When Is A Flag Not A Flag?

The Captain is having too much fun with the Dems latest gaffe.

Comments

[kim]

It gets highly amusing when the symbolism unconsciously reveals. Those were supposed to be stars on his shirt.

And don't you get 'Per asperum, ad astra'?
==========================

[sbw]

My former congressman was more interested in protecting the flag than the constitution it represents. When advocating an anti-flag-burning amendment, he had no good answer to explain the difference between a flag and a representation of a flag.

We publish a representation of an American flag on our front page, and have since 1991. Does that mean people have to be careful recycling our newspaper?

Maybe that's why our congressman, nice enough as he was, retired.

[Appalled]

Ouch. Just, ouch.

[kim]

There has always been a good reason, though, sbw, that letting the banner fall in the dirt was dishonorable. He didn't think fast enough for that one, did he.
===================================

[DebinNC]

stylized - using artistic forms and conventions to create effects; not natural or spontaneous; "a stylized mode of theater production"

A stylized flag for a stylized candidate

[sbw]

letting the banner fall in the dirt was dishonorable

The first amendment allows people to say and do distasteful things. That they have the right does not imply the necessity.

We can be rightfully proud of that liberty. We can also be rightfully proud that when someone like Bill Ayers tramples on an American flag, I can call him an ass to his face, and then turn my back on him...

... like Obama should have done.

[Jane]

I wonder if the soon to be cashed strapped Obama campaign spends the money to redo the tickets.

I swear its a republican plot.

[daleyrocks]

No hand over the heart during the pledge of allegiance, no flag pins, upside down "patriotic elements".

Obviously some staffers are screwing up again and there are no dots in the campaign or the Party to be connected. The fact that others (read Republicans) pick up on these things means ABSOLUTELY nothing.

[bgates]

In "Brewster's Millions", Richard Pryor's character was bet that he couldn't completely piss away $30 million with nothing to show for it at the end, with the stipulation that he couldn't tell anyone what he was trying to do.

Obama's campaign reminds me of that sometimes.

Must be because they're both black.

[Rick Ballard]

daleyrocks,

Don't forget the shoulder flick diss of Senator Clinton. This clown makes me long for something as simply stupid as dressing Al Gore in earth tones.

[daleyrocks]

Rick - I'm hoping if the Obama campaign does an ad that includes any shots of the military, it makes the same mistake other clueless dems (Pelosi, MoveOn) have made and includes the military from other countries instead of the U.S.

[daleyrocks]

"This clown makes me long for something as simply stupid as dressing Al Gore in earth tones."

Rick - Has Obama hired a lesbian manliness coach and wardrobe consultant?

[Neo]

democrats want to lose

and therefore did not fully vet the candidate they shoved down everyone's throat. I am the first blogger to blog about Obama's abortion vote and how it would become the october surprise...they have michelle obama on tape defending live birth abortion, and raising money for it too...(they called this "the whitey" tape, but its far better than just that kind of a boring thing...she is on tape defending sucking the brains out of babies who live through late term abortions). This is the greatest gift pelosi and dean can give to the republicans they work for. It took alot of doing in order to throw this election to the republicans after iraq, katrina, and the economy, but pelosi and dean found a way!
...

Wow! michelle obama on tape defending live birth abortion

Even "Crazy Larry" never came up with that one.

[PeterUK]

They may have got the credentials wrong but the T shirts are spot on

[pagar]

daleyrocks, I suspect if the Obama campaign showed the soldiers they really support, it would upset a lot more Americans than this flag fiasco.

[DebinNC]

Now this is bizarre imo: Obama calls on McCain to acknowledge his patriotism

"I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest. Now, it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same."

Talk about chutzpah.

[bad]

I suspect this latest gaffe is the result of young staffers who don't even know flag etiquette exists. Hope they enjoy hanging with Scarlett.

[Danube of Thought]

Neo, who is it that you're quoting The link didn't work for me.

I always thought the flag-burning amendment was as dumb an idea as has come down the pike in a long time. Apart from being a startlingly inappropriate use of the constitution, it would have invited litigation of a sort that would never end, and would only serve to draw attention to the scumbags. Suppose you set fire to an old shirt that featured the stars and stripes? Suppose you set fire to...well, you get the picture.

[bad]

Now, it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same."

How could McCain, or anyone, possibly know that about Obama? His past is hidden. On the other hand if he wants to release afew items...

[daleyrocks]

"Talk about chutzpah."

DebinNC - Especially coming from someone who still doesn't have the testicular fortitude to admit he was wrong on the surge.

[Captain Hate]

"..Now, it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same."

Wow, more evidence of the extremely thin skin of Oblammo. All the Barroids that talk about the volatile temper of McCain should aim their concern elsewhere in view of the kid glove treatment UhhStammer has gotten to date. Just because somebody looks sane compared to Howard Dean doesn't mean he's ready for the rigors of a national campaign.

[bad]

Obama from DebinNC's link:

Let me be clear: I will let no one question my love of this country.

I get sooooo swoonyfied when he's forceful.

[bad]

I will let no one question my love of this country.

Dude isn't even president yet and there goes the first amendment.

[DebinNC]

BOT, Neo's link was to Roseanne Barr's blog.

Whether someone loves his country is a "heart" issue that no one else can determine. Does Obama think McCain can vouch for his Christianity? Imagine the MSM if GWB's response to Rathergate was a demand that Kerry vouch for his courage.

[DebinNC]

Dude isn't even president yet and there goes the first amendment

LOL

And sorry DOT for mangling your nic.

[Rick Ballard]

bad,

Senator Obama does not care for the probable outcome of this particular contest of Patriots and Copperheads and wishes to have his opponent validate a claim to territory which Obama has never visited. An appropriate response by McCain might be: "No one should ever deny Senator Obama's deep and abiding love for the vision of America which he holds so dearly. While I do not share that vision and have no desire to reshape America according to any utopian scheme, I fully understand and acknowledge the sincerity of my worthy opponents belief."

Then he could offer to hold the bridle of Captain Zero's unicorn during his next appearance.

This poll from blue Minnesota highlights Captain Zero's little problems. Exit polling for MN in '04 showed Kerry at 59% of the 18-29 age bracket and 53% of the 30-44 bracket. Senator Obama is currently at 51% of the 18-34 bracket used in the SUSA poll. Axelrod better hustle some ACORN/SEIU thugs north to beat some sense into those kids.

[rls]

I saw an Obama yard sign about eight or nine months ago.

As I remember, it had a green background with white letters and somewhat stylized graphics.

Being unsophisticated, I was jarred by the sign. It was out of focus, somehow wrong.

Political yard signs are: red, white and blue, patriotic, elect me because I'm an American.

This yard sign is a very small token; by itself it means nothing.

But couple it with the facts we know about Obama and his signage helps bring into focus a man who has more than a dollop of the foreign.

[bad]

Rick

It is amazing he is wading into these waters. Your poll numbers are the likely reason for the desperation. Will the polls and resulting desperation translate into Hillary as his VP?

[RichatUF]

bad-

Will the polls and resulting desperation translate into Hillary as his VP?

It wasn't addressed to me, but Hillary as VP won't stop the bleeding in the "youth" demographic or BHO's problems with blue collar voters. Others have mentioned it before, but Obama was able to game the caucus system (sort of like a preview of what union organizing will be like if the secret ballot were eliminated), but in PA and OH with a secret ballot in the primary, Obama was soundly defeated. Not all those anti-Obama primary voters will cross-over, but per Rasmussen, McCain is already up 10 in OH-in mid August. And Obama's poor showing in the PA primary has to be cause for concern.

[Rick Ballard]

bad,

I concur with Rich. Typhus Pad is in comment eating mode at the moment so my longer reply will come later.

[anduril]

Then:

The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, in his first public comments since the presentation of the evidence against Dr. Ivins on Wednesday, said Friday [8/8] that he was proud of the inquiry. “I do not apologize for any aspect of the investigation,” he told reporters. It is erroneous, he added, “to say there were mistakes.”

Now:

FBI officials say [today] the destruction didn't delay their investigation because there were other technical limitations to resolve before the sample could be conclusively analyzed. It took years, officials say, for the microbial-forensics field to develop methods used in analyzing the anthrax.

"Looking at hindsight, we would do things differently today," said Dr. Vahid Majidi, FBI assistant director for weapons of mass destruction. "Were we perfect? Absolutely not. We had missteps."

...

Dr. Majidi says he knows some skeptics won't be satisfied. "We've had missteps, and those are the lessons learned that are incorporated into today's approach," he said.

[Sue]

Hot Air is teasing an LA Times story saying the poll coming out this afternoon is not going to be kind to Obama.

[pagar]

I don't know what Sen McCain has seen, but as for myself. I have never once seen any thing that convinces me that Obama has any patriotism, at least for the US. Nor can I find a friend of Obama that I think believes in America. Likewise for the political party leaders that are promoting this fraud.

[bgates]

pagar, that probably won't work as a McCain statement :)
How about, "I am sure there are millions of patriotic Americans who are considering voting for my opponent. I Hope during the course of my campaign that I can Change their minds about that."

[boris]

As a (mostly) white person I am willing to extend Beau Bama and Busom Buddies the same benefit of D O U B T on patriotism that they extend to me and my friends on racism.

[Publius]

I will let no one question my love of this country.

Obama brings to my mind the young bride-to-be who professes love of her fiance', yet what she really loves is the image of the poor schmuck after she has the opportunity to change all of his bad habits once they are married. Of course, once the honeymoon is over and he still leaves his shorts on the floor, and the toilet seat up, and she realizes what she sees is what she gets; her kind of love quickly turns into hate.

[pagar]

bgates, I'll go along with that or what was suggested by Rick Ballard, I just don't want the statement from Obama to be left unchallenged by the McCain campaign.

[Elliott]

I will let no one question my love of this country.

Why are we still talking about the speech he gave in Berlin?*

____________________
*Kidding, kidding.

[bad]

Thanks Rick and Rich. And Boris, I concur.

[centralcal]

LA Times Poll - Interesting:

"The survey found that 63% of voters have confidence in Obama's ability to deal wisely with an international crisis, while 77% feel that way about McCain.

McCain and his allies have portrayed Obama in recent weeks as a naive celebrity who is unprepared to lead the nation in dangerous times. McCain, a Navy aviator who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has also suggested that Obama would put personal ambition ahead of America's best interests.

With that backdrop, the poll found that 35% of voters have questions about how patriotic Obama is; only 9% wondered how patriotic McCain is. Nearly half of voters say Obama lacks the right experience to be president, while 14% feel that way about McCain.

The poll found that McCain, long an unpopular figure among conservatives, has had more success than Obama in rallying his party's base. Nine out of 10 Republicans favor McCain, while just under 8 in 10 Democrats support Obama.

But independents, who could wind up deciding the election, favor Obama, 47% to 36%."

[centralcal]

And, I really liked this:

"More striking than the head-to-head matchup, however, is the drop in Obama's favorable rating in the run-up to his selection of a running mate and the Democratic National Convention next week in Denver.

Obama's favorable rating has sunk to 48% from 59% since the last Times/Bloomberg poll in June. At the same time, his negative rating has risen to 35% from 27%."

[bad]

But independents, who could wind up deciding the election, favor Obama, 47% to 36%."

Any chance this is a Dem Operation Chaos and committed dems are posing as independants to boost poll numbers?

[Rick Ballard]

"The poll of 1,375 adults, including 1,248 registered voters, was conducted by telephone from Friday through Monday."

That's a real stinker of a sample - I'm surprised that RCP would use an "Adults" poll in its averaging.

That said, I do understand the panic among the Obots. The June LAT polling farce was adults too - and showed The One being up 12 points.

What a nice two month two point trend that makes.

[Porchlight]

Great stuff in that poll, bad.

Rick, as you say, the sample is wack, but since Obama was +12 in the same poll in June, I think the size of the shift is significant even if the numbers themselves are probably off.

[Rick Ballard]

Porchlight,

Same period LAT polling in '04 had Kerry +6 in June and Bush +3 at this point in August. The two point trajectory is identical and Kerry hadn't even 'reported for doody' at this point in '04.

McCain is in very decent shape coming up to the actual Labor Day start. Obama, for all the hype and huffing and puffing by the MSM is doing no more than OK.

[Sara]

Rachel Maddow to Replace Dan Abrams on MSNBC

Yes, that Rachel Maddow from Air America.

[Soylent Red]

But independents, who could wind up deciding the election, favor Obama, 47% to 36%."

I account for this, anecdotally, by all the mushy headed yutes I have run into who like to refer to themselves as "Independents" because they think it makes them sound like thoughtful free-thinkers.

[bad]

I hope Rachel Maddow does for MSNBC what she did for Air America.

[sbw]

How about if McCain responded to Obama's challenge to acknowledge the Big O's patriotism this way:

I can neither acknowledge nor deny Senator Obama's patriotism, he's the only one privy to that. But his decisions, his associations, and his history are reason enough for concern.

[JM Hanes]

sbw:

"We can also be rightfully proud that when someone like Bill Ayers tramples on an American flag, I can call him an ass to his face, and then turn my back on him...

... like Obama should have done."

That really struck a chord with me. Nicely put.

[sbw]

JMH, thnx... works for me, too.

[JM Hanes]

If McCain were to adopt the Obama template, his campaign could announce that they do not intend to pursue the question of Obama's patriotism.

[Sue]

Hot Air is highlighting RCP's electoral votes. For the first time, McCain leads!

[Rick Ballard]

Sue,

Here's the purdy map. Kinda nice, ain't it?

[Sue]

Rick,

Yeah, but I'm looking at how close McCain is in Virginia, Colorado, Ohio. Other than NH and MI, Obama's are solid.

[Sue]

However, I read today that Obama has spent millions in NC and FL and McCain hasn't spent anything yet. And McCain is up in both.

[Rick Ballard]

Sue,

Here's a good piece on Obama's money problems.

MN is a toss up as well and I believe that PA is closer than shown.

[Danube of Thought]

McCain should respond this way:

"Senator, when was the first time you expressed the hope that your country would win the war in Iraq? And when was the last time you did so?"

[Sue]

Rick,

Thanks for the article. I wanted Obama to run into fund raising problems.

[hit and run]

Sue:
However, I read today that Obama has spent millions in NC and FL and McCain hasn't spent anything yet.

Anecdotally, McCain is leading the all important yard sign metric in my NC neighborhood. 100% to 0%

OK, it's just one yard (and it's not mine).

And it's a new neighbor. I'm gonna have to go meet that neighbor.

[Ann]

FIRST CLASS!, DoT, Excellent!!!!

[Porchlight]

Here's the purdy map. Kinda nice, ain't it?

Wow, that map sure looked different a month ago. Very nice.

And I think McCain has a good shot at New Hampshire, too.

[glasater]

Rick--Your "campaign money" link was most welcome and encouraging.

Soros has bought into Lehman to the tune of two hundred mil by my quick reckoning. Wonder if that might have been money formerly designated for BHO:-)

[JM Hanes]

Rick:

On your recommendation many, many months ago, I started plugging the RNC's cash into the fundraising picture and it's been a pretty encouraging viewpoint ever since. When I find myself wondering who would ever have predicted that opting out of public financing might ultimately put Obama in a jam, your name immediately springs to mind!

[Pofarmer]

The MO state fair does a straw poll in elections years. They say it is accurate for state races nearly 100% of the time and for presidential races over 80% of the time. Kenny Hulshoff gets the governors nod with 58%. McCain got the presidential nod with OVER 70% of the vote.

The Missouri Farm Bureau Straw Poll's track record is 100% accurate in forecasting the rural vote in the November elections and 80% accurate in forecasting the entire state.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri Farm Bureau again conducted a Straw Poll at the State Fair to determine who fairgoers would support for election. The Straw Poll included the race for the U.S. President and Missouri Governor.

Following is the percentage breakdown of the 5,077 ballots cast at the Straw Poll:
U. S. President: McCain 71% Obama 29%
Missouri Governor: Hulshof 58% Nixon 42%

Since it was first conducted at the State Fair in 1980, Farm Bureau's Straw Poll has never failed to accurately predict how rural voters would vote in November. In forecasting the vote for the entire state, the Straw Poll has been 80% accurate during the last 28 years.

Of course, we're just a bunch of redneck, gun totin, church goin, backwards hillbillies. But, I guess we don't like Barack Hussein so it ain't all bad. ;0)

[Pofarmer]

Yes, that Rachel Maddow from Air America.

MSNBC isn't LEFT enough?

[kim]

You know PoF, that Missouri has gone with the Presidential winner an ungodly percentage of the time. I wonder if those results aren't foretelling a landslide. The tide is ebbing for Obama, and the riptide is lethal.
==============================

[kim]

McCain ought to pick it up as a campaign theme. To Obama: show me the Annenberg Challenge Papers. Show me your record about abortion. Show me your birth certificate. Show me, show me, show me. It will accentuate that he is hiding behind a manufactured image.
========================

[hit and run]

kim:
McCain ought to pick it up as a campaign theme.

At what point does Hillary squeeze the anonymous donor?

[JM Hanes]

hit:

The day after the Dem convention while everybody's distracted by McCain's birthday party?

[Sara]

What does this mean?

At what point does Hillary squeeze the anonymous donor?

[JM Hanes]

kim:

I think the show me theme is a real winner. And not just show me the paper trail either, but with a hat tip to Pofarmer, Show-Me the Missouri way:

I come from a country that raises corn and cotton, cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me.

Advice from the heartland! Shoot, it might even turn a potential pink battleground bright red on the spot.

[kim]

The idea does get better and better, but PoFarmer gave me the idea.
========================================

[clarice]

Brocko originally announced he would not pay people to sign up voters and get them to the poll. Today he announced he will be paying walking around $$ in Penn.
You bet his internals there aren't good. As missouri goes...