Come, I will conceal nothing from you: being of sound Boston Irish Catholic stock, I am quite familiar with the idea that a politician might think it prudent to use more than the American flag in a campaign display. Is it pandering? Of course it’s pandering: but it’s not pernicious. Fly an Irish flag at a St. Patrick’s Day parade, have an Italian one at the few places that still dare do Columbus Day festivals; even wave a Mexican flag at the nascent Cinco de Mayo celebrations that this culture is adopting. This is an established practice.

But. If you’re an American politician – like Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, or Democratic gubernatorial nominee Fred DuVal – running for an American legislative or executive position, do not fly a Mexican flag from your campaign float and forget to have an American one. That’s not harmless pandering; that’s offensive pandering, particularly when you’re running in a state like Arizona.

The Arizona GOP site has more:

Today Robert Graham criticized Democrat Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona’s CD 1 for flying the Flag of Mexico during her parade in Eloy, Arizona this morning. “Arizona voters already know Kirkpatrick has been doing a poor job representing her constituents while she continues to support Obama’s failed policies, but flying the Flag of Mexico alone with no sign of the Flag of the United States is offensive and hurtful not just to our veterans but to every American,” said Robert Graham, Chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. Kirkpatrick (@Ann_Kirkpatrick) tweeted out images of her official parade float which appear to have cropped away much of the Mexican flag, but other images of the float clearly show the Mexican flag displayed prominently.

It may be the aforementioned cropping done by the Kirkpatrick campaign that annoys me the most about this story; it’s one thing to have an oversight, but it’s quite another to try to hide that oversight. I also find it fascinating that apparently there’s now a real shortage of American flags among Democratic candidates. After all, the Democrats were throwing them away like nobody’s business after the 2008 convention; guess they forgot to restock.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Andy Tobin for AZ-01.

PPS: Actually, I’m a pro-amnesty immigration squish. But I know what country I live in.