It looks like that time of year before the elections has come when each of the candidates is the target of a wave of unsubstantiated claims. The most curious thing about these rumors is how so many conservatives are gullible enough to believe them and pass them on as truth. The rumors, generally spread by email, sometimes with the help of The National Enquirer, claim that both John Edwards and Hillary Clinton are having affairs with women. As far as I know, Obama has been spared from these attacks but has been the target of many others, such as the claim that he is Muslum or went to a Madrassa.
Obama is currently being subjected to an email campaign claiming he refused to say the pledge of allegiance. The Fact Checker at The Washington Post (Hat tip to Think on These Things) debunks this one:
The photograph was taken on September 16, 2007, at Senator Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry festivities in Iowa, an important ritual for Democratic presidential hopefuls. Contrary to the e-mails attacking Obama for disrespecting the flag, the candidates were not reciting the pledge of allegiance. They were standing for the national anthem.
As far as we can ascertain, the photograph first appeared in Time Magazine on October 1. Visit Time’s website for a larger version. It was then picked up by the NewsBusters blog (Motto: “Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias”), and from there made its way into all those in-boxes.
To his credit, the NewsBusters blogger does not try to pretend that the photograph had anything to do with the pledge of allegiance. Instead he cites Title 36 or the U.S. Code, which states the following:
During a rendition of the national anthem, when the flag is displayed (A) all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart; (B) men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart;
By that standard, everybody in the picture (Obama, Richardson, Clinton, and Ruth Harkin) was infringing the Code, as they had their backs to the flag. On the other hand, the Code refers specifically to “Patriotic and National Observances.” We welcome the opinion of protocol experts, but we are not sure that a steak fry qualifies as a “Patriotic Observance,” even in Iowa. Since the steak fry was awash with flags, it is quite possible that the aforementioned political candidates were facing the flag and had their backs to the flag at the same time.
We see Obama’s behavior when the pledge is actually being recited in the photo below: