The commander of a VFW post said he believes campaign staffers working for Texas US Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke may have requested to remove American flags from the venue used for a recent town hall event.
Speaking to the Navasota Examiner about the August 25 event in Navasota, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #4006 Commander Carl Dry described being taken aback by the request, which he adamantly refused and denounced as un-American.
“They wanted to open the doors (to the Flight Deck Lounge) and I couldn’t allow that and they wanted to take the flags down, I didn’t only say, ‘No,’ I said, ‘Hell no.’ You don’t take the flags off the wall. I can’t believe any American would ask us to do that and I don’t know why he wanted them down or what he was going to put up instead.”
Reached for comment Friday, a representative for O’Rourke told Infowars the campaign did not request the flags to be removed.
“Our campaign absolutely did not request that any flags be removed or taken down from the walls. It is incorrect to say that we did,” the O’Rourke rep stated.
“We have hosted dozens of town halls in VFW posts across the state and always ensure that the flags are prominently and respectfully displayed. As a senior member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, the Vice Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, and the Congressman for one of the largest military communities in the country, Beto is proud to have our flag displayed at events.”
Infowars followed up with Dry, a Korean war veteran who’s been the VFW post commander for several years. Dry said the same request was made by two separate people, whom he’d assumed were with the Beto campaign.
“A young lady came to me and asked if they could take flags down. I didn’t ask any questions, I just said, ‘No.’ And she left.”
“Then 10 or 15 minutes later a young man came and asked the same question. And that got my shackles up a little bit, and I got a little curt with him.”
“And whether they work for O’Rourke or not, I don’t know. Whether O’Rourke asked them to ask me, I don’t know. All I know is two people did ask me – who they work for I have no idea,” he added.
“I would have to assume they worked for O’Rourke because they sought me out in the other part of the building to ask me so, I can’t imagine a visitor that came to hear Mr. O’Rourke, I can’t imagine them coming looking me up to ask a question like that,” Mr. Dry told Infowars, adding, “but stranger things have happened.”
Further clarifying, Dry reiterated, “I don’t know who these people work for – I have no idea – but I do know that two different people came to me and asked me, so I just had to assume they worked for O’Rourke.”
Mr. Dry wanted to make it clear the VFW does not take sides politically.
“VFW is a non-political organization. We want to keep it that way. We don’t take sides. That’s why I want to be very careful what is being printed is accurate, because yes people came to me, but who they worked for I know not, I just said no, we don’t take the flags down.”
News of the campaign’s alleged request comes as the race’s incumbent, Sen. Ted Cruz, in a campaign ad accused Beto of being “grateful” for and supportive of people who burn the US flag and kneel during the national anthem.
"I’m grateful there are people willing to do that"
WATCH: “Congressman O’Rourke not only called burning the U.S. flag ‘inherently American’ but also said he was ‘grateful’ for those willing to commit such an act,” said Cruz campaign spokesperson Catherine Frazier. “His position is an appalling display of disregard to those who have put their lives on the line to preserve the very freedoms the American flag represents. Texans certainly do not share such views which have no place in the Lone Star State.”
Posted by Ted Cruz on Tuesday, September 4, 2018
If a Beto staffer did make the request, it would fit with the left’s long-running war against the American flag, whether it be judicially, as in the case of the Ninth Circuit Court upholding a ban of the Flag, politically as was the case when the DNC failed to display American flags at their 2016 convention, or culturally by encouraging NFL players to kneel during the National Anthem.
Beto is currently attempting to rally in all 254 counties in Texas before the November midterms.
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