Obama snubs wounded soldiers, Fox News

[Chris_]

McCain Camp Rips Obama for Cancelling Troop Visit

Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs told ABC News in a statement, “During his trip as part of the CODEL to Afghanistan and Iraq, Sen. Obama visited the combat support hospital in the Green Zone in Baghdad and had a number of other visits with the troops.  For the second part of his trip, the senator wanted to visit the men and women at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to express his gratitude for their service and sacrifice. The senator decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign.”

But the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., issued the following comment on Obama’s decision.

"Barack Obama is wrong," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers. “It is never ‘inappropriate’ to visit our men and women in the military."

[Chris_]

Barack Bashes FOX News... Asks If Commander In Chief Gets to Choose Channels



Video at the link...

[Hawkgirl]

One of the replies..."Think it over, Hussein. The fingers on the remotes belong to the troops. They use the other hand to bitterly cling to their guns and their bibles."
 

[jendf]

Sounds like Obama has a touch of BDS.

[Chris_]

Sounds like Obama has a touch of BDS.

I suppose all the TVs onboard the Obama One are pre-set to MSNBC and NPR.

Well, half of them anyway.  The other half are tuned into BET.

[TheSarge]

If I posted how I truly feel about this idiot and his stupid ramblings above...it would be nothing but *************

[Rebel]

If I posted how I truly feel about this idiot and his stupid ramblings above...it would be nothing but *************

Let it out, Sarge, let it out. 

I think it's a Damn travesty and his excuse was even worse. He's not going to use campaign dollars to visit the troops because he thinks it's inappropriate? Then WHY IN THE **** WAS IN PLANNED IN THE FIRST PLACE! 

Oh, and I loved McCain's response. "It's never an inappropriate time to visit injured troops".

Real reason? He has been shown how the troops now feel about him. ...and that 20-30% that did like him? Pretty sure he lost at least 5% of those.

Damn I hate that mother****er. 

[Wretched Excess]

I read someplace that the obama campaign canceled when they found out that they couldn't drag along the entire band of MSM disciples.

[DixieBelle]

^So no photo op, no troop visit. NICE.

What an asshole. You can't B.S. everyone forever Ooooobama.

This is going to be worse than Kerry eating all by himself.

[Rebel]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/07/obamas_love_for_our_soldiers_o.html

[Wretched Excess]

^So no photo op, no troop visit. NICE.

What an asshole. You can't B.S. everyone forever Ooooobama.

This is going to be worse than Kerry eating all by himself.

exactly.  he won't go visit wounded soldiers unless he can been seen visiting wounded soldiers.  draw what conclusions you will.

[Wretched Excess]

UPDATE: A very interesting email from a source I must protect suggests that Obama's visit to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center had the green light until a campaign staffer raised a stink about going with Obama. (There are rules meant to ensure candidates do not use soldiers or military bases for campaign purposes, and they state that personal and committee staff may accompany a sitting senator on a visit but campaign staff may not.) I am told that when one of Obama's campaign staff was told he or she would be denied access, the visit was canceled.
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ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader who presumably objects to this post writes in, "Obama is not on a USO tour... So stop whining about how many hours he spends with the precious troops."

linky

they must not have had a basketball court at the hospital.

[DumbAss Tanker]

This story is going to **** him on the troop vote, which is a good thing.

[Wretched Excess]

This story is going to **** him on the troop vote, which is a good thing.

I was thinking that mccain was going to win the military vote anyway, but this will be seen as deeply offensive to many average americans.

[Wretched Excess]

One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama's representatives were told, "he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers."  In addition,
"Obama could not bring any media.  Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama's visit."

The official said "We didn't know why" the request to visit the wounded troops was withdrawn.  "He (Obama) was more than welcome.  We were all ready for him."

link

the obama campaign has released a statement trying to make it sound like it was the pentagon that raised the
objection . . . but that would seem to be clearly untrue.

[Chris_]

This story is going to **** him on the troop vote, which is a good thing.

Nope.  This story is just gonna hang like an albatross around his neck in the eyes of the Military.

Barack being too pretty to walk amongst the troops is what's gonna **** him with the trooper's votes.

[Wretched Excess]

al reuters dutifully spins the story. . . .

BERLIN (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama dropped a plan to visit wounded U.S. troops in Germany on Friday after the Pentagon said such venues should not be used for political campaigns.

The Pentagon in a statement cited longstanding Defense Department policy that prohibits military personnel or facilities from association with partisan political campaigns and elections.

"We told him he could visit Landstuhl (Regional Medical Center in western Germany) with his Senate staff, but not with his campaign staff," said Army Lt. Col. Elizabeth Hibner.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, an adviser to Obama, said Obama had opted against the visit.

[paladin0]

So Barack couldn't get his campaign staff into the event, so he bailed? That's disgusting.

I notice that the pentagon's statement indicated that he wasn't denied the ability to go there, so that means the choice was all his.

Paladkin0

[Wretched Excess]

Obama Camp Pins Scrubbed Troop Visit on Pentagon

[Chris_]

"We learned from the Pentagon last night that the visit would be viewed instead as a campaign event," Gration said. "Sen. Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perceived as a campaign event when his visit was to show his appreciation for our troops and decided instead not to go."

Obama must have a hell of a bus.  He threw the entire Pentagon under it.

[Wretched Excess]

"We learned from the Pentagon last night that the visit would be viewed instead as a campaign event," Gration said. "Sen. Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perceived as a campaign event when his visit was to show his appreciation for our troops and decided instead not to go."

Obama must have a hell of a bus.  He threw the entire Pentagon under it.

the pentagon isn't going to cooperate like all of the other "under the bus" dwellers:

However the Pentagon pushed backed against the Obama campaign's version of events.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman denied they tried to discourage Obama's visit and denied the Pentagon rebuked the campaign about the appropriateness of the planned visit.

"We learned a few days ago of the interest in Sen. Obama going to Landsthul and all we did was simply remind people just to remember our longstanding guidance with respect to policital campaigns in an election year," Whitman said, "And remind them that Sen. Obama is a sitting senator or has an interest and is welcome to visit an installation, to include something like Landstuhl, but his visit would need to be done consistent with a visit as a sitting senator."

However Whitman noted that officials at Landstuhl were aware of DOD's long-standing guidelines to distinguish between the visit of a sitting senator and a visit under the auspices of a political campaign.

"I think the issue here is you are both a sitting senator and a political candidate. When you are doing things like a visit to Landstuhl you need to do it in your sitting capacity or you have to do it within the restrictions that apply to any other candidate that might be running for office that is not a sitting senator," he said, "So you have to be able to draw those distinctions. Generally speaking the military tries very hard not to get involved in political campaigns."

More

i think that obama's pathological inability to admit that he is wrong is going to cost him on this one.  or, he will
simply throw a couple of campaign workers under the bus after he realizes that this tactic isn't going to fly.

[Jim]

So Barack couldn't get his campaign staff into the event, so he bailed? That's disgusting.

I notice that the pentagon's statement indicated that he wasn't denied the ability to go there, so that means the choice was all his.

Paladkin0

do you expect him to go around stapleing up his own banners, getting the right mix of colors in the visitations, checking the lighting, setting up the halo spotlight ?  Sure he's the messiah but he has people for all that stuff !

[Wretched Excess]

So Barack couldn't get his campaign staff into the event, so he bailed? That's disgusting.

I notice that the pentagon's statement indicated that he wasn't denied the ability to go there, so that means the choice was all his.

Paladkin0

do you expect him to go around stapleing up his own banners, getting the right mix of colors in the visitations, checking the lighting, setting up the halo spotlight ?  Sure he's the messiah but he has people for all that stuff !

yep.  no acts of God without his advance staff, or unless the MSM is on hand to record his miracles for the indoctrination of his minions.

[Wretched Excess]

So Barack couldn't get his campaign staff into the event, so he bailed? That's disgusting.

I notice that the pentagon's statement indicated that he wasn't denied the ability to go there, so that means the choice was all his.

Paladkin0

do you expect him to go around stapleing up his own banners, getting the right mix of colors in the visitations, checking the lighting, setting up the halo spotlight ?  Sure he's the messiah but he has people for all that stuff !

yep.  no acts of God without his advance staff, or unless the MSM is on hand to record his miracles for the indoctrination of his minions.

These guys make Col Tom Parker's control over Elvis look like a crack whore's interest in her rugrats.


**edited to fix confusing quote tag problem**

[Airwolf]

If I posted how I truly feel about this idiot and his stupid ramblings above...it would be nothing but *************

Dude ,your not the only one.