No, the Obama campaign did not embrace Che Guevera

The far-right sure does find some odd things to get excited about.

If you’ve perused the major conservative blogs over the 12 hours or so, you’ve no doubt seen the major-league freak-out about the Obama campaign allegedly opening an office in Texas with a Che Guevera flag. Ed Morrissey, who is usually a little less unhinged than some of his cohorts, got the ball rolling yesterday.

Oh, my. Barack Obama may want to call his new Houston office and suggest some decorating ideas. Take a look at the flag flying in the office at the moment: No, that’s not a Texas state flag with a picture of Obama on it. It’s the flag of the Castro-led Cuba regime, with Che Guevara’s face superimposed on the side. A Fox report from Houston captured this image as it showed Obama supporters celebrating his momentum after Super Tuesday.

And with that, they were off and running. James Joyner put together a quick collection of clips:

* Charles Johnson: “Che Guevara Flags in Obama’s Houston Office”

* Red State: “Texas Communists For Obama (Apparently They Were Out of Himmler)”

* Matt Bramanti: “Obama office adores psychotic Marxist thug”

* Ed Driscoll: “Sixties Radical Chic, Frozen In Amber”

* Curt@Flopping Aces and Don Surber weigh in with “Che Obama”

* Michael Goldfarb: “Che You Can Believe In”

Let’s just take a moment to nip this in the bud, shall we?



This started with a report run by the Fox affiliate in Houston. As the station’s report makes clear, “The office featured in this video is funded by volunteers of the Barack Obama Campaign and is not an official headquarters for his campaign.”

So, right off the bat, every far-right blogger who said the Obama campaign’s official Houston office features a Che/Castro flag is mistaken.

The reality is, a volunteer found office space in advance of actual campaign staffers arriving in Houston. One of these volunteers put up the flag, presumably taken from some dorm-room wall. When actual, paid campaign aides show up — they’re due by the end of the week — one can safely assume the flag will be gone.

As scandals go, this one barely passes the yawn test. That so many conservatives immediately seized upon it suggests a certain unattractive desperation.

Oddly enough, Morrissey adds that it’s incumbent on Obama to “renounce any affinity for Che and the Fidel Castro regime.” Seriously, Ed? Is this what it’s come to? Some random volunteer gets filmed by a Fox affiliate with a dumb flag and it becomes necessary for a sitting U.S. senator and leading presidential candidate to publicly renounce Communists?

As Joyner concluded, “The suggestion that Americans need to start swearing loyalty oaths … is light years beyond irritating.”

As long as we’re on the subject, though, Robert Farley notes that if we want to talk about crazy political ideas from partisans in Texas, we should take a closer look at the official state Republican Party platform.

* The Party calls for the United States monetary system to be returned to the gold standard. Since the Federal Reserve System is a private corporation, has no reserves, and is not subject to taxation or audit, we call on Congress to abolish this institution and reassume its authority, enumerated by Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, for the coinage of money. * The party opposes the decriminalization of sodomy….We publicly rebuke judges Chief Justice Murphy and John Anderson, who ruled that the 100 year-old Texas sodomy law is unconstitutional, and ask that all members of the Republican Party of Texas oppose their re-election. * We urge that the IRS be abolished and the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution be repealed. A constitutional tax, collected and controlled by the States, must generate sufficient revenue for the legitimate tasks of the national government. * The Party believes the minimum wage law should be repealed. * The Party believes it is in the best interest of the citizens of the United States that we immediately rescind our membership in, as well as all financial and military contributions to, the United Nations. * The Party urges Congress to support HJR 77, the Panama and America Security Act, which declare the Carter-Torrijos Treaty null and void. We support re-establishing United States control over the Canal in order to retain our military bases in Panama, to preserve our right to transit through the Canal, and to prevent the establishment of Chinese missile bases in Panama.

These aren’t the wacky opinions of some random campaign volunteer; this is the official platform of the Texas Republican Party.

If it behooves Obama to renounce Che, would it also behoove McCain to renounce the Texas GOP’s lunacy?