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Señor McSurge Guilty Of Yet Another “Unpresidential” Gaffe As He Pounds On Barry O-Bomber For Adhering To Strict DoD Policy
Once again, Panama John McSurge has opened his mouth and inserted both feet in his harsh criticism of Barry O-Bomber for his so-called “failure” to keep his word and visit our wounded troops in Landstuhl Medical Center near Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Folks, it wasn’t a “failure” on Obama’s part, nor was it the huge disrepectful gesture McCain has been attempting to make it out to be; it’s the LAW. A recap of the knee-jerk, “unpresidential” reaction from the only U.S. Senator in this nation’s history to be born in the sovereign foreign nation of Panama, later to call Arizona his adopted “home”, courtesy of FoxNews‘ Major Garrett:
“… Obama called off the trip Thursday. At first, the campaign said it did not want to be accused of visiting the wounded troops as part of an overseas trip financed by the senator’s presidential campaign, fearing it would be received and subsequently criticized as using the wounded as campaign props.
The McCain campaign quickly criticized Obama, asserting it is never inappropriate to visit wounded U.S. military personnel and Obama’s concerns about political attacks were unfounded. …”
In fact, in the very same manner in which he voted to invade the completely sovereign nation of Iraq due to nothing more than “faulty intelligence”, Señor McCain exercized the bad judgement he is quickly becoming world-famous for in jumping to the conclusion ole’ Barry would rather par-tay like it’s 1999 in Berlin than bother himself with visiting America’s bravest and finest in their “death throes”. While this is NOT to be construed as an endorsement for Barry, feel free to construe it as a DIRE WARNING to anybody who would vote for Señor McSurge. After all, there are many, many OTHER choices, my friends, and I’ve always felt better when voting FOR somebody than I have in the one or two times I’ve voted against a “lesser-of-two-evil” types, but that’s just MOI…
Since I was particularly interested in reading what the “Right” was saying about this “breaking news”; how they were reacting to yet another of many recent pieces of bad news for their “lesser-of-two-evil” Republican candidate, I turned to whom I consider to be a great friend of this blog despite our fairly wide ideological divide, Mr. Don Surber of the Charleston Daily Mail — one of the VERY few Mainstream Media bloggers who has earned the term “blogger” without the disrespectful quotation marks I normally reserve for their types. Anyhow, that said, as he often does, he raised a great question in rebuttal to the Talking Points Memo Article by Greg Sargent on the same subject; other side of the aisle (H/T to MemeOrandum for the original pull…):
“… Baloney.
Obama had an easy choice.
He could have walked in alone.
He could have left the campaign behind for a few minutes.
He could have visited those troops and talked to them and he could have found out what it is they need, and then go back to Washington and tend those needs.
In other words, he could have been for one brief moment a senator.
Instead, he is spinning this through his flunkies as all the fault of Republican Sen. John McCain. …”
Hmm. I swear to God, I had to stop and think about that one for a few moments before I realized Mr. Surber and many others who aren’t in the military like I am might just jump to the above conclusion like Panama John himself did. Unfortunately for Mr. Surber and his “lesser-of-two-evils” candidate, it turns out the question doesn’t quite hold water after all. In a “shocker”, I must turn back to the first referenced article from Fox News‘ Major Garrett for the TRUTH with a capital “T” to resolve the matter for once and for all — look for the bolded phrase — bolded by myself, of course:
” …the Pentagon released this letter today from the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and REadiness, David Chu, that explained the guidelines for Obama’s potential visit. It was sent, the Pentagon said, to commanders at EUCOM (European Command) and top officials at Landstuhl.
The guidelines were listed as:
1. You can land at Landstuhl and any/all media can cover your arrival and departure.
2. You will only be allowed at the Hospital with ONE SENATE staffer and appropriate security.
3. The only media allowed to follow into the hospital would be a military still photographer. The photographer would have potentially shot pictures of Obama with hospital staffers, members of the military and any patients that would want to participate. …”
“Ambigous”? NOPE. Folks, I remind you — this is the U.S. military and a Department of Defense rule directly from the Pentagon and it says what it says. I’ll be happy to break it down so there is no further “debate” on the topic…
“You”, as in “Barry O-Bomber” HIMSELF, “can land at Landstuhl”. Not “You and your campaign entourage” — “YOU“. Next — “any/all media can cover your arrival and departure.” That’s the end of the story, folks. It’s LAW. It’s non-negotiable. The rule says his Mainstream Media entourage is allowed to be on the ground when the Senator arrives and takes off. There is no reading between the lines in a DoD document such as this — if it doesn’t say the MSM’ers and his campaign staffers are allowed to fly into Landstuhl along with ole’ Barry, they are NOT allowed to accompany him — period, END OF STORY.
Much “ado about nothing” again as usual from Panama McSurge who should know, and most likely DOES know better. Which — again highlights his lack of good judgment, his dishonesty as a man, his willingness to say or do anything to get elected, the onset of alzheimers, or any combination of all of the above.
Get help, Señor… you NEED it. BADLY.
***
Other blogger opinions (“snips” — read the articles):
Crooks and Liars (John Amato):
“… Any candidate would go out of his way to make a trip like this. Hey, guess what? The same thing happened to McCain… “
MyDD:
“… a huge net-positive for Obama because the press core may become inoculated to such distractions. In normal circumstances, a bogus attack intended for distraction is considered successful if it lands its own story or news cycle before getting rebutted; it uses the 24-hour news frenzy to hang out there for a bit and clip your opponent’s good press regardless of whether the attack is…true. But McCain’s hits are duds – the sniping about Obama giving a campaign speech was contradicted with a description of McCain’s own foreign campaign speech right in the same article. At the end of the day, reporters will start to wonder if McCain really has any message of his own – or any actual policy ideas that aren’t “drill” and “victory” rhetoric. Perhaps they’ll realize that McCain’s actual policies on the war and the economy are unpopular, so he’s avoiding them. …”
Democrat Taylor Marsh’s surprising response:
“… With due respect, is he kidding? There’s not a reason in the world to justify skipping it. Hey, but they’re not listening to me. …”
“… the hardly-ever-right wing cried aloud, oh that obama is snubbing our hard working men and women in uniform, but he’s happy to raise cash at a nazi rally!
except, it was the pentagon that nixed obama’s visit w/the troops. …”
And, from the “Right”, a predictable and not-so-surprising response from Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey:
“… Obama and his team set up the visits to military installations before going overseas. After seeing how the media got excluded in Iraq and Afghanistan, they decided it wasn’t worth traveling to Ramstein and Landstuhl to visit the severely wounded troops because they couldn’t bring the campaign and get the photo ops they wanted. Instead, Obama went shopping in Berlin. …”
[Editor's note: Sorry "Captain" Ed -- You're giving the Pentagon way, too much credit here in defense of your hero, Panama John, who is also getting way, too much credit from you as well. To buy into your argument, one would have to buy into the image of a Pentagon that knows it's derierre from a hole in the ground. Please recall, for example, the FACT that the Pentagon had given our (at the time) blogger, Alex Melonas, FULL APPROVAL to travel to Iraq along with Red State, only to have them change their minds at the last moment about allowing a "Liberal Imbedded Blogger" to go to Iraq. "Bidness as usual" for our so-called "military leaders"...]
thx 4 the link, gtlib!
Sorry GTL I think you have just committed the same mistake you are accusing McCain of.
Per the politico: http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/DoD_spokesman_says_Obama_camp_was_reminded_of_political_rules.html
“Military personnel at Ramstein Air Force Base, where the senator was to fly into, had already made arrangements to accommodate Obama’s traveling press pack and campaign staff while he visited the wounded troops, Morrell said.”
So your assertion that the press would not be allowed to land on the base is in doubt. Maybe you can contact the Pentagon and clarify that point?
Either way it would appear from that quote that the Obama campaign and the pentagon had made prior arrangements to “accommodate” the press and campaign staffers during the visit long before this last minute cancellation. Again someone should clarify exactly what arrangements were made.
sound fair?
Skippy — no prob! Thanx for the link back!
Rick — hehe… it’s just great to see you’re still around, bro