Phony Patriots Smear Barack Obama
05 October 2007 8:27 am by Taylor Marsh
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| What a flag pin symbolizes to Republicans. |
When I saw the AP
story yesterday I wondered how long it would take. Not long. The wingnuts
are in full scale screaming mode. Here’s how it began. CarbetbaggerReport
has more, including the Seinfeld episode that explains it all far better than
I ever could.
“You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin,” Obama
said. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about
the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which
is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security,
I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.“Instead,” he said, “I’m going to try to tell the American
people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will
be a testimony to my patriotism.” … ..
Remembering the atmosphere right after 9/11, I recall Fox “News”
lackeys all lining up with a pin on their lapel. Tom Brokaw demurred. The line
between journalists was drawn and we all know how much good those early analysis
from Fox “News” did us all. As Jim Warren said today on MSNBC, Larry Craig had a flag on his lapel when
he was arrested, so it sure doesn’t stand for integrity. It’s. A. Pin. But if you’re a wingnut it’s the only key to the kingdom, because appearance is all.
Obama’s decision to scorn the flag is the single dumbest thing I’ve ever
heard of him doing.
Ms.
Oshry is, well, Ms. Oshry:
This useful tool won’t wear an American flag pin? Talk about pandering to
the radical base, he ought to run against Ahmadinejad. He is scoring points
with Georgie Soros, won’t be waiting long for his on his Soros stipend, I’m
sure. What’s Obama Hussein’s new campaign slogan, “America Sucks!”
?
Charming, isn’t she?
Rick Moran ran a headline entitled Et
tu, Barack this morning.
All this over a flag pin on his lapel? It illustrates the length and breadth
of group think now holding sway in the Republican party. What is expected is
all for show, the image being all. It doesn’t matter that you’re sanctioning
torture in secret. Rendition and the denial of habeas corpus is symbolized in the wingnut wearing of a flag pin. It doesn’t matter that you’re obliterating the U.S. Constitution.
It doesn’t matter that you continue to happily run our troops into the ground
in Iraq with no end in sight. It doesn’t matter that you condemn free speech, unless it’s coming from a fellow wingnut’s mouth. What matters is… the flag pin on your lapel. For a bunch of holy rollers, this idolatry is particularly unseemly.
However, if they’re just going to squeal about patriotism, without actually protecting
the things that make this country great, to use Rush Limbaugh’s favorite phrase,
you’re just a bunch of phony patriots.
“It just shows you he’s not ready for the big time,” conservative Laura Ingram opined on Fox News. Said Sean Hannity: “Why do we wear pins? Because our country is under attack!”
Photo by Peter Muhly/AFP-Getty Images, via Newsweek.
