As pointed out previously by A Line of Sight, Ken Salazar and Mark Udall quickly boarded the MoveOn.Org-ProgressNow-Media Matters bandwagon to attack Rush Limbaugh for a comment about “phony soldiers” that the two Democrats decided defamed all men and women in uniform. Anyone who listens even sporadically to Limbaugh realizes his respect and admiration for the troops, which speaks to the political hypocrisy of the attacks. Further, the most casual review of the audio or transcript of Limbaugh’s statement demonstrates that Limbaugh’s reference was to Jesse Macbeth, the disgraced war critic who had claimed he was part of a combat squad in Iraq that committed heinous war crimes. After extensive media attention, Macbeth was found to be a liar who never saw combat or Iraq, and was discharged as unfit for service before completing basic training.
Never mind that the attack on Limbaugh was taken grossly out of context and a trumped up media event by the left wing Media Matters – the creation of the Clintons and George Sorros. Salazar and Udall were supposedly so outraged by Limbaugh’s supposed insult of our troops that they had to rush to their defense waving the flag all the way.
Where were they when MoveOn.Org attacked the troop’s Commander General David Petraeus with a full page ad in the New York Times calling him General Betray-Us? Where were they when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced last April that “this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything?”
Now we get the revelation that the Senator Barack Obama, Democrat candidate for President, made a conscious decision to no longer wear an American Flag on his lapel apparently as a protest. “I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest,” he said. According to the New York Post, Obama wore a lapel pin flag after the 9/11 attacks but stopped as the troops were preparing to go into Iraq. Mr. Salazar and Mr. Udall, where is the consistency of your outrage?
It is one thing to just not wear a flag, or to wear one sporadically. But, it is entirely different to be running for President yet unwilling to display the American flag to which the troops pledge allegiance, fight to defend, and drape on the casket of the fallen. It is also understandable that reasonable people can object to going into Iraq and the strategy and prosecution of the war. However, for someone who covets being the next Commander-in-Chief to intentionally remove the flag from his lapel can only be interpreted for what it is. It is impossible to somehow respect and honor the troops while being ashamed of the symbol of all they represent and defend.
It would seem that in Obama’s disrespect of the flag and the troops, Salazar and Udall could actually find a reason to be outraged. A Line of Sight expects only silence and continued political hypocrisy.