| Maybe it's just me, but I see this as a desperate and uninformed attempt to throw anything and everything at the Democrats, and as a tactic, it's disgusting.
The story is--Republicans found (and actually stole) 12,000 flags in Denver that were thrown in the trash.
Really? Because I saw the pictures that Red State's Erick Erickson published. There were paper, cloth, or vinyl "mini-flags" that were waved by participants in the excitement of the event. While these are "flags," I see them as symbols of actual flags.
An actual flag--and I say this as someone who has actually served in ceremonies where Veterans have been rendered funeral honors--is the kind of flag you would use to properly cover a casket or one that you would fly appropriately from a flagpole. That is the actual "flag" one would take to the VFW or to the appropriate agency for honorary burning or retirement. That flag is quite distinct in its value, it's symbolism, and its significance from a 3 inch by 5 inch paper American flag on a nine inch stick waved at a parade. If your loved one was buried under a flag that was appropriately folded and presented, would that flag be more valuable than the vinyl flag that adorns someone's car on the freeway? In terms of how each actually functions, yes, indeed. ALL flags are symbols of the country; some flags are, indeed, more valued than others. There's the actual flag, then there are representations and symbols of the thing itself.
Years ago, Doonesbury tackled this subject. Garry Trudeau printed an American flag in his strip and said, guess what? Throw this newspaper in the trash, and you're dishonoring America. I believe this was when the first President Bush tried to make a deal out of flag burning--a ridiculous canard used by people who cannot run on the issues and need to appeal to the lowest common denominator. If you send troops overseas to be killed in a war, the obvious tactic you would use is to bring up flag burning--anything to get people to stop paying attention to the fact that you have nothing to run on.
The American flag is reproduced in newspapers, magazines, and books; it is flown from cars, waved at parades and sporting events, and it is affixed on letters as stamps. It is found everywhere in the US in virtually every possible form. Are we to believe that each and every clipped coupon that has part of the American flag on it is solemnly walked down to the VFW where graying, bent heads solemnly burn it in a barrel after it has been soaked in kerosene?
Grow the fuck up, Republicans. Learn something about how the world really works and then come back and impugn our patriotism, will ya?
UPDATE / BG / 11:40 Central
I just saw this comment at Political Animal and I think it bears repeating:
I was at Invesco and I sat and watched the campaign staffers distribute the flags. The photo I saw that is being circulated looks like the bags of neatly rolled flags before they were distributed, not after! I watched the workers pack up the bags after they had distributed them, and I saw no flags anywhere on the ground as I left the stadium. My husband and I kept our flags, and I suspect lots of people also kept theirs. Someone got hold of a 'before' picture and is trying to portray it as an 'after' photo. Furthermore, the stadium seats have built in flag holders on each side of the cup holders, so the flags were neatly placed in the holders on each seat. I saw no evidence of any flag being mistreated. |
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