One short Associated Press article -- in fact, just four paragraphs of this article -- offer two brilliant examples of Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's amateurish staff (now three* years into office) and why (despite my eligibility and historical interest) I declined a relative's invitation to join the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Confederate heritage groups were initially excited when Gov. Bob Riley's annual proclamation designating April as Confederate History and Heritage Month in Alabama dropped a paragraph saying slavery was a cause of the Civil War.

They were pleased because they considered the description of slavery historically inaccurate, but their excitement was shortlived. "It was a mistake," Jeff Emerson, the governor's communications director, said Monday.

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Broxton said restoring the language will hurt Riley if he runs for re-election next year and faces former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in the Republican primary.

"Roy Moore will get all of the Confederate vote for governor," Broxton predicted.

Ah, yes, that Confederate vote. Since the last Rebel (the delightfully named Pleasant Crump) died in 1951, I don't see Moore picking up too much of the old soldier vote to hurt Bob Riley. However, the governor is constantly making amateur mistakes -- which often turn into political blunders. The Great Ten Commandments Writer in the Sky seems to have gifted Moore with the only incumbent he could ever beat. And as a supporter of balanced history when it comes to the causes of the American Civil War, I can symphatize with Southern history groups' defensiveness. Yet as their agendas swerve toward the political and away from the historical, many show themselves to be just another pack of Lost Causers.

*UPDATE: Riley has actually been in office for two years and three months.