N.Y. Times: Hillary
'panderer in chief'?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is being blasted by the New York Times for co-sponsoring a bill to criminalize the burning of the American flag, as the paper suggests she's pandering on the issue.

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Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. poses in front of giant flag at Air National Guard Base at Hancock Field in Syracuse, N.Y.

In an editorial titled "Senator Clinton, in Pander Mode," the Times notes the Democrat says she opposes a constitutional amendment to outlaw flag-burning, yet looks to make it a federal crime to scorch Old Glory.

In public statements on the matter, Mrs. Clinton has said, "I support federal legislation that would outlaw flag-desecration, much like laws that currently prohibit the burning of crosses, but I don't believe a constitutional amendment is the answer."

"It looks to us more like a simple attempt to have it both ways," the Times writes. "It's hard to see this as anything but pandering – there certainly isn't any urgent need to resolve the issue. Flag-burning hasn't been in fashion since college students used slide rules in math class and went to pay phones at the student union to call their friends. Even then, it was a rarity that certainly never put the nation's security in peril.

"The bill attempts to equate flag-burning with cross-burning, which the Supreme Court, in a sensible and carefully considered 2003 decision, said could be prosecuted under certain circumstances as a violation of civil rights law. It's a ridiculous comparison. Burning a cross is a unique act because of its inextricable connection to the Ku Klux Klan and to anti-black violence and intimidation. A black American who wakes up to see a cross burning on the front lawn has every right to feel personally, and physically, threatened. Flag-burning has no such history. It has, in fact, no history of being directed against any target but the government."

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The Times ends its opinion by noting "the whole point of the First Amendment is to protect expressions of political opinion that a majority of Americans find disturbing or unacceptable. As a lawyer, the senator presumably already knows that."

In recent days, Sen. Clinton has been coming under fire from the political left for stances appearing to be on both sides of the fence when it comes to the Iraq war.

As WorldNetDaily reported, a scathing attack came from Newsday columnist Jimmy Breslin who wrote, "Hillary Clinton today holds the new North American record for fakery. She copies. She sneaks and slithers past you with her opinion on a war that kills every day."

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