Dayton criticizes Bush's baseball game appearance in time of battle

[True_Blue]

WASHINGTON - Sen. Mark Dayton criticized President Bush for throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game this week, calling it inappropriate to do while soldiers were dying in Iraq.

"On Monday, when again Americans were under attack, the day in fact that Moises Langhorst lost his life fighting in Iraq, President Bush was throwing out the first pitch in a baseball game in St. Louis and then holding a fund-raiser that evening that raised a million and a half dollars," Dayton, D-Minn., said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Langhorst, 19, a Marine from Moose Lake, Minn., was killed somewhere in the Fallujah-Ramadi area of Iraq, his family's pastor said Wednesday. He was the second Marine from Minnesota to fall in as many days.

On Monday, Bush threw out the first pitch in the opening game for the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers.

more.....
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/8378566.htm

[sixtoes1]

1. Being a baseball fan and all, I thought this was

a presidential tradition. Gimme a break. Aren't there much more important things to discuss than this?

[Democat]

2. The president having a fundraiser while troops die is a tradition?

You must have your traditions mixed up.

[sixtoes1]

10. Then maybe the headling should read

"Dayton criticizes Bush's fund raiser in time of battle" instead of "Dayton criticizes Bush's baseball game appearance in time of battle"

[w4rma]

13. I agree. Blame it on the newspaper, they wrote it. (nt)

[dflprincess]

28. The headline in the printed edition was

"Bush's Behavior Criticized"

In the same article, Mark also said this:

"If he's going to present himself as the commander-in-chief to the people of this country, that's a poor way to demonstrate being in that position," Dayton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a conference call with reporters.

Dayton called last week's events in Iraq "a series of serious setbacks" that show the opposition in Iraq "is increasingly united against the American forces." He said the administration is trying to characterize the recent attacks as "a little blip on the horizon when it's something far more serious."

"They have failed to be forthright with the American people from the very beginning," Dayton said. "They misrepresented the situation in Iraq and the need to get in there to begin with. And they overstated, exaggerated or totally fabricated the supposed urgent threat to the national security of the United States because of weapons of mass destruction, which we now know for a certainty did not exist there."

He said that anyone following the events in Iraq has to wonder "why we're still engaged and bogged down there" almost a year after Bush declared "that the war was over and won."

[NEOBuckeye]

3. Sure there are...

Like what the hell is Bush doing at his Crawford, Texas ranch, while our young men and women solders are dying.

What is Bush on? A vacation? What shining example of leadership is this?

[True_Blue]

5. Reminds me of 2001

when he vacationed 42% of his term leading up to 9-11.

[alcuno]

7. I think it's symbolic of a growing sense that * doesn't care.

He has been aloof; requiring that the bodies of the dead come in under cover of darkness and failing to early on go to a single funeral. It would be one thing if he appeared more engaged and then did these frivolous things, but he doesn't. Now he's back on vacation. This guy is the biggest slacker I've heard of in the WH.

[Submariner]

8. It was a feel good stunt by Chimpy

to get "our" minds off the deteriorating war. It is just like Bush to step on the graves of troops. He is a chickenhawk and does not understand war.

Traditions end during times of unnecessary bloodletting.

[RoyGBiv]

9. Tradition

Yeah, started, IIRC, by William Howard Taft. Taft then did NOT throw out the first pitch in 1912 due to the sinking of the Titanic and instead sent his VP.

IOW, even the first President to do this as President recognized that more important matters than a game demanded his attention. Of course, this was before the photo-op became the primary motivation.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. Watching a baseball game while your troops are dying is not my...

...idea of being "traditional".

And no, I can't think of anything more important to discuss.

[pa28]

19. I don't object . . .

But there should be "what if Clinton did it?" file. The media would be carrying split screen shots of the President tipping his cap while on the other side we would see an angry mob dragging burning Americans through the streets. The talk shows would be buzzing with it.

[yardwork]

29. I think that is the point.

There are much more important things for the president to be doing and discussing than attending baseball games and fundraisers and vacationing in Texas.

We are in a major crisis this week in Iraq. All hell is breaking lose there - and the president doesn't seem to notice.

That's what we're discussing. It's the most important thing in my life. I have sons who might end up drafted. Some of us on this board have sons and daughters who are in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan right now.

What do you think we should be discussing instead?

[Politicub]

31. If it is a tradition,

it's a pretty sick one. Come on -- throwing that pitch, an obvious photo op -- while our soldiers were dying is beyond the pale.

Kick the emperor out!! :kick:

[MO_Dem]

4. Is Duhbya actually the

"happy warrior"? Everybody else is crying, and he's busy cracking jokes, playing ball, raising money.

[Wapsie B]

6. That's right.

We're at war. This may have been a presidential tradition, but 9/11 changed everything. Remember it's the neocons who've hinted that a tragedy like 9/11 later this year would be enough to cancel the elections. General Tommy Franks said as much.

[intheozone]

11. It's about damn time someone complained,

it is sickening the way chimp carries on as though it is politics as usual. WTF, if Clinton were doing this much fund-raising and vacationing while our troops were being killed by an enemy, the Repugs would be talking impeachment. Our dems in Congress and elsewhere need to start critizing * loudly for his lack of attention to his duties during such a critical time.

[Robbien]

12. He is also getting a huge pass in the press about this vacation

The war heated up on Sunday and Bush goes on vacation on Wednesday while our troops are in danger. Then the press acts like lapdogs and report that Bush is on duty because he took a conference call. What crap.

Wonder if Bush is still planning on taking off the entire month of August again.

[cliss]

14. It just goes to show you that

he doesn't give a shit. He couldn't care less what happens to other people in the world because his brain cannot comprehend other peoples' suffering. He's a classic example of a narcissist.

Case in point when he shows up at a baseball game while Iraq is getting incinerated.

I noticed the same thing this summer when huge bombings were taking place in Iraq. Bush was at home in Texas doing some golfing. He had to call an impromptu TV appearance just to say that we would not be dissuaded, no matter what. This was after many people had just died in Baghdad.

Then he went back to his golf game.

[The Blue Flower]

15. Can't have it both ways

If things are so dire that we need the PATRIOT Act, that we're fingerprinting everyone coming into the country, that there are airline watch lists, that women and children are being murdered by our government, that our own troops are being maimed and killed, then the guy ought to start showing up for work everyday and actually doing his job. If it's okay for him to do endless fundraising and vacations, then let's call off the crisis and bring the troops home.

[burrowowl]

16. We can have a photo op of pResident

throwing a baseball but no photos of the body bags at Dover. Not to mention him reading a children's book while the WTC towers were on fire.
:shrug: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[truthisfreedom]

17. he doesn't deserve a vacation. HE'S USED UP ALL OF HIS SICK/VACAT. DAYS

for the rest of his worthless term.

[anarchy1999]

20. He has used them all up and then some. He owes us.

But wait, let that be a golden parachute, just resign and we won't charge you back for extra vacation days, taken at our expense. Just keep it. Just leave, but please, leave the country, don't come home to "Crawford, Texas", we don't want you or your family back in Texas anytime soon. Take yourself, your family and your oilbuds back to where you belong. The East Coast or maybe it is a place called hell.

[Voltaire99]

21. My senator has a point, but he's just too timid

There's a way to be useful, Mark. Criticize Bush for having invaded on a pretext, for lying to the world, and for occupying a nation that clearly doesn't want to be occupied.

The baseball game stuff is a red herring. It's just, well, bush league.

[Zhade]

24. Well-said.

NT!

[TcAaNnSaTdAiAaFnL]

22. Can't confirm, but maybe someone out there can?

Supposedly at that game applause was pumped in over the loudspeakers to drown out boos.. anyone know if thats true?
It was supposed to be in the local papers and on local radio, I'm not reporting that as news, thats just what I've heard.

[RoyGBiv]

23. Boos

I've heard the same, but I can offer to no links.

Someone on DU posted the other day that they were *at* the game and that Bush was booed. No mention of piped in applause, though.

I can't find the thread right now. Sorry.

[truthisfreedom]

30. here's the "piped-in applause" story LINK

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/Columnists.nsf/0/51671699868BD64286256E6E0011EEAB?OpenDocument&Headline=Breaking+Schmooze%3A+Mel+Gibson+drops+in+for+a+screening

<snip>

BACK AT BUSCH: A somewhat hostile crowd complained mightily about the problems the presidential motorcade caused with regular fans trying to get into the park. A Cards employee tipped moi that the team was so concerned about Bush being booed that they piped in fake applause when he strode out to the mound. Lamping flatly denied it. ...

<snip>

[Champ]

25. I could care less about this

Yes their are troops in Iraq but we've been there for a full year. I have no problem with him throwing a first pitch at a baseball game, what I do have a problem is tax cuts, fighting wars against 3rd world countries, you get the idea.

[Stuckinthebush]

26. I disagree

While I despise all Bush stands for, I believe that even in a "time of war", it is important for Americans to continue their traditions. One of these traditions is the President throwing out the first pitch.

[Mari333]

27. Hes not the President, for one

and his photo ops, which is all this is, is horseshit and re selection PR..besides, he isnt running the country, Cheney is.
He's just a empty headed fratboy figurehead.
No real leader would abandon the US populace during traumatic horror such as the one in Iraq. They dragged him down to his fake pig ranch to get him well away from Cheney while Cheney runs his shadow government.

[kodi]

32. George "Mary Antoinette" Bush..."let them eat lead..now play ball!"

the only thing smaller than a Planck length is George Bush's heart.