In part as a response to vicious reports that “Democrats had desecrated” American flags at Invesco Field, I wrote, “The U.S. Flag: America’s Symbol, or Political Football?”
There I said,
While, at worst, it appears that the manner in which one or two individuals handled the thousands of flags, left for pickup or for storage at a shipping dock at Invesco Field, may not have been the most appropriate way, the response by some has been disproportionate and offensive. Again, the flag is being used to question the loyalty, the patriotism of not only the Democratic Convention organizers, but also of Senator Barack Obama and of the entire Democratic Party and, consequently, of one-half of the American people.
I have not seen any recent updates to the post that brought this story to our attention, but there is one this morning at The Huffington Post, written by Iraq War veteran and co-founder and Chairman of VoteVets.org, John Soltz:
Second, there is the fact that right after the Republican convention, the party produced a bunch of flags that they stole from the Democratic convention in Denver, in an attempt to “prove” the Democrats were throwing out the flag. In fact, workers in Denver were collecting all the flags left at Invesco Field, to send to community events around the country, where other patriotic Americans might want to wave the flag. So, to promote a complete fabrication, Republicans stole flags that some five-year old kid might have wanted to wave on Main Street. Stay classy…
This is, however, only part of Soltz’ article, “How Did the RNC Insult Troops and Veterans? Let Me Count the Ways…” Soltz, who also served with distinction in the Kosovo campaign, and now heads an organization dedicated to truly supporting the troops, should know a thing or two about such issues.
In his article he “counts the ways” in which last week’s Republican Convention under the guise of being pro-Troop and pro-Veteran made “offense after offense.”
This is how Soltz “counts the ways”:
1. McCain Didn’t Mention Veterans’ Care
2. Walter Reed
3. “Phony Soldiers”
4. Speaking of phony
5. Real outrage
For the full details, please click here.
I fully expect that some will vilify a decorated Iraq War veteran (Commissioned Officer) who fought for our country—for “That Flag“—because he now dares to criticize the way an administration that professes to support the troops has dropped the ball, and taken its eye off the real ball—the terrorists who attacked our country on 9/11.
