No room for American flag at presidential debate?

Most of the attention devoted to Thursday night’s GOP presidential debate at Morgan State centered on the four frontrunners (Giuliani, McCain, Romney and Thompson) skipping it and the reactions to the no-shows by everyone under the sun including members of the media, bloggers, former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, and debate host Tavis Smiley.

However, columnist Laura Vozzella of the Baltimore Sun reports that another controversy arose the night of the debate. After mentioning there was no flag on stage, Vozella describes the set, “The backdrop to the ‘All-American Presidential Forum,’ brought to you by Tavis Smiley and PBS, was a map of the United States, superimposed with a checkerboard of multicultural faces.”

Apparently, candidate and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California asked that a flag be put on the stage but one never was.

According to Vozella, ” The buzz among some Republicans was that organizers thought the flag might “offend” some members of the audience.”

MD GOP first vice chairman Mike Cavey, who was there as an escort for Tom Tancredo, heard the whole exchange requesting the flag through his earpiece. Cavey also seemingly scoffs at the notion that anything other than “aesthetics” drove the decision. He apparently pointed out to Vozella that the colors of the flag would have clashed with the colors of the set design. Cavey also answers the question about the availability of a flag by saying that a police station was nearby and that there were probably flags in various place on campus at Morgan State.

Cross-posted at Conservative Thinking.

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