In his February 26 Los Angeles Times column, National Review Online editor-at-large Jonah Goldberg falsely asserted that Sen. Barack Obama's “campaign headquarters in Houston had a Che Guevara-emblazoned Cuban flag hanging on the wall.” Goldberg wrote: “Why is it only conservative 'cranks' who think it's relevant that Obama's campaign headquarters in Houston had a Che Guevara-emblazoned Cuban flag hanging on the wall?” In fact, the office in question -- originally featured in a February 6 news report by KRIV, a Fox television affiliate in Houston -- is not “Obama's campaign headquarters in Houston,” nor is it an official campaign office controlled by the Obama campaign. A February 12 report on the controversy over the flag by KRIV featured Obama campaign spokesman Josh Earnest saying, “It is important for your viewers to understand that the office that was featured in the previous story was opened independently and separate from our official campaign.”

Further, on February 12, the Obama campaign posted a statement on its website:

“This is a volunteer office that is not in any way controlled by the Obama campaign. We were disappointed to see this picture because it is both offensive to many Cuban-Americans -- and Americans of all backgrounds -- and because it does not reflect Senator Obama's views. Barack Obama has been very clear in putting forward a Cuba policy that is based on one principle: freedom for the Cuban people.” -- Obama Campaign

As PolitiFact.com reported, the local Fox affiliate's webpage containing video of the original report now features the following disclaimer: “The office featured in this video is funded by volunteers of the Barack Obama Campaign and is not an official headquarters for his campaign.” From PolitiFact.com:

“This is a volunteer office that is not in any way controlled by the Obama campaign,” a statement from the campaign reads. “We were disappointed to see this picture because it is both offensive to many Cuban-Americans -- and Americans of all backgrounds -- and because it does not reflect Senator Obama's views. Barack Obama has been very clear in putting forward a Cuba policy that is based on one principle: freedom for the Cuban people.”

A disclaimer now appears below the Web site with the Fox 26 video of the women opening the office. “The office featured in this video is funded by volunteers of the Barack Obama Campaign and is not an official headquarters for his campaign.”

Nick Shapiro, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said he has heard that the flag was taken down. “But honestly, it's not our office,” he said on Feb. 21, 2008. “It is not an official campaign office. She (Maria Isabel, the woman who reportedly had the flag hanging behind her desk) is a volunteer precinct captain. Her views do not reflect the views of the campaign.”

From Goldberg's February 26 Los Angeles Times column:

I don't think such associations should cost people their careers or place in polite society. But shouldn't this baggage cost something?

Why is it only conservative “cranks” who think it's relevant that Obama's campaign headquarters in Houston had a Che Guevara-emblazoned Cuban flag hanging on the wall? Indeed, why is love of Che still radically chic at all? A murderer who believed that “the U.S. is the great enemy of mankind” shouldn't be anyone's romantic hero. Why are Fidel Castro's apologists progressive and enlightened but apologists for Augusto Pinochet frightening and authoritarian? Why was Sen. Trent Lott's kindness to former segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond a scandal but Obama's acquaintance with an unrepentant terrorist a triviality?

I have my own answers to these questions. But I'm interested in theirs. In the Democratic debate this week, maybe moderators can resist the temptation to repeat healthcare questions for the billionth time and instead ask America's foremost liberal representatives why being a radical means never having to say you're sorry.