Andrea Mitchell lacerates McCain's dishonorable Landstuhl attack. In her words: "It seems inexplicable that this whole thing has become an issue."

 

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Yet, people like Fox News run the story like it's true. MSNBC's Buchanan did it too. MSNBC's Hall did it too?

 

How many people believed it when these "news" outlets ran the stories?

What was the attack?

I have the slow computer for the weekend. Can someone give a synopsis for me?

McCain's camp and/or some media claimed Obama did not visit troops because he couldn't bring cameras to film it. Mitchell says she was with him and that he did not have any cameras or an entourage as claimed. He felt that it would look politicized if he visited these troops on this portion of the trip. She noted that he had visited troops 4 days prior without cameras in tow.

Big surprise. The military says that Obama was told the the media could not accompany him on his visit to wounded troops, Obama's spokesman disagrees, and the Andria Mitchell sides with Obama.

Big surprise. The military says that Obama was told the the media could not accompany him on his visit to wounded troops, Obama's spokesman disagrees, and the Andria Mitchell sides with Obama.

 

Obama already knew that media wasn't allowed. They werent allowed when he visited wounded troops at Walter Reed and in Baghdad. So why would he suddenly think they would be allowed? Your story (or should I say the story you believed) doesn't seem to have legs.

McCain's camp and/or some media claimed Obama did not visit troops because he couldn't bring cameras to film it. Mitchell says she was with him and that he did not have any cameras or an entourage as claimed. He felt that it would look politicized if he visited these troops on this portion of the trip. She noted that he had visited troops 4 days prior without cameras in tow.

 

Gotcha. I actually knew most of that already. None of McCain's other stops to visit wounded soldiers required cameras, so why did anyone think that this one was meant to be a photo op? Just another thing to put a spin on.

Big surprise. The military says that Obama was told the the media could not accompany him on his visit to wounded troops, Obama's spokesman disagrees, and the Andria Mitchell sides with Obama.

 

There have been various reports of Obama blowing off troops. One rumor was that he blew off troops in Afghanistan. Snopes.com comes through in the clutch to discredit that false accusation.

 

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There have been various reports of Obama blowing off troops. One rumor was that he blew off troops in Afghanistan. Snopes.com comes through in the clutch to discredit that false accusation.

 

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Nice attempt at diversion. This charge and the Snopes response have nothing to do with Andrea Mitchell's report.

 

The fact is, unless Mitchell was a party to the discussions between Obama's staff and the military, she has nothing but her own political bias to indicate that Obama is telling the truth in this instance and that the military spokesman is not. Just more evidence of the mainstream media being in the tank for Obama.

What did the military spokesperson say in regards to this?

I'm not sure what you're getting at here, HB. Here's the facts:

 

Obama goes on a victory tour of the Middle East and Europe.

 

He goes to the Middle East because McCain has more foreign policy experience and because he has been criticized for not visiting. Clearly, a political move, and in my opinion a good one. Anyone who says otherwise has no credibility with me.

 

While he is in the Middle East he has the opportunity to meet with the troops.

 

He schedules a visit to wounded soldiers at Landstuhl military hospital, but then after he gets there, cancels it.

 

Why?

 

McCain's camp, and a whole lot of media, claim it was because he was unable to use the meeting as a camera event to be shown back home, due to the general informing Obama's people that no cameras or entourage are permitted under military regulations.

 

Obama's camp's explanation is that they canceled because they were concerned that it would be seen only as a publicity stunt, and that they ALWAYS knew there could be no cameras.

 

What does this clip say? Nothing at all, other than that Andrea Mitchell, an obvious and unabashed Obama supporter can "vouch" that she was there and heard them talk beforehand about the issue. Good grief.

 

1. You are not going to be able to convince me that Obama's camp had not, before the trip, considered whether such a visit would be a publicity stunt. Everything they do is carefully planned. Why then the sudden change when they got there? Because they were told "no cameras."

 

2. My next question is, everything else on the tour was a publicity stunt, why would this have been any different?

 

3. It is hard to conceive of something as a publicity stunt if there was not going to be any publicity. Obama could have easily either 1) not announced he was going there and just visited quietly, as he now claims was his intent 2) gone through with the visit and told his waiting in the anteroom news media not to report anything.

 

The truth is that Barack Obama had more important things to do in France that involved cameras than to visit with a bunch of afterthought troops, and his busy media schedule did not permit. He would be much better served letting this story die on the vine rather than putting the likes of Andrea Mitchell out there to "vouch" for what a great guy he is and pull his ashes out of the fire.

 

I'm just glad McCain is addressing this and not letting it drop like 80% of the other gaffes he is not addressing.

What did the military spokesperson say in regards to this?

Here is at least part of the military's response:

 

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

 

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman took issue with Gration's statement, saying that the Defense Department did not object to Obama visiting in his role as an Illinois senator but it did not want campaign staff or the media present.

 

"The Pentagon certainly did not tell the senator that he could not visit Landstuhl," Whitman said. "The issue here is that if 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 capacity as a sitting senator." - Obama drops visit to wounded U.S. troops in Germany

Here is at least part of the military's response:

 

What does that statement tell us other than their policy which was already known by Obama as evidenced by his previous visits to wounded troops?

Nice attempt at diversion. This charge and the Snopes response have nothing to do with Andrea Mitchell's report.

 

The fact is, unless Mitchell was a party to the discussions between Obama's staff and the military, she has nothing but her own political bias to indicate that Obama is telling the truth in this instance and that the military spokesman is not. Just more evidence of the mainstream media being in the tank for Obama.

 

What does the military telling Obama or his staff anything have to do with his intent? He didn't use Walter Reed or his stops to visit wounded soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan as photo ops. If all he cared about was the photo op, and not about seeing wounded soldiers, why visit those places?

Nice attempt at diversion. This charge and the Snopes response have nothing to do with Andrea Mitchell's report.

 

The fact is, unless Mitchell was a party to the discussions between Obama's staff and the military, she has nothing but her own political bias to indicate that Obama is telling the truth in this instance and that the military spokesman is not. Just more evidence of the mainstream media being in the tank for Obama.

 

 

So it's wrong for Barack Obama to cancel a trip because the Pentagon told him the trip "would violate a Pentagon policy prohibiting campaign stops on military installations" ?

 

The problem here is that the McCain campaign was denied a visit to a military base under the same policy back in April. Of course, there was no outcry or false outrage from Brian Rogers at that time.

 

 

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.

 

Good for McCain and his camp "following the rules", but like the author of this blog entry states, they are very quick to attack Barack Obama for doing the same thing.

 

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