McCain camp admits ad was false

[RunInRed 16,528]

McCain campaign backs off 'cameras' charge

McCain's camp, accused in the New York Times and the Washington Post this morning of distorting Obama's canceled trip to a military hospital in German, seems to have backed off the core of the charge: That he canceled the trip because "the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras."

"It does now seem that Barack Obama snubbed the troops for reasons other than a lack of photo-op potential," writes McCain blogger Michael Goldfarb this morning, contradicting his campaign's televised ads and his candidate's statements.

But as the media swings around to contradict McCain's story, the campaign is trying to stay on offense, blaming the press for the confusion:

"[T]he initial reports were less clear," Goldfarb writes. "The early explanations from the Obama campaign were vague and contradictory, with David Axelrod blaming the Pentagon (Lynn Sweet now says she misreported and misunderstood Axelrod's statement, though she provides no further context for the quote that might change the meaning), Robert Gibbs saying Obama himself felt the trip would be inappropriate, and Scott Gration saying the Pentagon had discouraged the visit by dubbing it 'a campaign event.'"

The accurate story, which the Obama campaign never told particularly clearly because it isn't all that flattering, seems to be that they were afraid the trip would be criticized as political.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/070...ge.html?showall

McCain Charge Against Obama Lacks Evidence

By Michael D. Shear and Dan Balz

Washington Post Staff Writers

Wednesday, July 30, 2008; Page A01

For four days, Sen. John McCain and his allies have accused Sen. Barack Obama of snubbing wounded soldiers by canceling a visit to a military hospital because he could not take reporters with him, despite no evidence that the charge is true.

The attacks are part of a newly aggressive McCain operation whose aim is to portray the Democratic presidential candidate as a craven politician more interested in his image than in ailing soldiers, a senior McCain adviser said. They come despite repeated pledges by the Republican that he will never question his rival's patriotism.

The essence of McCain's allegation is that Obama planned to take a media entourage, including television cameras, to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany during his week-long foreign trip, and that he canceled the visit when he learned he could not do so. "I know that, according to reports, that he wanted to bring media people and cameras and his campaign staffers," McCain said Monday night on CNN's "Larry King Live."

The Obama campaign has denied that was the reason he called off the visit. In fact, there is no evidence that he planned to take anyone to the American hospital other than a military adviser, whose status as a campaign staff member sparked last-minute concern among Pentagon officials that the visit would be an improper political event.

"Absolutely, unequivocally wrong," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in an e-mail after McCain's comments to Larry King.

Despite serious and repeated queries about the charge over several days, McCain and his allies continued yesterday to question Obama's patriotism by focusing attention on the canceled hospital visit.

McCain's campaign released a statement from retired Sgt. Maj. Craig Layton, who worked as a commander at the hospital, who said: "If Senator Obama isn't comfortable meeting wounded American troops without his entourage, perhaps he does not have the experience necessary to serve as commander in chief."

McCain's advisers said they do not intend to back down from the charge, believing it an effective way to create a "narrative" about what they say is Obama's indifference toward the military.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said again yesterday that the Republican's version of events is correct, and that Obama canceled the visit because he was not allowed to take reporters and cameras into the hospital.

"It is safe to say that, according to press reports, Barack Obama avoided, skipped, canceled the visit because of those reasons," he said. "We're not making a leap here."

Asked repeatedly for the "reports," Bounds provided three examples, none of which alleged that Obama had wanted to take members of the media to the hospital.

The McCain campaign has produced a television commercial that says that while in Germany, Obama "made time to go to the gym but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras." The commercial shows Obama shooting a basketball -- an event that happened earlier in the trip on a stopover in Kuwait, where the Democrat spoke to troops in a gym before grabbing a ball and taking a single shot. The military released the video footage.

A reconstruction of the circumstances surrounding Obama's decision not to visit Landstuhl, based on firsthand reporting from the trip, shows that his campaign never contemplated taking the media with him.

The first indication reporters got that Obama was planning, or had planned, to visit the hospital came last Thursday morning, shortly after the entourage arrived in Berlin. On the seats of the media bus were schedules for his stop in Germany and the final entry -- a Friday-morning departure -- indicated that the senator's plane would fly from Berlin to Ramstein Air Base.

When a reporter asked spokeswoman Linda Douglass that morning about the trip to Ramstein, she said that the trip had been considered but that Obama was not going to go. At that point, the campaign provided no other information.

Later that night, after Obama gave a speech in Berlin, a campaign source spoke about the canceled stop on the condition of anonymity. The official said that the trip was canceled after the Pentagon informed a campaign official that the visit would be considered a campaign event.

Overnight, the Obama team issued two statements, one from senior campaign official Robert Gibbs and the other from retired Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, an Obama foreign policy adviser who was on the trip.

Gibbs's statement said the hospital visit, which had been on the internal schedule for several weeks, was canceled because Obama decided it would be inappropriate to go there as part of a trip paid for by his campaign. Gration said the Pentagon had told the campaign that the visit would be seen as a political trip.

Those two statements, while not inconsistent, did not clarify whether the visit was canceled in reaction to Pentagon concerns or because of worries about appearances. They also opened Obama's camp to charges that it was offering slightly different reasons at different times.

Gibbs said yesterday that the campaign had planned to inform the traveling media members sometime on the morning of the flight to Ramstein that Obama was intending to visit the hospital but had made no plans to take reporters, including even the small, protective press pool that now accompanies him most places.

Reporters, he said, probably would have been able to get off the plane but not leave an air base facility close by. "We had made absolutely no arrangements to transport the press to the hospital," he said.

On Friday afternoon, en route from Berlin to Paris, Gibbs briefed reporters traveling with Obama. He noted that the candidate had visited wounded soldiers several weeks earlier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District and at a combat support hospital while in Iraq earlier in the week -- both times without reporters.

At one point, a reporter asked, "Why not just say it is never inappropriate to visit men and women in service?" -- a key McCain charge -- "What is your response to that?"

Gibbs replied: "It is entirely likely that someone would have attacked us for having gone. And it is entirely likely -- and it has come about -- that people have attacked us for not going."

On Saturday in London, Obama addressed the controversy during a news conference. He said Pentagon concerns about Gration's status triggered the decision not to visit Landstuhl.

"We got notice that [Gration] would be treated as a campaign person, and it would therefore be perceived as political because he had endorsed my candidacy but he wasn't on the Senate staff," Obama said. "That triggered then a concern that maybe our visit was going to be perceived as political, and the last thing that I want to do is have injured soldiers and the staff at these wonderful institutions having to sort through whether this is political or not, or get caught in the crossfire between campaigns."

Obama's explanation, which came after more than a day of controversy, was the clearest in noting that it was Pentagon concerns about Gration accompanying him to the hospital that forced Obama to reconsider and, ultimately, cancel the visit.

Gibbs was asked yesterday about the continuing allegations from McCain that the real reason was a desire to bring a media entourage to the hospital.

"That's completely untrue, and I think, honestly, they know it's untrue," Gibbs said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews

[CCTAU 3,355]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

[AURaptor 1,128]

Obama still ducked out of the trip because he couldn't spin it for positive political gains, no matter what the " Go along to get along " folks at the McCain camp say.

Obama is a fraud.

[autigeremt 6,779]

The sense about Obama is growing every day. McCain needs to stay on the offense, but HE BETTER make darn sure the information is correct. He could kill himself after it's all said and done.

[Tiger Al 0]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

[arnaldoabru 11]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Please don't put facts in the way, it makes their eyes cross.

[autigeremt 6,779]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Please don't put facts in the way, it makes their eyes cross.

Obama could have handled it a little better. He left the door open for this....whether you support him or not.

[AURaptor 1,128]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Please don't put facts in the way, it makes their eyes cross.

Oh sure, once you've seen one room fulll of wounded troops, you've seen them all , right ? Just check that off your " to do " list, and move on.

[Tigermike 3,078]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Did Obama & his campaign schedule the trip? Did Obama cancel the trip?

[TexasTiger 13,139]

Obama still ducked out of the trip because he couldn't spin it for positive political gains, no matter what the " Go along to get along " folks at the McCain camp say.

Obama is a fraud.

Shorter Raptor-- "Don't bore me with facts."

[TexasTiger 13,139]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Did Obama & his campaign schedule the trip? Did Obama cancel the trip?

Did the Pentagon label his visit as part of a "political campaign," regardless of whom he brought with him-- which, BTW was only going to be a retired general.

[Tigermike 3,078]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Did Obama & his campaign schedule the trip? Did Obama cancel the trip?

Did the Pentagon label his visit as part of a "political campaign," regardless of whom he brought with him-- which, BTW was only going to be a retired general.

That retired general is a volunteer in Obama's campaign staff, he is not on Obama's senate staff.

Obama's campaign has offered quite a few explanations. What's the real one? When in doubt, see what a candidate said at the time and judge his candor. In a July 26 London news conference, Mr. Obama explained: "I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisers, a former military officer. And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person, and it would therefore be perceived as political because he had endorsed my candidacy, but he wasn't on the Senate staff."

The solution was obvious. Leave the campaign adviser behind and visit the wounded troops. Mr. Obama's decision to work out in the hotel gym instead adds to his growing reputation for arrogance.

Obama missed the opportunity to show he can admit a mistake. But he didn't and now dems everywhere are defending him for being a narcissistic asshat. If he had only told the truth.

[TexasTiger 13,139]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Did Obama & his campaign schedule the trip? Did Obama cancel the trip?

Did the Pentagon label his visit as part of a "political campaign," regardless of whom he brought with him-- which, BTW was only going to be a retired general.

That retired general is a volunteer in Obama's campaign staff, he is not on Obama's senate staff.

Obama's campaign has offered quite a few explanations. What's the real one? When in doubt, see what a candidate said at the time and judge his candor. In a July 26 London news conference, Mr. Obama explained: "I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisers, a former military officer. And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person, and it would therefore be perceived as political because he had endorsed my candidacy, but he wasn't on the Senate staff."

The solution was obvious. Leave the campaign adviser behind and visit the wounded troops. Mr. Obama's decision to work out in the hotel gym instead adds to his growing reputation for arrogance.

Obama missed the opportunity to show he can admit a mistake. But he didn't and now dems everywhere are defending him for being a narcissistic asshat. If he had only told the truth.

If you're honest, you'll admit that McCain's campaign would then attack Obama for using the troops during a campaign trip.

[Tigermike 3,078]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Did Obama & his campaign schedule the trip? Did Obama cancel the trip?

Did the Pentagon label his visit as part of a "political campaign," regardless of whom he brought with him-- which, BTW was only going to be a retired general.

That retired general is a volunteer in Obama's campaign staff, he is not on Obama's senate staff.

Obama's campaign has offered quite a few explanations. What's the real one? When in doubt, see what a candidate said at the time and judge his candor. In a July 26 London news conference, Mr. Obama explained: "I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisers, a former military officer. And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person, and it would therefore be perceived as political because he had endorsed my candidacy, but he wasn't on the Senate staff."

The solution was obvious. Leave the campaign adviser behind and visit the wounded troops. Mr. Obama's decision to work out in the hotel gym instead adds to his growing reputation for arrogance.

Obama missed the opportunity to show he can admit a mistake. But he didn't and now dems everywhere are defending him for being a narcissistic asshat. If he had only told the truth.

If you're honest, you'll admit that McCain's campaign would then attack Obama for using the troops during a campaign trip.

Did they do that when he visited the other hospitals? No I don't think they did. If they had it would have been brought up by now.

I will say again.

The solution was obvious. Leave the campaign adviser behind and visit the wounded troops. Mr. Obama's decision to work out in the hotel gym instead adds to his growing reputation for arrogance.

If he had left the advisor back at campaign HQ in Berlin and made the trip by himself nothing could have been said. If Obama didn't try to play it up, then there was no room for anyone else to do so. So don't try to place blame on McCain. This was Obama's screw up. He isn't man enough to admit it and obviously his supporters are not either.

[TexasTiger 13,139]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Did Obama & his campaign schedule the trip? Did Obama cancel the trip?

Did the Pentagon label his visit as part of a "political campaign," regardless of whom he brought with him-- which, BTW was only going to be a retired general.

That retired general is a volunteer in Obama's campaign staff, he is not on Obama's senate staff.

Obama's campaign has offered quite a few explanations. What's the real one? When in doubt, see what a candidate said at the time and judge his candor. In a July 26 London news conference, Mr. Obama explained: "I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisers, a former military officer. And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person, and it would therefore be perceived as political because he had endorsed my candidacy, but he wasn't on the Senate staff."

The solution was obvious. Leave the campaign adviser behind and visit the wounded troops. Mr. Obama's decision to work out in the hotel gym instead adds to his growing reputation for arrogance.

Obama missed the opportunity to show he can admit a mistake. But he didn't and now dems everywhere are defending him for being a narcissistic asshat. If he had only told the truth.

If you're honest, you'll admit that McCain's campaign would then attack Obama for using the troops during a campaign trip.

Did they do that when he visited the other hospitals? No I don't think they did. If they had it would have been brought up by now.

I will say again.

The solution was obvious. Leave the campaign adviser behind and visit the wounded troops. Mr. Obama's decision to work out in the hotel gym instead adds to his growing reputation for arrogance.

If he had left the advisor back at campaign HQ in Berlin and made the trip by himself nothing could have been said. If Obama didn't try to play it up, then there was no room for anyone else to do so. So don't try to place blame on McCain. This was Obama's screw up. He isn't man enough to admit it and obviously his supporters are not either.

The other hospitals were part of the congressional delegation trip. If he had gone to Landstuhl it would have been on his big Obama for President plane, and yes, I think they would have raised a stink about him landing it on base.

[AURaptor 1,128]

Obama still ducked out of the trip because he couldn't spin it for positive political gains, no matter what the " Go along to get along " folks at the McCain camp say.

Obama is a fraud.

Shorter Raptor-- "Don't bore me with facts."

Facts are, pin head, Obama had the green light to go visit the troops, AS A SENATOR, but not as a candidate. There's at least 7 different excuses given for why Obama bailed on visiting the troops and instead just used the time to work out, and none of them hold water.

He could have gone, but w/ out the cameras, he decided to bail. Not too Presidential, if you ask me.

[TexasTiger 13,139]

Obama still ducked out of the trip because he couldn't spin it for positive political gains, no matter what the " Go along to get along " folks at the McCain camp say.

Obama is a fraud.

Shorter Raptor-- "Don't bore me with facts."

Facts are, pin head, Obama had the green light to go visit the troops, AS A SENATOR, but not as a candidate. There's at least 7 different excuses given for why Obama bailed on visiting the troops and instead just used the time to work out, and none of them hold water.

He could have gone, but w/ out the cameras, he decided to bail. Not too Presidential, if you ask me.

Facts are, moron, that even the McCain camp now admits he never planned to bring cameras or press. Only the real crazies are holding on to that one.

[arnaldoabru 11]

Obama still ducked out of the trip because he couldn't spin it for positive political gains, no matter what the " Go along to get along " folks at the McCain camp say.

Obama is a fraud.

Shorter Raptor-- "Don't bore me with facts."

Facts are, pin head, Obama had the green light to go visit the troops, AS A SENATOR, but not as a candidate. There's at least 7 different excuses given for why Obama bailed on visiting the troops and instead just used the time to work out, and none of them hold water.

He could have gone, but w/ out the cameras, he decided to bail. Not too Presidential, if you ask me.

Facts are, moron, that even the McCain camp now admits he never planned to bring cameras or press. Only the real crazies are holding on to that one.

Instead of moron and pin head, I have a new idea. We could say stuff like, "hey Plainsman" or "hey Tiger". Or we could use ex-players names, like "hey Shane Wasden". But, I guess if you really wanted to insult someone you could say,"hey Bammer" or "hey Gene Jelks"

[Tigermike 3,078]

Obama still ducked out of the trip because he couldn't spin it for positive political gains, no matter what the " Go along to get along " folks at the McCain camp say.

Obama is a fraud.

Shorter Raptor-- "Don't bore me with facts."

Facts are, pin head, Obama had the green light to go visit the troops, AS A SENATOR, but not as a candidate. There's at least 7 different excuses given for why Obama bailed on visiting the troops and instead just used the time to work out, and none of them hold water.

He could have gone, but w/ out the cameras, he decided to bail. Not too Presidential, if you ask me.

Facts are, moron, that even the McCain camp now admits he never planned to bring cameras or press. Only the real crazies are holding on to that one.

When in doubt, just check and see what Obama said at the time and judge his candor. In a July 26 London news conference, Obama said: "I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisers, a former military officer. And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person, and it would therefore be perceived as political because he had endorsed my candidacy, but he wasn't on the Senate staff." I guess Obama is one of those crazies.

[TexasTiger 13,139]

If you give a damn about our troops, you shake the one-legged man's hand. No matter what it looks like.

The empty suit does NOTHING unless it's political. There is no substance to the man at all.

That doesn't really quite work, though. He went to see troops in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He's been to Walter Reed and, I'm sure, shook hands with the one-legged man there. No reporters or cameras at any of them except for the ones from DoD.

Did Obama & his campaign schedule the trip? Did Obama cancel the trip?

Did the Pentagon label his visit as part of a "political campaign," regardless of whom he brought with him-- which, BTW was only going to be a retired general.

That retired general is a volunteer in Obama's campaign staff, he is not on Obama's senate staff.

Obama's campaign has offered quite a few explanations. What's the real one? When in doubt, see what a candidate said at the time and judge his candor. In a July 26 London news conference, Mr. Obama explained: "I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisers, a former military officer. And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person, and it would therefore be perceived as political because he had endorsed my candidacy, but he wasn't on the Senate staff."

The solution was obvious. Leave the campaign adviser behind and visit the wounded troops. Mr. Obama's decision to work out in the hotel gym instead adds to his growing reputation for arrogance.

Obama missed the opportunity to show he can admit a mistake. But he didn't and now dems everywhere are defending him for being a narcissistic asshat. If he had only told the truth.

If you're honest, you'll admit that McCain's campaign would then attack Obama for using the troops during a campaign trip.

Did they do that when he visited the other hospitals? No I don't think they did. If they had it would have been brought up by now.

I will say again.

The solution was obvious. Leave the campaign adviser behind and visit the wounded troops. Mr. Obama's decision to work out in the hotel gym instead adds to his growing reputation for arrogance.

If he had left the advisor back at campaign HQ in Berlin and made the trip by himself nothing could have been said. If Obama didn't try to play it up, then there was no room for anyone else to do so. So don't try to place blame on McCain. This was Obama's screw up. He isn't man enough to admit it and obviously his supporters are not either.

Here you go:

What the McCain campaign doesn’t want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that’s political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents—a lie.

http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/bra...new_normal.html