Even Sarah Palin called it sexist, as Sheril quoted her above.

I generally agree with you wholeheartedly, but I gotta say, this is beneath you. When was Sarah Palin ever right about anything?

Semiseriously, the McCain-Palin camp & their right wing media chorus demonstrated a willingness to hypocritically play the sexism card during the campaign. They said outrageous stuff about how the liberals would make sexist criticisms of Palin in ways they never would—easily refuted by miles of footage and tape of right wing pundits talking about Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, etc.

They’re perfectly happy to be anti-feminist most of the time and play the martyred feminist card when it’s to their advantage.

IIRC Jon Stewart had a funny bit showing the very same pundits defending Palin against that ghastly sexism (mostly but not entirely imagined) and, in old footage, gleefully calling liberal women “shrill,” etc., implying that their looks were unacceptable, etc.

And of course, on right wing radio during the Clinton Years, there were years of frequent call-ins where the callers would talk about how ugly Hillary Clinton was, suggestions that she was probably a lesbian because of her “unfeminine” speech, etc.

(Remember the whole travesty about Hillary’s comment about being too busy with politics to stay home baking cookies, and then having to publicly bake cookies to prove she wasn’t anti-housewife?)

I throw up a little in my mouth just thinking about it.

FWIW, I suspect that the part of the U.S. Code you cite doesn’t actually create laws in the normal sense, with penalties and stuff. I think that section is mainly a bunch of definitions—what the state seal and flag consist of, what proper handling of the flag consist of, etc.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think it’s generally illegal to handle the flag “improperly” by all those persnickety rules.

And personally, I don’t really care about flag handling. As far as I’m concerned, if you buy a flag, it’s your property to do with as you please. Certainly you can burn it, but you can also drape it over a chair and lean on it, or cut a hole in it and wear it as a poncho.

What I don’t like is all the right-wing hypocrisy about it. (If Obama draped a flag casually over a chair and leaned on it to model clothing, it would be all over Fox as a demonstration of his lack of patriotism and maybe even unAmericanism.)

I think it’s ridiculous that we treat symbols as though they were literally sacred. (And there’s something weird in the code about how we should treat the flag as though it were a person. When we start according symbols the regard due to persons, something is way, way wrong.)

UNITED STATES CODE
TITLE 36
CHAPTER 10
§ 176.
(d)The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery.
(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard.
(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.

Being in shape and exercising is not the issue here, nor is exercising unpresidential. Heaven knows we’ve got plenty of photos over the last twenty years of presidents exercising, even in running shorts.

It’s Newsweek’s use of that particular photo — which is not of Sarah Palin actually running or exercising, but is of Palin modeling exercise togs — to illustrate an article about her impact in politics. The problem is the context.

Even Sarah Palin called it sexist, as Sheril quoted her above.

Forgive me if I don’t find a person being in shape and frequent exerciser “unpresidential.”

Don’t get me wrong – Palin’s a nutjob and not fit for office, but because she dons running shorts evey so often isn’t one of the reasons why she’s not.