General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI have a (serious, technical) question about these flags that Mitt is standing in front of.
Last edited Wed Sep 12, 2012, 03:03 PM - Edit history (1)
Can somebody answer it?
A) I thought that there was some custom/tradition that only official U.S. Govt. office holders (ie-Presidents, Judges etc.) could display a flag with a gold fringe. (Also known as an "Admiralty Flag." I don't recall Obama ever standing in front of a gold fringed flag before he was elected, but I could be wrong. (Update: Obama DID, but he was a serving U.S. Senator at the time, so it might not have been inappropriate. A candidate who currently holds no public office might be a different story, but I don't know.)
B) Don't the 'Patriots' (aka-constitutional crackpots) seriously object to the use of the 'Admiralty Flag' with the gold fringe, and insist that everyone should use the "Constitutional Flag" which doesn't have the gold fringe?
Not that it's a huge issue, but anything that might drive a wedge between Mitt and his own party's 'fringe' is interesting to me.
Control-Z
(15,682 posts)Will come back to see if anyone knows.
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)It has no symbolism.
Brother Buzz
(36,505 posts)Aristus
(66,530 posts)The word 'fringe' occurred to me, too...
TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)The Tea Party crowd must have been off someplace protesting the Kenyan Userper?
onenote
(42,847 posts)relate to its use by the military. However, there are no rules etc. regarding its use in other situations; it is not considered inappropriate in a standing flag display (but would be considered inappropriate to be flown outside with fringe).
Some crackpots do object to the use of the fringed flag. Some even attacked President Obama when, as a candidate, he appeared before a fringed flag. It was a stupid attack for them to make and it would be stupid attack for us to make against romney.
TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)given that Obama was a serving U.S. Senator at the time. So, it wouldn't be inappropriate for him to display an Admiralty flag. I'm pretty sure every U.S. Senator has one in his/her office.
A former governor who doesn't currently hold office might be another matter.
onenote
(42,847 posts)There are no rules prescribing or proscribing the use of a gold fringed flag outside the military context. No rules regarding its use by a sitting Senator or by a former governor or by a high school choir. So the only "equivalence" is that they are all the same and that its no more or less appropriate for a senator, a former governor, or a cheerleader to appear in front or or alongside a fringed flag. (For what its worth, the flag that stood in the auditorium of my high school was a gold fringed flag).
TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)A Presidential candidate is.
onenote
(42,847 posts)to appear in front of a gold fringed flag? These diplomatic protocols and customs to which you refer simply don't exist except for the few crackpots that try to make a big deal out of virtually any use of the gold fringed flag outside the military context. It wasn't wrong for then-candidate Obama to appear in front of a gold fringed flag, not because he was a Senator, but because it simply isn't wrong, period.
TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)it isn't inappropriate. I didn't say I had proof one way or the other.
lastlib
(23,388 posts)that wasn't decked out in gold?
TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)mrmpa
(4,033 posts)THE UNITED STATES MILITARY FLAG WITH THE GOLD FRINGE
FLAG Martial Law; "Pursuant to 4 U.S.C. chapter 1, §§1, 2, & 3; Executive Order 10834, August 21, 1959; 24 F.R.6865; a military flag is a flag that resembles the regular flag of the United States, except that it has a YELLOW FRINGE border on three sides. The president of the United States designates this deviation from the regular flag, by executive order, and in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief.
FLAG Martial Law;The Placing of a fringe on the national flag, the dimensions of the flag and the arrangement of the stars in the union are matters of detail not controlled by statute, but are within the discretion of the President as commander in Chief of the Army and Navy." 34 Ops. Atty. Gen. 83.
President, Dwight David Eisenhower, by Executive Order No.10834, signed on August 21, 1959 and printed in the Federal Register at 24 F.R. 6865, pursuant to law, stated that: "A military flag is a flag that resembles the regular flag of the United States, except that it has a Yellow Fringe border on three sides."
FLAG Martial law; "The use of such a fringe is prescribed in current Army Regulation no. 260-10." 34 Ops. Atty. . Gen. 483, 485.
FLAG Martial law; "Ancient custom sanctions the use of the fringe on regimental colors and standards, but there seems to be no good reason or precedent for its use on other flags." The Adjutant General of the Army, March 28, 1924, (1925); 34 Ops. Atty. Gen. 483, 485.
MADem
(135,425 posts)He probably busted in and snatched the flags of the Army, Navy, USAF and USMC recruiters...!
Nothing would surprise me.
Nothing.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)spanone
(135,950 posts)TrollBuster9090
(5,955 posts)window, and the podium. Also, presidential challengers often make some kind of a faux-Presidential Seal to put on the podium that resembles the official Seal.
The subliminal props of a Presidential press conference were all bang on, but the sweaty, stuttering, smirking, petty little man was not. If anybody wants to see a preview of what a Romney Presidency would look like...that was it!
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)I was following the local news and they said R$'s peeps took down all the campaign signs and threw out the dozens there to see him at a campaign event tuned presser.