SEE THE UPDATE BELOW: It is now claimed that the story below resulted from a some dirty tricks and the flags were destined for other events, but stolen.
UPDATE AGAIN: Sources from Fox News (Yes… I know) are disputing the claims in the update and say that the flags were definitely found “stored” in Hefty Bags “near a dumpster.” Odd storage if true, but apparently the game is afoot on this one.
Here is a picture from the Denver Post (with a hat tip to Hot Air) which I missed earlier today but seriously got my blood boiling. It was taken at Invesco Field, the site of the Democrats’ big party for Barack Obama’s speech, after the lights went down and everyone left. You can click through the links for the entire story, but it seems that this was the fate of hundreds of flags used at the field for the speech.
We have flags at my home and at our camp and other places among our family. I was raised by an honest-to-God WW2 war hero, (make of that what you like) but we learned that one has respect for the flag, and this is not it. I’m not alone in this, and you’ll find plenty of people across red and blue America who feel the same way. This is simply not done.
Am I saying that you don’t have the right to treat a flag this way? Not at all. The protection of your rights to free speech are clear in my book. You can actually burn a flag in the streets if that’s your choice to express your opinion about the government. You can also put a white sheet over your head, cut a couple of holes in it for your eyes, and march down the street chanting about how evil the “darkies” are. I’ll defend your right to do it, but I’ll also call you a hateful, ignorant ass.
Let me be very clear that I am not personally blaming Illinois Senator Barack Obama or Delaware Senator Joe Biden for this. But there was somebody in charge of the planning and logistics for this event who should have known better and done better. This is completely unacceptable to me, and they should find that person and hold them accountable. It’s not just stupid, unpatriotic, wrong and stupid, but it’s a political disaster as well. They should have at least realized that much if they didn’t actually care about their country’s flag.
UPDATE: The Democrats in charge of the event claim that the flags were STOLEN and were heading for another site. They probably could have been stored better, but if this is the case, then there was at least one GOP operative playing a VERY VERY VERY dirty trick.
YET ANOTHER UPDATE: See the top of the article. This article disputes the dispute, if you will, and claims that the Democrats’ claims are inaccurate and the flags were found in Hefty Bags near a dumpster, which would be odd storage indeed if true. We’ll keep digging on this one.
AND ANOTHER: This source from Colorado contines providing two sides to the story with the DNC saying the flags were “stored and stolen” and the GOP saying they were “rescued” after being found in trashbags near a dumpster. Nothing definitive yet that I can see.
JUST KEEP CHECKING FOR UPDATES AS THEY DON’T SEEM TO END: Courtesy of both people in comments and Ed at Hot Air, the original author has updated his story with even more information which is making the DNC defense look more thin.
I just spoke with the person at Invesco who found the flags and he thinks both sides are exaggerating a bit. The person claims the majority of the bags with flags in them were near the trash, on a dock, and would have been thrown away. The person thinks it was probably an “oversight” by the Democrats rather than any nefarious plot against the flag. But the person doesn’t believe anyone was coming to get them: “The flags were there for a week and a day and no one came looking for them.”
Having spoken to the person who found the bags, it’s difficult to believe that anyone was coming to get them a week after the convention. If so, who was it? I’ve sent a query asking that question.
It seems like some poor intern or volunteer probably made a mistake and McCain campaign used it to pull a gotcha.
This keeps on rolling out, but it’s looking more and more like somebody at the DNC screwed up and put the flags out with the trash. Did some McCain supporters try to capitalize on this? Not out of the question at this point.