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14.05.2008
Pin the Flag on the Donkey

Obama is back to wearing a lapel flag pin, and conservatives are gearing up a flip-flop attack.

And why not? Last night's Mississippi special election result shows us that some vague ideal of "patriotism" is one of the very few things Republicans have going for them right now.

Update: Via Ambinder, here's a case in point. (Yes, it's just a B-grade county GOP web ad. But it's a sign of things to come.)

 --Michael Crowley

Posted: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 10:56 AM with 18 comment(s)

Comments

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adaglas said:

Anybody got a link to the scene from Seinfeld where Kramer is assaulted during an AIDS walk for not wearing the red ribbon?

May 14, 2008 11:13 AM

Rhubarbs said:

www.youtube.com/watch

May 14, 2008 11:19 AM

Rhubarbs said:

Also, I hope that whatever pin Obama is wearing has a Made in the USA label on the back that he can show people. That should have been his "tack-tic" all along: wearing a flag pin that was made in China is unpatriotic.

May 14, 2008 11:21 AM

ratnerstar said:

In general, I dislike it when people are gratuitously dismissive of their ideological opponents.  But anyone who makes an issue over a fucking flag pin is intellectually bankrupt.  I can't remember when such an inane "controversy" gained so much media attention.

Caveat: my memory isn't very good.

May 14, 2008 11:23 AM

Rhubarbs said:

I note that the flag in that GOP video has some tears at the ends of the stripes.

Which makes the display of that flag a violation of the U.S. Flag Code. Typical Republican "patriotism."

May 14, 2008 11:37 AM

fougasseu said:

Have you read the Bush interview with politico?

dyn.politico.com/.../thread.cfm

Now I know what personal sacrifice Bush has made over the last eight years. He plays less golf. My hero.

May 14, 2008 11:53 AM

liberal reformer said:

Ratnerstar: Hear hear. What an empty controversy. A certain slice - a substantial one - of conservative Republicans are symbol - mongers of the worst sort.

May 14, 2008 12:05 PM

waynejm said:

Repubs are gonna throw a lot at Obama this fall but I can't believe that they're stupid enough to resurrect the flip-flopper thing over a lapel pin.  Not when they're running a candidate who was against Bush before he was for him, against the Bush tax cuts before he was for them, ad infinitum...

May 14, 2008 12:16 PM

virginiacentrist said:

How is this flip flopping? He's always worn a pin on occasion. He just doesn't wear it religiously.

May 14, 2008 12:16 PM

Rhubarbs said:

The latest in GOP bumper-sticker patriotism:

www.makestickers.com/addtocart.aspx

May 14, 2008 12:21 PM

anonevent said:

If the worse they can do is try to make a deal over the Monday-vs-Tuesday wardrobe choice, they are screwed.

May 14, 2008 12:32 PM

ratnerstar said:

That bumper sticker isn't bad, rhub, but I want one that says "Why does Tiger Woods hate America?!"

May 14, 2008 12:44 PM

boneill said:

Ratner- awesome.  

May 14, 2008 12:57 PM

GSpinks said:

VC,

Its all about perceptions. Ain't none of it gotta be true, as long as the folks believe in it there ain't a damn thing about it thats gotta be true.

Curious George in '08 MFs!!!

May 14, 2008 3:26 PM

GSpinks said:

Pin the flag on the monkey?

www.bostonherald.com/.../view.bg

May 14, 2008 4:14 PM

cspencef said:

GSpinks, Why am I not surprised that happened in Marietta, GA?  

May 14, 2008 4:58 PM

chmclean said:

cspencef - Ouch. I live in Marietta, GA. Although Cobb Co., where Marietta is located, is well-known as a conservative bastion in metro Atlanta, there are lots of cars around here sporting Obama '08 stickers. This t-shirt thing is just embarrassing, though.

May 14, 2008 8:28 PM

chmclean said:

I should also have said something about the racism issue. Marietta is a very racially mixed suburb - lots of African-Americans, Hispanics, Middle Easterners. It is not a cow town out in the "rest of Georgia." So, I like to think this woman is not representative of even the conservatives in this area.

May 14, 2008 8:32 PM