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McCain Takes Obama To Task Over Troop Treatment

Obama Prefers A Workout Or A Martini To Visiting Troops Without Photograghers

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  July 27th, 2008 at 07:58 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

If it doesn’t make good campaign propaganda, provide useful campaign imagery, or lend itself to raising campaign funds, Obama isn’t interested.

We know Obama doesn’t really care about what is happening in Afghanistan. If he did care, Obama would have conducted hearings on Afghanistan. Obama never held a single hearing on Afghanistan:

Barack Obama: “I became Chairman of this committee at the beginning of this campaign, at the beginning of 2007. So it is true that we haven’t had oversight hearings on Afghanistan.” (MSNBC Democratic Presidential Debate, 2/26/08)

Obama didn’t visit Iraq to see the progress accomplished by the surge, until goaded into doing so by McCain and groups like Vets for Freedom. According to the New York Times, When Obama finally returned to Iraq it had been “well past 900 days,” two and one half years, since Obama had made his only other visit there.

We know Obama voted against $94 billion in critical funding for U.S. troops fighting to protect us in Afghanistan and Iraq.

We know that Obama’s recent so-called fact-finding trip to Afghanistan and Iraq wasn’t a fact-finding trip at all. Obama made it very clear before he left that as far as he was concerned the facts were already found. Obama’s trip to Afghanistan and Iraq was just for photo ops and fake interviews.

We know Obama’s decision to cancel his scheduled visit with wounded troops after Obama learned his campaign photographers would not be allowed to accompany him. This incident developed into a full-blown kerfuffle between Obama and the military.

Obama senior strategist David Axelrod tried to blame the military. Axelrod said that Pentagon notified an Obama military adviser the day before the scheduled visit that Obama should not come.

The military made it clear that Axelrod’s story wasn’t accurate. Defense Department Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said, “Obama is more than welcome to visit Landstuhl or any other military hospital around the world. … But he has to do so, just as any other senator has to do so, in his official capacity. It is not acceptable to do so as a candidate.” Undersecretary of Defense David Chu explained that Obama would not be allowed to bring any of his campaign staff — only one Senate staffer and security. He also would not have been able to address the media or make any campaign-related statements.

So when confronted with the rule that campaigns are not allowed to use wounded U.S. troops as campaign props, Obama chose not to visit wounded troops. Instead, Obama chose to use the time for a visit to the gym at the Berlin Ritz Carlton — which did provide campaign imagery, and to enjoy a martini with his campaign staff and the press at a downtown Berlin restaurant.

The McCain campaign sums all this up nicely in a new ad “Troops,” which you can watch below.

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COMMENTS

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  • swift93

    It looks to me as if Obama’s positions have become the broadly accepted expectations of the electorate. Prescient or lucky, Obama was in the right place with the correct position on the issues. McCain is struggling to find new positions to contrast and not finding anything suitable, has resorted to tactics best left to school children.

    His campaign his been skillful in all areas and is not likely to make a mistake on visiting troops. The State Dept. warned embassy employees that they were not allowed to attend Obama’s speech. It is my opinion that he was not given any cooperation from the pentagon.

  • rbdwiggins

    Obama may wish he’d spent a little more time in the US Senate representing his Illinois-constituency instead of abdicating his constitutional duties and responsibilities for self-gratification and aggrandizement.

    The Illinois-voters just might decide to make Obama a lame-duck senator.

    • Moe_Lane

      Quite bluntly, in fact.

      But, hey: maybe you’ll get lucky, and Obama will figure out some way to win. You may see piles of dead Iraqi corpses yet.

      • rbdwiggins
  • Greatgreatgranny

    As a great-great grandmother, I have seen the deterioration of conservative values in our nation escalate & I’m convinced the media shares a huge responsibility for that. It saddens me to think of what the young generations will face as adults because of the outright distortion of facts & glamorization of the far left in all facets of the media ? from the news to the entertainment we see daily.

    The following 2 emails from G.I.’s were forwarded by friends – another example of what is & isn’t important to him.

    1. “Hello everyone,
      As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to “The War Zone”. I wanted to share with you what happened.”

    “He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram.”

    “As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn’t say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service.”

    “So really he was just here to make a showing for the American’s back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you.”

    “I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just don’t understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country.”

    “If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake.”

    “In service,
    CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
    Battle Captain
    TF Wasatch”

    1. This from Major General Buckman (ret)

    ‘Just in case you happened to see the ABC News piece(if you watch ABC News) with interviews of 5 military folks in Iraq – 3 planned to vote for Obama and 2 for Hillary; no mention of any McCain supporters. Well, here’s the ‘Rest of the Story.’

    “My niece, Katelyn, stationed at Baluud, Iraq was assigned, with others of her detachment, to be escort/guard/watcher for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain’s recent trip to Iraq . Katelyn and her Captain stood directly behind Raddatz as she queried GIs walking past. They kept count of the GIs and you should remember these numbers. She asked 60 GIs who they planned to vote for in November. 54 said John McCain, 4 for Obama and 2 for Hillary.

    Katelyn called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing directly behind Raddatz and maybe they’d see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see Katelyn. Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn’t a glimpse of Katelyn, but got a hell’uva view of skewed news. After a dissertation on McCain’s trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GIs being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November; 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton. No mention of the 54 for McCain”.

    Our fore-fathers must be turning over in their graves at what this nation has done to the foundations they established. Call me an ole fuddy-duddy, but I think it is disgraceful?

  • Wilmington

    Hate our shoppers. Typically when a persons drops something, like jars of pickles, you lend a hand – not just stand there.
    Unbelievable!

    Oh and double standard?

    CNN:

    With Department of Defense rules prohibiting political campaigning on military bases, it was determined that in some cases McCain could visit the installations as a senator but could not engage in any political activity or have news media present.
    McCain campaign officials said Thursday they intentionally did not campaign on military property.

    “We follow the rules,” said senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt.

    Because all three presidential candidates are sitting senators, DoD officials have privately noted for some weeks that the whole matter of drawing the line between Senate business and campaigning is sensitive.

    A U.S. Army official told CNN there are no pending requests from any of the campaigns to visit Army bases at this time. He noted that Sen. Barack Obama recently visited Fayetteville, North Carolina, but did not go to Fort Bragg; and Sen. Hillary Clinton visited Killeen, Texas, but did not go to Fort Hood.

    For his Wednesday visit to the U.S. Naval Academy — of which he is a graduate — McCain was allowed to make a political appearance at the academy’s football stadium because it is privately owned property and is not owned or run by the U.S. military.

    Earlier in the day, when McCain had breakfast with midshipmen on academy grounds, it was closed to the press and considered a private event.

    The military spokesman points out that any U.S. senator could also request to visit the academy or any military installation.

    But the Navy declined a McCain campaign request to speak at the Naval Aviation Museum at the naval base in Pensacola, Florida, because it is a military owned installation and is located on the base, the official said.

    McCain did attend an airshow over the weekend at the Navy base in Meridian, Mississippi, because it was open to the general public. But he declined to answer political questions from reporters traveling with him.

    I am not a troll – just speaking my mind. Go Huckabee!

    • mbecker908

      you’re worse than a troll.

      And, BTW, is there a point to this silly rant?

  • Dan_McLaughlin

    Well done, Dan, and wel done, McCain campaign!

    • neverpc

      I heard with disbelief that Obama cancelled his trip to the troops-rejecting their wounds and service for their country. The Europeans all loved this-but is this what America is becoming? A pansy state that is weak on national defense and ignores the soldiers that defend it because it’s not pc? This is a huge blunder on the part of the Obama camp and should be highlighted over and over again. Baby boomers, are you watching this? Making Obama president would give us a socialist who is weak on national defense and will leave us open for anyone who wants to harm us.

  • Pentagon16

    he HAS to go on the offensive on every front. Let Obama be the one to explain why he ditched our wounded troops, why he continues to shift to his 11th policy on Iraq, why he won’t drill for oil, why he wants to raise taxes on all americans, why he supports infanticide and gun control. Grasp the issues and go on the offensive- make Obama defend himself on every issue..

  • Pentagon16

    he HAS to go on the offensive on every front. Let Obama be the one to explain why he ditched our wounded troops, why he continues to shift to his 11th policy on Iraq, why he won’t drill for oil, why he wants to raise taxes on all americans, why he supports infanticide and gun control. Grasp the issues and go on the offensive- make Obama defend himself on every issue..

    • Pentagon16

      your opinion is full of cr@p. Can you not read?!

      The Department of Defense had AGREED to Obama visiting Landstuhl, it was Obama’s campaign that cancelled after he could not use it as a campaign stop.

      How many times does this have to be reported in different media sources and by the DOD before a liberal mind can grasp what the words on the page mean?

      • neverpc

        I made this comment from the standpoint of the obama campaign cancelling it-not the whitehouse. Obama’s European leanings and his socialist agenda is what I was speaking about-take a chill pill-no liberal here!

  • Rothn

    McCain should have stayed above the fray and let surrogates and the blogosphere drive this particular talking point. Suffice it to say the troops would have loved to see Obama and leave it at that. Don’t make it about you or Obama. MAKE IT ABOUT THE TROOPS. Let the surrogates throw the accusations about Obama.

    And the ad is overkill. It doesn’t work. It’s too over-the-top. He’s made the ad about Obama. The “McCain has always cared about troops” was just stupid. Don’t make this about you. It’s about the troops. Jesus, leave some things to the imagination.

    I fear a backlash.

    • mbecker908

      It IS about Obama. The ad is not overkill, it’s just about right. McCain absolutely must take on BO personally and directly. BO is much more dangerous than your standard empty suit, and he is also easily flustered when confronted directly. McCain needs to do everything in his power to utterly destroy him.

      • David_Hinz

        (OK, I realize this is already a stretch) to read the quotes that you have lifted without attribution or blockquoting in your post — you would NOTE that McCain met with military personnel in private without cameras and the press IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW. You see, he is not afraid to meet with the military EVEN WHEN IT DOES NOT PROFIT HIS CAMPAIGN whereas Obama is only interested in a photo op.

        And Huck is SO yesterday

        • simpson316

          And that tends to put you a smidge lower than a liberal on the intelligence scale.

          • Moe_Lane

            NT

          • simpson316

            Dang, and I thought I had the hang of the new line things.

            I shall now go punish myself. I’ve heard that ironing one’s hands is quite painful.