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Obama Snubs Visit to Wounded Troops after Learning Media Couldn't Go

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by El_Conquistador, Jul 25, 2008.

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  1. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    It really is all about image management and photo opportunities with Obama. He cancelled a trip to visit wounded soldiers in Germany after being told his campaign staff and photographers could not attend. How sickening is it that he would rather take his cotton candy tour of Europe, go shopping, have his picture taken in front of crowds, and play dress-up-like JFK instead of doing the right thing and visiting wounded troops? How can people not see that he is doing his best to distance himself from reality and practical life? The media, eager to see a democrat elected, is facilitating all of this. He chooses to distance himself from reality because the reality is that he has neither the experience or instincts to take on the job of President. Is this guy committed to his country, and its wounded soldiers, or his image management campaign? He chose the latter yesterday. He chose vanity over country. Disgusting.

    http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/obama-scrubs-vi.html

    McCain Camp Rips Obama for Cancelling Troop Visit
    July 24, 2008 1:38 PM

    The McCain campaign is slamming Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over a decision to cancel a visit with U.S. troops in Germany.

    The German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting online that Obama has “cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl U.S. military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday.”

    “Barack Obama will not be coming to us,” a spokesperson for the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl told Der Spiegel. “I don't know why.”

    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."

    An Obama adviser, Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration (Ret.), later elaborated on Obama's decision to skip the event.

    "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 perveived as a campaign event when his visit was to show his appreciation for our troops and decided instead not to go."
     
    #1 El_Conquistador, Jul 25, 2008
  2. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
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    If John McCain hops his happy little butt on a plane and goes to visit them without any of his staff or media people around, then I'll listen to his criticism.

    (edit: nevermind, apparently TJ just completely made up the part about the lack of media/press being a part of it, typical..)
     
    #2 DonnyMost, Jul 25, 2008
    Last edited: Jul 25, 2008
  3. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    so what's up with the "after learning the media couldn't go"
     
    #3 pgabriel, Jul 25, 2008
  4. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
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    Oh, and how much do you want to bet that if he had gone, you would start a thread that reads something like this...

    "Balack Hussein Osama exploits wounded soldiers for campaign purposes in Germany"

    Where's that violent vomitting rolley eyed smiley gif when I need it?
     
    #4 DonnyMost, Jul 25, 2008
  5. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    Where's the "after learning media can't go?"
     
    #5 SamFisher, Jul 25, 2008
  6. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    it seems to be the exact opposite
     
    #6 pgabriel, Jul 25, 2008
  7. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    2004 playbook = despair.

    The Republican Revoution is a broken down SUV up on blocks in the front yard. It has been ideologically exhausted. And even if it wasn't you couldn't afford to gas up anyway.
     
    #7 SamFisher, Jul 25, 2008
  8. twhy77

    twhy77 Member

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    Jorge's commentary aside (I feel like I start so many posts that way), why was it ok to use campaign funds to visit troops in Afghanistan but not Germany? :confused:

    Nevermind, I guess he was going on the CODEL budget to Afghanistan...

    Still, why is it wrong to visit the troops off of campaign funds? I don't think anyone would have a problem with that? I'd rather that than buying up Olympic air time when I want to see commercials for Coke and Nike...
     
    #8 twhy77, Jul 25, 2008
  9. SamFisher

    SamFisher Member

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    Because unlike Germany, Afghanistan is the site of a major combat deployment that is a centerpiece of America's foreign policy and Obama's proposed foreign policy.

    Also for security reasons - it's impossible to visit Afghanistan without visiting US troops as they are the only safe areas of the country. He couldn't just go check into the Kandahar Hilton.
     
    #9 SamFisher, Jul 25, 2008
  10. twhy77

    twhy77 Member

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    Yeah I got that, I don't have any problem with him visiting troops there, or in Germany. Just seems like his campaign came up with a quick excuse when they didn't need to. It's really a non-story.
     
    #10 twhy77, Jul 25, 2008
  11. thumbs

    thumbs Member

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    Obama should have made the visit without fanfare and gone his merry way. Then there would have been no criticism and he would have made military personnel happy.

    I wish Obama would get better handlers. Now it looks like the media tour is just what it is, a media lovefest. I love to use my 88-year-old mom (a lifelong Democrat) as a personal barometer to get "regular folk" feedback -- and she was a little more than put off my the non-visit to wounded soldiers.

    Even Democrat Kinky Friedman was unimpressed and now compares McCain and Obama with the tortoise and the hare -- "and you know who wins," he said. As I said, I wish Obama would get better handlers.
     
    #11 thumbs, Jul 25, 2008
  12. Lil Pun

    Lil Pun Member

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    Misleading thread title, as already pointed out.
     
    #12 Lil Pun, Jul 25, 2008
  13. Qball

    Qball Member

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    WHERE DOES IT SAY THAT HE DIDN'T GO BECAUSE THE MEDIA WASN'T GOING?

    I think I am blind...
     
    #13 Qball, Jul 25, 2008
  14. pgabriel

    pgabriel Educated Negro

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    isn't trader's new stichk that we need minimum posting requirements

    I have one for him and basso, comprehend the article you post before posting it.

    TIA
     
    #14 pgabriel, Jul 25, 2008
  15. SWTsig

    SWTsig Member

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    why didn't you just title the thread "obama eats cocker spaniel puppies in front of onlooking children"... i mean, that's as substantiated as what you put anyways.

    but if you were going for the "grasping at straws" technique... you nailed it.
     
    #15 SWTsig, Jul 25, 2008
  16. SirCharlesFan

    SirCharlesFan Member

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    I'm absolutely convinced TJ is someone playing a character in the vein of our favorite BBS lawyer.
     
    #16 SirCharlesFan, Jul 25, 2008
  17. CometsWin

    CometsWin Breaker Breaker One Nine

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    TJ has Obama fever, he can't help himself.
     
    #17 CometsWin, Jul 25, 2008
  18. mc mark

    mc mark Member

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    #18 mc mark, Jul 25, 2008
  19. twhy77

    twhy77 Member

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    I still don't get why this is an inappropriate use of his campaign funds. I understand the reasoning that he's giving and I'm not trying to say that's bogus. But how is this different from his speech in Berlin, or anything else he does with campaign funds that aren't illegal.
     
    #19 twhy77, Jul 25, 2008
  20. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    Obama himself could have attended, along with the traveling Senators. The media and campaign officials could not have. That's the distinction that is even more incriminating... Vanity over country. Not exactly honorable...

    Wounded soldiers or photo opp's with the German masses? You chose wrong, Obama.
     
    #20 El_Conquistador, Jul 25, 2008
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