Between noon and 3 p.m. ET on September 6, Fox News' America's Election HQ aired
numerous reports documenting claims by Republicans and the McCain campaign that they "rescued"
American flags that were going to be "disposed of" by the Democrats after their convention at
Denver's Invesco Field. During the reports, Fox News gave no indication that it had sought to
contact a Democratic Party official or Obama campaign spokesperson for comment. Rather, during
the 2 p.m. hour, Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron guessed what the "Obama
campaign" would say in response to the story, stating: "It's the kind of thing that the Obama
campaign will say, look, we ... had come and gone and some stuff just went bad on the ground. We
didn't know that this was happening; it was a vendor problem; or it was the collection and the
clean-up, and that it shouldn't reflect badly on [Sen. Barack] Obama."
It was not until the 3 p.m. hour of America's Election HQ that Cameron reported
a Democratic response, reading a statement from the Democratic National Committee:
CAMERON: Well, the Democratic National Committee Convention's public affairs official, Damon
Jones, has now put out a statement that completely changes the tenor of the story. It reads,
quote, "American flags were proudly waved by 75,000 people who joined Barack Obama at the
Democratic Convention. John McCain should applaud that, but instead his supporters wrongfully
took leftover bundles of our flags from the stadium to play out a cheap political stunt, calling
into question our patriotism. On the same day he agrees to join Barack Obama at Ground Zero on
September 11, John McCain attacks the patriotism of Obama supporters who so proudly waved the
American flag at our historic event in Denver just days ago."
In a separate statement, the
Democratic National Convention Committee said that "[s]tories circulating about flags at the
Democratic National Convention are false," and added that "the flags removed from Invesco field
were intended for other events and taken without permission."
Additionally, in a September 6 Huffington Post article, national editor Nico Pitney wrote:
Fox News' Carl Cameron and Bonney Kapp reported that they had "been told" that "a vendor at
Invesco Field found the flags, which were going to be thrown out, and turned them over to the
McCain campaign."
The Democratic convention official says that's not true.
"It's pretty reprehensible on their part," he said. "Someone made an assumption, took the flags,
and essentially lied about what was going to happen to them. I mean, c'mon, we were never ever
going to throw out flags."
Emails to three McCain spokespersons inquiring where the flags were found and how the McCain
campaign obtained them were not returned.
While Fox News did not air a Democratic response until hours after it first reported the story,
during the noon hour of America's Election HQ, co-host Kelly Wright said: "That
is a major faux pas. You never discard the American flag."
During the 2 p.m. hour, Cameron also said of the story: "[J]ust having wrapped up the conventions
with every single back-and-forth a potential momentum changer, you can be absolutely certain that
Republicans will assert that Democrats weren't caring for the Stars and Bars." In fact, as
Merriam-Webster Dictionary notes, the "Stars and Bars" is a not a nickname for the "American flag," but
rather for "the first flag of the Confederate States of America having three bars of red, white,
and red respectively and a blue union with white stars in a circle representing the seceded
states." Indeed, an article posted on FoxNews.com notes that "the original flag of the
Confederacy" is "otherwise known as the 'Stars and Bars.' "
From the September 6 edition of America's Election HQ:
CAMERON: The Republicans today, Kelly, have something to say about the American flag. Just
outside, a bunch of Boy Scouts are in the process of organizing what appear to be trash bags of
American flags. They say that these American flags were found at Invesco Field in Denver,
apparently left behind by the Democratic National Convention.
They say that some of these flags -- and I saw about two dozen trash bags of American flags --
they say they were both in and around dumpsters as if they were being prepared to be disposed of,
others were found in various different storage facilities at Invesco Field. That will be part of
the opening ceremonies as they -- the Boy Scouts bring in and show that they rescued these.
Now, this is only now developing, but it's the kind of thing, while it may not have any bearing
whatsoever on Barack Obama or John McCain's presidential campaigns, it does speak to an
opportunity for Republicans to sort of throw sand in the gears of the Democrats, suggesting that
perhaps they didn't best care for Old Glory in the wake of their convention just a week ago.
Kelly?
[...]
CAMERON: We're going to see something here, later this afternoon, before the event actually
starts with Sarah Palin and Senator McCain that's quite interesting. The McCain campaign has come
to possess 84 trash bags full of American flags for hand-waving. They come in bundles of 15
apiece and they come in trash bags that look something like this, and there's 84 of them that
they say were rescued from Invesco Field. They say that they were found near, and in, some
dumpsters and in some storage areas that looked as though they were being prepared for being
discarded, and they've rescued them.
Boy scouts involved in this, the VFW [Veterans of Foreign Wars] and veterans involved in this,
and the McCain campaign, as part of the warm up act here, is going to explain the provenance of
these flags, how they came to have them, and then the veterans in the audience will then
distribute them to the folks here -- a moment where the Republican supporters of John McCain at a
rally in Colorado Springs, about 70 miles south of Denver, are able to actually use what they say
are the discarded American flags from the Democratic National Convention that took place here a
week and a half ago. The kind of stuff that on weekends is great sand to be tossed into the gears
of the Democrats by Republicans and you can count on them to use this to criticize Democrats in
general for not respecting the flag.
UMA PEMMARAJU (co-host): Boy, I guess whatever it takes to get the fireworks going on both sides.
All right, Carl, thank you so much for bringing us up to date from the rally. We'll be checking
back with you later on. Kelly?
WRIGHT: That is a major faux pas.
PEMMARAJU: Yes.
WRIGHT: You never discard the American flag.
PEMMARAJU: Never discard.
WRIGHT: You never do that.
[...]
PEMMARAJU: OK, we're taking you out to Colorado Springs once again, where supporters are waiting
to hear from John McCain and [Gov.] Sarah Palin. And also, at the scene, they are going to be a
number of veterans passing out flags that were used at the Democratic National Convention that
they say were tossed out. And according to our Carl Cameron, who's on the scene there, they have
calculated that about 12,000 of these small flags were discarded by the Democrats at their
convention. They want to take these flags and pass them out to the people out there in the crowd
to wave and to honor, saying that flags are not supposed to be thrown out like this.
WRIGHT: All right, and on the other side of this, we'll hear more about it from Carl Cameron, and
my good friend and your good friend Brian Wilson's coming on, on the other side of the break,
with more. Continue to watch us on Fox News Channel, America's most powerful name in news.
[...]
BRIAN WILSON (co-host): We have a Fox News Alert to tell you. You are looking at an event in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. Senator McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin will be speaking
shortly, but right now, there's something going on rather interesting. You see those flags in the
group that are being passed out? Apparently, the story goes, these were flags that were found in
Denver after the Democratic Convention in Invesco.
Some felt that the flags were being improperly discarded there in Denver so they were rescued by
veterans and by Boy Scout girl -- groups and they've been in the custody of those groups until
today. Now, in Colorado Spring, they've trucked them down the road a little bit and they're going
to pass them out and use them in the tribute to McCain and Palin today. Our Carl Cameron is
standing by there. Carl, give me the background on all this.
CAMERON: Well, Brian, after the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field, a vendor there
actually discovered these trash bags filled with these hand-waving flags, and came across some
full-size American flags that had been left behind. In fact, on the left of your screen, you can
see one veteran waving an American flag, a full-size flag, that he says he found basically next
to a dumpster.
Those trash bags that you see volunteers picking up and carting around the stage, they are filled
with dozens, even hundreds, of these hand flags. They say that there's about 12,000 of them that
they found that were either in dumpsters, near dumpsters, or in storage closets, as though they
were going be discarded.
And they say that they rescued them. They brought them here and using Boy Scouts and vets,
they're being distributed to this massive crowd. So these 12,000 American flags will now be part
of a Republican rally, even though their provenance seems to have been the Democratic National
Convention. And afterwards, they've made quite a to-do about saying, please, if you don't want to
take the flags home with you, if you can't give these flags a good home, make sure you return
them to the McCain volunteers, because they will then take them to memorials and cemeteries and
places to honor veterans and to honor America across the state of Colorado after today's event.
When they announced that these flags had seemingly been left behind, abandoned by the Democrats
at their convention at Invesco Field in Denver, there was a huge roar of booing. Now, they
haven't gone into the exact details of how they came to be at the Republican event here for
McCain and Palin, other than to say they were discovered by vendors on the way to the trash and
got rescued.
It's the kind of thing that the Obama campaign will say, look, we were -- we had come and gone
and some stuff just went bad on the ground. We didn't know that this was happening; it was a
vendor problem; or it was the collection and the clean-up, and that it shouldn't reflect badly on
Obama. But the nature of a presidential campaign, 60 days away from the election, just having
wrapped up the conventions with every single back-and-forth a potential momentum changer, you can
be absolutely certain that Republicans will assert that Democrats weren't caring for the Stars
and Bars.
[...]
WILSON: Fox News Alert: Look at these flags waving in the breeze there in Colorado Springs, and
let me tell you the back story on why there are so many flags in that picture. This is a
McCain-Palin event in Colorado Springs, just down the road a bit from Denver. The flags, as the
story goes, were found by vendors who were cleaning up after the Democratic National Committee at
Invesco Field.
They claim these flags were found near dumpsters on their way to the trash can, and they stepped
in and rescued them. It is not clear yet how exactly they got to the McCain camp, but the McCain
camp is now passing out those very same flags to all of the people assembled -- and it's a pretty
good crowd there in Colorado Springs today -- and they are going to use them and they've asked
people there to honor the flags and to not dispose of them improperly.
[...]
WILSON: Now, here at Fox News, we always strive to be fair and balanced, and earlier in the
afternoon, we heard a little bit from the Obama campaign as he was traveling around Indiana, and
so, in a few moments, when they get into the heart of the speech, we will actually listen in to
John McCain and Governor Palin as they speak.
Let me just talk about this other controversy that's going on while we're waiting for the hellos
to get through, and that is that the flags that you see in foreground, something of a controversy
brewing about those. The story goes that they were rescued by vendors at -- in Denver following
the Democratic National Convention as they were cleaning up at Invesco Field. They found trash
bag after trash bag after trash bag of American flags, and they rescued them, turned them over --
somehow they got into the hands of the Republicans -- and they're being distributed at this event
in Colorado Springs. Let's listen in to Sarah Palin, the person that many people in political
circles are focused on right now. Let's see what she has on her mind.
[...]
WILSON: Well, you've been listening to John McCain in Colorado Springs. Let me just give you a
little background, as we can perhaps pull that other shot we have that shows so many flags in the
background at this rally. These flags, the story goes, were rescued at Invesco Field after the
Democratic National Convention ended. During the clean-up, they were -- according to the people
at the campaign event today in Colorado Springs -- discarded by the Democrats, and they were
rescued and brought to this event and passed out, and the crowd was asked to make sure that if
you keep this flag, that you treat it with respect -- and so the Republicans getting a little bit
of mileage out of that today.
[...]
WILSON: Carl, explain to us what's going on with this flag controversy at the rally today.
CAMERON: Oh, it's the delicious part of presidential politics that really doesn't have a great
deal to do with issues, but has a great deal to do with character and the perception of both
parties.
Earlier this morning, as we arrived here in Colorado Springs with a massive crowd, several --
maybe more then -- about 10,000 people or so, lined up literally for a mile and a half. We began
to hear rumblings of a story in which the McCain campaign was going to announce that they had
rescued some 12,000 American flags -- Old Glory -- that they had found, essentially packed up for
disposal at the Invesco Field in Denver, in the wake of the Democratic National Committee --
Convention last week.
Now, they said that they found these things near dumpsters, around dumpsters, as though they were
going to be tossed out. And in fact, they were in over 84 green trash bags, literally 12,000 of
these types of flags. Well, they distributed them at the rally today, and Democrats were booed
when the assertion was made from the podium that they were essentially being mishandled and
thrown away -- throwing away Old Glory.
Well, the Democratic National Committee Convention's public affairs official, Damon Jones, has
now put out a statement that completely changes the tenor of this story. It reads, quote,
"American flags were proudly waved by 75,000 people who joined Barack Obama at the Democratic
Convention. John McCain should applaud that, but instead, his supporters wrongfully took leftover
bundles of our flags from the stadium to play out a cheap political stunt, calling into question
our patriotism. On the same day he agrees to join Barack Obama at Ground Zero on September 11,
John McCain attacks the patriotism of Obama supporters who so proudly waved the American flag at
our historic event in Denver just days ago."
And that's from Damon Jones, the spokesperson for the convention. Translation: Democrats are
saying Republicans stole their flags. And they weren't throwing them out, they were sending them
back to the manufacturer for redistribution. They were going to appropriately handle them, and
they were absconded with for this display today.
He said, she said, or he said, he said, in this case. Brian, it's the type of stuff that really
throws major sand in the gears for this particular campaign.
WILSON: Well --
CAMERON: Republicans trying to mess up Democrats by saying that they're not appropriately dealing
with the flag, and Democrats saying, wait a minute, you took them. Now, the issue about the joint
appearance -- that's coming up this Thursday on the anniversary of September 11th. Barack Obama
and John McCain will both appear together at a forum in New York City. So, that's what their
reference to in the statement is, that is on their schedule, both of them together. Now comes the
controversy over who took care of the flag and who didn't, Brian.
WILSON: Carl Cameron, the game is on, and that little gamesmanship going on about the American
flag, we'll sort it all out and we'll try to get down to the bottom of it in the hours ahead.
Thank you much, Carl.
[...]
GREGG JARRETT (co-host): All right, Carl, there's this controversy that seems to be swirling
around involving flags. What is that all about?
CAMERON: Yeah, I'm sorry, Gregg, we've got a little bit of an audio problem, but I do want to
tell you about a story that had sort of unfolded here at the Colorado Springs rally today. In the
run-up to the appearance of Senator McCain and Sarah Palin, the organizers and volunteers
unloaded some 12,000 small American flags -- here's the type we're talking about.
They say that they were found by a vendor at Invesco Field up in Denver -- where the Democrats
had their convention last week --prepared for disposal. Some, they say, were actually in
dumpsters. Well, the Democratic camp -- the Democratic National Committee has now put out a
statement saying that they weren't mishandling these flags, that they weren't being tossed out.
They essentially argue that they were pilfered, and there's a statement that says, quote,
"American flags were proudly waved by the 70,000 people who joined Barack Obama at the Democratic
Convention. John McCain should applaud that, but instead, supporters wrongfully took leftover
bundles of our flags from the stadium to play out a cheap political stunt, calling into question
our patriotism."
The allegation here, Gregg, is that the Democrats are saying Republicans swiped the flags and
then claimed that the Democrats were going to be throwing them out. A back-and-forth, a
back-and-forth all over how best to take care of Old Glory and right now, the Republicans say,
look, this stuff was in dumpsters; Democrats said, basically, they were ripped off.
JARRETT: Yeah, well, if that was true, it would be a pretty nefarious plan.
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