ANN ALTHOUSE ON THE NY TIMES’ DEFENSE OF its American-flag-hating editorial board member Mara Gay:

The NYT tweet came out yesterday, so I guess what I wrote is within the category “attacks on her today” and my circumspect and considered remarks have been denounced as “ill-informed and grounded in bad-faith.”

So I’m going to say that tweet is ill-informed and grounded in bad-faith! What a ridiculous blanket statement with no regard for the individuals who listened to Gay and made our own interpretations and expressed our opinions.

It’s so hypocritical to obsessively protect her while attacking all her critics with broad-brush insults!

Well, the NYT. Plus, from the comments: “Gay seems to think she has some special dispensation to hate on America or the flag because she is black, or because she is a journalist. How odd. Hating the flag doesn’t make her special, it’s an attitude she shares with most Democrats, New Yorkers and journalists. A lot of people in those groups hate the flag, and Americans. But the black people I know don’t share Gay’s repugnance at their country or its flag.”

Plus: “The Times saying it’s ‘taken out of context’ really means she’s a poor communicator, which is not a good look. So I’m not sure why the Times is saying anything here.”

And, of course: “Serious Question: How would all this be being handled, IF instead of an American flag, it was a Rainbow flag that she had an ‘aversion’ to?”