CBS Sports rejected a 30-second ad consisting entirely of a little girl saying the Pledge of Allegiance, telling the sponsor simply that the ad was “too political” to air.

Windermere Real Estate/Tri-Cities owner Dave Retter says he thought the cute video showing his granddaughter saying the Pledge of Allegiance, shown after the anniversary of 9/11 and before the quintessentially American sport, a rodeo, would be part of the coverage of the Wrangler Champions Challenge rodeo, shown on September 14. Retter's company was one of two companies sponsoring the broadcast of the rodeo.

The brief ad had no reference to any political party, simply consisting of a little girl with her hand over her heart reciting the pledge recited in schools across the country for decades and the words "...our future" preceding it. Despite the harmless nature and clearly positive intentions of the ad, CBS rejected it on grounds of being “too political.”

"We just thought it's around Sept. 11, Patriot Day, and rodeo is as patriotic a sport as it comes," Retter told the Tri-City Herald. "We've had so many positive responses, we felt it would be fun to run something positive."

Jordan Bradley, a contact between local officials and the network, emailed fair director Lori Lancaster on Thursday, saying CBS Sports rejected the ad because of its "political nature."

This was the first time Dave Praino, co-owner of PS Media, has had an issue like this with one of his client's ads.

"It's amazing," he said. "I'm still trying to scratch my head to figure out what's political about the Pledge of Allegiance."

Praino tried to get answers from CBS Sports, but has not heard back. "We can't even get a return phone call," he said.

CBS Sports also failed to respond to the Tri-City Herald’s questions Thursday afternoon.