Former South Carolina governor and "hiking" enthusiast Mark Sanford appeared on Fox News' America's Newsroom this morning to talk politics. Since the next Republican primary is in South Carolina, he was in the unfamiliar position of actually being able to contribute something of value the discussion.

And things were going fine until he tried to explain how South Carolinians don't much like being told what to do. As evidenced by that Civil War they started.

The transcript, for those who can't watch the video.

MARTHA MACCALLUM: I gotta go, but very quickly, if you can, the last question is can Mitt Romney do better with these groups? He did well with evangelicals and with those who call themselves very conservative in New Hampshire. Can he do the same thing this time around in South Carolina?

SANFORD: I would just say that South Carolina's not that good at taking its cue from other places. And you can look as far back as the Civil War where young cadets were firing cannons there on Fort Sumter. I mean, South Carolina -- South Carolinians are going to decide for themselves. I think he has wrapped up much of the institutional support, but I think -- Huckabee's doing an event here on Saturday, because about fifty percent of the folks out there in this state have not yet decided. So I think it's still a very fluid race.

Firing the first shots of the bloodiest war in American history is indeed the trump card when arguing irascibility, I'll give Sanford that. On the other hand, noting that its citizens violently seceded from the country out of a desire to maintain the institution of slavery is perhaps not the best example to pull out when talking up the Palmetto State's independent character.