If you enjoy being beaten over the head with patriotism (and awkwardness), take a look at this web video produced by the Washington GOP. It “welcomes” Michelle Obama to the state on the occasion of an Obama campaign stop there and harps on her statement that the enthusiasm around the Democratic primary had made her proud of her country “for the first time in my adult life.” Laura Bush later defended Michelle’s controversial comments, saying, “I think she probably meant ‘I’m more proud.’ That’s what she really meant.” But some folks haven’t gotten the message:

As Ben Smith points out, the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in the video might be an allusion to the false Internet-driven rumors that Barack Obama refuses to say the pledge. Just another reminder that the conservative plan for beating Obama back is to tell voters, again and again, that he is un-American. Indeed, as our fearless editor Mark Schmitt has argued, flag-waving may be all the GOP has left.

—Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.