General Confusion

Some quick snark after watching the debate (until 8:00, when my TiVo flipped to "The Gilmore Girls", at my daughter's behest).

The debate was moderated by Ted Koppel, and General Clark got off to a ghastly start, which I paraphrase thusly:

Koppel: General, how do you feel about the importance of endorsements, and what would you do if Senator or President Clinton offered you their's?

Gen. Clark: Ted, I haven't really thought about that...

Koppel, interupting: Oh, of course you have.

(General laughter at General expense)

OK, being mocked as a dissembler couldn't have been the best way to launch the evening. Later in the first response, the General offered a bit of his vision for a better America, which I again paraphrase:

Gen. Clark: I am going to take back the American flag. It is not just a symbol for Tom Delay and John Ashcroft and George W. Bush, it is a symbol for all Americans...

Indeed it is. In fact, it is a symbol for Howard Dean and John Kerry, but of whom were wearing American flag lapel pins, although the General was not. Presumably, he is going to take that symbol back a bit later.

My suggestion - get a lapel pin, or drop the line. And who is doing the debate prep on this? Look, I am well aware of the problem - amongst the smart Washington set, only Republicans wear the flag. Fine, then drop the silly rhetoric.

Comments

[Crank]

Here's the exact quotes from the transcript (your paraphrases are pretty much on target):

General Clark, you're relatively new to the process. It is rumored, however, that you are a favored candidate by the Clinton family. If Mrs. Clinton, Senator Clinton, or former President Clinton were to offer you his endorsement, would you take it?

CLARK: Well, you know, I really have never even thought about that.

KOPPEL: Oh, sure you have.

CLARK: No.

(LAUGHTER)

and the other one

That American flag doesn't belong to John Ashcroft and Tom DeLay and George W. Bush.

[xlili]

look again at that pin --- and who's wearing it. it's not limited to Democrats or Republicans or Senators or House members or White House administration or combat veterans. and guess what... it's not a symbol of patriotism.

if you look back at practically any footage of elected political officials from the 1930's thru the 1960's, a very distinct trend emerges of officials who wear their fraternal organization pins on their lapels. even today, at any press conference in New York, you will see the governor, the mayor, the chief of police, the chief of the fire department and various other city officials loaded down with lapel pins showing their various affiliations with fraternal organizations.

now, i've got a postgraduate degree and i consider myself to be a reasonable person, but even i see something odd about the "foreshortened" flag (we're not talking rectangles here people, these flag pins have a little 'wave' in them that makes them into squared shaped pins), when the flag is turned at an angle, as it is with every political official and news commentator that i've seen wearing them. they are diamond shaped. and with the blue field at the top and the red/white bars forming a right angle at the bottom... can you picture for a second the symbol of the compass & right angle that adorns every masonic lodge in the country? the symbol of the architect's compass resting above the builder's right angle (also called a T-square) is the universal masonic symbol. look it up if you don't know what i mean.

sound crazy? a secret society insignia 'hidden in plain view' just like that for the world to see? again, look back at footage of Eisenhower or Herbert Hoover or LBJ and tell me that gentlemen from these eras thought twice about making their affiliations clearly known to those who would recognize them. lapel pins on men have always referred to to an individual's group association. so then ask yourself, even if what i'm saying sounds left-field, then what other group(s) do John Kerry and George Bush have in common?