Just when you think you have heard it all.

[Robert Goren]

Rick Clark, the sheriff of Pickens County, S.C., vowed on Friday to defy President Obama's order that U.S. flags be lowered to half staff in honor of deceased South African leader Nelson Mandela.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewir...ag-for-mandela
I thought I had heard every excuse there was for committing a racist act, but I was wrong. Everybody knows this about race including the other racists who support his actions. It is too bad this jerk has drag the flag into it.

[chrisl]

I completely agree with the sheriff Nelson was not a American. If anyone brings race into this is very pathetic.

[Mike at A+]

Originally Posted by Robert Goren

Everybody knows this about race ...

Is it possible that the presidential order itself is "about race"?

[Robert Goren]

Originally Posted by Mike at A+

Is it possible that the presidential order itself is "about race"?

It is about honoring a man who fought racial discrimination.

[Mike at A+]

Originally Posted by Robert Goren

It is about honoring a man who fought racial discrimination.

Well if that is the common denominator for flying an American flag at half staff, millions of ordinary people would qualify for that same honor. I'm sure many think that Al Sharpton "fights racial discrimination".

[jballscalls]

Originally Posted by Mike at A+

Well if that is the common denominator for flying an American flag at half staff, millions of ordinary people would qualify for that same honor. I'm sure many think that Al Sharpton "fights racial discrimination".

Seems to me that Mandela's efforts are viewed slightly more positively both domestically and around the world than Sharptons?

I don't see a problem with it. I read Pope John Paul II in 2005 was the last foreign person to have flags lowered for. I wonder if this sheriff thought that was race related?

[FantasticDan]

Yes, by all means, let's once again undermine a man whose been bestowed pretty much every high honor and award a country and world can bestow upon him, who sacrificed so much in the pursuit of freedom and equality in the fight against fascism, let's suggest his posthumous honors are "about race".

There are many countries honoring Mandela by flying flags at half-staff.. Canada, France, Norway, New Zealand just to name a few.

The US flew flags at half staff to honor Pope John Paul II, King Hussein of Jordan, Yitzhak Rabin, and Anwar Sadat. Pretty sure none of them were Americans, either.

Someone should have told Bush, Clinton, and Reagan that the honor was reserved only for Americans, a sheriff in SC said so.

[fast4522]

I think Nelson Mandela was a remarkable man in many respects, one of which was living to 95 years old in a country that life expectancy is not even close to that. The man's accomplishments and ideals were truly above the average person in our time, but he was not an American hero. Real American hero's we tend to ignore, marginalize, and forget. It is just the times that we are living in, the "me" period. So let us do something with the flag because we have more numbers of people in this country on disability than live inside the entire country of Greece.

[Dave Schwartz]

Seems to me that Mandela's efforts are viewed slightly more positively both domestically and around the world than Sharptons?

I don't see a problem with it. I read Pope John Paul II in 2005 was the last foreign person to have flags lowered for. I wonder if this sheriff thought that was race related?

Gotta go with JBS on this one.

There are simply some people who are due honor and respect. Color should not matter.

LOL - Sharpton is "kind of" a different story.

[horses4courses]

There will always be a reaction like this somewhere within the US.
Shouldn't come as any surprise, really.
Pathetic.

[schweitz]

I have no problem with the flag at half staff for Mandela but I would like to point out that the thread starter introduced racism into this story. There is no mention of race in the story.

[Hank]

The good sheriff will very likely be elected to congress in the near future.Those who think racism played some role in his actions are surely mistaken,He did not mention race and there is no president for that type of behavior in the american south.

[ArlJim78]

The race detectives have solved the case once again. I'm amazed at how they can read minds and motives from afar.
Oh you're white and from the south? then you're racist. case closed.

[schweitz]

Originally Posted by Hank

The good sheriff will very likely be elected to congress in the near future.Those who think racism played some role in his actions are surely mistaken,He did not mention race and there is no president for that type of behavior in the american south.

The perfect example of liberal-think---it just has to be racism, it just has to; and if it's not the story we will make it the story.

[horses4courses]

The "good sheriff" has his version of how things should be in this country.
Case closed.