Fine with me if you don't want to recognize that the confederate flag is viewed as a symbol of slavery by many people.
This entire thread is epitomized by conservatives claiming the confederacy were the "good guys"; that blacks would have been better off if the confederacy had either won the war, or been left alone, and conservatives ( and I include dixiecrats in the lexicon) have a long history of arguing against civil rights legislation, the MLK holiday, and generally being racially insensitive.
Suggesting that blacks are so child like, that they have to be bribed into voting Democratic is just one more example of racial insensitivity.
And yet you wonder why blacks vote against republicans in large numbers? Would you wonder why Jews voted against republicans, if the republican base were defending the Nazi flag, and claiming that the Nazis were the good guys? No, you wouldn't wonder. You would know exactly why they would vote against the GOP, given those conditions.
If you want to believe the confederate flag is a proud statement on an honorable period of american history, I won't dissuade you. I'm just telling you the facts: defense of the confederate flag, and defense of the confederacy in general is highly offensive to a lot of americans.