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The terrorist attacks on America of September 11, 2001 resulted in a wave of patriotism that had not been seen in decades. The shared enthusiasm for the country and the flag were strong and widespread. It created difficulties for reporters, however, who try to professionally earn and keep people's trust by avoiding personal partisan displays while reporting the news. It was not only ABC but many other media outlets who struggled with trying to preserve their image as journalists

Sometimes I think the best thing about Barack Obama is that little empty space on his lapel. It is where other politicians wear their American flag pin, a kitschy piece of empty symbolism that tells you nothing about that particular person except that he or she thinks like everyone else. Obama's flag, invisible to the naked eye, is the Jolly Roger of a politician thinking for himself. The flag pin issue arose last fall when someone noticed that Obama was campaigning in the patriotic nude. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, wearing the pin had become de rigueur for politicians. Obama...

Like many Americans, I hung our country’s flag on Sept. 11, 2001. Since then several flags have worn out and been replaced and retired. But it may finally be time to furl the latest flag and put it away for good. That seems to be the patriotic thing to do. At least according to Barack Obama. Recently, a reporter asked Obama to explain why he doesn’t wear an American flag pin in his lapel. Continues...=================================================================== Counting liberals on the head of a flag pin If this keeps up, pretty soon Barack Hussein Obama will have to start burning American flags...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Lunacy among our public figures in this country certainly didn't subside over the weeks that I've been away from the broadcast. I've been no less than astounded by the incongruity, the contradiction, the specious and silly public statements by public and political figures over something like a flag pin worn on one's lapel. Like many Americans, I began wearing a flag pin after September 11. I do so out of respect for those killed in the terrorist attacks, and in recognition of this country's war on radical Islamist terror. It turns out that some journalists and...

On Monday’s "Lou Dobbs Tonight," host Lou Dobbs took aim at Katie Couric and Bill Moyers for "silly public statements" they’ve made regarding the practice of wearing an American flag lapel pin. "CBS's Katie Couric, of all people, taking exception to an American journalist saying 'we,' when referring to the United States.... I'm sorry, Katie Couric, but who could possibly be offended by acknowledging those troops who have sacrificed so much for us and ours?... PBS's Bill Moyers says the flag's been hijacked and turned into a logo, the trademark of a monopoly on patriotism. Oh, please, Bill Moyers, you're...

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said Friday that he would not condemn Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for dropping his American flag lapel pin in the wake of the Iraq war. "A lot of people might condemn him," said Paul, "I'm neither going to condemn him nor praise him because I don't know his inner motivation." "He may be very, very sincere in what he is saying," he added. Paul, who, like Obama, opposed the Iraq war before it began, made his comments to ABC News two days after the Illinois Democrat told ABC's affiliate in Cedar rapids that he stopped...

Yes, for the past two days we’ve been treated to the important discussion over Barak Obama’s decision not to wear a flag lapel pin. The message implicit in this debate is this: those running for office aren’t serious. We have a government that is dysfunctional at almost every level, and seems to operate in a twilight zone devoid of both common sense and accountability. Our education system is in full collapse. Our courts are overrun with junk lawsuits. Our imperfect health care system is in danger of a government takeover. Entitlements such as medicare and social security are facing ruination....

Sen. Barack Obama, would-be President of the United States, showed a breathtaking misunderstanding of the symbolism of the American flag yesterday when he explained why he does not display the Stars and Stripes on his jacket lapel. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Obama said, "I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest," because he felt that supporters of the war in Iraq had, in effect, appropriated lapel flags and were using them as a "substitute for I think true patriotism." And he wanted none of it.

On Friday's "Good Morning America," ABC reporter David Wright narrated a sympathetic look at Barack Obama's decision not to wear an American flag lapel pin and asserted that this country's "obsession with flag pins is relatively new." To further defend the Democratic presidential candidate, Wright pointedly noted that liberal bogeyman Richard Nixon wore such a pin. He observed, "Ike didn't wear one. JFK either. Nixon did wear the flag as he told the American people he had nothing to do with Watergate." Of course, Wright himself was not wearing a pin with the U.S. flag on it. As the MRC...

Correctional officers at state correctional institutions, including the two located in Luzerne County, have been ordered to remove American flag and yellow ribbon pins from their uniforms. The order from Secretary of Corrections Jeffrey A. Beard on Sept. 2 has upset many correctional officers who wore the stars and stripes and yellow pins to show support for military personnel fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "No one wants to get fired, but it's a matter of principle," said Jim Chernavage, business agent for the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association. Beard said in his order that the responsibility of the department of...

<p>WAYNESBURG, Pa. -- Prison guards' patriotic pins have become a sticky issue at a maximum-security state prison.</p> <p>More than 50 of the 130 corrections officers at the State Correctional Institution at Greene began wearing pins depicting American flags and a yellow ribbon about two weeks ago. The pins are a show of support for U.S. troops in Iraq, the guards said.</p>