CAMPOS: Flag ploy at rally shameless
By Paul Campos, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published September 10, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Rick Perlstein's new book, Nixonland, does a masterful job of describing the extent to which shamelessness gives a skillful politician a major advantage over ordinary humans.
In the mid-1960s Richard Nixon seemed an extremely improbable candidate to ever become president of the United States: He had lost two major elections in the previous five years; he had no real ideological commitments, and hence no base of support among movement conservatives; he looked terrible on TV; he had no discernable charisma; and he was widely considered a joke by the media who, just a couple years earlier, he swore would no longer have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore.
Yet somehow he won anyway. What he had going for him was intelligence, ruthlessness, bottomless ambition and no capacity for shame. He was perfectly capable of arguing A on Monday and Z on Friday regarding every issue imaginable, if it suited his political purposes to do so, and he took full advantage of this talent.
He was also, as Perlstein says, "a serial collector of resentments." Indeed, Nixon created and refined a whole politics of resentment, which both took advantage of and helped exacerbate the cultural civil war often referred to as "the '60s."
Nixonland, according to the evil genius of modern American politics, was a country divided in two. On the one side were real Americans - the "silent majority" as Nixon dubbed them.
Real Americans, in Nixonland, were (and are) largely defined by what they were not. They weren't loud-mouthed war protesters or riot-prone inner-city blacks or pointy-headed intellectuals or drug-addled hippies or bra-burning feminists.
They weren't welfare cheats or sex-crazed libertines. Real American men didn't, in the words of Ronald Reagan - an up-and-coming Hollywood actor-turned-politician - "dress like Tarzan, have hair like Jane, and smell like Cheetah." (Perlstein notes Nixon watched Reagan's meteoric ascent carefully, and learned from it.)
Most of all, real Americans were patriots. Unlike the war protesters and the civil rights agitators, and the subversive college professors, and the man-hating feminists, and the sex- and drug- and rock-'n'-roll-crazed hippies, real Americans loved their country.
Nixon, who got his start as a red-baiting California congressman, ended up extending the logic of McCarthyism - the idea that there were traitors in our midst - to all his political opponents.
This was a remarkable achievement, given that his political opponents often made up more than half the country.
And that achievement lives on. As Perlstein concludes, we're all still living in Nixonland.
Consider a small but telling incident from a John McCain campaign rally this weekend in Colorado Springs. Dan Caplis, a Denver attorney and radio host, warmed up the crowd by announcing that the campaign was passing out miniature American flags he claimed had been "rescued" from the Democratic convention in Denver.
According to Caplis, the flags had been found in garbage bags and were going to be thrown away or burned - a charge denied strenuously by the Democratic National Committee, which said the flags were being packed away for use at other events, and were "snatched" by McCain campaign operatives for the purposes of a cheap propaganda stunt.
What's interesting about this incident is how it's straight out of the most devious pages of Richard Nixon's political playbook: Don't merely accuse your opponents of being misinformed or wrongheaded or even cowardly - instead, impugn their patriotism in as brazen a manner as you think you can get away with.
It's a despicable tactic, but, as the last 40 years of American political history illustrate, an often effective one.
Note that all this took place less than 48 hours after McCain, in his speech accepting the GOP nomination, vowed to end "constant partisan rancor" in Washington.
Somewhere, Richard Nixon is laughing.
Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. He can be reached at paul.campos@colorado.edu.
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September 10, 2008
12:42 a.m.
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clyde writes:
Yup, I always save my important reusable stuff in garbage bags next to a dumpster. The Dems doth protest too loudly.
September 10, 2008
5:29 a.m.
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woodwose writes:
Oh please, Campos, the Rocky's village idiot, takes what is at worse a prank by a radio personality, blows it up into a major scandal of NIXONIAN proportions, and then blames John McCain for it. Like John McCain was sitting around with his aides after the Democrat convention and plotting the big trash heist. Give me a break.
I've read a lot of stupid columns by this clown over the years, but this is by far the most ridiculous of the lot.
Congratulations Campos, in a stunning achievement, you've exceeded even my low expectations of you!
September 10, 2008
6:26 a.m.
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blacksho89 writes:
Look, I don't know whether the flags were to be "recycled" or not. But I do know this:
At the big DNC shindig at Mile High, the National Anthem was played. I looked around, and more hats were left ON heads than were removed.
Contrast this with the rodeo I went to in Larimer County 2 years ago. When the colors were presented, all hats came off but 2, worn by "gentlemen" who apparently did not speak English. The man in front of them gestured to them, and when he was ignored, this little guy removed the hats for the 2 larger men. Knocked them off, actually. To the applause of the section around.
So if the party that wants to run this country does not respect the flag enough to take off your bloody hat, why should the "newcomers"?
September 10, 2008
7:02 a.m.
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ghoax writes:
one mans junk is another mans treasure. At least one group values our American Flag.
And for the so called patriot dems?...why didn't you "handout" those flags to the public who do love their country? a much better use considering the anniversary of the largest terrorist attack in history that killed our citizens is upon us?
instead they leave OUR flags in the trash and complain when citizens realizing the shameful act took action. The problem is not that the Republicans used them, the TRUTH of the issue is that the dems threw away the flags, without a thought.
Our flag represents the hundreds of thousands of people who died for what it stands for. And the d's wonder why their patriotism is called in to question? wake up America.
September 10, 2008
7:30 a.m.
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taoistblockhead writes:
Caplis is a liar, coward and card-carrying member of the American Taliban (aka Religious Right). He's also a sociopath in the tradition of Nixon, Reagan, Cheney, Bush and Rove... Palin is the perfect prop for this crowd of thiefs.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/...
What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? Lipstick
A theocrat is a theocrat, whether Muslim or Christian.
Sept. 9, 2008 | "John McCain announced that he was running for president to confront the "transcendent challenge" of the 21st century, "radical Islamic extremism," contrasting it with "stability, tolerance and democracy." But the values of his handpicked running mate, Sarah Palin, more resemble those of Muslim fundamentalists than they do those of the Founding Fathers. On censorship, the teaching of creationism in schools, reproductive rights, attributing government policy to God's will and climate change, Palin agrees with Hamas and Saudi Arabia rather than supporting tolerance and democratic precepts. What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick."
September 10, 2008
7:42 a.m.
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gary writes:
American flag disappears from Obama campaign jet
Candidate's trademark 'O' replaces stars and stripes
Hey, Campos....did the Nixon Repubs steal this flag too??
Nuff Said!
September 10, 2008
8:59 a.m.
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bobjohnson writes:
Paul,
you are a little off on your facts about Richard Nixon and his times. Nixon, after the Goldwater debacle in 1964, went around the country, spoke at every rally, every dinner, every clam bake he was invited to, for every GOP candidate, raising large amounts of money, as the one-time candidate for president. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of candidates were thus beholden to Nixon.
In 1966, the GOP picked up 47 house seats, thanks in large part to Richard Nixon. That launched his comeback.
War protests didn't heat up till October 1966. The bra burners (a one person, one time event),came a few years later.
Nixon won the nomination in '68, by beating the front runner, George Romney, in the early primaries. As a presidential candidate, Romney, with his "brainwashed" comment, amongst others, was continually putting himself on the defensive. He was an inept political candidate. After the Democratic convention, Nixon, with a huge lead in the polls, tried to run out the clock, saying nothing, and barely won.
"The silent majority" didn't come along as a line till after Nixon became president.
As for whether the "majority" was against Nixon, he carried 49 states in l972. McGovern carried Massachusetts.
Dan Caplis is somebody neither John McCain nor Richard Nixon ever heard of.
September 10, 2008
9:19 a.m.
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Citizen21 writes:
An unidentified man told a Denver TV station he found the flags in a roll off container as he was helping clean up the stadium and that he believed they were being taken to the trash.
A roll-off container is for TRASH! A dumpster is otherwise known as a container or roll-off.
THIS IS THE BIGGEST BALONEY -- "In a statement, the Democratic National Convention Committee said the flags were intended for other events and were taken from the stadium without permission."
The Democratict party messed up. If the flags were for other events, they would have been in boxes. An, if you are at a convention as a participant, why would you throw the flag away? Wouldn't you want to keep it if you were so moved by the event?
September 10, 2008
11:01 a.m.
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DenverDan writes:
Just the right media at its best. sad very sad.
September 10, 2008
11:55 a.m.
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Fireball writes:
Wouldn't we have a great deal more respect if the DNC organizers simply said: "We were wrong on our handling of the flags." Instead, they blame it on some right wing conspiracy. Shameful; so glad this was not my party.
September 10, 2008
12:16 p.m.
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rjnova writes:
Campos wraps himself and Liberals/Democrats in the American flag when caught in the act of indifference to the American Flag. Proper disposal of the flag is by burning not thrash in a dumpster. It is a small consideration but a perfect example of the difference in how Republicans and Democrats look at the Flag and patriotism. One thought is America first and proud to be one. The leftists think the symbolism is out of date and America is the evil in the world. Does this not recall Obama’s disdain for the flag lapel pin? Democrats used the Flag when there was TV coverage of the DNC and out of sight of the camera the Flag had no further use.
Campos screams like a stuck Obama’s pig with lip stick and dredges up Nixon as somekind of bogey man. I fail to get the comparison of Nixon and Democrats throwing American flags in the trash. But leave it to Campos to obfuscate and try to cover for his fellow liberals. Was it not Mark Twain who said:
"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do
read the newspaper you are misinformed."
September 10, 2008
1:22 p.m.
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Jeff writes:
Looks like a great deal of the posters are proving the point of Campos' column.
What Dan Caplis and the attendees of this rally don't understand is that you can't say you're for something if you're only 'for' it in order to be 'against' something else. Ergo, for Caplis and the haters essentially to make the statement, 'Hey, look, we sure love our country and this flag, and our chief use for it is to show how much we hate a good portion of people in this country.' undermines any claim of selfless love for country.
To a previous poster: I too was a the Invesco Field event. I saw quite the outpouring of patriotic symbols and pomp, including a rousing (recorded) performance of "Born in the U.S.A." It's ironic that considering many of Springsteen's politics, he would probably be accused by the Caplises of the country of being unpatriotic. (Aside: When I think about it, I don't even remember anyone wearing a hat ...).
September 10, 2008
2:05 p.m.
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Romulus writes:
Exactly what we have come to expect from the Republicans: gutter politics and shameless lies intended to impugn the patriotism of their targets. But what can you expect from the party of Nixon, Atwater and Rove?
September 10, 2008
2:17 p.m.
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farmboy writes:
Paul,
Here are pictures of the flags that were "packed away".
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/200...
September 10, 2008
2:23 p.m.
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farmboy writes:
And still more "packed away" here.
http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redst...
September 10, 2008
2:30 p.m.
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sulin writes:
Watch the Channel 2 news exclusive interview with the guy who found the flags. Didn't sound at all like a McCain 'operative'. And did I miss the news report where the DNCC reported they were missing a bunch of trash bags filled with flags? I would've been more inclined to believe the Obama campaign if they had said something earlier.
And, by the way, why is Dan Caplis getting the heat for this? He was just the emcee that day.
September 10, 2008
2:52 p.m.
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Cwillyrun1 writes:
If the flags really were "stolen", as the Dems are claiming, and considering their constant bitterness and vengefulness, why aren't they looking to press charges? They got caught, and now the backpedaling isn't working, except on deluded libs like Campos. Why look at the obvious when it doesn't fit their spinning story?
September 10, 2008
3:17 p.m.
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NancyB writes:
I hear Democrats hate America so much that they want to secede from the United States. Oops -- that's Palin!
September 10, 2008
4:54 p.m.
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blacksho89 writes:
Jeff:
If you were on the floor, I can't speak for what you saw in hats. But I assure you that it was a very sunny day, and there were a lot of hats in the stands.
BTW: Born In The USA is NOT a patriotic song. It is ironic.
September 10, 2008
5:59 p.m.
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flaco writes:
As an independent Hispanic Voter, be careful. If anybody thinks
that the Hispanic vote is yours because of Liberal Hispanic's like Campos be careful.My daughter (22) brought me one of those flags. If Palin was a Demo she would be loved. With a wife and 3 voting daughters sick of the attacks (voting for McCain would of been Clinton) I think with these attacks you have open up a Pandora's box. I have COUNTED over 30 (Hispanic )family members who will not vote for Obama. I am watching neigbors (Hispanic Demo's) how won't be voting with him. I am still indepentent yet I am fascinated watching you people fight. Remember Demo's the Hispanic vote brought in Bush (right or wrong). FORGET Campos he isn't mainstream Hispanic. We are listening.
September 10, 2008
10:44 p.m.
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bassman writes:
This could just boil down to a he said/she said type of argument. However, common sense tells me that a worker inadvertantly throwing out the flags is a heck of a lot more likely than a Republican operative stealing flags. Common sense also suggests, perhaps, that another comment in here could be true. If you're packing up after the convention, and you want to STORE the flags, why would you put the flags in trash bags? Trash bags would rip and boxes would stack more easily. And why wouldn't the Dems report the theft of thousands of flags to the police?
September 11, 2008
12:49 p.m.
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rickg19611 writes:
Yeah.... Democrats always store their American flags in the trash!!!!
I'm not sure who is dumber..... Campos for thinking that anyone would believe his excuse, or anyone stupid enough to believe it.
September 11, 2008
6:38 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
Sitting behind the stage, I saw about 50 men and women, members of the VFW walk into the hangar with black trash bags. These were stacked on the stage. I've made this point repeatedly here. These were trash bags, not packing crates designed to protect precious cargo. A friend who had traveled with the flags explained to me the difference in the loading dock and the trash dock, a distance. The flags were on the trash dock, destined for a landfill.
Not necessarily to agree with Woodwose's articulate assessment of Campos, but it would be appreciated if Campos occasionally checked his facts.
September 11, 2008
8:43 p.m.
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diggtbks writes:
Hey Compost next time don't get caught throwing the American Flag into the trash.
You patriot you....
September 11, 2008
9:20 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
Liberals believe in neither symbols nor ritual. A flag to them is merely a prop. Liberalism is ultimately a cult of death via substance abuse, abortion, euthanasia; nothing time-honored. Not found in their lexicon are virtues known to all cultures: courage, duty, honor, dignity. A human being can strive for these. How does one strive for equality except to tear others down?
September 12, 2008
10:59 a.m.
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WestminsterJ writes:
A sure calling card of demagogues is their fetishism concerning symbols, at the expense of what the symbols stand for.
September 12, 2008
3:53 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
WestminsterJ,
Respecting the flag is not demogogic fetishism, rather your point speaks to the disrespect of it. So if Democrats had not thrown away those flags in would somehow be demagogic? Thank you for helping make my point.
I know if you disrespect your own traditions, you're surely in disrespect of mine and all others. You cannot embrace diversity if you insist your own cultural atheism in the only way.
September 12, 2008
6 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
Jeeze, let's replace some n's with s's.
September 12, 2008
11:52 p.m.
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WestminsterJ writes:
Hopiman: I wasn't talking about respecting the flag, which is a good thing, I was talking about:
1. Concluding from inadvertant disrespect of some miniature flags (assuming that even happened) that the offending parties "hate" the flag and the country, which is what your comrades here have been accusing Democrats of, and
2. The earlier manufactured controversies over Obama's wearing or non-wearing of a flag lapel pin, and the supposed diappearance of a flag emblem from his aircraft, which have been referenced here to show Obama's supposed lack of patriotism; and
3. The Republican tendency to festoon their stages with 20 or so flags to prove how oh-so patriotic they are.
All of which are clear examples of fetishism.
September 15, 2008
7:05 a.m.
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anthony writes:
Perhaps this was a Republican dirty trick. But it wouldn't have been so effective if it weren't so easily believed. The Democrats ought to be asking themselves why it's so easy to paint them as anti-American.