When Barack Obama failed to wear a lapel pin during the 2008 presidential race, FOX News went ape over it:
The conservative blogosphere couldn’t stop talking about it for months. Flag pin, flag pin, flag pin, flag pin, flag pin.
So surely Michelle Malkin, Pamela Gellar, FOX News and the gang will be rolling out their front-page mockery of Mitt Romney’s patriotism any day now. I mean, just look at
Mitt Romney in West Virginia:
Any day now… waiting for it…
Energized by the 2010 elections, conservative herald Tony Caputo has been bombarding us with conspiratorial love mail for the past week or so. Here’s a little sample:
ABC NEWS BANS FLAG LAPEL PINS
THIS HAS BEEN VERIFIED THROUGH: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/abcflag.htm
…and http://www.snopes.com/rumors/noflags.aspSent: Monday, October 04, 2010 4:41 PM
ABC News Joins Obama – Bans American Flag Lapel Pins
ABC NEWS BANS FLAG LAPEL PINSBarbara Walters said that this was going to hurt ABC bad. As you know she works for ABC.
ABC NEWS BANS FLAG LAPEL PINS! YESTERDAY THE BRASS AT ABC NEWS ISSUED ORDERS FORBIDDING REPORTERS TO WEAR LAPEL PIN AMERICAN FLAGS OR OTHER PATRIOTIC INSIGNIA. THEIR REASONING WAS THAT ABC SHOULD REMAIN NEUTRAL ABOUT ‘CAUSES’.
SINCE WHEN IS SUPPORT FOR PREVENTING DEATH AND DESTRUCTION SOME SORT OF A ‘CAUSE’? SINCE WHEN IS PATRIOTISM TO BE DISCOURAGED?
I URGE YOU TO BOYCOTT ABC AND ITS SPONSORS AND AFFILIATES. WE ARE SLOWLY, no, RAPIDLY LOSING EVERYTHING OUR COUNTRY STANDS FOR AND EVERYTHING OUR MEN AND WOMEN FOUGHT AND DIED TO PRESERVE!
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO AS MANY AS YOU CAN.
THIS HAS BEEN VERIFIED THROUGH: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/a/abcflag.htm
THIS ONE NEEDS TO BE CIRCULATED…QUICKLY
Rapidly losing everything? This one needs to be circulated quickly? Only on a geologic time scale. The supposed “flag lapel pin ban” supposedly happened nine years ago in 2001, and as the Snopes review of the matter pointed out, it wasn’t a ban, and it wasn’t even a new policy instituted in 2001, but rather a continuation of an old practice instituted long before 2001. In that light, Caputo’s suggestion that ABC News somehow followed Barack Obama’s lead is a real eye-popper.
Yeah, Tony, you’d better organize that boycott of ABC News right quick… but be sure to finish up your preparations for Y2K first.
Dems Don’t Like Hard Questions Because They Can’t Answer Them! screams an article from the hard-right-wing Human Events published in April of this year. The author, Michelle Oddis, thinks that a big time hard question the “Dems Can’t Answer” is this one from Nash McCabe:
Senator Obama, I have a question, and I want to know if you believe in the American flag.
Nash McCabe was not so sure because, you see, someone pointed out that he didn’t always wear an American flag lapel pin. Yes, the right wing is convinced that such a “Hard Question” must have the Democrats running scared, because for conservatives like Nash McCabe and the writers of Human Events, patriotism is defined by wearing the right jewelry in public.
I’m not a Democrat, but I’m not running scared from this “Hard Question.” Neither should the Democrats. On the contrary, the “Hard Question” with all its assumptions and implications should be embraced! Embraced, I tell you! You know why? I’ll show you why.
Look at photos of John McCain and Barack Obama snapped just last night as they made their speeches:
Barack Obama! Wearing an American flag lapel pin! Patriot! Roar!
John McCain! Not wearing an American flag lapel pin! Islamic treason monkey! Hiss!
Why doesn’t John McCain believe in the American flag? And why hasn’t the staff of Human Events answered this Hard Question that I just asked four seconds ago? I’ll tell you why! Because they’re afraid! Afraid of freeeeeeeeeeeeedom!
