(Updated Oct. 3, 2012)
According to Philip Rucker, National political reporter at The Washington Post covering Mitt Romney and the 2012 presidential campaign, the flag pin with the Secret Service logo was a gift to the candidate from his USSS agents.
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Not long after I wrote about Mitt Romney’s flag lapel pin and speculated about what might be on it, I came across a Daily Kos article talking about what was on Paul Ryan’s pin. Apparently, the night Ryan delivered his speech to the Republican National Convention, he was wearing a different flag pin, not the one with the elephant that he and Romney wore when they appeared together the next night.
The comments on the Daily Kos article indicate that just before he took the stage, Ryan was called out for not having a pin, so he borrowed one from his Secret Service detail. A link led to this image of a Secret Service pin:
Another individual said politicians wear this pin to show support of the Secret Service, although I don’t understand why they’d support the Secret Service over any other government agency:
These pins are almost certainly what I’ve seen the candidates wearing. I saw Romney on TV today during a public appearance and this looks exactly like the pin he was wearing.
Can Romney and Ryan not remember to bring their own pins? Do they maintain pin collections and choose a “pin du jour” appropriate for that day’s audience? As I’ve asked before, since when is a simple, unadorned USA flag pin not good enough?
And yes, I object to the Secret Service pin, too. Wear the flag. Wear a Secret Service emblem. One or the other. Both or neither. But please don’t stick the SS emblem on the flag.
And don’t wear a Secret Service pin if you’re not in the Secret Service.
(Image by Jim Young / Reuters)
See also:
What’s on Romney’s flag pin?