Is Rich Lowry Questioning John McCain's Patriotism?

It must be fun being National Review editor Rich Lowry. Politico has allowed Lowry, he of starbursts for Sarah Palin, to write another silly column for its magazine.  In this one, entitled for both Politico Magazine and the NR website "Warren Buffett Betrays America," Lowry hits Buffet for bankrolling Burger King's inversion, a term defined here as "re-incorporating a company overseas in order to reduce the tax burden on income earned abroad."

Lowry then writes 13 paragraphs not only neglecting to criticize the strategy, but largely defends it because corporations are being devastated by, and during, the current Administration, when they are earning the greatest profits in American history. Accounting in 1952 for 33% of all federal tax revenue, they now pay 10% of the taxes.

Further, Lowry contends "In most other contexts, Obama is a proud 'citizen of the world.' Except when it comes to taxing businesses."

Yes, Senator Obama did once sinfully refer to himself as "a fellow citizen of the world" (not a proud citizen of the world). That was right after he remarked "Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen – a proud citizen of the United States."

But anyone, even wealthy journalists, can take something out of context. More amusingly (must keep sense of humor- Rich actually gets paid for this stuff!), Lowry points to criticism of Burger King by Democrats and maintains "This outpouring of patriotic fervor is something to behold, especially from the same sort of people who used to think expecting a politician to wear a flag lapel pin was a crudely nationalistic imposition."

So let's go back to campaign '08 and its three presidential debates.  As the videos (of the three debates, presented in order) below indicate, one of the candidates is wearing a flag lapel pin in each. One of the candidates is not.     (It's hard to make out what is being worn on the lapel, but that is an image you may recall).  The tall, younger guy is wearing it on each of the three occasions while the older and shorter fellow is not.

Rich Lowry implies the level of a politician's patriotism can be measured by how often he or she wears a flag lapel pin. Evidently, that leaves out war heroes.

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