Thursday, November 5, 2009
Politics This "Pledge of Allegiance" Drives Me Crazy, Teabaggers!
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 2:25 PM
As I reported in the Morning News, there was another flagrant teabagging in Washington DC today.
Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri today led a crowd of Teabaggers in front of the Capitol in a rousing recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. He said it "drives liberals crazy" when people say the Pledge. Well, our skin doesn't burn or anything when you say it aloud, Rep. Akin, but it does drive us crazy when somebody gets all smug about owning the Pledge of Allegiance and then he can't fucking say it without screwing it up:
Share via
1
I love saying the pledge of allegiance. It feels so anachronistic in a cool way for one, and on the other hand I love my country even though it's got a large number of crazies who stand outside government offices jabbering.
2
God just commanded us to divide the nation into portions, one each for the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Let's get to work!
3
This was truly as bold, exciting, and courageous demonstration of patriotism.
Only a class of fourth-graders could have done better.
Only a class of fourth-graders could have done better.
4
Oh, bless their hearts. They're trying so hard and they want so much to be right. I bet somebody needed a hug after that.
5
I never did it. Seems cult like. I can love this country without pledging allegiance to cloth. I care more for the people. Even the dumb ones.
8
I just drop the "under God" bit that the crazies stuck in there and it's OK with me. Though really, it's the country, not the flag. I'm not very big on the flag.
10
I didn't appreciate how harmless this sort of thoughtless nationalism was until my school instituted a 1 minute "moment of silence" that was actually masked school prayer. No lie.
Our principal would hit the feedback button on the intercom and listen in to classes to make sure students were prayingbeing silent, and would penalize teachers if they didn'tweren't.
After that shift, I snapped upright and said my pledge so I could have an excuse not to sit with my head down. "But I said my pledge!" I'd say. It worked in the three years I was under the reign of this heinous school prayer policy.
She was crazy. Crazy crazy woman from Temple, TX.
Our principal would hit the feedback button on the intercom and listen in to classes to make sure students were prayingbeing silent, and would penalize teachers if they didn'tweren't.
After that shift, I snapped upright and said my pledge so I could have an excuse not to sit with my head down. "But I said my pledge!" I'd say. It worked in the three years I was under the reign of this heinous school prayer policy.
She was crazy. Crazy crazy woman from Temple, TX.
12
It's quite ironic how much they froth at the mouth about the pledge of allegiance and the flag and patriotism, and turn right the fuck around and blame everything on the big bad guv'ment. It's like they're strangling it while getting mad at everybody else for not loving it. I can't wait for their anger to melt their own brains.
15
It drives liberals crazy. In fact crazy enough to start TWO wars, run the country into the ditch with massive borrowing and war spending, force down America's throat abstinence only sex education, and say one talks to God in the White house. Oh those dam CRAZY liberals! Them so silly...
16
@10, Temple -- that's where Loveschild is from! Down there in Shooter Country!
I just leave the "under God" part out, which isn't supposed to be there anyways.
I just leave the "under God" part out, which isn't supposed to be there anyways.
17
it only makes me crazy in that "under god" blatantly violates the establishment clause, and the rest of it is proto-fascist.
18
Loveschoad @7, click on your name, where it's underlined here in the comments, to bring up your MyStranger profile. On the left under where your picture's supposed to be, click on "edit your profile". Halfway down you'll see a place to upload.
19
I go to all manner of meetings of public bodies all over the state, including in some very liberal places, and most of them begin with the pledge. No one seems crazy. And they sure as hell aren't as crazy as this moron.
20
I never say the "under God" part either. I would rather swear a pledge to the Constitution, btw. PS, I love how they always use flags in their clothing and on their products, but such usage of the flag is quite the faux pas. Yes, even for 9/11.
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/wallofsha…
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/wallofsha…
24
Fun fact: "Under God" was not originally in the pledge, it was added in 1954.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_a…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_a…
25
Reminds me of what happened in Denver last night, when a bunch of teabaggers confronted some pro-health reform protesters with aggressive chants of USA! USA! USA! Check it out:
http://www.coloradopols.com/diary/10744/…
http://www.coloradopols.com/diary/10744/…
27
Classy... draw a clear dividing line between "us" and "them" by fingerpointing at the liberals, then leave out "indivisible." Niiiiice one.
30
@20 - thanks for the link. I didn't know half that stuff... but then, I never made it past WEBELOS.
32
A few interesting facts about the Pledge:
1) It was first written in 1892 (quite a while after the American Revolution, for those teabaggers asserting some sort of call to return to the days of the Founding Fathers)
2) It's been revised at least four times.
3) It was originally done accompanied by the Bellamy salute (named after Francis Bellamy, the pledge's author), which was changed in 1942 to the current hand-over-heart gesture since it looked exactly like the Nazi salute. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_sal…)
* All facts courtesy of Wikipedia.org...
1) It was first written in 1892 (quite a while after the American Revolution, for those teabaggers asserting some sort of call to return to the days of the Founding Fathers)
2) It's been revised at least four times.
3) It was originally done accompanied by the Bellamy salute (named after Francis Bellamy, the pledge's author), which was changed in 1942 to the current hand-over-heart gesture since it looked exactly like the Nazi salute. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_sal…)
* All facts courtesy of Wikipedia.org...
33
It's not the pledge that drives "liberals" crazy, it's covering your sin and greed and warmongering with the flag.
34
Reminds me of when the Vocal Department head at my college did the Star Spangled Banner at the homecoming game and sang "or the home of the brave".
36
@20:
Not to mention the fact that so many of those little flag lapel pins and little plastic hand-wavey flags are manufactured in a Communist country...
Not to mention the fact that so many of those little flag lapel pins and little plastic hand-wavey flags are manufactured in a Communist country...
37
aw, this is my rep. No shit, I live in his district. I fucking hate him. Last time he pissed me off he was signing that stupid letter to Obama regarding Kevin Jennings.
38
I'm sure the teabaggers would like to revise the pledge once more to end:
"with liberty, and justice, to all middle-age, middle-class, white, christian, straight (closeted), men."
"with liberty, and justice, to all middle-age, middle-class, white, christian, straight (closeted), men."
39
Like a few teabaggers I've met this guy is a little sketchy on the "indivisible" part...
hey that's fair, I'm sketchy about the "under god" part.
hey that's fair, I'm sketchy about the "under god" part.
40
@ 32,
Don't forget that "under God" was added in the McCarthy era to combat Communism and atheism. The original version doesn't contain it at all, much to the chagrin of the Jeebus nuts.
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to* the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"
Don't forget that "under God" was added in the McCarthy era to combat Communism and atheism. The original version doesn't contain it at all, much to the chagrin of the Jeebus nuts.
"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to* the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"
41
@31, I can see your profile. You can also get to it from the upper right corner of the main Slog page, up there where it says "Hey there, Loveschoad | Profile | Log Out"
42
I hope that folks noticed Washington Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers was one of the wingnuts, standing directly behind the speaker. I'm so proud.
43
Fucking dumbass conservatives.
I get so fucking tired of them acting as though they own the rights to patriotism and the Deed of Trust to Heaven.
I get so fucking tired of them acting as though they own the rights to patriotism and the Deed of Trust to Heaven.
44
Well, Missouri was a border state in the Civil War. Sent soldiers, generals, and political representatives to both sides of the conflict. If even your state is divisible, I guess it's a little easier to believe in national division. I vote that this was at best a Freudian slip.
45
leaving out indivisible makes sense to me because I have mentally divided out the eastern half of Washington this week and given it to Idaho.
46
Here's Porky Pig reciting the pledge of allegiance (sans "under god", a phrase cribbed from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and added to the pledge in 1954) in the 1939 cartoon "Old Glory" at 8:23. If you don't want to watch until the end, there's a shot of the pledge in print at 0:44.
http://vodpod.com/watch/969801-porky-pig…
http://vodpod.com/watch/969801-porky-pig…
Most Commented on Slog
-
Slog Somehow Overlooked... by Dan Savage
-
VivaVulva Viagra! by Dan Savage -
Health at Every Size by Dan Savage
-
Life and Death in a Recliner in South Carolina by Dan Savage
-
"Let his days be few... Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." by Dan Savage
-
Feeling Sorry for Carrie Prejean by Dan Savage
-
Last Night's Colbert Report by Dan Savage
-
$2,600,000,000 by Dan Savage
-
All The Best Men Are Taken by Dan Savage
-
I Hate You, Garrison Keillor by Jen Graves
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (46) RSS