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Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2008 > April > 07 > Entry

Obama’s lapel pin

By Jim Wooten | Monday, April 7, 2008, 08:20 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Barack Obama cost me a dollar.

Worse, a dollar that probably went to support moveon.org or some other organization that camps with the national Democratic Party.

I bet my colleague, Jay Bookman, that when Obama appeared before cameras for his Jeremiah Wright speech, he’d be wearing an American flag lapel pin.

I lost.

But on reconsideration, Obama might choose to wear it next time.

Those of you who take the Sunday AJC — and everybody should, of course — saw the story on the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. The accompanying photo was of a Latrobe, Pa., couple sitting at a diner discussing their upcoming vote. “How can I vote for a president who won’t wear a flag pin?” asked the woman, Nash McCabe, an unemployed typist.”I watch him on TV; I keep looking for that lapel pin.”

Obama’s getting the message. As the Associated Press reports, Obama has begun to pepper his speeches with expressions of patriotism. “I love this country not because it’s perfect but because we’ve always been able to move it closer to perfection,” he said in North Dakota.

In Montana: “It’s a country where … I’ve seen ordinary Americans find justice, where I’ve seen progress made for working families who need leaders who are willing to stand up and fight for them. That is the country I love.”

Obama has said he thinks actions, not lapel pins, demonstrate real patriotism. For enough Americans to represent the difference between victory and defeat in a general election, that’s a little ambiguous. That’s especially true of white, blue-collar types.

I have to admit that I’m one of them. A candidate who wants to be President of the United States should not be uncomfortable wearing a flag lapel pin or think it’s cheesy. Symbols matter.

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Comments

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. The flag is the patriotic symbol of the US. BO is no dummy, and he had flags all around him for the first post-Jeremiah photo-op. From the longer view I assess the lapel pin as meaningless add-on, and that would be true for almost anyone except BO. As he first made the point of not wearing the lapel pin, he imposes the limitation on himself. Because Hillary hasn’t tried to make political points on flag lapel pins, nobody cares whether she wears one or not. Nobody questions McCain’s patriotism, so whether he wears a lapel pin is meaningless. Only BO.

I think Jim correctly captures BO’s view of patriotic actions vs patriotic symbols. However when one’s actions [e.g. opposing a war to wipe out terrorists, which terrorists make sport of killing Americans all over the world] raise a question of one’s patriotism, one ought not forego too many reassuring symbols. The good-faith patriotic case for “cut and run” and “duck and cover” and “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” has not yet been articulated; indeed all we hear is whining about the expense, and lamenting that our noble military is doing its job. The real question is, if Republican congressmen and senators stand and applaud Gen Petraeus this week, will BO?

By ron

April 7, 2008 9:34 AM | Link to this

Good moring Jim,I agree with you.The lapel pin may be a stupid little symbol,but in this campaign it’s becoming a bigger issue.Obama’s refusal to wear one is part of his campaign.It has become a plank in his platform.It fits in neatly with his church,his wife,his far left politics.His message.I still don’t trust him.

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this

For many of these “conservative” faketriots, “wearing their patriotism on their sleeve” is nothing new.

I often recognized it as non-genuine when I left the military in the mid 70’s.

It repulsed me then and still does.

If you have to keep telling me, via symbols, or bumper stickers or empty rhetoric, that you are such a great American, similar to the ballplayer who does the same, perhaps you simply are not.

Patriotism comes from within. And is shown by the service to the nation that you provide. Or don’t.

And NO amount of blubbering or icons can be an effective substitute.

But it sure sells well to the “conservative” faithful…

By Tom Pain

April 7, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this

Let us not forget about all the incessant whining and moaning and groaning about paying for the war. I mean, after all, it’s our war and we all need to fess up to that fact. I think Congress and our President need to pull together during this time of need. Pass a war tax bill now. Pass around the plate and ask each and every American to stand proud and put those dollars to work protecting us from the tyrannical forces hard at work around the globe that would try to bring our great democracy to its knees. Stand proud fellow Americans and support your President and the great cause that can only be defined as the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. God Bless America.

By Redneck Convert

April 7, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this

I don’t care nothing about Obama or that cookie baker he’s running against or anything else the librul Democrats have to say. Like Sister Dusty says about the librul Democrats and the crazies on this blog, they are just a bunch of Traders that Hate America, lapel pin or no lapel pin. A real stud like Sister Dusty ought to know.

Maybe Bob Barr getting into the race will give this librul McCain a run for his money. I never did like him much, what with him voting against the tax cuts and wanting to let the illegals in to this country and running against My President and trying to keep rich people from buying so many ads to win elections. Leastwise Barr’s a Libraritarian, like me and jbmlaw is.

Well, the big news is me and my buddy Jim Earl and Joe Bill have decided to home school little Sonny Zell George. This new GA law give us the idea. I will teach him science. He’ll learn all about the gizzard and the gullet and how to just ignore people when they try to talk about Evolution. Jim Earl says he will teach him english and grammer and such. Joe Bill will take on politics and will use his experence running for county commission as a example. And the missus will teach him the Bible and take him on field trips looking for pieces of Noah’s Ark and such.

Anyhow, we don’t plan to take him past the 5th grade, seeing as how I was a great success just by going that far in school. Leastwise he won’t have to deal with them danged multiplying tables that got me showed the door at school and he danged sure won’t have to be taught by a bunch of libruls in public schools.

Well, this is it for me for a couple weeks. Me and the missus and little Sonny Zell George and my dotter are headed for Panama City beach. All this heavy thinking I do for this blog got me all tight and I need to relax a while. I get so tired sometimes I have to let Fox News do my thinking for me. You might of noticed how much Fox News sounds like me. Anyhow, I got to make a trip to WalMart to pick up some black socks to wear with my sandals on the beach and then I’m out of here. Have a good two weeks everybody and I hope my fill-in gets your beer to you cold and on time. I know this Captain Freedom will pretty much echo my thoughts, even if he does use two-buck words to say a one-penny thing. Leastwise his heart is Right, even if the rest of him has pretty much spoiled. Try to bear up to me being away.

By Dennis

April 7, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this

Hummmm. Mr. Wooten must be working on something big. He has nothing worth commenting about today.

But to give him a break, I’d hate to have his job of always having to write/slant conservative views.

I wonder sometimes though, if deep, deep down, there’s not a closet liberal just longing to get in touch with reality.

You don’t have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

By jm

April 7, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism” - George Washington (if you don’t remember who this dude is, look at a $1.00 bill).

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 9:49 AM | Link to this

AmVet - Jim and the Paleocons have nothing of substance to discuss. For them to claim that the “deciding factor” is a stupid lapel pin available beside the register at their local mini-mart is the height of idiocy - like any of ‘em would have voted for one of Those People for POTUS anyway.

It’s only an “Issue” for the Paleocons who want to scream at each other that it’s an “Issue”, yet if the “Issue” was resolved to their satisfaction (hah!) it’s not the case that any of ‘em would vote for Obama anyway.

Jim and the Paleocons - Get their greatest hits on K-Tel! Call before Midnight tonight, and get the bonus album “Who Gives a Shiite about Sunnis?”

By Captain Freedom

April 7, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

THE Captain was especially amused when Jack Kingston appeared on TV to denounce Obamandingo for insulting Our Nation by refusing to wear a flag pin. That Rep Kingston (R-Podunk) himself was not wearing a flag lapel pin was an act of political kabucki that caused 1743 liberal brains to explode simultaneously. Karl Rove repeated the trick less than a week later, fulminatiing at the Dark One’s hatred of America while wearing unadorned lapels himself.

Yes, the flag lapel pin is required for Demoncrats to prove they are Real Americans. Right Thinking GOPers are under no such requirement, because We are de facto the Real Patriots and True Americans and have no need to prove it.

On a personal note, THE Captain is saddened to hear that Redneck will be decamped to the Florida Panhandle for vacation. Not because THE Captain will miss Red’s scarecely coherent rambles here at the Wooten Klan Blog, but because THE Captain has a part ownership in a sheep farm near Panama City, and will thus see his profits reduced as a result of the extra security we will need to hire to protect our womensheep from the predations of Red and his pal Jim Earl.

THE Captain fears that this vacation will be part of little Sonny Zell George’s home-schooling, focused on animal husbandry. I guess it is time for the lad to lose his innocence. I fear for my sheep. Ick.

By DEMO

April 7, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

Isn’t it funny how repubs talk about a tax break when they spend billions on a war. Not really a tax break when you think about it. How is this war being paid for again?

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this

Dennis @ 9:45 - There may once have been a closet LIBRUL! hiding within Jim, but that part of him was outsourced to India several years ago in a past wave of ‘cost-cutting’.

By Tom Pain

April 7, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this

I urge you. Write your Senators, your Congresspersons, your President — any of them that can read. Phone the ones that can’t. Tell each one that you want to see a War Tax Bill. The sole purpose of this bill will be to raise the funds from the American people for the war. When the war is over, the tax goes away. Let’s get these taxes compartmentalized — like a business would do it, like a Republican would do it. Let’s get each tax named for what it provides and let’s get rid of that tax once it no longer provides the service. War tax, Social Security Tax, Medicare Tax, Prescription Drug Tax, Disability Tax, Veterans Tax, Elected officials Pension, Salary, Health-care, Per Diem, Etc., Tax, Elected Officials Expenses Tax, Elected Officials Election Tax, Elected Officials Campaign Tax,….and last but not least, the Catalog of Taxes Tax. Now let’s get those elected officials busy on something worthwhile. By the way, we might need to hire some more revenuers.

By Political Foreskin

April 7, 2008 10:34 AM | Link to this

Isn’t a flag lapel just so much fruit salad, like the military brass wears when they testify about boondoggles? And isn’t patriotism the new religion when a scoundrel chooses a last refuge? Throw in a sneeze gaurd and you’ve got an all-you-can-eat-crow buffet, Jim Crow that is, spinning fools, movie stars.(like Heston), “Get your stinking paws of the constitution you damned dirty hack”!

By getalife

April 7, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this

Shove your flag pin Jim.

They should take them off.

The gop does not support the troops, they abuse them for political gain

You should write to get on board Webb’s new GI bill or STFU about supporting the troops.

Show some real patriotism and actually do something in your miserable life to support the troops.

Enough with the bs.

By Craig

April 7, 2008 10:44 AM | Link to this

I’m a little sympathetic too - it must be really trying to come up with a daily conservative column with any basis in logic. But Jim certainly does fall short today. To equate the purchase of a 99 cent flag pin with any sort of patriotism, is truly a lame endeavor. And truly, only one that today’s so called “conservatives” would try to make.

By W

April 7, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this

My fellow banking executives,

I have called you all here today to scold you. You have all been very, very naughty. You have gone and gotten yourselves caught not doing a job. How’s that golf game working out? And that tan of yours is really looking good. Which salon do you go to? Anyway, I digress. Let’s see. Where were we. OK. Let’s just line up and when I call your name, come up and get your spanking and pick up your “loan” on the way out. I hope I don’t have to remind you all that I don’t want to see any of you in my office again. After all, taxpayers don’t grow on trees you know.

Thank You, Your Leader, W

By RCH

April 7, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this

Jim,

There is an old saying,”Birds of a feather flock together.” We know how Obama’s wife feels about this country, we know how his pastor feels about this country, so why should we wounder why Obama will not wear an American flag pin.

By @@

April 7, 2008 10:51 AM | Link to this

Let’s be fair Jim. For those that can see -

The Emperor, Obama, wears no clothes.

Where the heck would he stick that lapel pin?

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 10:53 AM | Link to this

getlife @ 10:43 - But, but, but…the only way that the Paleocons like Jim, the Esquire, the DustBuster, Ensign Ron, etc., insist that one can “support the troops” - the ONLY way - is thru stupid things like lapel pins, $1.98 magnetic yellow ribbons on the backs of their gaz-guzzling single-occupancy SUVs, and by praying towards Crawford four times daily.

Paleocons would rather “support” their President and his cohort than actually supporting our troops.

By JK

April 7, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

A LAPEL PIN IS NOT A FLAG. D’OH!

Dang, Mr. Wooten, you are truly leading the great Retardo Revolution of the new century, aren’t you? Don’t let me interrput. Please continue ignoring matters of import to whinnie and stomp your feet over nonsense and fabricated outrage.

Retardo World is yours.

By Copyleft

April 7, 2008 10:58 AM | Link to this

Wooten’s right about one thing… symbols matter. And Obama donning a stupid little flag pin at this point would symbolize his surrender to small-minded critics who want to see DISPLAYS of phony patriotism, rather than ACTIONS.

It’s driving them nuts that Obama’s not falling for their scam. And that’s fun to watch.

By JK

April 7, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this

A LAPEL PIN IS NOT A FLAG. D’OH!

Dang, Mr. Wooten, you are truly leading the great Retardo Revolution of the new century, aren’t you? Don’t let me interrput. Please continue ignoring matters of import to whinnie and stomp your feet over nonsense and fabricated outrage.

Retardo World is yours.

By Tom Pain

April 7, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this

I’ve had an image of a flag cut into the iron. The fire is stoked. Let’s line up now and make that patriotism a lasting symbol. It never wears out, never wears off. It’s faster than a tattoo but it doesn’t come in color — just shades of burnt. It doesn’t hurt long. There’s an ice bucket at the end of the line. You won’t need a national ID card — this will serve the purpose. You can proudly display your loyalty forever.

By getalife

April 7, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this

GGG,

They should take their pins off.

Thank you ACLU.

The ACLU has produced the smoking guns to hold them accountable. They have done more than the whole spineless dem party, the corrupt gop, AG, and the rest of them.

Why people still trust them is beyond insane.

They do not deserve our trust and do not even try to win it back.

Stop giving them a free pass.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this

Copyleft @ 10:58 - Sorta like, after the court ruling on the Pledge Of Allegiance, the Republican’t members of the House all gathered on the steps of the Capitol for a group recitation in front of the cameras, and made sure they all SCREAMED the words “under God”?

I think it’s apropriate that the Shrub is still leading the Republican’ts and is handing off to another Westerner - because this year, the GOP is demonstrably “All hat, no cattle”.

By Clueless

April 7, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this

If Jim Wooten and his co-conspirators ever take over with their much ballyhoo’d coup against our country, they must change our flag to include a hammer and cycle stylized in the form of the swaztika with the Islamic half-moon in appreciating for Al Queda and Osama bin laden, their favorite sons, and I know what you’re thinking……How could I say Jim Wooten supports Osama Bin Laden or aids him or comforts him?

Well, Bush is not concerned where Osama is, and Wooten has never actually condemned al queda for 911, or OBL for that matter, instead he’s got his head up saddam’s wmd’s and nookyoolar threats that weren’t there, like all the gop conservative halfbreeds who dont even know what political philosophy to identify with, instead Jim Wooten says, “Im not this and I’m not that, and that is not me, no, not that either, no, my country is this moving target just out of reach like the point of drunkeness that I achieve at miller time with my superior tirades that I hacked word for word from the well-researched conversations recorded in “Dinner talk with hitler” now in paperback.

Obama 08: He never had dinner with hitler like Jim Wooten

By Bob It

April 7, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this

Wooten’s right about one thing… symbols matter.

THE THIRD LEG?

It’s name is Dick.

Piece out!

By TW

April 7, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten - listening to you scratch deliriously at the bottom of the mud bucket is in a word…sad. Drivel like this will never catch you up to Ms. Tucker.

Out of boredom I’ll play - how many of our soldiers has Sen. Obama’s absent lapel pin needlessly killed? That’s the ante, Jim…

By Glenn

April 7, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this

@@,

Have you not heard the one about the Marine Corps colonel who would rise proudly every day, pin on his battle ribbons, and don his T-shirt?

By sansho1

April 7, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this

Really? The freaking lapel pin thing again? What’s next, railing against the moon landing?

By Cluefull

April 7, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this

Right turn, Clyde.

By Comrade (formerly Uncle) Sam

April 7, 2008 11:29 AM | Link to this

We notice, comrade O’Bama, that you are not wearing your flag lapel pin. We know that you received the one we sent you, yet you do not wear it. Why? Perhaps you need to spend some time being re-educated.

The modern so-called conservative would be right at home following the dictates of the politburo.

Liberty loving real conservatives weep at their litmus tests.

By too soon

April 7, 2008 11:36 AM | Link to this

I will vote for John McCain. In all the speeches I’ve heard him give, all the interviews he’s given, I’ve never once heard him say ANYTHING derrogatory about his country. He’s never given even the suspicion of being anything other than extremely proud of his country. He was willing to give his life for his country (and nearly did) so that you can have the freedom to spout off all your anti-patriotism, narrow-minded garbage you call “political correctness”. We will need him in the coming years because we will ALWAYS be under attack by Islam until we are all converted by them and we are no longer infidels. The jihad will continue indefinitely. If you don’t think so, then you are not being realistic.

By Will

April 7, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten:

Politicians can wrap themselves in the biggest Ameircan flag they can find but if they neglect our brave and maimed patriots upon their return from war like these politicans have and cosign them to flith and neglect like these politicians have, then I hope there is a special place in hades waiting for these politicans.

I know you and the republican TV and radio entertainers are less than thrilled to see Senator McCain has the republican nominee. I also know that Senator McCain will never treat our returning war patriots and veterans like they have been treated by this administration.

I cannot begin to explain the anger I feel when these politicians think that wearing their patriotism on their coat lapel is more important that demonstrating their patriotism by taking care of our brave patriots.

These politicans and entertainers have spoken loud and clear, “support war first (because not to do so gives support to President Bush;s critics) and then, if anything is left, support our brave patriots upon their return.

By Marge

April 7, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this

Does the woman in Latrobe wear a flag pin? These “reasons” not to vote for Obama are lame excuses to hide the real reason they won’t vote for him, which is his race. The misinfomed woman went on to say that the 2nd amendment was also important to her. If she was better informed she would know that Obama agrees in the 2nd amendment. What excuse will she have next?

By @@

April 7, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this

Glenn:

Let’s get down to the bare tacks here shall we?

Are you saying that Obama has what it takes to stand up to a terrorist threat (Iran) wrapped in the coat of arms that embrace him?

Eyeeeeeeeeee

don’t

think

soooooooooo.

By Glenn

April 7, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this

Jim, in fairness, while Barack Obama’s flourishing of the lapel pin is fitful, he does wear his American flag mood ring at all times.

By itsme

April 7, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this

Holy cow! I actually agree with Jim Wooten. Wearing a flag pin, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, singing the Star Spangled Banner. They’re all important symbols. Of course, they must be backed by patriotic actions, but the symbols are important too.

By Truthifier

April 7, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this

Matthew 6:5,6 NIV: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

By BS Aplenty

April 7, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this

TW

OK, I’ll go “all-in” on that bet and ask you how many attacks have there been on the U.S. since 9-11 ? None, zero, nada, zip, zilch. Mission accomplished.

Thanks for your chips, Chump.

By Mike

April 7, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

How can anyone seriously consider voting for John McCain, when he only wears one lapel pin? I say if you can’t wear two American flag lapel pins you are not a patriot.

By anonymous

April 7, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

Jim Wooten is a Communist. I know this, because he doesn’t have a U.S. flag anywhere in his photo. If Jim really loved America he would have the flag prominently displayed.

By Who Loves America More?

April 7, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this

I only vote for candidates who wear t-shirts with the American flag on them. What good is a tiny little lapel pin? I mean, you can barely see it. Are those who wear these pins trying to insult America or something with their whimper of patriotism? Say it loud, say it proud!

By Adam

April 7, 2008 11:59 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten, I do not believe Sen. Obama is “uncomfortable” wearing the lapel pin as you have charaterized it. It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for him now.

If he started wearing the flag pin now, he would be viewed as completely disingenuous. His speech on Wright where he denounced the comments, but did not disown the man, was an attempt to demonstrate that he will not take actions that are politically expedient for the sake of getting elected. (Rhetoric that has worked very well for GWB by the way and has produced the greatest brightline difference with HRC for Obama.)

If he continues not to wear the pin he is characterized as “uncomfortable” showing patriotism. And, Wooten, and the AP in all fairness, have incorrectly argued that Obama has “begun peppering” his speeches with patriotic sentiment. To allege that his speeches have lacked patriotism to this point is simply not true.

The man has constantly expressed patriotism through his time in national politics. Indeed his book and many of his speeches have been entirely focused on how only in America can a multi-racial son of an immigrant realize the success he has enjoyed.

Barack Obama does not need to put a symbol on his chest to send a message; he is, in and of himself, a symbol of all that is great and wonderful about this nation.

Friday marked the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King. Whether you like Obama’s politics or hate his politics, it is a testiment to the greatness of this nation that in such a short time that an African American has a good chance of becoming President.

Mr. Wooten, symbols are important, but it depends on which symbols we look at. A lapel pin is not a litmus test for patriotism. Moreover, I believe that Americans have now realized that their fears as well as their patriotism, have been exploited to continue an intractible conflict which has taken the lives of over 4,000 American soldiers and wrought this country with an insane amount of debt which our children will have to contend with.

By JackLeg

April 7, 2008 12:03 PM | Link to this

Why are we even talking about a lapel pin? This is to avoid talking about real issues. The real issues are Tax reform; nobody wants to fix that pig. The borders are broken, but we gave Mexico $200 million to secure their southern border, what about ours? Why is our dollar in the dumper, could it be it is backed by a government promise, not gold, platinum or silver? Why not balance the budget, that means spending less and cutting useless programs and if we don’t have monies how do we send billions over seas to people that hate us. These few things could go a long way to helping our economy. How come we know this and our government does not?

By Mr Chips

April 7, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this

Flag Lapel. Litmus test? Lie detector? or is the conservative view of the ink on our original founding documents a Rorschach Test morphing of the right into the jingoistic godzillas they truly are.

Cartoon idea: W, hooked up to a lie detector, and Freud is showing him the bill of rights, “Say the first thing that comes into your mind” …..uh….i know this one…..no wait….dont tell me….it’s ……saddam’s wmds!

“goot, now this one”, (freud holds up the constitution)…..uh…i know this one…..it’s…..waterboarding innocent americans whose last name sounds like BinLaden!

“Goot, you have passed the nazi youth camp entrance exam, W, and now you must swear allegience to the Saudi Fuehrer….”

By Guitar Lover

April 7, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this

Dear Who Loves America More?,

Vote for THIS guy; this is a most awesome American flag t-shirt, and this most awesome guitar man plays the National Anthem just like Jimi!!!

Rock on, America!

By Jim Jones

April 7, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this

As a recent regular visitor to Mr. Wooten’s column and comments I must admit to being very disappointed with what I’ve encountered. Wearing a flag pin doesn’t make one a patriot and not wearing one doesn’t make one a traitor. I’m watching our President making a speech on free trade right now. He’s wearing a flag lapel pin. He took an oath in front of the entire nation to “….preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.” He has done more damage to the principles contained in the Constitution than any President since Richard Nixon. Also one of flag pin persuasion. I’m instinctively distrustful of anyone who wraps themselves in any symbol or philosophy (read patriotism) which is supposed to validate their intents without question. Flags, Bibles, Patriotism are among the most commonly used and most frequently abused by scoundrels!

By Curious Observer

April 7, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this

All you lapel-pin wearing, yellow-ribbon bearing patriots. Go join the military, where you can at least be of some use. It taught me the difference between real patriotism and mere show-boating. In the meantime, wear gloves, so that you don’t scrape your knuckles on the floor when you walk.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this

JackLeg @ 12:03 - It’s because the Paleocons are so bereft of subtance, they have nothing left to offer but symbols.

Since the Paleocons can’t or won’t address the Real Problems facing Real Americans - remember, McCain is all for the Fed’s bailout of Bear Stearns, but Mr. I-Own-8-Homes-Thanks-To-Anheuser-Busch says that Joe Sixpack should take on second and third jobs if he wants to keep his house - all they’re left with are 99-cent lapel pins and $1.98 magnetic yellow ribbons for their cars, trucks, and SUVs.

By Don't Step in the Mr. Cow Chips

April 7, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this

Glenn @12:06, schizo poseur - wank on, brother. I’m sure that rant had meaning in one of the many “universes” you inhabit.

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this

Guitar Lover, great photo!

I’ve seen Barry perform. A local guitar god if ever there was one!

Jimbo, if you so obsessed with seeing Old Glory, take a trip to Dover AFB and see if you can catch a glimpse of some returning caskets.

Maybe then you’ll hang your head in shame for supporting these horrific “leaders” and their inept and deadly occupation…

By Nordham L.

April 7, 2008 12:26 PM | Link to this

Obama didn’t show up in Memphis to honor Dr. King and that p** me off. The two crackers showed up.

Barry-O is ashamed of his black roots. He’s an ungrateful SOAB who thinks he owes nothing to the people who blazed the trail for civil rights.

Screw him he won’t be getting this brother’s vote.

By TW

April 7, 2008 12:35 PM | Link to this

BS Aplenty

Nor have there been anymore Timothy McVeigh style bombongs from the angry white guy club. Notice we did not need to invade…oh, I dunno, Canada? to acheive this goal.

This game is way over your head, little girl. Ask you history teacher about it when he’s done with your mom and her blue dress…

By George Washington

April 7, 2008 12:35 PM | Link to this

I have never worn a flag pin in my long life, and I never will, it gives power to you lying, sneaking, traitorous super patriots. Only one of my generals ever wore a flag pin…You guessed it, B. Arnold. I put Dusty, JMB, and Rufus in the same class as former General Arnold….

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Good afternoon all. Looks like Jim’s lapel pin has sent our leftist friends straight into another round of BDS, so apoplectic they cannot even comment on the idea. It’s not that big a deal, people. Does BO’s refusal to wear a silly lapel pin lose him any significant votes (i.e., swing votes in swing states?) I think Jim correctly argues “yes.” Whether or not that ought to be the case, it seems to me likely true. How does he extract himself from the stereotype (and I do not refer to race, I’m talking about the effete Harvard stereotype, of one who bowls a 37.) I think Adlai Stevenson syndrome will cost BO the election.

By Glenn

April 7, 2008 12:42 PM | Link to this

PoFo,

I still don’t know what you’re on about, man. I’m not Mr. Chips, or Andy, or Rufus or RuFus or RuPaul or Doofus or Lupus or any of them. I’m me. And when I represent Gen. Fat or someone else, I do so in a manner that makes me plainly identifiable to the likes of you professional chameleons.

@@,

Well since you put it that way, no.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this

AmVet @ 12:24 - After all the Rah-Rah Cheerleading Jim has done for his Fearless Leader, you actually think he has ANY “shame” at all?

That’s as big a joke as, over this past weekend, Rufus claiming that the current state government of Texas is “librul!Librul!LIBRUL!LIBRUL!” or the DustBuster claiming that if you don’t support Fearless Leader then you don’t support “the troops” that Fearless Leader never served in.

As you’ve said - “faketriots”, all.

By Ooooooooooo

April 7, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this

Thank you Mr. Chips. I’ve been waiting for confirmation of my suspicions.

By Rod Taylor

April 7, 2008 12:50 PM | Link to this

What’s BDS? I agree it’s trivial and it’s too bad trivial things are what many base their voting decisions on.

By Mr Chips

April 7, 2008 12:51 PM | Link to this

Glad you like the material, oh rabid one. Sometimes I get lucky too, you know.

Yeah, the flag lapel is a tuff one. It’s like people who sport the flag in their front yard, some even have 50 foot poles they raise the flag upon every morning, then there’s the flags on SUV’s you see occasionally, dont forget the many Betsy Ross Sewing Clubs that have sprang up around the country, (they sew flag potholders, oven mitts, doilies, and coasters)

but anyway, I think bumper stickers, lapels, old reagan movies where he was a navy pilot and the descendents of the japanese pilots who reagan killed in the movie who miss their grandpas, well, I think it all goes in the same counter-clockwise circle of the great common-sense flush. (then jiggle the handle to get the unhinged fringe-foamer to stfu)

lol ;=}

By Steve

April 7, 2008 12:51 PM | Link to this

Does the AJC keep this Wooten clown on as their “conservative” for laughs, only?

Lapel pins mean you’re patriotic?

Why is Atlanta so freaking idiotic and stupid sometimes? It’s so embarrassing to read this crap. Give me the intelligence of Bookman’s writings anyday.

By outhg

April 7, 2008 12:54 PM | Link to this

BO WEARS A BLACK LIBERATION THEOLOGY T-SHIRT UNDER HIS SUIT

By ghost rider

April 7, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this

What a crock! GWB can wear all the flag pins his suit will handle. But, truth is he was a coward during Vietnam, a man with no credibility toward being a patriot. This entire discourse about wearing a little itty pin is so much nonsense!

By BS Aplenty

April 7, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this

TW

A criminal act versus an act of war. While not knowing all the important details of either issue, I’m comfortable with how both were and are being handled. Apparently, so are a majority of the American people.

By the way, who’s treating you for that self-loathing issue you’re sporting in paragraph 2?

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 1:15 PM | Link to this

Glenn.

Rufus, RuPaul?

Now that is one scary mental picture!

Thanks for the laugh!

Counselor, nice “neutral” spin.

Of course there are “conservative” cretins who will see the lack of a freaking pin as proof positive that the mulatto is a commie.

That you politically align yourselves with such people is astonishing.

By Steve

April 7, 2008 1:15 PM | Link to this

Why is it that people are so retarded politically, in the South? I mean come on- we have great food, great southern hospitality, but horrible politics and religion.

Is it something in the air that makes people here so damn stupid?

By Steve

April 7, 2008 1:15 PM | Link to this

Why is it that people are so retarded politically, in the South? I mean come on- we have great food, great southern hospitality, but horrible politics and religion.

Is it something in the air that makes people here so damn stupid?

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this

ghost rider is a transparent lib, whose lies are just as flimsy. George W. Bush served honorably in the National Guard, as did many young men of his generation. He has served his country and continues to do so bravely today as our Commander in Chief. What have you ever done to serve your country, ghastly ghost?

By Shark Sammich

April 7, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this

I’ll make this simple enough that even your regulars can understand, Jim.

The type of person who’d care about whether Obama wears a friggin’ flag lapel pin or not, isn’t ever—EVER—going to vote for him anyway.

You all may return to your regularly scheduled idiocy.

By BadOleBoys

April 7, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this

Come on Jim. This is just another one of your jabs at the Republican politicians, right? You’re just ribbing the right for going on and on about a lapel pin, right? You’re just picking on the idiots because they will not or cannot talk about issues that are important to all the voters, right? Come on Jim.

By Glenn

April 7, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this

If the pins don’t matter, then why does Obama own them, and sport them at certain times and not at others? The man wears fine tailoring. It can’t be all that convenient or pleasant to decide which garments get spared and which get punctured, and when to fill the punctures and when to leave the holes showing, etc. He clearly has his own private dress code. That code is a text that can be deciphered and read. What does it “say”?

These are the sorts of questions that Americanists ask, and from where I sit Jim is smart to ask them. Jimmy Carter’s shawl-collared sweater had a meaning important to the public. So did FDR’s concealment of his leg braces have. Do you happen to know why JFK quit wearing hats, or why he frequently put his hands in the skirt pockets of his suitcoat—-for which purpose he had his tailors cut open the pockets? Do you know why Ronald Reagan went bareheaded and coatless to the Rejyavik Summit? Why Lamar Alexander wore khakis and buffalo stripe while campaigning, and why Adlai Stevenson’s poll numbers ticked upward when a photographer caught sight of the hole in his shoe leather? How about Al Gore’s earth tones, or Gerald Rafshoon’s insistence that President Carter change the side on which his hair was parted? What does it say of Richard Nixon that he walked surfside in dress brogans and a tailor-made Eisenhower jacket with a huge Presidential Seal for a crest?

These things do tell.

By History Speaks

April 7, 2008 1:22 PM | Link to this

Anyone who supports bush’s post 911 disinformation-based kangaroo court prejudgement of the Iraqi invasion as a done deal long before 911 happened is a traitor who Jefferson, Washington, and Adams would all agree to hang, after a fair trial of course.

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this

Steve, you smell suspiciously like a liberal Yankee. Your arrogance gives you away. Southerners have gotten along fine without your advice and criticism so far. So, if you are ready to go back, as Lewis Grizzard used to day, “Delta is ready when you are.”

By TW

April 7, 2008 1:25 PM | Link to this

BS Aplenty

Apparently, so are a majority of the American people.

What poll is that? Last I checked people were jumping on board pretty hard about Iraq being the mistake that it was/is? Perhaps the Pentagon’s admission that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 has something to do with this?

By ghost rider

April 7, 2008 1:25 PM | Link to this

Steve…I have to say I couldn’t have said it better!

By D

April 7, 2008 1:26 PM | Link to this

wearing a pin to prove you are a patriot makes as much sense as putting yellow ribbons on your car and an American flag sticker on your bumper, none of those things make you a patriot, and none of things help our country, and none of those are the important problems we should be addressing. but I will tellyou something that makes you unpatriotic, wearing the flag as an article of clothing, it’s disrespectful and not proper flag etiquette. I can’t stand it when I see someone wearing a do-rag that is our flag, or some kid that’s supposed to be cute down at the pool covering their privates with an American flag swimsuit or bikini. just 40 years ago this would have been an outrage. the flag isn’t supposed to touch the ground and using it as a form of underwear has got to be much worse. wear a flag patch or a flag pin if you want, but national flags are not intended to be clothing. and if you want to be a patriot, do something that helps this country, don’t continue to carry on the status quo. and if you are for war and defense contractors, then sign up for the military or have your children sign up, don’t have others spill their blood so you can call yourself a patriot just because of your lapel pins and yellow ribbons.

By ghost rider

April 7, 2008 1:30 PM | Link to this

Dusty…What would you call an individual who doesn’t show up for his flight physical? As GWB did…

By tljfinancier

April 7, 2008 1:32 PM | Link to this

Patriotism is truly meaningful when a citizen is willing to die for the defense of the country’s beliefs and values; a lapel pin is a shallow meaningless symbol that is honored by the cowardice sheeple who refuse to serve but continue to pontificate.

By hotlanta

April 7, 2008 1:32 PM | Link to this

Where is Hilary’s pin? I cannot stop laughing. Let’s talk about how John McCain voted down the bill to make King Holiday’s a National Holiday for 15 years. How UnAmerican is that. Is Tim Russet gonna bring that up. The only image of the flag is suppose to be the flag in cloth not to be worn on your clothes. So if a person is not red, white and blued to death they are UnAmerican. How is that we can talk about how Cuba makes its people eat,drink and sleep Cuba 24/7 but we do our own people the same way. I am confused about which country I am in.

By hotlanta

April 7, 2008 1:32 PM | Link to this

Where is Hilary’s pin? I cannot stop laughing. Let’s talk about how John McCain voted down the bill to make King Holiday’s a National Holiday for 15 years. How UnAmerican is that. Is Tim Russet gonna bring that up. The only image of the flag is suppose to be the flag in cloth not to be worn on your clothes. So if a person is not red, white and blued to death they are UnAmerican. How is that we can talk about how Cuba makes its people eat,drink and sleep Cuba 24/7 but we do our own people the same way. I am confused about which country I am in.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this

DustBuster - If you’ve got the spare time to blog, you’ve got the spare time to get down to your closest AFEES office and take that oath.

Time to put up or shut up, DustBuster.

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA, DUSTY?

By BS Aplenty

April 7, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

TW

That really big poll they take every four years.

By getalife

April 7, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this

“Clinton Wants Bush To Boycott Olympics”.

Now that is leadership!

GFY Pinkos!

By ghost rider

April 7, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this

Well, Dusty since you asked…I served in places you’ve never heard of such as An Khe, Pleiku, Bong Son as an army aviator with the 229th air assault battalion, 1st cav air mobile from 1965-1966. I continued to serve until 1968. Does that meet with your approval OH PATRIOTIC ONE?

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this

“Dusty…What would you call an individual who doesn’t show up for his flight physical? As GWB did…”

I’d call ghastly ghost a liberal who never got the memo on CBS’ forged documents, or worse yet, deliberately continues to lie just to discredit our President. Sad and typical.

By bedwetting-treehugger

April 7, 2008 1:41 PM | Link to this

it’s supposed to be a cut down to be called a liberal. but after watching everything that has gone on these last 8 years by so-called patriotic conservatives, the biggest compliment and assurance of your patriotism is to be called a liberal ‘cause conservatives aren’t helping this country any. anybody that doesn’t fall in line immediately with the bs propaganda we’ve been fed over these last few years is called a liberal. ‘a patriot is someone who loves their country, but rebukes and does not excuse it’s sins’ Frederick Douglas

By commonsense

April 7, 2008 1:45 PM | Link to this

Here’s your patriotism folks: European giant EADS was picked over Boeing to build aerial refueling tankers. This outsourcing of our national security is just the latest action by President Bush. Even Marine One — the president’s helicopter — was outsourced by the Bush administration to a British-Italian conglomerate and its Italian parent company. 1 percent of military work was outsourced during the Gulf War. Now, that number is around one-third of military work in Iraq today is contracted. The roughly 140,000 private contractors in Iraq include some 25,000 private security personnel, an unaccountable mercenary force earning two to 10 times what the American soldiers they serve beside make. STICK YOUR LAPEL PIN ON THAT!!!!

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 1:46 PM | Link to this

Thank you for your service. But what happened to make you turn on your fellow veteran and President? What are you doing NOW besides tearing your President and country down?

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 1:46 PM | Link to this

Dear AmVet @ 1:15, thanks, I think. A minor correction, I do not align myself with the people you oppose, they align themselves with me (my ego has no boundaries.) I do see this election as a replay of 1952, the intellectual against the dummy, the pedant vs. the war hero. Of course America today is not the America of 1952. Even with the elimination of measurable racial discrimination, the country today is a meaner place than 56 years ago. Could we today imagine a Tennessee Ernie Ford ending each of his major network television shows with a gospel song? Post-war America was united against the communist menace (even including most democrats); today seemingly a large segment of our culture merely wishes to pretend the America-haters are not out there, or wishfully seeks a Chamberlain who will get the signature on a piece of paper.

What say ye? You are unusually quiet on my hypothesis. Are the democrats running Adlai, and will he win this time?

By TW

April 7, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this

BS Aplenty

Oh, that one. Slowly becoming a big fan of that one. Perhaps you ought take that big pile of chips of your to Vegas and see what they’re saying. I’m sure you’ll find someone out there willing to take you straight up.

On a side note, how come you 9/11 chest thumpers always shrug your shoulders over bin laden not being caught? They caught McVeigh… Just seems like anyone who defines their entire belief system with 9/11 might at least scratch their head now and again over the fact that bin laden has come out smelling like a rose…never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined the US was gonna return his serve right into the net the way that we have. Why does this not bother the right? Why doesn’t the rightwing want bin laden held accountable for what he did to us?

By Paco

April 7, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this

I believe the flag should be revered as symbol of our country and I think BO shows nothing but respect for it. But the lapel pin could also be considered a symbol for Bush & Company’s use of patriotism to intimidate opposition to agreeing to the war, not fighting infringments on civil liberties, etc. I think BO’s aversion to wearing the pin is more a comment on the way Bush misused patriotism than a comment on his own.

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this

Correction before I inflame my leftist friends, when I wrote last I misplaced my modifiers. I should have written, “Post-war America, even including most democrats, was united against the communist menace…” Apologies, it does affect the meaning. While I intended to provoke, the provocation was not supposed to be so harsh.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this

DustBuster - Your country and your Fearless Leader aren’t one and the same, all your repeated prolixic bleatings of such aside.

AFEES is ready when you are, DustBuster. Time to put up or shut up - swear in, or go away.

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA, DUSTY?

By ghost rider

April 7, 2008 1:57 PM | Link to this

Dusty..I hate to copy and paste, but this is not 60 minutes. Even Dan Bartlett his chief of staff at the time came out with some outlandish statement that his physician was not at Maxwell air force base to administor the required exam. As any aviator knows…Where there is an airplane and pilots there is a flight surgeon (only flight surgeons are allowed to administor the physical)

National Guard pilots were required to take and pass an annual physical in order to remain in flight status, in the three months prior to a pilot’s birthday (in Bush’s case, July 6).

For reasons that are unclear, Bush apparently chose not to take this mandatory physical examination in mid-1972, thus ending his pilot’s career. He never flew again after April 15, 1972.

As a result of his failure to take his physical, his flight status was suspended by his “cmdr” (commander) on 1 August 1972, confirmed by then-Col Bobby Hodges on 5 September 1972 and confirmed again by a National Guard Bureau order on September 29, 1972,[14] which meant he no longer was authorized to fly as a pilot. The confirmation order also confirmed the suspension of flight status of Major James R. Bath, a long-time friend of Bush.

Following the investigation, the local commander was required to either convene a Flying Evaluation Board to review Bush�s suspension or to forward a detailed report on his case up the chain of command.

Either way, there should have been a record of the investigation. There also should be a signed acknowledgment by George Bush of his suspension order but there is none.

There is no record of a physical being taken in either 1972 or in 1973, the last two years in which Bush attended drills, and was paid as pilot. Although, according to his released military records, Bush never flew again as a National Guard pilot after April 1972, and was suspended from flying on August 1, 1972, he continued to get paid as a pilot, [18] with flight pay for 52 more days, over 18 months, until his discharge.

see source.. http://en.wikipedia.org/…/…rvice_controversyat happened! Wake up.

By Steve

April 7, 2008 2:00 PM | Link to this

I’ve lived in Atlanta for 18 years now, and yes, I was schooled in the college filled/education is a priority center of our country - the northeast.

I ask you knuckledraggers this: after nearly 8 years of GOP nonsense at the Federal level, and 4 years here at the state level, and with EVERYTHING going to hell in a handbasked, how in GOD’S name can you hold onto failed “conservative” ideology and politics???

Are you people really that backwards?

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 2:03 PM | Link to this

Several of our leftist friends express a need for a quotation to explain patriotism. I would suggest, without naming the speaker: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge – and more…”

By Ashton Kutcher

April 7, 2008 2:04 PM | Link to this

Both Steve and ghost rider have been PUNK’D. Dusty hasn’t been here today. It was a believable facsimile, though, huh? Happy to have pulled your chains today.

By ray

April 7, 2008 2:06 PM | Link to this

yo, morons. everyone ought know this by now, but for those who don’t- during the late sixties there was a double covert cia operation that netted our best and brightest for highly secret details over seas and in outer space. george w. bush was grabbed in this sweep. his service in the guard was a front for his real duty- double covert, triple secret missions us mere civilians can’t even fathom. those who doubt his service merely fall victim to the sophisticated ruse. it’s called good strategery.

By Marcus

April 7, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this

Speaking of Bob Barr…am I the only one who thinks he is “passing”? I swear that there is an African American somewhere in his lineage.

By Markus

April 7, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this

Yeah, back when Barr was a federal prosecutor, I thought he was a brother. He’s straightened his hair some since then.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this

AK @ 2:04 - No, you’re the one who’s been punk’d. As the DustBuster has proven time and time and time again, she’s nothing but an output-only posting bot with no reading nor comprehension skills whatsoever.

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this

Dear TW @ 1:52, “…how come you 9/11 chest thumpers always shrug your shoulders over bin laden not being caught? … Just seems like anyone who defines their entire belief system with 9/11 might at least scratch their head now and again over the fact that bin laden has come out smelling like a rose…never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined the US was gonna return his serve right into the net the way that we have. Why does this not bother the right? Why doesn’t the rightwing want bin laden held accountable for what he did to us?” We chest thumpers see it differently than you chicken-livers. You would have created a martyr for his movement; your president chose instead to destroy the movement, and leave its creator scratching his head. More likely the US returned the serve right into his mouth. Otherwise there would have been other attacks everywhere in the world, as in the 1990s.

By James

April 7, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this

It’s not just the fact that Obama does not wear the lapel pin. It’s other things like going to a church 20 years that preaches anti-american sermons, comments made by his wife about loving america for the first time in her adult life since Obama is now running for president. Also Obama’s association with Lewis Farrakhan and his association with the Weather Undergroud guy that declared war on america buy blowing up government buildings. It’s these things added together that makes people question Obama’s love for america.

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this

Dear Steve @ 2:00, “I ask you knuckledraggers this: after nearly 8 years of GOP nonsense at the Federal level, and 4 years here at the state level, and with EVERYTHING going to hell in a handbasked, how in GOD’S name can you hold onto failed “conservative” ideology and politics???” Obviously we pay only the highest respect to “geniuses” form the northeast, but I think I can answer your faux-charge in language within your lower reaches. We knuckledraggers know the difference between “GOP” and “conservative,” and obviously that is a distinction not taught in the highest schools in the best region. That is not to credit your ludicrous allegation of “everything” (or even “ANYTHING”) deteriorating in society. Only frightened leftists seem to so feel, but I would not wish to separate you from your anxieties; that is seemingly all you have to live for.

By GaLiberal

April 7, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this

Moron Jim says: That’s especially true of white, blue-collar types. I have to admit that I’m one of them. A candidate who wants to be President of the United States should not be uncomfortable wearing a flag lapel pin or think it’s cheesy. Symbols matter.

What Moron Jim doesn’t tell you is that symbols represent values and when that symbol replaces those values you have lost. So Obama’s DECISION not to wear to stupid symbol but instead express the values through words and actions is much more important. If some redneck can’t understand that concept, they shouldn’t be voting. This is exactly the way George Bush was elected in 2000. He wrapped himself in a bunch of symbols (actually lies) and the American public has been saddled with eight years of an empty suit. I’ll vote for someone who practices the values over someone who wears symbols and ignores the values. Symbols matter only to simpletons that either don’t understand or care about the values the symbol represents. That’s why burning the flag in protest is the ultimate expression of those values and should be protected. Anyone who says otherwise is a fool or a politician scamming the voters. Which one are you Moron Jim?

When you vote Rethuglicon, you vote against your own best interests. And the Obama flag pin flap is living proof.

By Ashton Kutcher

April 7, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this

Didn’t mean to leave you out for credit as a victim of my ruse GGG. Yeah, I’ve got the old girl down pat. No doubt about that. Punk’d you.

By Ace

April 7, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this

a true patriot would put down this president. a true patriot would stand against the things that have been done to hurt ordinary americans. a true patriot does dissent when we have boots on the ground and soldiers in harms way when the military action is wrong and they do it for the soldiers and this war in iraq is wrong. and this president is awful. nothing he stands for is patriotic, not the greed, not the selfishness, not the nepotism, not the uncaring attitude to all the people hurting in this economy, not the protection of the oil companies-drug companies or healthcare companies, not the out-sourcing, etc. it’s a long damn list. and everybody knows who george bush really is, republican, democrat and independent alike,it’s just those that argue on his behalf that enable him to continue to hurt this country that are the ones that not only aren’t patriots but are people who have actually helped our enemies by helping george do the things that have hurt this country.

By Steve

April 7, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this

I’m not black, but if you look at Obama through an African American lens, he makes sense. His wife’s comments make sense, and him belonging to a large black church in Chicago makes sense.

But the racists here in the South (where blacks weren’t even allowed to LOOK at white women for fear of lynching less than 50 years ago), I can see why you folks have a problem understanding perspective outside of your own cracker redneck “I want tax cuts and that’s it!” views.

By TW

April 7, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this

jbmlaw - we’ve now served him another 4000. Sad the rightwing doesn’t think our soldiers are real people, that they have families back here. Explains alot about the GOP - but sad nonetheless. There is no greater propaganda soldier for al qaeda than an empty chest thumper like yourself.

Got Brains?????

By Any bets?

April 7, 2008 2:33 PM | Link to this

On how long it will be before Steve is insulting the driving skills of Southerners in snowy weather? Your stereotyping is reversable back onto you, too, pal.

By hotlanta

April 7, 2008 2:39 PM | Link to this

Marcus you are right Bob Barr is passing. He has a 24/7 Dark & Lovely perm in his head. America is not ready for 2 black men running for office at the same time. Don’t we have a right in America not to wear a pin if we don’t want to. Wooten headlines still doesn’t say that HILIARY LIED and should APOLOGIZE to the troops who deal with sniper fire everyday. He knows if he bash a white woman like that his career is over.

By hotlanta

April 7, 2008 2:39 PM | Link to this

Marcus you are right Bob Barr is passing. He has a 24/7 Dark & Lovely perm in his head. America is not ready for 2 black men running for office at the same time. Don’t we have a right in America not to wear a pin if we don’t want to. Wooten headlines still doesn’t say that HILIARY LIED and should APOLOGIZE to the troops who deal with sniper fire everyday. He knows if he bash a white woman like that his career is over.

By Jackie

April 7, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this

For all the faux patriots, the protocol for flag handling indicates:

“herefore, a flag includes any representation of it of any substance, with stars and stripes of any number. This would include T-shirts and ties. The Flag Code states that the flag should never be worn. (Section 8d): “The flag should never be used as wearing apparel.”

http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html

Wonder why these protocols should be violated? Looks like these folks are entitled to their opinions, but, they are not entitled to their set of facts.

What is the next phony issue question?

By Steve

April 7, 2008 3:05 PM | Link to this

Any bets? Wanna talk about southern drivers? Where turn signals are optional in vehicles, and when it rains people lose their minds? LOL

Face it, the South is like the red headed stepchild of the United States. Always has been.

Ya know, where governor’s pray for rain during our dime to solve drought issues, overbuild, and have “sonny do” lists.

By Copyleft

April 7, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this

America has been offered the choice between “the intellectual and the dummy” before. And every time they chose the dummy, it was a horrible mistake that the country paid dearly for.

Let’s hope America in 2008 has finally wised up.

By hotlanta

April 7, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this

James please stop the madness. Every every black man that is running for any type of office will be asked about Minister Farrakhan. They even asked about Clarence Thomas about Farrakhan and his family is still wearing Jeri Curls. It just amazing how they are not asking white men about Richard Nixon and espeially Strom Thurmond. Didn’t anybody in the White House associate themselves with Nixon as a friend. He has a library that our tax dollars are paying for everyday. Shouldn’t you be upset about that. Somebody explain to me how did Trent come in the back door and get his old job back? Makes you wanna go hmmmmmm. James if you are not afraid of the truth listen to the whole tape of Rev. Wright. I was right you can’t handle the truth. You want somebody to lie and make you feel good while things are bad right now.

By hotlanta

April 7, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this

James please stop the madness. Every every black man that is running for any type of office will be asked about Minister Farrakhan. They even asked about Clarence Thomas about Farrakhan and his family is still wearing Jeri Curls. It just amazing how they are not asking white men about Richard Nixon and espeially Strom Thurmond. Didn’t anybody in the White House associate themselves with Nixon as a friend. He has a library that our tax dollars are paying for everyday. Shouldn’t you be upset about that. Somebody explain to me how did Trent come in the back door and get his old job back? Makes you wanna go hmmmmmm. James if you are not afraid of the truth listen to the whole tape of Rev. Wright. I was right you can’t handle the truth. You want somebody to lie and make you feel good while things are bad right now.

By Any bets?

April 7, 2008 3:13 PM | Link to this

But there are darn few Southern drivers in Atlanta. The vast majority are obnoxious jackasses from the Northeast for whom turn signals are optional and who lose their minds when it rains.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 3:16 PM | Link to this

Jackie @ 3:04 - Don’t confuse the Paleocons with things like “demonstrable truth” nor “verifiable facts”. It just makes the likes of Jim, jbmlaw, and the DustBuster hold their hands over their ears and scream “LALALALIBRULLALALALEFTISTLALALALIBRUL…” all the louder.

There’s no need in expedning energy trying to convince the Paleocon Porcines to give us an aria.

By Steve

April 7, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

Face it. Nobody wants to pay for this neoconservative war. Even if the only way to pay down our debt and pay for the war is to cut spending AND raise taxes on the very rich again.

You redneck idiots voted in Dubya. Do us all a favor and either join the military or opt to pay for this war. Our country is sinking into a depression along with inflation, a housing crunch, and high debt.

THANKS, GOP! All created on YOUR WATCH.

By W

April 7, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

My fellow conservative, right-wing, GOP, non-left-wing, followers,

I need you to come together, right now, over me. We need money, lots of money to support my war. Write your congressman and tell him or her to get up off his or her lazy buttocks and get me a war tax bill to sign. Remember, I don’t believe in caps so make sure my war tax bill has no caps on it. Wars cost money. Lots of money. By the way, we need warriors, lots of people that can shoot. If you don’t have any more money to send in or you don’t have a real job (not a government job) any more, then sign up. Bring the family. That means you, Dusty, jbmlaw, Rufus, and even {curly} (We’ll just give him tank gunner duty where all that whining will get drowned out by the shell fire.). Sorry, Glenn. We need you here on the home front to help rally the tax payers against the likes of those that don’t believe in wars.

Thank You, Your Leader, W

By Jackie

April 7, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

@ghost rider

SALUTE!

First Team!

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten, as soon as I read your piece today, I thought, “Wow, someone sure has a proclivity for public self-flaggelation whilst wrapped in the red, white and blue.”

And based on the overwhelming number of related responses, I was correct.

If this Right-wingnut “Common Sense” thing doesn’t improve, may I suggest a career change?

You could play the “conservative” center for the Washington Generals and try to “defend” against innumerable jaw-dropping alley-oop slam dunks by the “liberal” Harlem Globetrotters.

And then get a bucket of confetti thrown on you as you try to retrieve the ball!

Speaking of hoops.

“Rock chalk… Jay-Hawk… KU!”

By Ryan

April 7, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this

The flag lapel pin is a fad. George Washington did not wear a flag pin. Teddy Roosevelt did not wear a flag pin. (Insert just about any patriot, president, or respected American leader’s name here) did not wear a pin. I do not wear a flag pin.

The flag pin was worn by every politician, member of clergy, bank employee, etc. after 9/11. They pulled it out of their drawers from the last time they wore it (likely 7.4.01), and joined the “if you aren’t wearing a flag, you are quite obviously not with us” brigade.

Days after 9/11 there were infomercials and gas station displays and so forth where one could purchase their flags and bumper stickers and lapel pins wave them around and show the rest of the US that they were patriots. How ridiculous is that?

I didn’t wear a yellow Lance Armstrong bracelet a few years ago for this very same reason. Yes, I want to eradicate cancer - everyone does - I don’t need to wear a yellow bracelet for self-affirmation or community acceptance. It was a symbol, yes, but a fashion item as well. And if it is merely a symbol, why then don’t we call on every politician to wear one?

Why aren’t there arms covered with multi-colored wristbands representing different social and medical issues that they agree or disagree with?

We have become a nation of symbols and hollow words. I cannot wait for our country to come back to it’s senses and focus on issues and how we can solve them.

By Justine

April 7, 2008 3:24 PM | Link to this

US Citizens get what they deserve. It is unfortunate all political elections turn on things which have absolutely nothing to do with the candidate. It is sad we refuse to look at the issues and lower the standard of electibility as to who wears a flag pin, who is married, who fits the TV ideal of a perfect candidate. That is how we end up with a governor who is doing 3somes with his wife and his male lover, another governor who is ordering prostitutes, congressmen who are having sex and masochistic set with prostitutes, senators who are soliciting sane sex sex in airport restrooms and the list goes on and on. Yet, when we have a decent candidate we want to move the issue to whether they wear a flag pin or 35 years of their pastor’s life to less than 30 seconds. And please dont tell me about how wrong it was unless you have heard at least 2 minutes prior and 2 minutes after. By the way, it has now been admitted that Martin Luther King, Jr’s next sermon was going to be on Why America is Going to Hell. But just in case you dont beleve me, read Letter from a Birmingham Jail. It is time we elected people who live in the real world.

By ghost rider

April 7, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this

jackie..we wore the same armpatch at one time in our lives.

I salute you!

As far as you Ashton…I forgot that grade school was out for today..Tell Dusty (Your mother) to quite hidding behind a little boy! OK?

By Disgusted

April 7, 2008 3:34 PM | Link to this

We waste out time discussing lapel pins, when the godly Sen. Dirty Diaper Vitter is about to be called to testify in the DC Madam case. Word is that Sen. Wide Stance Craig will appear as a character witness on his behalf. No word on whether either will be wearing a lapel pin.

In other news, a new book coming out reveals that John McCain lost his famous temper with his heiress wife at a public function a few years ago when she joked that he was getting a little thin on top. It seems he called her—loudly—a c*nt. Bet that will work well in presidential diplomacy.

By Ashton Kutcher

April 7, 2008 3:37 PM | Link to this

ghost rider, saying Dusty is my mama is going to far … way, too far.

Your mama is … Jane Fonda.

So there. Sissy.

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this

Dear TW @ 2:28, because of our noble military, including the 4,000 who made the ultimate sacrifice, there are 50,000 more Islamists enjoying their 72 virgins. I honor the achievement of our military.

Dear GGG @3:16, you err, it’s “lalalalalaLEFTISTlalalalaLEFTIST.” Please pay attention. Just for clarification, Glenn and I may be the only liberals on this blog.

Dear Steve, you punked me. I thought you were serious.

By Dave

April 7, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this

Did “Dubya” wear one back in 2000? You voted for him Jim…good one! Message to ALL that voted for Bush. Now that you have a chance of losing your job, your car, and your home… please go join the military! I hear they are hiring. No brain required (which we know you lack with regards to your voting skills). So instead of slapping that cheesy little “support our troops” ribbon on your big gas guzzling SUV, now’s your chance to REALLY do something for your country. JOIN the MILITARY! If you get a leg blown off…good for you! Maybe you’ll get killed. Just make sure you kill as many “innocent” muslims as you can before you die. Remind them of our latest “crusade” against them. Though please do tell them before their last breath…that you really hate “mexicans” more than you hate them. But at least mexicans pay taxes and into social security that they never collect, so you feel you need to kill SOMEBODY…and that means in the name of my phony god and his gay son jesus…i killith you for no reason other then my lack of a brain, my lack of a heart or compassion, and oh ya…I’m a republican and I voted for “dubya” TWICE!!!

Real patriots don’t worry about lapel pins. They don’t start illegal wars against a country that never could have harmed us and had no terrorists until we “invaded” them. Bring back Saddam, he’ll NEVER be as bad as Bush and Cheney…but oh ya…i forgot…they wera lapel pins!!! Praise the little gay jesus!

By Roosevelt Walton

April 7, 2008 3:41 PM | Link to this

Wearing the lapel pin does not mean &8^^>?$ ….thing. Osama Bin Laden can do that.

Serious R Walton Macon, Ga

By Jackie

April 7, 2008 3:41 PM | Link to this

I think we should all be concerned with the news reports today stating that Israel just sent Iran a message of a pending “military exercises”; Israel is debating whether to have a major war with Hamas in Gaza; there is a major fight going on in Sadr City and the US/Iraqi ground forces are having a difficult time witnessed by the Madr Army shooting Katusha rockets at the Green Zone; Israel essentially threating Syria with other military action.

The USA indicating a growing need for additional troops in Afghanistan while maintaining/increasing the number of troops to support the “surge” in Iraq when there are no combat ready troops available.

The US economy - currently in Recession - with the whispered possibility of a Depression.

The flag pin is a deflection of major calamities facing this country.

By Roosevelt Walton

April 7, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this

Wearing the lapel pin does not mean &8^^>?$ ….thing. Osama Bin Laden can do that.

Serious R Walton Macon, Ga

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 3:55 PM | Link to this

jbmlaw @ 3:38 - In that Paleocon world you live in where up is down, left is right, and right is wrong, I can understand how you might believe that you are the One And Only True Liberal. Of course, in your world there are WMDs in Iraq, Brownie did a heckuva job, and we reached “Mission Accomplished” many years ago.

By deegee

April 7, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this

“Those of you who take the Sunday AJC — and everybody should, of course — saw the story on the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. The accompanying photo was of a Latrobe, Pa., couple sitting at a diner discussing their upcoming vote. “How can I vote for a president who won’t wear a flag pin?” asked the woman, Nash McCabe, an unemployed typist.”I watch him on TV; I keep looking for that lapel pin.”

The Wootang gang will always choose form over substance. I wonder if the unemployed typist has ever actually heard and comprehended anything that Barack Obama has said? When was the last time you saw a job posting for a typist? Could that explain why she is unemployed.

By TW

April 7, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this

jbmlaw - thank you for distinguishing between ‘honor’ and ‘support.’

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 4:03 PM | Link to this

Dear GGG @3:55 There are WMDs in Iraq. They are called terrorists. Can you name specifically how Brownie personally did not do a heckuva job? And, that part of the mission was accomplished at that time.

By Dannick

April 7, 2008 4:08 PM | Link to this

This just in: a girl in Texas is slated to have half her brain removed in order to combat a life-threatening illness.

When she wakes up, she’ll be a Republican.

By Dubya_my_hero

April 7, 2008 4:12 PM | Link to this

History News Network’s poll of 109 historians found that 61 percent of them rank Bush as “worst ever” among U.S. presidents. Bush’s key competition comes from Buchanan, apparently, and a further 2 percent of the sample puts Bush right behind Buchanan as runner-up for “worst ever.” 96 percent of the respondents place the Bush presidency in the bottom tier of American presidencies. And was his presidency (it’s a bit wishful to speak of his presidency in the past tense–after all there are several more months left to go) a success or failure? On that score the numbers are still more resounding: 98 percent label it a “failure

By Jackie

April 7, 2008 4:12 PM | Link to this

@GGG,

Do you notice how the Dubya apologist hustle to conflate his words to meet their current definitions?

By jbmlaw

April 7, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this

ID thief at 4:03, obviously.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this

jbmlaw @ 4:03 - Obviously, in your world the sky is a bright purple Madras plaid and unicorns poop rainbows. In the real world where the rest of us live, “Iraq has WMDs” meant “Weapons Of Mass Destruction”, not “Wombats Of Messy Dizziness”, and “Mission Accomplished” meant, well “Mission Accomplished” and not “Mission Re-Election Photo-Op”. But nice try, counselor. When you’ve returned to Earth, maybe we can continue this conversation.

By DansDick

April 7, 2008 4:21 PM | Link to this

This just in: a girl in Texas is slated to have half her brain removed in order to combat a life-threatening illness.

When she wakes up, she’ll be a Republican.

Half of a conservative brain is able to adapt and absorb more than the hole of a libs brain.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 4:25 PM | Link to this

Jackie @ 4:12 - Yep. And now the poor pitiful thing is trying to claim that he’s the victim of an ID thief. The only thing he and ilk have thieved are the lives of more than 4,000 American soldiers.

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 4:27 PM | Link to this

@4:12

And yet some of the more “faithful” still try to delude themselves into thinking that “history will be kinder to W”.

Yeah, sure. Maybe after the nightmare wears off over time, he’ll have a meteoric rise to 42nd or even 41st best US President.

By Cram

April 7, 2008 4:29 PM | Link to this

“Those of you who take the Sunday AJC — and everybody should, of course — …” How about a story on how much of this rubbish crowds our landfills that is never opened or read. Your print days are numbered.

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 4:30 PM | Link to this

Well, whataya know? I haven’t been near this blog today but I’ve been POSTING! Now it seems that would be ‘Ashton Kutcher’ used my ID @1:18. 1:23, 1:40. 1:48.

Well, Ashton, at least you didn’t make me sound like a liberal(a fate worse than death!!). And a couple of libs got to eviscerate themselves over a phony.

But, lil’ Ash, there is a BIG difference between the two of us. I am honest while you are a thief. Or should I just say… U R A ‘liberal’.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this

AmVet @ 4:27 - I figure it’ll always be a back-and-forth race between Duh-Bya and James Buchanan for the Bottom Of The Barrel.

By Ashton Kutcher

April 7, 2008 4:33 PM | Link to this

Y’all are east to punk on this blog. I’ll have to come back more often.

By Ashton Kutcher

April 7, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this

Y’all are easy to punk on this blog. I’ll have to come back more often.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 4:39 PM | Link to this

AK - Naw, it’s actually that Dusty and her “posts” are more predictable than traffic jams on the ramps of Spaghetti Junction at 5 PM every weekday.

By Wootard-a-rama

April 7, 2008 4:41 PM | Link to this

jbmlaw, you’re right it isn’t a big deal (the lapel pin) - so why is Wootard making it one?? Umm, could it be because he is trying to distract readers from serious issues by providing a straw man (or straw pin in this case) so that there is no real debate on the issues facing Americans?

By Mr. Chips

April 7, 2008 4:43 PM | Link to this

Hey, jbm, where you been, my fine friend?

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 4:44 PM | Link to this

That’s it Cram!

I’m canceling my subscription!

An inside joke if you will.

Over at Luckovich’s, for ages now, an occasional “drive-by” shows up from time to time expressing much umbrage at the cartoonist’s “non-conservative” effort and says he is going to…you guessed it.

By Roosevelt Washington

April 7, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this

Looks like another bailout of the failed, socialist healthcare by members of the capitalist economy. It shall always be.

For more of the same FAILED socialist experimentation just select Democrat at the next election.

Keep the “change” in your pocket.

McCain 2008.

By Steve

April 7, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this

Is it just me or does Wooten look like Orville Redenbaucher, the popcorn dude?

By BillyRip

April 7, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this

Moron Lapel Pin Wearer, Everyone reading your blog knows you are a FOX News watcher. FOX News is america’s biggest propaganda news station ever. Talking Heads like Shawn Hannidy and Bill O’Reilly are the Biggest SPIN in the Real world. Moron James stop living in a Power Vacuum. Geez, man. Advice watch Real News! One other thing, how can you win the war? What is a WIN, when all the Muslims are dead, remember the more you kill, the Muslim sons want to kill you. OK, I got it, thus we’ll be at war for the next 100,000 years. You’re an Idiot!!!

By BillyRip

April 7, 2008 4:50 PM | Link to this

Moron Lapel Pin Wearer, Everyone reading your blog knows you are a FOX News watcher. FOX News is america’s biggest propaganda news station ever. Talking Heads like Shawn Hannidy and Bill O’Reilly are the Biggest SPIN in the Real world. Moron James stop living in a Power Vacuum. Geez, man. Advice watch Real News! One other thing, how can you win the war? What is a WIN, when all the Muslims are dead, remember the more you kill, the Muslim sons want to kill you. OK, I got it, thus we’ll be at war for the next 100,000 years. You’re an Idiot!!!

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 4:51 PM | Link to this

Now, before ASShton comes up with something cute, let me comment on today’s subject.

I don’t care if Obama wears a flag pin or not. I wouldn’t vote for him if he were wrapped in the American flag.

Anyone who declares themselves anti-war when there is evidence that the country is in danger wears a yellow streak that is bigger than any lapel pin. That is why I would not vote for Obama.

By BillyRip

April 7, 2008 4:51 PM | Link to this

Moron Lapel Pin Wearer, Everyone reading your blog knows you are a FOX News watcher. FOX News is america’s biggest propaganda news station ever. Talking Heads like Shawn Hannidy and Bill O’Reilly are the Biggest SPIN in the Real world. Moron James stop living in a Power Vacuum. Geez, man. Advice watch Real News! One other thing, how can you win the war? What is a WIN, when all the Muslims are dead, remember the more you kill, the Muslim sons want to kill you. OK, I got it, thus we’ll be at war for the next 100,000 years. You’re an Idiot!!! Artifical Americans Pride

By USA #1

April 7, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this

Folks, I’m afraid I have some very shocking news. Please see this photo:

http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/photographs/large/c584-12.jpg

It appears that the late President Reagan was not, after all, a patriotic American. The lack of a flag lapel pin is, quite frankly, disappointing and disturbing to this proud American.

And it gets worse. Rush Limbaugh, another supposed great American, doesn’t seem to be what we all thought he was. Please see this photo but be sure there are no children in the room. I would hate for their little patriotic brains to be damaged.

http://papundits.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/rush-limbaugh.jpg

By Steve

April 7, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this

Dusty, then go to Iraq and/or Afghanistan and serve our country instead of your phoney pro war stance. How many ‘save the troops’ stickers do YOU have on your gas guzzling vehicle?

By GA PEACH

April 7, 2008 5:01 PM | Link to this

We are in a recession, the value of our dollar has gone down, and we have people dying in another country over a senseless war…and you’re concerned about a lapel pin. Was Bush wearing his lapel pin when he started an unnecessary war? Was Bush wearing his lapel pin as he watched our economy plummet? How does a lapel pin enhance knowledge?

Obama for President!

By Chris

April 7, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this

Steve, give Dusty a break. She can’t afford any bumper stickers because she spent all of her money on flag lapel pins.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 5:03 PM | Link to this

DustBuster @ 4:51 - AFEES Is Ready When You Are.

Take the oath, or take a hike.

WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA, DUSTY?

By Hairy Mary

April 7, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this

and it’s the VET player from the old timers league pitching softballs underhanded here at wooten’s. over at lucko’s his balls came in slow and low.

shave and a tickle

two bits from the VET

By Jackie

April 7, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this

One thing I must give Dusty and jbmlaw credit for is the don’t mind standing up and taking their whipping.

It seems the other blowhards have decided to excuse themselves from the fray. Facts seem to get in their line of reasoning.

By Gary

April 7, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this

The flag lapel. Isn’t that like tieing a pink ribbon round your oak to welcome the Al Ka Ka Gay men’s choir back to Gitmo?

Why dont you take your ostentatious display of treason, lapel wearers, and shove them!!

Obama08: He’s not Stalin, but he’s gonna make sure traitors are all blown to smithereens, after a fair trial of course.

By GayGreyGeek

April 7, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this

Chris @ 5:02 - FTW!

Jackie @ 5:05 - You might want to modify that. It appears that the Counselor did his typical cut-n-run right around 4 after his “ID THIEF WAAAAAAAH!” claim. Dusty, on the other hand, isn’t bright enough to see when she’s been beat - very much like her hero, Fearless Leader.

By Jackie

April 7, 2008 5:22 PM | Link to this

The Iraq Study group issued a report today indicating the situation in Iraq today is no closer to justifying the surge than they were 1 year ago.

So much for wasting more lives and treasure.

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 5:27 PM | Link to this

Dear Jackie,@5:05

Thanks for the “credit”. But there are not any whippings given here. That’s like saying the Statue of Liberty got a whipping for holding her torch. Or the red white and blue got a whippingfor blowing in the wind. Or conservatives got a “whipping* for supporting the President, the country and the troops. You can call all that a “whipping”. Yes, I guess liberals would.

Maybe conservatives are at work and can’t sit here all day with the “sky is falling” libs. But…when the time to vote comes…they’ll be there. Count on it.

McCain 2008… the only hope for America’s future.

By Jackie

April 7, 2008 5:33 PM | Link to this

@Dusty,

You gift of gab is extensive; your acceptance of facts is lacking.

By BillyRip

April 7, 2008 5:37 PM | Link to this

Hey jbm & Mr Chips, Are they in America terrorizing us Everyday or are we in their countries terrorizing them Everyday? Wrong Way Thinking!! Didn’t 9/11 start in Saudi Arabia, 18 out of 19 terrorists? You and Wrong Way Dubya Thinking! Lapel Pins are Artificial Patriotism

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 5:37 PM | Link to this

Polly, you are definitely suffering badly from Stephen Kingitis.

Everybody read his first twenty books or so, and everybody really like them.

Because they were actually good.

But after a few decades of the same old stuff, some of it very uninspired and canned, most people just got tired of it all and gave up on him.

Take a hint.

You’re trying WAY too hard, Mr. Steffan Queen…

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 5:48 PM | Link to this

Jackie,5:33

I use more than one source for facts. I don’t listen to radio so you can forget that. The almost impartial Lehrer News Hour on TV is one source. At present I am reading “Divided America” by Professor Merle Black of Emory University. Last year I heard six leading Americans make talks about many issues. Some were Democrats. They were without prejudice. From all this and many conversations with others, I form an opinion.

Your opinion seems to depend on “facts” from one liberal source or those defined as liberal. I do not think that you even consider any other sources or anything that sounds like “good news”. Too bad. It is called a narrow mind.

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 5:49 PM | Link to this

Jackie, political reconciliation in Iraq is a mirage.

No matter if we leave next year or in a hundred, the same old enmities and same old religious zealotry will reassert itself.

Bush’s grand experiment “to export democracy to Iraq” is a grand failure.

And it was destined to be one from the start…

By Glenn

April 7, 2008 5:54 PM | Link to this

It’s awfully tinny how several of the Greenocrats on this blog see the President’s exploitation of serving personnel and the inadequacy of the U.S. Dept. of Vets Affairs as license to brand Republicans as uncaring toward serving and deactivated Americans. That’s quite a stretch, especially from the slippery perch of the Democratic Party. If a politician is screwing active duty military or veterans, then that politician—-and not the politician’s party—-be damned.

I advised candidates for years not to play veterans, much less active duty men and women in harm’s way, for partisan gain. First, the stats have shown for decades that veterans don’t vote party line and never have done. No veterans is going to screw another veteran because of party differences, and I’ve never had a beer in a “Democrat” post or a “Republican” Legion Hall, though I’ve heard many an earful from people of both parties in such places. Second, our concern for the safety and welfare of the military and its veterans transcends partisanship; per President Lincoln’s second innaugural address, it even transcends the kind of good old fashioned sectionalism that Dusty flourishes here. Politicians advocate programs of social benefit either because they should or because they are buying votes or, on very rare occasions, both. You can buy votes only by rewarding those of your party relative to those of other parties, so a candidate who tries to go there with vets affairs deserves the highest opprobrium. Our debt of honor is owed to all personnel of all branches, regardless of whether an individual currently serves or no longer serves or serves in the reserves or on the line or in the rear. Those distinctions are for veterans to sort out if they choose, and since they choose not to separate themselves by party, far be it from politicians or voters to do so.

One of the things I used to like about this blog is that we agree here on support for troops and veterans, even when we get testy about chickenhawks, baby-killers and Fifth Column al-Qaeda.

By AmVet

April 7, 2008 5:56 PM | Link to this

Also, re my 5:49, exporting western values and democracy to an unwilling Iraqi people was the fifth or sixth “reason” (I’ve forgotten now) why we invaded Iraq.

And even now a huge majority of those Iraqi people want us out of their land.

Go figure…

By Jackie

April 7, 2008 6:01 PM | Link to this

@Dusty,

If one does not look at both sides of an issue/discussion, there is no need to participate in said discussion because you are dealing with incomplete and inconclusive data.

I always look at the “other” side.

What about you?

By Dusty

April 7, 2008 6:02 PM | Link to this

Yes, Amvet,5:49

“To export democracy to Japan” was a grand failure, wasn’t it?

“To export democracy to Korea ” was a grand failure, wasn’t it?

Freeing Europe was a grand failure, wasn’t it?

Now, you want to say that the young wave of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq is *a grand failure”.

Amvet, you are the biggest foot dragger, morale destroyer. lack of confidence man I have read in a long time. You seem to believe that every day is made for the “sky to fall”. You want it to fall so Bush will look bad and you can say “I told you so!”

Count your blessings, buddy. Try it for a change. You’ll like it!!

Good night all…

By bizizgrrrrl

April 7, 2008 6:08 PM | Link to this

Please vote on issues and not accessories.

By Bored

April 7, 2008 6:14 PM | Link to this

Perhaps this Dusty will provide us with both sides of an issue — any relevant issue. You did say that you look at the “other” side. Show us.

By Bored

April 7, 2008 6:23 PM | Link to this

Oops! I apologize, Dusty. I mistook you for an open-minded person.

By Dave

April 8, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this

Funny how EVERYONE single “talking head” for the GOP is fixated on Obama. They are absolutely frightened to death of him. They have “nothing” on him and can only resort to crap his pastor has said, or if he wears a lapel pin or not. Just put on that “i was a c student and college drop out” Hannity and watch his shows of late (I check in to laugh from time to time…best comedy on TV)….he’s “obsessed” to say the very least.

I have to say…I’m LOVING watching you all “squirm” as the inevitable approaches….president Obama.

By hotlanta

April 8, 2008 4:14 PM | Link to this

Wooten I got one last question to ask about the pin flag flap. Was Bill Clinton wearing a flag pin while he was with Monica?

By hotlanta

April 8, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this

Wooten I got one last question to ask about the pin flag flap. Was Bill Clinton wearing a flag pin while he was with Monica?

By cv

April 15, 2008 4:37 PM | Link to this

Wow you were right, the pin is back!!! Tell me is going to win the NBA playoffs.

By Charles Burch

April 17, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this

“Symbols Matter?”

When did they begin to matter? Did they matter after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor? How did this country fight the Nazis and the Empire of Japan without lapel pins? Hitler and Stalin both wore lapel pins, but somehow they lost.

Could it be that principles are more important than symbols? Are we a country of ideas or idol worshippers?

By JB

April 18, 2008 12:23 PM | Link to this

do you wear a picture of your mother on your chest to prove you love her?

if not, i feel obligated to ask, why do you hate your mother?

By Eric Lemmons

April 18, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this

The problem for Obama is not just the flag pin. It’s the overall impression that he is not patriotic. Jeremy Wright and his remarks putting down America, Obama’s wife’s remarks about not being proud of America, Obama’s friendship with that weatherman underground person, AND the lapel pin. It’s the overall, caused by many separate factors, anti-American image that is hurting him.

By Eric Lemmons

April 18, 2008 4:58 PM | Link to this

The problem for Obama is not just the flag pin. It’s the overall impression that he is not patriotic. Jeremy Wright and his remarks putting down America, Obama’s wife’s remarks about not being proud of America, Obama’s friendship with that weatherman underground person, AND the lapel pin. It’s the overall, caused by many separate factors, anti-American image that is hurting him.

By Eric Lemmons

April 18, 2008 5:00 PM | Link to this

The problem for Obama is not just the flag pin. It’s the overall impression that he is not patriotic. Jeremy Wright and his remarks putting down America, Obama’s wife’s remarks about not being proud of America, Obama’s friendship with that weatherman underground person, AND the lapel pin. It’s the overall, caused by many separate factors, anti-American image that is hurting him.

By W. Massey

April 20, 2008 1:04 PM | Link to this

Senator Obama’s political rhetoric to fix the economy, health care, illegal immigrants, gun control, and the Iraq conflict issues, etal, are extremely questionable and will generate more backlash than any positive contributions if enacted. His political platform ideologies are overshadowed by the fact he will not pledge allegiance to the United States flag, show proper respect to the United States flag when being displayed, nor wear the United States flag in his lapel. Having served in the military for over 29 years protecting our Constitutional freedoms, I find it highly objectionable that someone running for the office of the President of the United States, our Commander-in-Chief, can completely disregard and fluff off questions concerning his true allegiance to the United States as not an issue. The bottom line: If Senator Obama is elected our next Commander-in-Chief, his radical ideology and non-allegiance to the United States will result in impeachment within his first 180 days of his administration.

By Sabz

April 21, 2008 1:39 PM | Link to this

I bought a lapel pin. Never wore it. Why? Not because what was on the front, but what was on the back…

“Made in China.”

Yeah, way to show one’s patriotism!

By wheezer

June 10, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this

how many lapel pins does it take to equal 4,000 US soldier’s lives? Also, McCain has 3 or four pastors threatening to kill millions of jews and muslims. McCain is really an atheist see all the you tube videos.

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