WIGHTMAN'S HIDES BEHIND WEASEL-WORDED DEFENSE OF FREE SPEECH TO QUESTION DE LEON'S PATRIOTISM

By Juan Montoya

Samuel Johnson said back in 1775 that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. 

History doesn't give us any context for how the remark arose, so we don't really know for sure what was on Johnson's mind at the time.
But others assure us that

Johnson was not indicting patriotism in general, only false patriotism.
Local blogger Robert Wightman's posting of a picture purporting to show City Commissioner At-Large "A" candidate Cesar de Leon showing disrespect to the flag during a pledge of allegiance when others were still holding their hands to their chest proves Johnson's point.

Hedging his barely disguised charge that de Leon might just (maybe, but he's not really sure mind you, but just maybe) be unpatriotic for not having his hand over his heart when the photo he publishes was taken he says that if it is true, "In national politics a picture like this would make national headlines, but for some reason will not resonate in Brownsville."

"I am looking at this from political effect only. Personally I think those who participate in the pledge against their will are as bad as those who refuse to participate in the pledge. 
If this picture is real, with a lot of voters it will be a deal breaker - this is a political reality whether we believe he should participate or not."

Then he gets on his patriotic First Amendment soapbox and says that:

"Freedom of expression is just that - I will defend to the end what Cesar de Leon is not doing in this picture. But what he is not doing also tells me something about him, which would cause me pause before voting for him."

If you look at the picture on top taken just moments before the one below posted by Wightman, it is clear that both the law enforcement official to his right and de Leon probably lowered their hands after they recited the pledge. That same officer can be seen in the photo on the bottom with his right hand lowered like the candidate.

Anyone who has visited Wightman's site is probably under the impression that what he posted is the god-awful truth. All Wightman had to do was visit de Leon's Facebook page to see the other picture. 

Given this highly selective (and vindictive) posting by the misanthrope blogger, it severely damages what's left of his credibility. What's wrong with this picture? The question should be: What's wrong with that blogger?
Wightman should know better. After all he was a lawyer before he was disbarred. Any first-year law student is taught the Supreme Court in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette – by a
6-to-3 decision – overruled its decision in Minersville School District v. Gobitis and held that compelling public schoolchildren (or anyone) to salute the flag was unconstitutional.
The Court found that salutes of the type mandated by the West Virginia State Board of Education were forms of utterance and thus were a means of communicating ideas. "Compulsory unification of opinion," the Court held, was doomed to failure and was antithetical to the values set forth in the First Amendment.
Writing for the majority, Justice Robert H. Jackson eloquently stated: "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."
De Leon obviously pledged allegiance to the flag at that gathering. Wightman's devious and disingenuous manner of trying to question his patriotism is despicable.