No, Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., Did Not Desecrate the Flag

After a photo of Rep. Allen West scuba diving and saluting the American flag underwater for flag day surfaced, the media and liberal blogs all wrote a flurry of items about how West is some sort of patriotic hypocrite because he's unaware that the flag code says the American flags should not touch water.

I mean things got really out of hand -- Salon, Politco, Talking Points Memo, Alan Colmes, Gawker, the Washington Post and may other though that this was a worthy news item.

This might be about the dumbest controversy ever -- a stupid gotcha item based entirely on supposed conservative hypocrisy rather than actual reporting.

Well, guess what -- it turns out that U.S. Armed Forces routinely takes the flag underwater for reenlistment ceremonies and various other reasons.

Nevermind that it was obvious West was honoring the flag, and he's a retired lieutenant colonel and combat veteran that's probably far more sensitive to what is and is not appropriate to do with the flag than a flurry of liberal bloggers.