Denver's National Anthem flap

It was a sacred, annual event in the Denver City Council chambers: Mayor John Hickenlooper's State of the City address. The City Council and many city workers were all assembled as the Boy Scouts color guard brought in the flags in formation, and Rene Marie, a jazz singer, was introduced to sing the National Anthem.

As the music of the Star Spangled Banner was played, she sang the words of what is called the Black National Anthem--a totally different song. There was shock and outrage in the audience, but the good liberals who make up the City Council, and the Mayor, were properly open-minded and dignified, saying and doing nothing.

As the outraged citizenry has reacted on talk radio and the blogosphere, it has forced these over-the-edge liberals to admit that they were wrong.

Two thoughts come to mind:

1. Nobody remembers a word of what the Mayor said in his address. Everybody remembers what Rene Marie sang. In a crumbling economy, with $4 gasoline, record home foreclosures and high food prices, and gang violence in LoDo--all that the Mayor had to say about it was lost.

2. Running from the public as fast as possible, Marie did say that she exercised "artistic license" and that it was all about her experiences as a Black Woman growing up in the United States.

Sorry--it was not all about you, Rene Marie, it was all about the United States of America on a very somber, dignified occasion. You betrayed those who called upon you, and destroyed the reason for the gathering, the Mayor's State of the City address.