John McCain Made The SAME Decision re: Visiting Wounded Troops

[writes3000]

The Obama campaign will destroy them with this.

It makes McCain look incredibly hypocritical ESPECIALLY since McCain now claims he would never let the Pentagon stop him from visiting wounded troops.

John, looks like they already did, you pathetic punk.

"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.

From CNN:

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.

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1671

[TwilightGardener]

1. Cindy wasn't allowed on a Navy hospital ship. Why didn't they fly McShitstain

out to visit them instead, with Senate staffers so that it wasn't a campaign event? They just didn't TRY HARD ENOUGH! Cindy and McShitbag let down the wounded Navy troops.

[thereismore]

2. An average freeper shithead will never see or hear of any of this. nt

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. They're not going to vote for him anyway. The important thing is to get this out to the swing voter

Why there are "swing voters" at this point, I cannot explain. But there are. They need to realize that John McCain is cynically exploiting the troops to smear Obama and aggrandize himself.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. the vile ad, and McCain's bullshit smears, are going to hit the news cycle tomorrow, starting

with ABC

http://www.kansascity.com/445/story/721780.html

McCain will aver that he will cause a SEISMIC EVENT, quote, unquote if they try to keep him from the troops

do they have any seismometers near that ship that he didn't go visit?

will ABC call him on it?

what do you think

this even will start the swiftboat cycle, unless Obama starts to bare his teeth and starts treating McCain with the disDAIN he deserves

McCain questioned his patriotism. it's time for Obama to be a man and call McCain the dirty filty desperate liar he is....but in s NICE way

if he doesn't stem the tide, it's swiftboat time all over, and he will lose, just like Kerry. just like Dukakis, who lost nineteen points in less than three weeks in August of 1988, following Wille Horton

ring any bells?

[Gabi Hayes]

5. by the way, it's already been in the NEWS. the AD has been the subject of a news story

on WGN radio/Chicago, and I'll bet it's not the only place

it's already started

see what happens tomorrow

[writes3000]

6. Obama and his team will deal with this tomorrow and Monday. It will be over by Tuesday.

At the latest.

I think it'll be over by Monday actually.

[Gabi Hayes]

8. I hope you're right, but what makes you think so? what 'important' negative story

about Obama, or his wife, has EVER lasted only one or two days?

how long did the Willie Horton story run? the Swiftboat story?

the MEDIA controls how long a story lasts, and they have never been one to let a story like Edwards' (or clinton's, for that matter, or Kerry's) haircut die a deservedly swift death

why do you think it goes away?

for that to happen the media will have to stop talking about it. and stop on TV, cause that's all that matters

I've given a few examples of these stories having long lives.

can you give me some examples of why you think this thing goes away?

I YEARN for the media to start doing it's job, but they stopped around the time Carter took office. know anything about Bill Simon? he got the big money involved in pug media influence starting around then, and it's been hell for democracy ever since

I'd dearly love to be wrong

tell me why I am, please

[writes3000]

9. Because Obama already has a trump card

1) Obama is in the right on this. The public will understand and side with Obama once they hear that Obama has visited wounded troops many times. McCain's claim that Obama wanted the media there is also a lie. That's easy to disprove.

But what is the trump card.

At any point this week, Obama can start leaking info that he's close to naming his VP.

Immediately that will become the top story.

This blip won't go very far because there is no real there, there. As soon as there is a meaty story, this one falls off the map.

It'll be over by Monday or Tuesday.

[Gabi Hayes]

12. Gore was in the right on almost everything they said, and the media, for example

Ceci Connolly, her pal at the New York Times, and another one at the AP just MADE STUFF up, including quotes, that set the tone for his excoriation. the media admitted they HATED him (Dana Milbank) because he "acted like he was better" than they were. see Bob Somerby on this

the MEDIA will NOT allow OBama's side to get out. they haven't so far, have they?
he can try to go over their heads, but I dunno how he can do it, short of buying time himself

look, you're being optimistic...good. we need that. I see eight years of media complicity with almost EVERYthing the pugs have done, inclding destroying the constitution, starting an illegal war, and committed wholsesale torture and murder against innocent civilians in Guantanamo, Iraq, and countless rendition sites. the media have stood by with their thumbs up their asses for ALL of it!

what on earth makes you think a switch is suddenly going to turn tomorrow and reverse at least eight years of venal compliance?

Please...tell me

[writes3000]

15. The Obama campaign has been incredibly advanced, smart and effective.

Of course, the Republicans are going to try to make this into something bigger.

But it will not work. There is simply not enough substance to this claim.

I also know that Obama doesn't immediate scream, cry and stomp when he's attacked. His team takes their time to formulate their counterattack. This is what they're doing now.

Obama spent today finishing his trip in London. Tomorrow, they start to fight back. I'm looking forward to it.

So I'll be optimistic and you can be pessimistic. And we'll watch it play out together.

[SmileyRose]

7. I don't think I understand

couldn't Obama have left the entourage outside the base and just went in with just his personal assistant or something to cheer people up, listen to their gripes and needs, let the visiting family dump on him about what they think the military folks need?

Or is it because he's clearly on a campaign swing the military said no way no how under any conditions?

Can someone clarify for me please?

[Gabi Hayes]

10. you've hit on why the pugs almost always come out ahead on these things:

they scream a lie that seems to be a very simple proposition, when the answer is usually complicated

I dunno how to explain it very well, but others have. it involves the DOD not telling Obama until he was in the air, or in Europe already, that he couldn't go to a base with his campaign staff...not allowed; only his senate staff, and they weren't on the plane

there are those that think the DOD did this on purpose, at the behest of McCain, because he KNEW the drill, having already been told the same thing previously

if he went alone to see the troops, or with people he wasn't familiar with, his campaign staff, or he himself, thought it was a bad idea, for whatever reasons, so they didn't go, turning it into a damned if he went, damned if he didn't situation; a situation nobody could have planned on, not knowing the DOD's lateness in telling him their "rules"

sounds like a setup

enter the wingnut media/blogospher, and the filthy McCain ads

make sense?

maybe somebody else can explain it better. that's what I've gotten from reading stuff here

[SmileyRose]

14. Clear as pudding.

Odd thing is, Obama's people seem pretty dang sharp. I would think that bunch would surely know the rules. Seems like they were told they could come or else they would not have put it on the itinerary in the first place.

A bizarre situation to be sure.

[Gabi Hayes]

17. you're missing the point badly

they changed what they thought the rules were at the last minute

look at the posts here

you can figure it out

do you want to?

it was a set up; pure and simple

these cats will do ANYTHING. they started a war, dancing on the most transparent filament of lies. you understand that, yes? is that clearer than pudding?

they allowed the eastern quadrant of the US to be protected by FOUR fighter planes during 911. did you know that? they had a computer filled with information that could have stopped, most likely the attacks, owned by one of the bombers (Moussaoui), but the FBI refused to LOOK at it, despite the pleadings of one of their top agents. do you know any of this? they did NOT tell the airlines to beef up their cockpit doors, despite PDB of Aug. 6. do you know any of this stuff? if you don't, do some homework, cause these people are the worst scum that we've had on the planet since 1945. if you do, I don't know what to think, cause you're giving credit where it's not due.

[writes3000]

19. Gabi, you're being way too aggressive in my opinion.

In the post below, this poster says that it looks like the DOD/Pentagon changed the rules last minute. It looks like the poster AGREES with you - not missing the point badly.

[Gabi Hayes]

21. I wasn't responding to that one...hadn't even seen it. I was responding to post 14.

that's not the one I'm talking about; not the one you're referencing, is it?

don't mean to be aggressive, but I want to know what's going on

what exactly did Obama know, and when did he know it?

sound familiar? what was his understanding of the DOD rules when he left? did he have any reason to think otherwise?

they DID tell him something different after he left, didn't they? and it involved his determination of WHO he'd bring along with him, right?

let's start with that, and I apologize for being 'too aggressive' But you should have seen me when I heard that "news story" whose subject was that AD, and only that ad. very interesting choice for a story, yes? now that it's out there, they can comment on it, like the Clinton Bimbo eruption, or Kerry's French girlfriend.

it's what they DO. it's how they steal elections

see?

si?

[writes3000]

22. I just wanted to stand up for the poster. I think he/she was being genuine. Take care. n/t

[SmileyRose]

23. So you yelled at me for agreeing with you because you are mad at them?

Well. um. OK.

I know I'm not the smartest dog on the porch so I'll just slink off into another thread and leave you alone.

Pardon me for bothering in the first place.........

ugh.

[Gabi Hayes]

25. I just apologized again

what else do you want?

welcome to DU

it gets like this a lot; get used to it

[SmileyRose]

26. Exact same time stamp

I wouldn't have seen your post below when I posted the above. We were typing at the same time.

Either way.

Peace.

[Gabi Hayes]

27. sounds good to me

again, welcome to DU

[SmileyRose]

20. HUH??

Do you attack everyone that agrees with you or am I special?

:shrug:

[Gabi Hayes]

24. I'm not attacking. did I misinterpret something you said?

if so, I'm sorry, but you said in post 14 "I would think that bunch would surely know the rules."

everything here has pointed to the fact that the DOD changed the rules, which I thought was obvious. if that's what you meant, too, I'm sorry.

I'm REALLY pissed about this, because I see this happening all over again, as it did with Kerry, for starterd (Swiftboat)

Obama's camp IS smart, but they were set up, looks like. the rules changed in mid-game....in mid-flight, as it were, at least that seems to be the case. maybe they didn't look far enough into the details, but they apparently had no reason to, otherwise they'd have brought senate staff along

again, sorry, but....no point in repeating myself again

OK?

[writes3000]

11. Obama could have only gone in alone. And no campaign would have ever allowed that.

Without weeks of preparation and planning. A hundred things could have gone wrong.

The Pentagon waited until the day before to tell them that no one with Obama could join him.

Obama, of course, made the rational decision to not go.

It was the right decision.

Obama called the troops instead.

[Gabi Hayes]

13. exactly...thank you....now watch what the media make of this

can you say Swift

boat?

[SmileyRose]

16. Well, he surely CAN'T drag his senate staff all over the world

they have a job to do in DC and if he's got them off to Germany then the job in DC isn't getting done, but the DOD won't even let his personal assistant paid by the campaign to come with him.....oh brother. Talk about splitting hairs.

I still say they had to have been told they could come and then the DOD changed it's mind last minute. I know I'm about half uneducated on this but that's the only thing that makes sense to me.

[writes3000]

18. Also, Obama actually visited wounded troops in Iraq. During this same trip.

So the claim that Obama was too lazy to do it doesn't wash.

The claim that Obama only wanted press there also doesn't wash. The press wasn't there when he visited those troops in Iraq. And the press wasn't scheduled to join him during his planned visit to the wounded troops in Germany.