Is there no one left on the left with any decorum?

What is going on here? These women were representing their country in an international event, which they won and while they are being honored for winning, waving American flags and while the star spangled banner was playing, they decide that is the very best time to make a political statement against their own country. That shows all of the maturity of a freshman collage student.

The players have been stunned by the reaction to what they saw as a spontaneous gesture, “a moment of levity,” said Gail Greenberg, the team’s nonplaying captain and winner of 11 world championships.

“What we were trying to say, not to Americans but to our friends from other countries, was that we understand that they are questioning and critical of what our country is doing these days, and we want you to know that we, too, are critical,” Ms. Greenberg said, stressing that she was speaking for herself and not her six teammates.

So what they actually meant was, we are so sorry that anyone back home found out about this cause we were just trying to kiss up to our foreign friends and did not think anyone else was looking. We did not think it was all that important that during an international ceremony honoring our team's efforts WHILE representing our own country that we should actually show support for our country as a whole. We waived the flag and stood there while they played the star spangled banner so what else did you want from us?

Robert S. Wolff (one of the country’s pre-eminent bridge players, who has served as an executive and board member of several bridge organizations) summed it up nicely when he said that he understood that the women might have had a legal right to do what they did but that they had offended many people.

“While I believe in the right to free speech, to me that doesn’t give anyone the right to criticize one’s leader at a foreign venue in a totally nonpolitical event,”

Exactly right and it is a disappointment that more on the left don't see that.