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Thadius -> RE: A Workout Instead of Meeting U.S. Troops? (7/25/2008 6:30:05 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: bipolarber
So, the timeline is this:
1) Obama is denied access to the visit with the troops becuase the Pentagon found a reason to do so.
2)Obama, now with a hole in his schedule, goes for a workout.
3) The McCain people, immediately disseminate the information that Obama "blew off the troops"
4) The Obama campaign, silent about the seemingly straightforward cancelling of a visit, let's slip it was due to the Pentagon's decision....
5) It is then found that the "rule" that supposedly was the cause of the cancellation was misused.
6) an investigation is currently being launched, looking into if the commanders in charge of this action were, in fact, manipulating events in order to cast candidate Obama in a bad light. (and yes, this would be a court martial level offense, if found to be true. The military is NOT to take sides in an election.)
Source: fact check.org, MSNBC, "Countdown"
At least get the details right.
quote:
The Obama campaign said that it would have been inappropriate to make the stop because Obama was concerned the trip would have been viewed as a campaign event.
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=87817&videoChannel=1
quote:
“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,” Mr. Gibbs said.
quote:
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, issued a statement emphasizing that the Pentagon did not cancel Mr. Obama’s visit.
“Senator Obama, in his official capacity, is always welcome to visit Landstuhl or any other military hospital. But it is not permitted to bring with him campaign staff. His team was notified of that, and they made a decision not to visit the hospital. But we were ready and willing to host him there. In fact, we had made arrangements for his campaign plane to land at Ramstein, and to take care of the campaign staff and press in a passenger terminal there, while the senator and senate staff, if he liked, went on to visit wounded warriors. They made a decision based on their own calculations not to visit. Senator Obama, like any other member of the senate, is always welcome to visit our wounded warriors or our military hospitals around the world. But they do so in their official capacity, and not as a candidate. He can come in and bring senate staffers as well, if he likes, but campaign staffers and press are not permitted to accompany him. That would be a violation of DoD directives.”
The evidence is very easy to follow.. Obama did not want to make the visit without the campaign and press entourage. Without press he would not get the photo op to add to his resume. The campaigns can attempt to spin this however they wish, the fact is a sitting Senator is ALWAYS welcome to visit troops, and especially welcome to visit the wounded. Quite simply, Obama chose not to visit.
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