"Liberal media" update

It may seem a trivial point, but it is not.

On Meet the Press today, Tim Russert was asking Obama campaign chairman David Axelrod about how Obama was going to overcome the various slams on his "patriotism." He listed Obama's "offenses":

"Michelle Obama saying that she really never had pride in America until this campaign when Barack Obama was running, Barack Obama with his hands clasped in front of him rather than holding his heart during the pledge of allegiance, Barack Obama not wearing a flag pin....Barack Obama meeting with Bill Ayers, a former Weather ground under—Weatherman underground figure."

Even the way this question was phrased was offering misinformation and a biased perspective to the viewers. Michelle Obama did not say she never had pride in America until the campaign. She said "For the first time in my adult life I am really proud of my country." There's quite a bit of nuanced difference between those two statements. Michelle was talking about her adult life, not her entire life, and she was talkking about being REALLY proud. She didn't say she never had pride, just that this was the first time she felt, as an adult, REALLY proud. It was kind of like someone saying "this is the happiest day of my life" when it is obvious the person is simply caught up in the moment and probably had many happy days in their life. But the Republicans, the Clintons, and the MSM apparently are incapable of doing nuance.

Also, Barack Obama did not have a "meeting" with Bill Ayers, currently a college professor, but formerly a radical in the sixties. He sat on a board with him, and attended a fund raiser at his home. Barack Obama has, at most, a passing acquaintance with him, but Timmy and the ABC debate moderators and Hillary Clinton seem to think anyone you have ever met is fair game to tarnish you with. Well for that matter, who is the person Hillary has had the closest relationship with for the past forty years? Bill Clinton - liar, philanderer, and impeached president. Doesn't that tarnish her a bit? And while we're at it, Obama could never say it, but I will: If Obama was supposed to walk out on Rev. Wright because of some radical words in a sermon, why didn't Hillary walk out on her husband, who cheated on her time and again, lied to her and to the American people about it, broke the law by lying under oath, and humiliated her publicly?

As for Barack Obama not "holding his heart" during the "pledge of allegience," this is a lie and Russert knows better. This was either sloppy questionning or a deliberate attempt to falsely smear Obama. Barack Obama, on one occasion that was photographed, kept his hands at his sides during the Star Spangled Banner, not during the pledge of allegience. I never put my hand over my heart during the Star Spangled Banner, and neither do most people. On the other hand, most people put their hands over their heart during the pledge of allegience. The fact that some in the picture had their hands over their hearts indicates to me they were posing as fake patriots during the anthem, not that Obama wasn't being patriotic. Maybe he didn't get the memo that said you have to do these silly things to prove how patriotic you are, even though most ordinary people don't do them and don't really expect you to. But if you can lump this lack of a phony "patriotic" display with his not wearing a flag pin, bingo! You can say he is unpatriotic.

Now for the flag pin. No one on that debate stage was wearing a flag pin. Obama has explained why he no longer wears one, and points out that for a while after 9/11 he, like many Americans did, but that he no longer considered it necessary. "Shortly after 9/11," he said, "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, 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." In other words, Obama was pointing out that he had other ways of showing patriotism and was going to rely on those rather than wearing a pin, which had become a de facto symbol for supporting the Iraq War. He had the courage to be a leader, to recognize the flag pin on the members of the administration and most republicans as false patriotism, not real patriotism, and like many democrats who did the same, decided he didn't want to be part of that charade.

Even more interesting to me, though, is that no one questionned why Hillary Clinton does not wear a flag pin. If, as the original questionner some months ago asked Obama, "politicians have been wearing these since 9/11," why was it not appropriate for Hillary to wear one? Is she not a politician? Is she exempt because she's a woman? I thought it was important to her to be part of the boys club, to be treated the same as the male candidates for the presidency. I thought that's what feminists wanted. And what about all the other candidates, like John McCain, who no longer wear them?

I've been bitching for a long time now about Hillary Clinton doing the Republican's dirty work for them (as if they need any help) but it is obvious that the main stream media is doing the same.

Liberal media, my ass!

On flags and flag pins

They did it again. They questioned Barack Obama's patriotism at the debate on Tuesday because he, like most of his fellow Democrats including Hillary Clinton, does not wear a lapel pin of the American flag.

From time to time, a flap arises over the flag and political people try to use it to confirm someone's patriotism or lack of it. Occasionally, some deranged Senator or Congressperson decides we need to draft another anti-flag burning amendment, which of course, never goes anywhere because the American people are smart enough to realize the insignificance of this issue. Rush Limbaugh used to routinely accuse the Democrats of elevating symbols over substance, but when it comes to the flag, no one can manipulate symbols like Republicans.

From the President on down, nearly every male leader on the Republican side has worn a flag lapel pin ever since 9/11. Some television anchors wore them for a while, and a few still do, though most have taken them off.

After 9/11, as everyone remembers, flags appeared everywhere. I had gone to my daugher's house that day to help with her new baby, and when I arrived home I saw that my entire street was lined with flags. My home was the only one without one as I had been gone when the neighbors united in this act of solidarity, so I quickly put my own small flag (planted on my lawn the previous Fourth of July by a realtor who used it as an advertising gimic). The flags stayed there for weeks, but finally as mine became worn and weathered, I took it down. A few weeks later many of my neighbors did the same.

The initial trauma of 9/11 had passed and the hopelessness we all felt, which led to our doing the only thing we could – wave the flag – was waning, and it seemed time. But since I was the first, perhaps some of my neighbors thought me unpatriotic.

I also followed the lead of many women in my town, and made my own flag pins out of safety pins and small red, white and blue beads. They were actually quite interesting, and fun to make and I wore one for several weeks, although I often forgot to remove the pin from the previous day's clothing to put it on that day's outfit. (I suppose George W. Bush doesn't have to worry about removing a flag pin from yesterday's suit as he probably has more pins than suits and keeps one on the lapel of each jacket.)

Eventually, I stopped wearing the home made flag pins as well, no longer feeling the need to remind myself of the symbolism of the post 9/11 flags. To me, they meant that I felt a solidarity with my fellow citizens, that I mourned the loss of those who died on 9/11, and that I was united with the President and the leaders of our country in finding a way to prevent another attack. I haven't stopped feeling that solidarity, but I no longer feel in sync with the president or the leaders of the country. Their way to defend the country, and what I consider the right way to defend the country, couldn't be more at odds.

At some point, the flag no longer represented the solidarity we as a nation felt after 9/11. At some point, probably when the nation became divided in their opinions over the Iraq War, the lapel pin became a weapon used by the Republicans to tarnish as unpatriotic all those who no longer wore it.

And now it is being used in this presidential election season. Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton wear a lapel pin, and I don't think McCain always wears one either. But only Barack Obama is being singled out for not wearing one. Is this a racist thing, or sexist, or what?

Do we only expect men to wear flag pins? Is it only used against Democrats? And how long will American politicians - especially Republicans - continue to wear them? On John McCain's website there is a video, and many pictures, in which he does not wear a flag pin. Do we absolve him of this requirement because of his "war hero" status?

If being a war hero means you are automatically considered a patriot, no matter what you do afterwards, then we must also consider Jeremiah Wright, who volunteered to join the Marines during the Vietnam War, a war hero.

The flag is a mere symbol. And the wearing of a flag pin, most probably manufactured in a sweat shop in China, is not the way to determine one's patriotism. Just as I and my neighbors took our flags down a few months after 9/11, so Barack Obama and many other politicians stopped wearing a flag pin after a period of time. When a symbol no longer is serving the function that it once did, it is time to discontinue using it as a symbol. John McCain does not feel the need to continue wearing a pin. Neither does Barack Obama, nor Hillary Clinton. Wearing a flag pin does not make you a patriot.

What makes you a patriot is believing in and promoting the values and ideals the flag stands for: freedom, liberty, justice, and equality.