However, what you'll see is that the U.S. Flag gets knocked to the ground, trampled on, and never picked up.
Konop picks up a sign and a chair, but not the flag. In fact, each time he bends over, once for the sign and then again for the chair, I thought he was going to pick up the flag...but no.
No matter what the purpose of the video, this is not the way to treat our flag - and is certainly not acceptable behavior from a candidate and sitting commissioner.
UPDATE: As you can see from the link, the video has been removed (sometime this morning after it started getting media attention) and is no longer viewable at this site. Obviously Konop and his handlers realize that this was very stupid, completely irresponsible, disrespectful and damaging to his political aspirations.
Because I expected Konop to delete this, I videotaped it from the public domain and am providing that video here under Fair Use rules, as it demonstrates a newsworthy action of a public official:
In this Toledo Free Press article, Konop says this was a mistake that 'could have happened to a 60-year-old political.'
When asked about if participating in this video played into the idea that he is too young to be mayor, Konop said he is 33 years old, a commissioner, an attorney and a law professor. He said he believes he has acted maturely in elected office. This is a personal issue, not a campaign issue, he said.
Yeah - right! This is a campaign issue no matter how much he says it isn't.
WTOL also covered Konop's press conference and his comment that he hopes "to deal better with these kinds of situations in the future."
His failure to show the proper respect to the flag of our country, no matter what the circumstances, is a direct reflection on him and while he has apologized, it won't be forgotten.
9 comments:
Ben is making a video making fun of the video of him looking stupid?
So it's not just the desecration of the flag, it's the lack of respect.
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagcode.htm
And he put it on YouTube?
wow
What a great TV commercial for his opponents to use! All the commercial has to say is: Do you want Ben Konop to be Toledo's next mayor? The video says everything about this freaking fool.
So it is okay for someone to craft boxers out of the flag and wear it in public; it is perfectly acceptable for folks to put the flag of the Confederacy on their trucks, their shirts, even their campaign literature (yeah, those are the folks that killed American soldiers) but Ben is playing around and knocks down a flag and its a scandal? Damn, you people are hurting for material. Perhaps you could google something interesting to "write" about Maggie?
John - if you don't think my blog is 'interesting' ... don't read it.
As for the other comments, please show where I've approved of using the U.S. Flag as clothing. You can't - because I've not done so.
And we're talking about the U.S. Flag - not any other.
It's too bad that your reaction to Konop doing something inappropriate is to attack me.
Must be a slow news day in Toledo...
Nice work!
Next time use a service like this: http://keepvid.com/
This guy is a YouTube superstar twice over!
Matt Barker - It’s too bad you think so little of desecration of the flag and of the need for elected representatives to follow flag etiquette that you would make a comment like that.
You may think this isn’t a big deal, but plenty of others disagree.
If the American flag were not in the video, it would still be stupid. I am still scratching my head over the fact that a "33 years old, a commissioner, an attorney and a law professor" would show such immaturity to make this video. And this is one of our choices for mayor. No wonder Toledo has the national reputation it has and people and businesses are leaving in droves. Ben, get new handlers who will guide you in a more mature and businesslike direction and become the person you claim you are. Toledo does not need another Carty.
If I were a betting man, I would say that "John" and "Matt Barker" were obvious products of our socialistic education system, where American history is rewritten to the point where it would be unrecognizable by those who lived it. Things such as respect for the American flag have been scorned and ridiculed for so many years now - remember those idiots in the 60's etc. burning flags as a right of free speech? - that we now have several generations of people who simply don't get it! The vast majority of those who were were fortunate enough to be out of college before the madness got so pervasive would never THINK of doing anything to desecrate the American flag, because they understand (as those younger do not) that it is a symbol of so much more than just being a colorful arrangement of pieces of cloth. I am certain, without ever having met the man, that Mr. Konop was completely taken aback that this video touched a nerve with so many true blue Americans.
Merely being born here, or living here and availing yourself of America's freedoms does not a true American make, as Mr. Konop and those of his ilk makes so painfully clear.
Post a Comment