Huge 30' by 60' Confederate flag in Tampa. Dedicated to Daniel Ruth who called them simpletons.

[madfloridian]

When President Obama carried Tampa in 2008 Tampa Tribune columnist, Daniel Ruth, wrote a celebratory column called Night of Cheers. The link is dead but I saved the pertinent parts.

The flag flies on I-75 near the I-4 intersection. It's huge. And shocking to see.



It's on private property.

Here's the dedication plaque.



Night of Cheers

In a few more moments the country would officially elect its first black president at the end of a campaign more than 200 years in the making, winding through Selma and Birmingham and Watts and Hough and all the other stations of the cross of the American civil rights movement.

.."And just then, Florida - stumblebum Florida, the state that has historically been little more than a Wal-Mart gift card for the Bush family - was declared in favor of Obama.

..."Tuesday night, Barack Obama carried Hillsborough County, the same county where a bunch of narrow-minded simpletons fly a massive Confederate flag near I-4. That's hardly atonement. But it is a giant step across the breach of bigotry. One step down, more to come."

This is shameful. Most I know agree it's shameful. The people who put it up need to take it down.

[madfloridian]

1. More from the Night of Cheers. Daniel Ruth on a roll.

Night of Cheers (Obama)

Throughout the evening at the Marriott Waterside Hotel, the Obama faithful had been steadily gathering to drink in this moment in history. Perhaps in an homage to the Obama campaign, the Marriott had decided to do its part to help redistribute the wealth by charging $11 for a martini.

To be sure, these folks had good reason to be nervous.

First, this was Florida, with its history of holding elections that are the envy of the Salem witch hunts. And second, this was Hillsborough County, where its supervisor of elections, Buddy Johnson, was in the process of proving again he must have trained under that master of accountability, Papa Doc Duvalier, when it comes to counting ballots.

[SunSeeker]

2. Douchebag knuckledraggers.

But at least they're not using taxpayer money to fly it, like say, South Carolina and Mississippi do.

[madfloridian]

4. True.

[madfloridian]

3. Found original in printer form. I covered most of it.

http://tbo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?avis=TB&date=20081106&category=ARTICLE&lopenr=311069958&Ref=AR&template=printart

[lovemydog]

5. I like the night of cheers.

Yes, it needs to be taken down.

And as that article mentions, 'one step down, more to come.'

[madfloridian]

6. I read that when Obama carried the area. Ruth never spared words.

[lovemydog]

9. Thanks for sharing it here.

I hadn't known about it before!

[davidn3600]

7. Sons of Confederate Veterans says giant flag will stay flying in Tampa

TAMPA — Tampa’s mayor says it’s time for the huge Confederate battle flag flying near a heavily traveled Hillsborough intersection to go.

But the only way the flag will come down is in a hurricane, says the leader of a local Confederate history group that maintains the flag and flagpole.

Even then, the world’s largest battle flag would rise again, said David McAllister, commander of the Judah P. Benjamin Camp, the local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

“We all sympathize with the poor victims of Charleston, but the flag did not cause that to happen,” McAllister said Monday. “That was a horrible crime done by a mentally ill criminal responsible for his own actions, and people calling for gun and flag limitations in response are standing against the American Constitution. The flag shouldn’t remind people of a bad thing, but remind them that bad times were overcome.”

The flag near the interchange of Interstate 75 and Interstate 4 has been a controversial and high-profile public spectacle since it was erected in 2008. The Confederate history groups display the 30-by-60 foot flag on a 139-foot tall flagpole that was built on private property.

Group members made sure they received the required county permits, and though the appearance of the huge flag was controversial, county officials said they were powerless to stop it because the flag and flagpole did not violate any zoning laws.

http://tbo.com/news/breaking-news/in-wake-of-sc-massacre-hillsboroughs-huge-battle-flag-again-in-spotlight-20150622/

The critical part is that the flag is flying on private property and by a private organization.

[madfloridian]

8. Oh yes I know. They will keep flying it.

But it's a shame, and it's hard to see it there.