When in doubt, beat up a girl

The cult newspaper Washington Times, and conservative bloggers, are claiming - based on their super lip-reading skills - that the First Lady supposedly disparaged the "damn" US flag during a military ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attacks, in public no less.

Yeah right.

But why stop there.  The President clearly nods in agreement right after the First Lady's lips move.  So if she's upset at that "damn" American flag, then the Commander in Chief is agreeing, in public, on camera.

Again, yeah right.  Obama isn't exactly my favorite politician of late, and I don't think his political skills are very well honed, but even a total idiot would not nod in agreement to their spouse saying, on camera, in public, on 9/11, that the flag sucked.  If anything, your brow would furrow and you'd look at her like she was nuts.  That didn't happen, because the entire thing never happened.

I've looked at the video.  And good luck discerning what she's saying.  It's impossible.  There's no audio.  And her mouth is obscured at one point by an object.  All you can tell is that maybe the last word is "flag" - and they are watching a flag ceremony, so it's a good bet.  But that's it. But that didn't stop the Washington Times, a paper founded by a cult, from claiming in print that it knew exactly what she said - and she disparaged that "damn" flag.

Misogyny, racism?  It's hard to tell.  Republicans do enjoy beating up on the wives of politicians, and there's no special love in the GOP heart for minorities.  What amazes me, however, is the level of hate that exists, at an institutional level, in the Republican party.  It's part and parcel with the fundamentalist takeover of the GOP.  You simply can't run for public office as a Republican in this country unless you publicly profess your hate for a large segment of society (extra credit if you add in your hate of science and facts).  It's seriously messed up.

Watch the video for yourself, and be sure to check out all the racist comments from the Republicans.

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UPDATE: Now that I think about it, the First Lady does need to speak out about this.  After all, what if she's not saying "that damn flag" but is instead saying "that damn fag," in reference to Rick Perry, or Lindsey Graham, or Michelle Bachmann's husband, or Eric Cantor?  And while we're at it, let's hear from Rick Perry, Graham, Bachmann and Cantor as well. (Perry can just send us a written statement - you know the ones, with the little hearts he draws about the "i"s.)