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Two flags

Happy days are indeed here again, as they were in that time of peace and prosperity we remember as the Clinton administration. But we cannot say with equal conviction that It's a Grand Old Flag (again). It kind of depends on which side you're looking at.

There's no sign that the Tea Party now rejects the contemptible way it treated Max Cleland, when Cleland was a U.S. senator and a candidate for re-election who'd lost both legs in Vietnam*. There's no indication the Republican Right regrets its atrocious attacks on Cleland. (How dare he lose limbs without Rush Limbaugh's permission?)

Similarly, there's no indication the Grand Old Party feels inclined, as it should, to apologize for its mistreatment of John Kerry. Kerry had been a true American hero during the Vietnam War. He was mocked for it by Republicans, including some Arkansas Republicans. Remember the right-wing Arkansas church that sneered at Kerry? Who would ever have expected such a thing? Or tolerated it?

But Republicans, including Arkansas Republicans, are proud of their patriotism again. Arkansas Republicans are running a U.S. Senate candidate of whom nothing else favorable could be said, except that he served in his country's uniform. Intellect? Compassion? There's no hint of such things.

There's a back story here. Arkansas Republicans don't love military service more. They hate more Democrats who didn't serve, particularly Sen. Mark Pryor. Similarly, Republicans hated Sen. Mark's father, Sen. David Pryor, not because he wasn't a veteran, but because he didn't kowtow to the Hussmann family. The Hussmans are accustomed to losing to the Pryors, and to hating them for it. This year, with their allies, the Koch brothers, the Hussmans see a chance for victory for themselves and their reactionary political views. There's nothing grand about that old flag.

A previous version mistakenly said that Max Cleland lost his legs in World War II.

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Guest Playlist: Flap Jones of "Not Necessarily Nashville" schools us on real country music

"Not Necessarily Nashville," which airs on KUAR-FM 89.1 every Saturday, 7 p.m.-9 p.m., celebrates three decades of the "best of the rest of country music" Saturday, October 21 at the White Water Tavern with Brad Williams of The Salty Dogs & The Creek Rocks, and we asked host Flap Jones to curate a playlist for us ahead of that anniversary celebration.
Discussion: State killing of the mentally ill

The Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and others will have a forum on mental illness and the death penalty at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Bowen School of Law's Friday Courtroom.

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We're sad to report that Doug Smith has decided to retire. Though he's been listed as an associate editor on our masthead for the last 22 years, he has in fact been the conscience of the Arkansas Times. He has written all but a handful of our unsigned editorials since we introduced an opinion page in 1992.
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Last week, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel became the first elected statewide official to express support for same-sex marriage. His announcement came days before Circuit Judge Chris Piazza is expected to rule on a challenge to the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Soon after, a federal challenge of the law is expected to move forward. McDaniel has pledged to "zealously" defend the Arkansas Constitution but said he wanted the public to know where he stood.
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Remarking as we were on the dreariness of this year's election campaigns, we failed to pay sufficient tribute to the NRA, one of the most unsavory and, in its predictability, dullest of the biennial participants in the passing political parade.
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