In the “let’s nitpick for lack of any substantive criticism” category:
At a town hall meeting Wednesday an Iowa voter asked Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., about the numerous emails she has received with photos purporting to show Obama “refusing” to pledge allegiance to the flag.
Here’s the picture in question:
Such a non-issue, since the e-mail going around is factually wrong.
“This was not during the pledge of allegiance,” Obama said of the picture taken at Senator Tom Harkin’s, D-Iowa, annual steak fry and first published by Time. “A woman was singing the Star Spangled Banner when that picture was taken.
“I was taught by my grandfather that you put your hand over your heart during the pledge, but during the Star Spangled Banner, you sing!” Obama said.
There’s a video from the event here. Snopes has a write up, too, in case you feel the need to know the exact Flag Code (hint: no one in the photo is following it.) However, the point still stands that this was not the pledge of allegiance.
