Via Mediaite, I see that right-wingers are freaking at the fact that someone at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday waved an Obama flag at the fiftieth-anniversary commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington.
Twitchy collects angry tweets -- one right-wight tweeter calls this "Ugly & Scary." Elsewhere, talk of flag respect is in the air. Scared Monkeys (emphasis in original):
STOP DESECRATING THE AMERICAN FLAG!!! Could the LEFT be more offensive?This righty blogger writes, "Where do you draw the line on flag desecration?" And so on and so on.
Now, as we all know, the 1963 March took place at the Lincoln Memorial -- and one thing is for sure, Abraham Lincoln sure as heck would have been appalled at this sort of flag desecration! Right?
Well, actually, no:
No, I don't think so:
At one time it was very common for presidential campaigns to make parade flags on which the stars were replaced by an image of the candidate (or ticket). It wasn't just Lincoln: here's a Grant/Colfax flag; here are McKinley/Roosevelt and Bryan/Stevenson flags.
The laws may have changed since then -- legal efforts to turn the flag into a sacred object seem to date to the early twentieth century -- but this sort of thing used to be very common in America.
And even under current laws, I don't seem to recall any right-wingers yelling "Desecration!" at this:
Or this "Second American Revolution" flag, which is very popular:
Where's the outrage, right-wing flag lovers?
12 comments:
Doncha know? Treasonous blah DimmycRAT liberal socialist taker traitors do it, it's desecration; fine upstanding God-fearing country-loving (white) Americans do it, it's patriotism. For any set or subset of "it".
SATSQ
Malkin's suckers aren't called "Flying Monkeys" for nothing."
They have yet to evolve.
Obviously, as a Brit, I don't have much of a view either way but I can't help asking if anything is sacred in America? I mean, if your flag is up for grabs what about your national anthem? There's a good last line to be had:
'O'er the land of Obama and the home of the Dems'.
It has a certain, er, something, don'cha think?
God Save the Queen, Duff.
Oh, I thought it was derived from a drinking song (The Anacreontic Song)
A popular tune at the time
Thank you, Carol Ann, one of the pleasures of this internet-thingie is that you learn so many new things. I rather like this line from the original song:
"And long may the sons of Anacreon intwine the myrtle of Venus with Bacchus' vine."
You see, old English lechers could still weave a good lyric!
ZZzzzStillZzzzStupidZzzzzz...
I think Duff got the way he is from having to sing this with a straight face, or face going into the Tower:
O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.
The fact is, 'DA', that hardly anyone 'over here' knows anything beyond the first verse of our anthem - and these days I'm not even sure a majority know that!
I'm not a great one for chest-beating and flag-waving and so I quite like this, the third verse:
God bless our native land,
May heaven's protective hand
Still guard our shore;
May peace her power extend,
Foe be transformed to friend,
And Britain's power depend
On war no more.
Yes, that's a modest prayer, I think.
C'mon, Duff, you want another run at those Argies, don't you? You're an example of a Briton being unmanly, I'm afraid.
Taking your comment seriously, DA, which I'm sure you did not intend, yes, I think the Falklands were worth fighting for and would be again but these days, alas, we no longer have the wherewithal. Luckily, neither do the Argies!
And, of course, as you know equally well, there's nothing 'manly' about saluting flags and hollerin' national anthems. In fact, when that sort of thing goes on all my cynical alarm bells ring! Which reminds me, your dopey president who can barely open his mouth without placing both feet in it must wish he hadn't been quite so 'stoopid' as to go up to someone else's fight and start painting red lines! Dare I say, even Joe Biden might have avoided that particular idiocy. Regrettably, our own Prime Idiot seems to be following along - God helps us all!
I think the Falklands were worth fighting for and would be again but these days, alas, we no longer have the wherewithal
Yes, nothing like preserving the British Colonial heritage by fighting for a bunch of sheep and a few British subjects.
If you can tell them apart, that is.
In fact, when that sort of thing goes on all my cynical alarm bells ring!
Too bad they don't work equally as well on other varieties of conservative cow poop that you seem to like, for example, Ann Coulter.
your dopey president who can barely open his mouth without placing both feet in it must wish he hadn't been quite so 'stoopid' as to go up to someone else's fight and start painting red lines!
Yeah, what's a little chemical warfare in the Middle East, nothing to worry about here, just let them fight it out amongst themselves.
Of course, your dopey Tony Blair told us there were WMD in Iraq when there was no such thing, amirite?
Dare I say, even Joe Biden might have avoided that particular idiocy.
You lecturing about idiocy is like a skunk becoming a spokesmascot for Glade Air Fresheners.
Regrettably, our own Prime Idiot seems to be following along - God helps us all!
You seem to have a lot of them in the last 30 years: Maggie Thatcher, John Major, the above-mentioned Tony Blair, the current occupant who has done such a sterling job helping GB recover from the 2008 recession...........
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