The irony of ABC News' report that Mitt Romney's campaign held a Tampa fundraiser on a Cayman Island-flagged yacht was absolutely delicious, but it couldn't be that simple. Shortly after ABC News showed a screenshot of the yacht with what looked like a Cayman flag in a Web report accompanying a broadcast by Brian Ross, the conservative Washington Free Beacon joined ABC's commenters in calling out the newscast for mixing up its flags, saying the yacht, Cracker Bay, was flying a Bermuda flag, not a Cayman one. This was even more delicious, it seemed: Brian Ross, of the Aurora shooter Tea Party screw-up, strikes again! But that, too, isn't so cut and dry, as the Beacon later acknowledged in a correction: "Upon further review, there are in fact multiple Cayman Island flags, and it appears that the original report by ABC News’ Brian Ross correctly identified the flag flying on the boat in question."

The irony here is that Mitt Romney has been criticized for using the Cayman Islands as a tax shelter, of course, but even if it had turned out the flag was from Bermuda, it stands because Romney has been criticized for doing the same thing in Bermuda.

Just going from the ABC News photo, one could make a case that the yacht may have been flying either flag, because while the Cayman Islands land flag looks pretty different from Bermuda's, the Cayman civil ensign, which non-military boats fly, is very similar. The main distinguishing characteristic between the Bermuda national flag and the Cayman civil ensign is the coat of arms on the red field, which in ABC News' screenshot can't be made out. But as Daily Intel's Joe Coscarelli notes, the yacht website Charterworld reports the Cracker Bay as flagged in the Cayman Islands. 

The most noticeable difference between the main Cayman Islands flag and the Bermuda flag is that Bermuda's is red:

While Cayman's is blue:

But the Cayman civil ensign, flown by non-military boats registered in the Cayman Islands, looks pretty similar to Bermuda's:

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Adam Martin