Monday, April 21, 2008

MEDIA IGNORES LACK OF FLAG PINS ON CLINTON AND MCCAIN (NOT TO MENTION CHARLES GIBSON)



JIM DWYER, NY TIMES Among the two candidates and the two moderators, a total of eight completely flag pin-free lapels were visible on stage during the Democratic debate on =. In the struggle over who should lead this corner of the free world, one pair of lapels took the spotlight: those on the suit jacket of Barack Obama, senator from Illinois.

This was not an accident. Early in the night, one of the ABC moderators, Charles Gibson, said the network had asked "a lot of Pennsylvanians for questions they had." One of them happened to be Nash McCabe, a 52-year-old woman from Latrobe who had been quoted in The New York Times 12 days before the debate complaining that Mr. Obama did not wear a flag pin. She was videotaped by ABC so she could challenge Mr. Obama directly. . .

Many right-wing commentators have toyed with Mr. Obama's background. . . They have not complained that Senator John McCain doesn't usually wear a flag pin. And despite vacant lapel-age on Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's clothing, no one got around to asking her on Wednesday night why she wasn't wearing a pin.

Instead, the other ABC moderator, George Stephanopoulos - like his colleague, Mr. Gibson, not wearing any visible flag pin - linked Mr. Obama's empty lapels to the "general theme of patriotism in your relationships"

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