Swickard: If two wrongs don't make a right, try three

Commentary by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. - The Confederate Flag controversy in Las Cruces last week is captured perfectly by Laurence Peter, “If two wrongs don't make a right, try three.”  The controversy started because of an Independence Day parade float by the Las Cruces TEA Party. It had the Confederate Flag among 21 other flags that have flown over New Mexico. The flag was displayed among the other flags but not prominently. Regardless, it jumps out at you. The TEA Party theme was: what flags have flown over New Mexico in its history? While that was not the centerpiece theme of the parade, the Centennial of our state’s founding, it was good enough New Mexico history that the judges awarded the TEA Party float the grand prize including a thousand dollars. It seems a political operative who was a TEA Party opponent realized that if this issue was falsified and twisted it could put the TEA Party in a bad light. So this operative protested that the Confederate Flag on the TEA Party float was the only flag flown, and you know what that means, wink wink nod nod. Not true but the political operative chortled at the chaos created. Let us look at the three wrongs in this story. Read column

Swickard: If two wrongs don't make a right, try three