'Thrown Away Flags' Story False, Dem Convention Official Says

Days before September 11, on the same morning that John McCain and Barack Obama released a joint statement pledging to avoid politics in light of the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, McCain's campaign accused Democrats of throwing away 12,000 American flags.

"The campaign says the flags were recovered from Invesco Field after the Democrats concluded their convention there," Fox News reported, "and they are going to be used as part of the warm-up ceremonies before McCain takes the stage" for a rally in Colorado Springs, Col.

But according to a senior official involved in organizing the Democratic convention, the McCain camp is simply lying about the flags.

"All of the flags at Invesco were picked up and put in bags and into storage, along with the unused flags and campaign signs. The flags were going to be donated, and the signs were going to be sent out to be used elsewhere," the official said, speaking anonymously since he was not authorized to talk to the press.

Fox News' Carl Cameron and Bonney Kapp reported that they had "been told" that "a vendor at Invesco Field found the flags, which were going to be thrown out, and turned them over to the McCain campaign."

The Democratic convention official says that's not true.

"It's pretty reprehensible on their part," he said. "Someone made an assumption, took the flags, and essentially lied about what was going to happen to them. I mean, c'mon, we were never ever going to throw out flags."

Emails to three McCain spokespersons inquiring where the flags were found and how the McCain campaign obtained them were not returned.

UPDATE: DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney issues a statement: "American flags were proudly waved by the 75,000 people who joined Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention. John McCain should applaud that, but instead his supporters wrongfully took leftover bundles of our flags from the stadium to play a cheap political stunt calling into question our patriotism. On the same day he agrees to join Barack Obama at Ground Zero on September 11, John McCain attacks the patriotism of Obama supporters who so proudly waved the American flag at our historic event in Denver just days ago."

UPDATE II: Another statement from the Democratic National Convention Committee: "Stories circulating about flags at the Democratic National Convention are false. We distributed more than 125,000 American made flags at the Convention - the flags removed from Invesco field were intended for other events and taken without permission. It's disappointing that someone would take American flags without authorization and then falsely describe how they were being used. We have the utmost respect for the American flag, and it's sad to see them being used for a cheap political stunt."

Comments

[4real]

First lapel pins now paper flags. Repubs are pathetic is they think the American people really care about this crap.

What a joke this election has turned into. People are looking for solutions and all the Repubs want to do is make snide remarks, tell jokes and hide on No Talk Express.

I hope Americans vote their pocketbooks this November and throw these bums out.

[TimmySlagle]

"pathetic is they think the American people really care about this crap"

They do. That's why the DNC is going into spin cycle on this one. It's why they handed out flags to all the people in the stadium in the first place.

You're highlighting the biggest problem your Party faces: you try to project your values onto Americans, rather than paying attention to the ones they already hold

[SunshineDaydream]

what is your proof that this actually happened?

[Eoin45]

You and your party don't hold ANY values LittleTimmy. You talk about them but you don't practice them. In the end you are the party of selfishness, greed and winning at any cost. You don't hold any monopoly on patriotism or the right to wave flags. I'll be delighted in November when the Republican blight on this nation is swept away in a wave of genuine patriotism.

[terragazelle60]

"you try to project your values onto Americans",
hey humanoid..We are Americans.
Ya Dufus.

[dadw5boys]

A REPUBLICAN CONTRACTOR CAUSING PROBLEMS !!!!!!

TYPICAL !

[Time2WakeUpUSA]

These slimball repubs and Faux News are unreal! this campaign is looking just like 2004 -- not surprising sine McBush has hired several of the same snakes that ran Bush's campaign...

Don't be fooled!!!!!

[Kassandra]

I received one of these lying emails from "Red State" about this. They said they "looked everywhere" for the American Flag at the "Democrat" Convention and all they found were ones in garbage bags, supposedly proving the un-patrioticness of the Dems.

they must have counted on their peeps not even switching it on to see as I saw more flags at the D convention than I did at the R convention. ( course there weren't as many people at the R convention)

[dadw5boys]

Where do the Republicans store their extra flags on COFFINS ??????

[TimmySlagle]

there are no "extra" flags after a Republican event. They all go home.

[joanno]

The dems need to start running an ad with the word lie in bold face type followed by an example, then the word lie appears again followed by another example, then one more cycle. The ad should stay on until the election and be updated with fresh examples that are sure to follow . That is the only word powerful enough to get through the fog being created. Things are going to get much, much worse.

[BlueOnBlue]

I have two of the flags from Invesco and am proudly flying them on my porch, beside an Obama sign. I also wear an Obama 08 flag lapel pin every day.

[Susan60]

Hmmmm. I see a connection here. The Republicans are proudly waving stolen flags at McCain events. They stole those flags just like the Republicans stole American peace and prosperity. Oh, the irony of it all.

[breakingnews]

Why not, Pappy has stolen every idea O has come up with, may as well start stealing property as well!

[djreedps]

1. Republicans do something evil, then lie about it to make the Democrats look bad.
2. Democrats try but fail to defend against the Republican wrongdoing and lies.
3. Ignorant voters believe that Democrats are unpatriotic, so they vote Republican.
4. Republicans win elections.

Where have I seen this before? This is the standard Republican game plan. It works every time. And Democrats so far have never been able to stop it.

[LargeJ]

Oh wow. This is a big deal.....true or not, what the Republicans are now saying is that Democrats aren't patriotic? This is not longer an attack on Obama anymore...this is a total embrace of neo-conservative plays......calling into question whether or not we (dems) are patriotic. How bout we start a rumor now too...all those balloons that the repubs dropped were made in......Mexico, China, and Iran.

[rsaillant1]

Yeah, and let's start this rumor, too.

Let's say that the Republicans have not kept us safe from terrorist attacks, let's spread the
rumor that they, Bush & Cheney, occupied the White House when 9-11 occurred, and that
they led the country, through lies and deceit, to attack a soverign nation and thousands of
our service men and women lost their lives and hundreds of thousands of civilians of the
country we invaded, died, were mutilated or displaced by our invasion.

And let's start the rumor that the leader of the terrorists that flew those planes, is still alive,
safe and sound and thumbing his nose at us. And lets....what? Uh, you mean all that stuff is all
true? Why haven't we reminded the Republicans and the country of that?

I guess the story to spread is that in the 9th month of his first term in office, after ignoring
numerous warnings, George W. Bush sat in a school room reading "MY PET GOAT."...and he
sat there, and sat there and sat........

[TN]

As a contributor to the Obama campaign, I feel as though those flags were stolen from me.

[notthistime]

and there you have it. They should reimburse the campaign.

[amcg50]

Republicans and Fox lying?

Really?

[sg096]

no way...fair and balanced
my arrs

[McMullen]

Isn't posession of stolen property a felony? EVERY Republican who shows up with a stolen flag should be arrested, period.

[notthistime]

EXACTLY and in addition to being charged with theft, they should be charged with defamation of character of all democrats, republicans and independents that attended the Denver convention.

[Piatt]

Easy to see why the Republicans want to lie about flags. Unemployment has reached a five year high and 9.2% of American homeowners are either behind in their mortgage payments or in foreclosure. Isn't it ironic that the self-described "reformers" and "mavericks" are playing the same old distract, distort, and divide game?

[dadw5boys]

Personally I would rather see a used American Flag in the garbage than on a COFFIN !!!!!!!

[chameleon59]

Oh, but haven't you heard? The Feds are doing a wonderful job of shoring up the economy. It's not THEIR fault that it's in the toilet. It's all the wrong and bad choices made by individuals over the last eight years. The current government had NOTHING to do with any of it.It's all the silly liberal dems and poor folks who should have known better than to believe in the promises that the economy was getting better day by day.

[JenMI]

Here goes the Right again....don't forget they are the judge and jury, arbiters and definers of Patriotism.

[ByeByeBushie]

Stupid. Annoying. Absurd. Pathetic. Cheap.

So many adjectives, so little time.

Fox News and the Republicans they serve are so repugnant (another adjective!) that it begs why ANYONE gives them any credence AT ALL.

What would the odds be of a clean-up guy at the Dem's convention finding all these discarded flags, feeling such intense indignance and patriotism, then knowing who/how to contact the Republican convention planners in order to get the flags up to Minnesota so that they could wave them?

Really stupid. Another outright lie.