I never saw soldiers reach out to Dubya this way.

[Playinghardball]

Thanks to The White House for this wonderful image.

[southernyankeebelle]

1. Remember when W flew into Afghanistan for a thanksgiving howdy with the troops?

The faker was taking pictures around troops and he was holding the fake turkey on a platter? That was so funny.

[Raster]

2. fake President with a fake turkey

[southernyankeebelle]

3. Yes he was. Just think Mittens wants to take us back to that.

[Raster]

23. mittens is just a more palatable (or so they think) version of ol' gee-dubya*

many of the same miscreants and cretins that surrounded cheney*/bush* are just hoping for mitt to win so they can slither back into D.C.

[southernyankeebelle]

42. i hope people are paying attention. These mother f'ers want a war all the time.

[Raster]

43. The Military-Industrial Complex and our closeted war-based economy demand it!

I say closeted war-based economy because no one in power on either side want to talk about the concent of eternal war. Unfortunately, we've offshored most of our manufacturing base. One of the few still made-in-America industries is our War, Weapons and Death industries. And we will sell pretty much to the highest bidder.

[silvershadow]

55. A real turkey with a fake one

[cognoscere]

57. Or...a real turkey with a fake turkey. NT

[UTUSN]

53. The troops were underwhelmed with Poppy of Arabia, too:

[Cha]

4. They really reach out to their CIC..

it must drive the jealous not too swiftboaters, wild.

[calimary]

16. They're troops of every color, too.

I love photos like these - close up and the wide shot. That reception looks pretty sincere, unlike some I saw when dubya was prancing around military bases.

This man never served, either. But he's got more compassion and respect for our troops, and has paid more attention to their issues, than any of his GOP predecessors I can think of at the moment.

And frankly, I don't think ANY president serves our troops OR cares about their issues - who insists on sending them to an unnecessary and fabricated war for ulterior motives about which he never once was honest, unnecessarily putting their lives in danger and squandering American good will around the world.

[malaise]

5. Don't blame them

Rmoney didn't even mention them last night

[jerseygal]

6. Of course not. Rmoney comes from five generations of chickenhawks -

None of them served and his great grandfather left the United States because he did not want to live under its laws - wanted them sister wives.

Romney was for the Vietnam War as long as someone else was fighting it and he could hide out in France converting the French to Mormonism. I guess with the French tradition of wonderful wine and liquers, he wasn't too successful.
None of those 5 strapping sons of his ever served in the military.

[malaise]

9. Amazing isn't it

and he said his sons were working on his campaign so not one of them was enlisting to fight in Ira or Afghanistan.

He really has a sense of entitlement - must think he's fugging royalty or some other such shite.

[calimary]

17. Good point.

Actually, several.

[Berlum]

46. Thats' right. Romney took our sons and daughters in uniform for granted

Willard failed to acknowledge them. But he and his Republican chicken hawk cronies are eager to USE THEM as cannon fodder to enrich themselves and bring on Arma-freakin-geddon.

[zbdent]

7. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! FOR GETTING US OUT OF IRAQ!"

Probably not what they said, but enough of them probably thought it ...

[jberryhill]

8. They are wearing those "un-American" berets that Fox was on about

[rfranklin]

10. John Wayne wore a Green Beret...are they saying the Duke is a French fairy?

Whoa, take 'er easy there, Pilgrim"

[Pat Riot]

12. Um

He wore one in the movies, but he was a Republican chicken hawk.

[rfranklin]

15. I know...he was a women beating right wing jerk...

but I brought it up because he is one of the right wings idols.

[xtraxritical]

18. Wayne's real first name was Marion.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

48. .

[bigbrother05]

33. One reason they like this CiC is he got rid of the berets

GWB had seen the black berets the Airborne guys wore and probably remembered the elite Green Berets from watching the movie, so he mandated that all troops wear them as their standard headgear. Black was for the normal troops, the Airborne guys went to the wine colored ones and the Special Forces kept their green ones. The Airborne and Special Forces guys were pissed at losing their special hats and the rest of the soldiers were pissed to have to figure out how to keep the berets on right and they creased their foreheads to boot.

When PBO put them back in the billed caps, there was a great sigh of relief heard throughout the regular Army troops. The caps are much more practical and look better too. Was working on a base when it happened and there was a visible smile on everyone's face that day.

[Aviation Pro]

37. No, it was General Shinseki....

...that made that decision mandating that the black beret be taken away from the Ranger Regiment and made the Army-wide headgear. (The Rangers adopted the tan beret as a distinctive unit headgear). When a group of former Rangers marched from Ft. Benning to Washington D.C. to try and persuade McClown to overturn the decision, they were met with a polite refusal and Shinseki's decision stood.

The 82nd Airborne and XVIII Airborne Corps retained the maroon beret during this whole headgear fiasco.

[jberryhill]

44. "headgear fiasco"

Yeah, there's been a whole lot of those.

[Berlum]

47. Here's feckless Commander AWOL Bush himself, sporting a beret and a 'stache

[burnsei sensei]

51. The baseball caps were far better

because they kept the sun off of your face.
More practical given the theaters we've been in over the past decade.
And more practical everywhere.
Berets should only be part of a class A, and should be an option, like the flying saucer.

[eyewall]

54. One of the biggest complaints about the beret

among the regular Army was that it took two hands to put on properly.
The caps only required one hand.

[gejohnston]

38. Maroon berets are airborne

UnAmerican? Yeah, let some Fox clown go up to an Army airborne or Air Force pararescueman and actually say that to their face.

[progressivebydesign]

11. I never tire of those pics!! And how can people say that the troops dislike the President??

I have yet to see any pics that support this. Those soldiers look thrilled, as does the President.

[madamesilverspurs]

13. There was a very badly done

photoshop put out by the Bush people, ostensibly showing a crowd of soldiers listening to Bush (or Cheney, or somebody else from the admin). They captured a group of a few soldiers and repeated it over and over and over, fully expecting that nobody would notice. Of course, everyone noticed. If memory serves, it was the first thing people noticed.

Genuine rapport with troops, not something President Obama has ever had to fake.

found it:
-

[thecrow]

56. I was just going to post this!!

Thank you for doing it for me

[awoke_in_2003]

14. Compare and contrast...

To the pic at this link. Half the people have their backs to him

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/19/george-bush-decision-points-review

[awoke_in_2003]

22. Whoah, cool your jets...

I just did a google pic search and found the pic. Being that it was on the guardian, I didnt bother to read the article, as they were usually pretty tough on Shrub. I didn't know it was a fluff piece. I just wanted a pic to show how the troops were generally ignoring him and contrasting it to the warm reception that Obama usually get. I am in no way a Bush worshipper.

[awoke_in_2003]

39. For the record...

I did not alert on the post that was removed- I have pretty thick skin. Plus, it was just a misunderstanding, and I can see how it happened. I didn't realize the article praised Bush, I just noticed the picture.

[vlyons]

19. I heard the whole speech on cSPan 2day

POTUS gave a masterful speech. He made special acknowledgements to the enlisted officers as the backbone of the army. He knew the names of all the units and named historical military accomplishments of units in past wars. He knew the names of soldiers who died in service. And he reiterated that as commander in chief he means what he says and keeps his word. 2/3rds of soldiers deployed in the middle east are now home.

[babylonsister]

45. Wow! Thanks for sharing; I didn't see it. He's prepared, isn't he. Love it! nt

[lunatica]

20. Michelle is there too and the soldiers know how she and Jill Biden

work for them to get jobs and be taken care of when they come home.

[WooWooWoo]

24. to be fair to those who might not know how this works...

You volunteer to go see the president when he comes to do an event like this. Your unit doesn't make you go. Everyone there is there because they support him.

When he came last year to my base I was given the option of going to see him. I wanted to go, but I had to decline because I was going on leave that day and had to go....but I would have jumped at the opportunity.

Even if I had to stand in the hanger for four hours on lockdown prior to his arrival and not leave until he was up in the air. It would have been worth it.

[Mmm_Bacon]

30. We got voluntold as a platoon when Bush came through Benning...

Though a quick google image search pops up pictures of smiling troops reaching out to him as well.

The photo isn't indicative of anything. If you care, you go and push your way to the front. If you don't you stand at the back and wait for the truck.

PS. Bush did have soft hands like a woman. He must moisturize like a mofo....

[WooWooWoo]

32. that sucks

what year did he come there? If it was in the middle of the Iraq war, they might not have had enough guys to count on volunteers filling the hanger.

I think his hands were probably soft because he must purell the crap out of them with all the strangers a president has to shake hands with on a day to day basis.

[Mmm_Bacon]

41. Early 07 I think...

[progressivebydesign]

35. I remember reading that during Bush's time, the audience was mandatory.

He often used the troops as props for various events. Very sad.

[progressivebydesign]

34. Thanks for explaining that! n/t

[DevonRex]

36. My Army never "asked" me to do shit. Mine ordered. Nt

[pinboy3niner]

25. The BIGGEST news got BURIED

In his speech, the President announced that he had just signed an Executive Order today to provide more resources, especially to support mental health services and outreach to troops and vets. More counselors are going to be hired, starting tomorrow.

CNN covered it live and should have a video up, and wh.gov is sure to have both video and transcript, as well as a press release.

Quite a contrast with Mitt's chickenhawk lip service last night!

[razsmith01]

26. cool

great for all

[formercia]

27. You won't see any of Mitt's spawn there.

They are too important to risk their lives, serving in the Military.

[chuckstevens]

28. Rude Awakening

Maybe the troops are finally realizing that, while the GOP talks a really good game, it uses them as props and then cuts their benefits. Tell me: Who is going to be left to vote for the Republican party?

[Rozlee]

52. They're no fools.

Mitt has said he'll send in troops to Syria and hinted he'll do the same in Iran. He's displeased with the draw down in Afghanistan. He's got the--to quote Romney--"Soviets" nervous by rattling the sabers for a new Cold War and Putin has announced needs for a defense build up as a result. And Romney's just a presidential candidate. These kids aren't interested in going into more wars after back-to-back tours. Our troops are exhausted from a decade of combat. We've got over a half million claims in the VA right now, it's estimated that almost half our troops suffer from some level of PTSD. Like the old saying goes: You and what Army?

[Barry2012]

29. So we are at war

Seeing this reminds me folks, that what we have right now it's a war against the money and lies of the Gop.make no mistake this is a war.A war between the 99% and the 1%, this war will be won at the polls in november.we the people must not allow the 1% to take this country back to the bush years.we have come to far to loose this war now, the Gop is hellbent on creating the plutocracy they want.we all know since obama took office that's been the goal of the Gop, to destroy barack obama and finish off what bush started.On november vote, vote and bring your whole community with you also.I just got my wife registered and got her a fucking i.d too, we're not gonna let anything or anyone get in our way.We are going to vote and vote for obama.

[madinmaryland]

31. What is interesting is that President Obama does not need to have his name and title

stitched onto whatever he is wearing.

[gateley]

40. Hmmm. Let's see. Who else used digitally altered photos to lie to America?

Oh, yeah.




Iran

[doa2627]

49. hurry

nice

[kag]

50. compare that to...