There is your campaign commercial, "Obama would rather meet with Germans than wounded American soldiers".

Obama had good reason to skip meeting with our troops: they won't fall into slack-jawed swoons the moment he enters the room like his brainless minions do.

Obama also remarked that he had some spare time in Germany today and "didn't know what to do". What a slug.

Sure hope all these guys vote.

The question isn't "Will they vote", they will. The real question should be "Will their votes get counted correctly" or will they be lost, as happened in 2004.

"The question isn't "Will they vote", they will. The real question should be "Will their votes get counted correctly" or will they be lost, as happened in 2004."

That would be my guess.

It's the politics of ME.

You think he cares about anyone else more? Don't believe it. Barack Obama doesn't think about anyone but himself. Even political stances, social philosophy, or heck, any cause, is subservient to the nodding achievements of ME and it matters not the approach, method or action nor the results or consequences.

Barack Obama is the Good Cause.

The way people here and overseas swoon over him and all the "mircles" he going to perform once he is president...he sounds like the description of the anti-Christ to me....

The shocking aspect of this issue to me is Obama's level of "tone-deafness" to his overall image. It would have taken less than an hour for him to conduct a whirlwind tour of the medical facilities, posing for a few quick photos with wounded service personnel, and garnering extra points for demonstrating his "compassion" for our troops. Instead, he chose to skip a great photo-op in preference for his own personal desires.

A CIC (even a prospective CIC) must at least offer the appearance of concern for his wounded subordinates. Bill Clinton (ever the opportunist) understood this. It appears Barack Obama does not. His actions are indicative of a degree of moral bankruptcy that should concern every citizen.

I saw one piece of video on the news with Obama and what looked like a bunch of troops cheering for him. Was that in Iraq? Hell...maybe it was a national guard camp in Chicago for all I know. But they looked happy to see him and it puzzled the hell out of me WHY they would be....he's been telling us for months and months that our soldiers were failing in Iraq and would never succeed. So who were these troops. There seemed to be mostly black faces in the troop crowd, so maybe that explains it.

What they won't show you is the thousands of troops who didn't give a rip about Obama showing up, the media will only concentrate on the dozen guys who trudged out to the chow hall to get a glimpse.

So his current explanation is that "it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign." (From ).

This doesn't hold water. If it would be inappropriate, why did he allow his campaign staff to schedule the meeting in the first place?

The more I see of Obama, the more I'm seeing him as someone who's gotten used to getting away with extemporaneous lying, but hasn't quite come to grips with the changes that being on a national stage will give you. Especially in the age of "This is the Internet. We can fact-check your ass." So when he gets in hot water, he says something that sounds good on the surface. He doesn't realize that there are thousands of people out there willing to dig under the surface, where his off-the-cuff lie falls apart.

Only question is, how much influence do those people (mostly conservative bloggers) have over the American electorate? We'll find out this November; for myself, I have a feeling it won't be enough to keep Obama from being elected.

Look forward to Carter's second term, everyone.

Whoops, messed up my link somehow. That was supposed to say "(From the Weekly Standard blog)". But at least the parenthesis links to the right place if you click on it. :-)

Not that any of you would care, but snopes.com is investigating this e-mail. If it's true, it's a very sad reflection on Obama. But remember how many other phony e-mails about Obama have made the rounds already.

FWIW, the email that snopes.com are investigating is the first, shorter one posted above. Their investigation is at http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp -- once they finish doing whatever research they do, I'm sure they'll post their conclusions at the same URL. They currently have nothing on the second email.

In the past, I've noticed a slight leftward-leaning slant in the snopes.com editors' judgments, but in general they're pretty sound as far as research. And if by now you haven't learned to separate fact from opinion in a piece that mixes both, you need to read a lot more blogs. :-)

It's a sad reflection on this website that my post from an hour ago was removed. What gives? The letter being discussed refers to fighting for our freedom... and this generally includes freedom of speech. I guess here we're only free to disrespect U.S. Senators who want to learn what is best for America's future.

It's a sad reflection on this website that my post from an hour ago was removed. What gives?

Oh, I don't know... your choice of language?

I'm sorry you didn't understand my multi-syllable words. I'll make it simpler next time...

dweign sd:
"we're only free to disrespect U.S. Senators who want to learn what is best for America's future.

Learning by ignoring the military that made his photo-op tour possible? Do you people not realize how stupid you sound?

All you need to know about Obama is that if President Bush had ever followed this fool's advise, Saddam, Iran or Al Queda would, right now, be terrorizing the Iraqi people. A less obnoxious person would never have shown his face in a country for which he has campaign endlessly to leave to the barbarians.

Be careful of people who think they can tell you "everything you need to know" in one sentence. Odds are it's superificial and very very oversimplified.

A quick hint, Dweign.

We don't mind polysyllabic verbiage here. What CY objects to are words that are not commonly used in polite company.

If that's too "nuanced" for you to comprehend, I'll make it simpler: Don't swear, and CY probably won't remove your comments.

FWIW, my very-conservative USMC Staff Sergeant buddy who comments here as "Matt" had one of his comments removed by CY because he used a four-letter word that started with "s" and ended with "t". I saw the post myself, then when I returned to that thread later, it was gone, so I saw it "disappear" with my own eyes. In other words, CY is non-partisan when it comes to removing comments that include unacceptable language.

You may now apologize to all us regulars here for your baseless insinuation that we do not comprehend polysyllabic words.

Thanks CCG, and I do have to apologize to CY for the comment he removed. Sometimes debate gets a bit heated and I type faster than I think.

In all honesty, he probably dumped the visit because he knew a majority of the troops would not go google eyed over him.

I am not saying that all of the troops are Conservatives, and I am not saying that none of the troops will not vote for him. I am sure there will be some that do (probably the ones with low GTs).

I would turn in my rocker before being used as a photo op for this (sorry I can't think of a clean way to articulate how I feel about him).

This is pure internet bs!

Diogenes, don't give advice. You've used up all your credibility.

Dweign, I comprehend polysyllabic words. I may not quite be a regular here, but you can apologize to me too. And make it good, or else I may not accept it.

As for the actual topic of this post, maybe Obama was worried that he'd let the mask drop and make a comment to a wounded vet about their battle brothers getting "wasted".

"This is pure internet bs!"

Please explain.

Diogenes, don't give advice. You've used up all your credibility.

He had some?

I may not quite be a regular here,

I'd consider you a regular. :)

This crowd has already branded me a Commie liberal radical. That means I have no credibility on any subject and, if they had a vote, I'd be denied oxygen. Luckily, I still find a way to get through life nonetheless.

Lying again, Diogenes? I'd not vote to deny anyone oxygen without a murder conviction (which, to the best of my knowledge, you don't have)... not even an unborn baby.

Diogenes,

No, Conservatives generally respect life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness. We even don't have a problem with 'hearing' you talk as long as it contains defensible logic/evidence.

However, from what I've read of your comments, logic/evidence is extremely lacking in most.

Ignoring diogenes and his pettiness, and getting back to the original post, I'm actually a bit suspicious about the authenticity of the first e-mail; lines like "What you see in the news is all fake" always raise my antennae.

On the other hand, I'll lay dollars to donuts that the second one is absolutely genuine. I have a cousin who just got back from Iraq, and his e-mails read just like the second one does. And nothing he says should be in the least surprising, not just as regards Obama, but anyone flying through on a celebrity photo-op. If I remember correctly, Obama himself criticized this type of overseas visit, saying (correctly, for a change) that he learned a lot more traveling to Kenya as a private citizen, and living in Indonesia, than congress folks learned on a fact-finding trip. And on most fact-finding trips, the congress critters actually try to find out some facts, which was clearly low on Obama's priority list.

So, anyway, he now has this incredible new understanding of Iraq and Afghanistan, guess we'll see what he does with it. Of course, he could have gained the same level (or more) of understanding if he'd just stuck around for the entire Petraeus testimony at the Senate, instead of just popping in to voice his "question" (which was nothing more than a slander of the General's credibility and a chance to snark for his base.)

The only thing Hussein knows about the military is that anyone without a star on his shoulder is below his (Hussein's) class of snobs.

"If the winds of politics change to the bad, I will stand with Islam". B Hussein O (In his book in his words) How can any honest person say he's not Islamic?

May I suggest that all of our beloved troops who feel that Obama is thoughtless and uncaring write a letter to each of 10 family members or friends explaining what happened. The liberal news media are unfair. It's up to us to reach out to provide our relatives and friends with the truth.

I know writing letters or emails takes time. But if Obama's lies and half-truths go unchallenged, we may very well regret passing up this opportunity to expose him for what he is.

God bless our troops and our President, George W. Bush. Vote for John McCain.

www.nextgenerationcorp.com/nextgenblog/

Scrapiron, although that's a common smear being spread, Obama never said that.

SMEAR EMAIL
'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

FACT

FULL QUOTE From Audacity of Hope:

"Whenever I appear before immigrant audiences, I can count on some good-natured ribbing from my staff after my speech; according to them, my remarks always follow a three-part structure: "I am your friend," "[Fill in the home country] has been a cradle of civilization," and "You embody the American dream." They're right, my message is simple, for what I've come to understand is that my mere presence before these newly minted Americans serves notice that they matter, that they are voters critical to my success and full-fledged citizens deserving of respect.

"Of course, not all my conversations in immigrant communities follow this easy pattern. In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction." [Page 260-261]

Hope that's not too long, C-Y, but sometimes it takes more than a sentence or two to tell the truth.

"he's been telling us for months and months that our soldiers were failing in Iraq and would never succeed. "

Some pretty thick cognitive blinders you got on there. He's never said anything that maligned the soldiers in Iraq, or anywhere else. He's extolled their service. He's made clear that it's the strategic decisions from the civilian leadership that have failed, the ones that led us into this war and the many other boneheaded decisions subsequent to that.

So in other words he WILL stand with the Muslims if the winds shift in an "ugly" direction. Nothing but PC rambling that actually CAN be condensed into the shorter "smear" quote. It's emblematic of how this fool fetishizes the approval of a religion that is often indifferent (if not hostile) to American values.

And "ugly" of course means any common-sense anti-terror initiatives that homegrown jihadists and their ACLU-type enablers disapprove of.

All I know is that Obambi's precious Arabs and Pakistanis better learn to police their own. If there IS a successful attack sometime in the next few years not even President HopeyChangey himself is going to save them from being ostracised by the rest of society (at best). If they don't keep their house in order, someone WILL do it for them, sooner or later.

So Pakistanis are now Muslims? Better re-check your "KKK for Dummies" instruction manual.

It's so sad to see that even some in America think that this kind of attitude is OK, that we can make blanket threats against a whole nationality, a whole race, a whole religion.

What surprises me is that, with all these vets in here that fought for America, somebody else doesn't stand up and say "Hey, wait a second...."

Better re-check your "KKK for Dummies" instruction manual.

I've got a call in to Senator Byrd's(D-WV) office to see if I can borrow his copy.

Guys, the emails mentioned above have been exposed as false. I've pasted in below an article in the New York Daily News that concerns this, but you can check it out yourself at the NY ">Daily News

Islandgirl45,

Actually, I think that everything you quoted refers only to the first e-mail C-Y posted (the one dealing with Afghanistan.) Nothing I can see in your references seems to address the second e-mail (from Iraq) at all.

I figured the first one was suspicious; the second one seems much more believable.

"So, anyway, he now has this incredible new understanding of Iraq and Afghanistan, guess we'll see what he does with it."

Brother. I have been there four (or is it five, I lost count) times now, and I still do not have an incredible understanding of Iraq. One visit in the span of several years does nothing to educate you. As he has chosen to take a political route in this topic, instead of listening to those SMEs on the deck, he shows just how little understanding he has. Yes we will see what he does with it. My guess is he will continue to pander to the center until the election, then do as the rest of the far left wants.

Some pretty thick cognitive blinders you got on there. He's never said anything that maligned the soldiers in Iraq, or anywhere else. He's extolled their service.

He's said that they were the problem, that their presence in Iraq was causing more harm than good and that we need to get them out. If that's extolling their service, I'd like to visit your planet.

Um, Diogenes, yes. Pakistanis are indeed Muslims. That's why the place was created in the first place...

Um, Diogenes, yes. Pakistanis are indeed Muslims. That's why the place was created in the first place...

Ayep. The translation of "Pakistan" is "land of the pure"; it was intended as an Islamic state from the very beginning, and has worked steadily to chase out/convert/kill all practitioners of other religions.

Notropis,

The second email says much of the same thing to me: "Can't name the air base...Obama clearly doesn't care about the troops, doesn't care about America..."
I see red flags all through it. It just lacks the most blatant tip-off of "What you see in the news is all fake."

I read half a dozen or more different political blogs/Web sites/news pages to get a variety of viewpoints on McCain, Obama and political issues of the day. I can't imagine taking something that slimes one candidate as the Gospel without checking it out online myself. There are nuts out there spreading sleaze about McCain as well, and I discount their stuff as fake, too.

All I'm saying is, all these angry postings about Obama are based on two anonymous email messages. People really should take them with a shaker of salt. At least do some checking first.

I've continued the discussion in a new post and ask that you transition further comments there, as this thread has been targeted by comment spammers.