This is an easy one-Cheney should be called to task on this issue. Visiting a hunting lodge that displays a confederate flag, a clear symbol of hatred and dissent- may not be the wisest of ideas. But to be fair-why aren't the The Justice Bros. Incorporated (Team Jackson and Sharpton for the uninitiated-thanks to one of our commenters for that quip) on top of the gang signs/graffiti that proliferate inner city communities-also signs of hatred and dissent. Oh I forgot-the White bogeyman can't be blamed for such a phenomenon. Check out the NY Daily News article relating to this issue:
JOE GOULD and DAVE GOLDINER
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Tuesday, October 30th 2007, 1:40 AM
EXCLUSIVE: The Confederate flag hangs inside a garage at the Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club.
Nobody got shot, but Vice President Cheney still fired up controversy Monday when he went hunting at a private club that hangs the Confederate flag.
A Daily News photographer captured the 3-by-5 foot Dixie flag affixed to a door in the garage of the Clove Valley Gun and Rod Club in upstate Union Vale, N.Y.
"It's appalling for the VP to be at a private club displaying the flag of lynching, hate and murder," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "It's the epitome of an insult."
Sharpton demanded Cheney distance himself from the exclusive club where the Stars and Bars was flown, and said he might hold a prayer vigil there.
Club officials threatened a reporter with arrest when he sought comment.
The flag fiasco is especially upsetting because blacks have recently been subjected to an upsurge of racial threats, including nooses left in Jena, La., and Columbia University, he said.
"This is an outrage - he ought to leave immediately," Sharpton told The News. "He ought to apologize to the American people for being there in the first place."
"That flag brings back painful memories of the old, old South," said Elouise Maxey, 59, president of the Northern Dutchess County branch of the NAACP. "I'm disappointed that he would go."
Cheney spokeswoman Lee Anne McBride said Cheney did not know anything about the controversy.
"The VP did not see the flag and neither did anyone on staff," said McBride.
The veep earlier left traffic snarled - but little ill will - as he rolled into the bucolic shooting club with a 15-car convoy.
Helicopters buzzed overhead and cops blocked off roads around the spectacular 2,500-acre preserve, where Cheney visited once before in 2001.
The place is complete with a picturesque lodge decorated with stuffed game.
"As long as he doesn't shoot somebody in the a--," Bill Tryon, 48, said he was fine with Cheney's visit. Tryon lives in the area.
There was no repeat of last year's snafu, when Cheney shot an old pal in the face during a quail hunt in south Texas.
"It should be water under the bridge," said Ralph Mondello, who is running for a spot on the local town council.
"We're happy to provide him with a day of hunting in Dutchess County," added Union Vale Supervisor Lisette Hitsman.
Still, some Dutchess County residents blasted the vice president for taking part in what they called a canned hunt.
Farm-bred pheasants were released on the preserve 24 hours before Cheney arrived, making them easy targets for the hunting party.
"The way they hunt, I'm not fond of," said Linda Smith, 52, who runs a local preschool. "It's not what I would call a real sportsmanlike activity."
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