Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Obama was there as a political candidate not as a senator, thus with the "new" pentegon rules, Obama could not make the trip. I would bet that someone loyal to McCain in the pentegon pulled this fast one.
Obama is both a candidate and a Senator. As a Senator he could have gone in to see the troops, no problem at all. He chose not to because he couldn't bring his campaign staff, media or cameras.
What would have prevented obama, all by his lonesome, to walk into that hospital and visit the troops? Nothing is the answer.
When it was clear he couldn't exploit the visit, he bowed out.
When McCain was last there, he visited the troops. He was a candidate and a senator. He had no problem.
The Pentagon played politics by prohibiting Obama from visiting the troops, period.
Do you have a link providing that your story is correct because from what I have read the Pentagon was only protecting the wounded heros from the scam artist who wanted to use them as a prop.
He was told he could visit them with NO CAMERA and Obama chose not to visit them unless his cameras were rolling.
Sad he was caught trying to use our wounded hero's like that. Great that the Pentagon stepped in and gave him a choice.
OP, do you even know what the Pentagons job really ? I doubt that you do.
Do you have a link providing that your story is correct because from what I have read the Pentagon was only protecting the wounded heros from the scam artist who wanted to use them as a prop.
You have some major cajones asking somebody else for a link to verify a claim, missy.
sanrene, repeating your lies does not make them true.
Joe - Since you started this thread with premature info from Morning Joe, did you watch it this morning? Even Harold Ford Jr wouldn't defend Obama on this issue.
Even Harold Ford Jr wouldn't defend Obama on this issue
Really even Harold Ford. You don't say. I bet Mika did one of her
hmms" too right?
But please I hope McCain continues to play in his dirt with this garbage.
His tragic incompetence cost lives and his votes are anything but supportive of the troops. I wouldn't doubt if he had made a call to the Pentagon to cause their political action last week.
After all the double standard didn't start there. Diplomats were banned from the Berlin speech, but welcome at McCain's Ottawa speech.
sanrene, repeating your lies does not make them true.
Repeating your spin from the obama camp certainly doesn't make it true.
Quote:
At the Pentagon, spokesman Bryan Whitman denied that the Pentagon had discouraged Obama from visiting the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Obama was "absolutely" told he could visit the troops at Landstuhl, said Whitman.
However, the issue of his visit was dealt with by hospital officials and military officials in Europe familiar with Pentagon guidelines for visits to military installations by a political campaign.
Whitman said Obama is "certainly welcome to visit a military medical facility any time he wants to," as long as that visit was consistent with that of a sitting senator.
He added, "We do have certain policy guidelines for political campaigns and elections and what's appropriate and not appropriate in those situations. But, the Pentagon, to use your words, certainly did not tell the senator that he could not visit Landstuhl."
The spokesman said that because Obama is both a sitting senator and a political candidate, any visit to Landstuhl would have had to be undertaken within the restrictions that apply to both.
"When you are doing things like a visit to Landstuhl you need to do it in your sitting capacity or you have to do it within the restrictions that apply to any other candidate that might be running for office that is not a sitting senator. So you have to be able to draw those distinctions. Generally speaking the military tries very hard not to get involved in political campaigns."
According to Whitman, Senate staffers could have accompanied Obama, but not campaign staffers. "It would be appropriate to do that with your Senate staff and obviously not with your campaign staff." He added that it would be easy to differentiate the two, "either you work for the senator's staff or you work on the campaign staff, it's very different."
Any discussion of cameras or photographers accompanying Obama was "off the table," said Whitman, who stressed that because of privacy issues, no photography is allowed at Landstuhl.
Whitman noted that during his visit to Iraq, Obama visited a military medical facility, but did so under the auspices of his participation in a congressional delegation, a CODEL.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
