Was Obama punk'd by the Pentagon?

[LuckyTheDog]

It sounds to me like the Pentagon talked Obama out of going to the vet hospital and then tried to make him look bad for going along with its wishes.

Thoughts?

If I was on Obama's staff, I would suggest calling the Pentagon on this. I'd suggest having Obama say: "Gee, I guess we had a misunderstanding here. I'll be at the hospital tomorrow."

[nickyt]

1. It'd be nice if Obama's staff had a written memo in hand to confirm all this -

[LuckyTheDog]

2. In any event

Obama is in the UK. He COULD be in Germany pretty quickly.

[annabanana]

3. Yes he was.

Keith laid it out very clearly. The visit was scheduled for Thursday. Barak was traveling with his SENATE staff to the war zones. When he left, he sent his Senate staff home and continued on with his CAMPAIGN staff. The DAY BEFORE THE SCHEDULED VISIT (after his Senate staff had left) he was informed by the Pentagon that if he came with his campaign staff, it would be considered a violation of the rules, since it would show "preference" in an election...(He could have come with his Senate staff, as part of a Congressional Delegation)

Keith also noted that Obama managed to get several phone calls into some of the wounded at the Hospital.

He was fer sure punk'd. . .

(spelling edit)

[Maccagirl]

5. Yes, he was punked

and it's obvious who the Pentagon wants as CIC. Sickening.

[KittyWampus]

6. So where's the Memo from the Pentagon?

[Ian David]

7. Confirmed

Pentagon Confirms That It Told Obama He Couldn't Visit Army Base With Campaign Staff
By Greg Sargent - July 25, 2008, 11:13AM

I've just gotten clarification from the Pentagon on what really happened with regard to Barack Obama's canceled visit to an Army base in Germany, something the McCain campaign has been using to hit Obama since yesterday. A Pentagon spokesperson confirms to me that because of longstanding Department of Defense regulations, Pentagon officials told Obama aides that he couldn't visit the base with campaign staff. This left Obama with little choice but to cancel the trip, since the plan to visit with campaign aides had been in the works for weeks.

The Obama campaign yesterday announced that it had decided to cancel the visit to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, saying that it would be "inappropriate" to make such a visit as part of a campaign trip.

The McCain camp has nonetheless been using Obama's canceled trip to insinuate that he's anti-troops. "Barack Obama is wrong," McCain spokesperson Brian Rogers said in a statement yesterday. "It is never 'inappropriate' to visit our men and women in the military." But it turns out that the Pentagon did in fact tell Obama that in this case, it was not only "inappropriate," but against DOD rules, for him to conduct the visit with campaign staff.

"We have longstanding Department of Defense policy in regards to political campaigns and elections," Pentagon spokesperson Elizabeth Hibner told me. "We informed the Obama staff that he was more than welcome to visit as Senator Obama, with Senate staff. However, he could not conduct the visit with campaign staff."



More:
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/pentagon_confirms_that_it_told.php

[malaise]

4. More than that

MCSame knew about it

[mucifer]

8. what about actual issues like jobs healthcare war halliburton etc?