Why Flag-Burning Bodes Ill for OWS

[MADem]

128. The GOP got into a snit about it a couple of years ahead of the run-up to the last election.

It was when Hillary Clinton was in the Senate, and looking at a Presidential run. They made it the issue du jour, and were, I suspect, hoping to accuse Clinton of being pro-flag burning in order to damage her chances at a Presidential run and have a talking point against her.

She ended up introducing a piece of very twisted and clever legislation that came off like it was in opposition to flag burning (which, as we know, is constitutionally protected) but in actual fact was simply a prohibition against lighting shit on fire on federal property. IIRC, she even had a Republican cosponsor for the thing.

It was a brilliant piece of triangulation, because it fended off a movement by the GOP to add a prohibition against "Flag Desecration" to the frigging Constitution, but even at that, some members here didn't take her point. What she was doing was telling the GOP to stuff a sock in it, but the Forest For The Trees bunch were completely missing the clever stiff-arm she gave to the Republicans, and were busy whining about her taking away their "right" to set fires on federal property.

It got quite a few days of teeth gnashing and histrionic discussion here, and then, like most stuff, it faded away.

The GOP loves to make issues about the flag, and stupid shit like these punk-nitwits burning it (after stealing the damn thing) gives them fodder--we're fortunate that they're a bit busy right now, watching the Newtie Mittsy train wreck--if this had happened in Sep 2012 it would be recited, ad infinitum, like the Litany of the Saints. Remember how they griped about Barack Obama not wearing his little flag pin during the last election, like he was the new Ensign reporting aboard the ship who forgot his collar devices, or something? You'd have thought he'd committed the crime of the century the way they went on about that--and of course, it also fed the Birther fever. He finally put the damn thing on to shut the motormouths up. Ruined their fun!