Mitt Romney,  President 2008

Mitt Romney Watch: The American Flag Desecration Gaffe

January 18, 2008 /

Mitt Romney signing an American Flag in South Carolina yesterday

So, is this a desecration of the American Flag?

You bet.

  • The laws relating to the flag of the United States of America are found in detail in the United States Code. Title 4, Chapter 1 pertains to the flag; Title 18, Chapter 33, Section 700 regards criminal penalties for flag desecration; Title 36, Chapter 3 pertains to patriotic customs and observances. These laws were supplemented by Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations.

From the United States Code:

§3. Use of flag for advertising purposes; mutilation of flag

Any person who, within the District of Columbia, in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America; or shall expose or cause to be exposed to public view any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign upon which shall have been printed, painted, or otherwise placed, or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed, or annexed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall manufacture, sell, expose for sale, or to public view, or give away or have in possession for sale, or to be given away or for use for any purpose, any article or substance being an article of merchandise, or a receptacle for merchandise or article or thing for carrying or transporting merchandise, upon which shall have been printed, painted, attached, or otherwise placed a representation of any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign, to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark, or distinguish the article or substance on which so placed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. The words “flag, standard, colors, or ensign”, as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America. (Flap’s emphasis)

Mitt Romney, in fact, committed a misdemeanor crime if he had been in the District of Columbia.

Romney should know better.

Mitt should apologize immediately.

8 Comments

  • Brian

    January 21, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    Are you saying there should be different laws for a person depending on their position?

    I think it tacky to write on a flag but as far as criminal charges or a fine goes it could be easily struck down by the Supreme Court using the same logic of Texas V Johnson.

  • Flap

    January 21, 2008 at 3:20 pm

    What are you trying to say? You have questions but never a statement.

    All you try to do is stir up shit, Brian.

    Are you an internet troll?

  • Brian

    January 21, 2008 at 8:48 pm

    I said it is tacky but under the same logic used by the Supreme Court in Texas V Johnson it is symbolic speech and protected. I agree it is a gaffe and it isn’t in good taste. We both agree that Bush and Romney shouldn’t have done it.

    I think the law is a feel good law that is not enforceable and as defined by the Supreme Court it is protected speech.

    All of that is a statement.

    Do you think the ruling in Texas V Johnson was wrong?

    Do you really think the law is constitutional?

    A troll is someone trying to throw a wrench in the discussion. You brought up people signing flags, I added to it.

    But I guess if you favor a Flag Protection Amendment you think all of this should be illegal. Do you?

    Hey, sorry I don’t agree with you and ask questions. Feel free to just delete everything I say and get back to Rudy praise.

  • Flap

    January 21, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    The point is that Romney desecrated the flag – not protected speech or Supreme Court decisions on burning the flag.

    Did President Bush desecrate the flag? Yes, he did. He should apologize, too.

    People should read the flag rules and abide by them. Romney who is running for President should have known better and it is a gaffe.

    It is irrelevant whether I think Texas v. Johnson was rightly or wrongly decided. It is constitutional because the Supreme Court held to that opinion.

    Congress has attempted to pass an amendment to the Constitution reversing the ruling but it has been unable to pass the US Senate.

    Would I favor a Flag Protection Amendment? Yes. Remember the last one was for intentional acts of desecration.

    `The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.’.