Why Does John McCain Hate America?

Appearance on This Week with George Stephanopolous - April 20, 2008

No flag pin.
















(H/T C&L)

Debate Protesters at ABC Hand Out Flag Pins

This is great. DDay at Hullabaloo writes about the protest at Disney Studios on Friday as 60-70 people voiced their opinions of the "shoddy and despicable" handling of the latest Democratic debate. It shows you the strength of the internet and blogosphere when 70 people can organize within 24 hours without a single phone call being made.

Their main goal: bringing attention to the way moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous focused on the past Democratic gaffes of Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, instead of issues like the war in Iraq and the American economy.

[Organizer Rick] Jacobs said he was offended that Obama was asked why he hasn't worn an American flag pin on his lapel.

"Patriotism isn't defined by a flag pin made in China," he said.

...[News reports] didn't note the most important part of the protest: our distribution of flag pins to employees as they left the ABC gates. Letting them know that they were getting "free patriotism on a stick" and telling them that "Charlie Gibson won't approve of you unless you wear one," we handed out about 300 pins. Most took them graciously and approvingly.

Yes... the pins were made in China.

What? No Lapel Pin?

TPM: "How can I vote for a president who won't wear a flag pin?" Mrs. [Nash] McCabe, a [52 year old] recently unemployed clerk typist, said in a booth at the Valley Dairy luncheonette in this quiet, small city in western Pennsylvania.

Mr. Obama has said patriotism is about ideas, not flag pins.

"I watch him on TV," Mrs. McCabe said. "I keep looking for that lapel pin."

And there you have it, folks, the lowest common denominator. When you are too stupid to understand the issues, or too apathetic to care, when you can't tell the difference between something important and something trivial, you tend to try to make your life simpler by making decisions based on whether someone wears a lapel pin, if you think they'd be fun to have a drink with, or what their bowling average may be, or even worse, their gender or the color of their skin.

I mean, hell, how can you trust someone who doesn't wear his or her feelings on their sleeve in the form of a flag pin or a $3.99 "Support The Troops" yellow ribbon magnet on the back of their SUV? But as my friend Armadillo Joe says, "Just make sure its a magnet, not an actual sticker - you wouldn't want to hurt the resale value of your car." Patriotism does have its limits.

But what's going to happen to the Nash McCabes of the country when they get a load of this?










Their poor little raisinbrains are going to explode. How can we trust someone who doesn't wear a lapel flag pin? What is this country coming to? ...Eh, at least he's an old, white man. That's something they can "cling" to.



(H/T Mustang Bobby and SFDB)