’t about slavery. It was about socialists who wanted to water down the purity of the white race. It was about fluoridation of the water!

McDonnell said: It was about protecting innocents in a Garden of Eden from abolitionist serpents who wanted to fill their heads with evil ideas. That’s why it was against the law in Ol’ Virginny to teach Negroes to read. In part, those patriotic Confederates fought to let slaves live rent-free so they could sing and dance all day ... if they wanted to.

Cuccinelli said: It was about preserving free heathcare for slaves!

And, so it went. I couldn’t stop laughing. Then my computer locked up. So, I went to sleep.

Today I can’t find the video. I went to my browser history and the link to the video doesn’t work. It was called "The Civil War Wasn't."

Now it’s like the video doesn’t exist. I guess somebody -- GOP lawyers? -- must have made whoever was behind it take it down, or maybe YouTube just erased it?

Of course, no matter how real it seemed, I almost have to wonder if it was just a dream. If anyone else saw this video, or knows anything about who made it, please let me know.

And, at the end of the day, I’ve always tended to stay up too late.