quote:

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.

quote:

ORIGINAL: henny

Here's the factcheck.org article on the ad:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/snubbing_wounded_troops.html

And the one on the ludicrous "Obama = Britney Spears" ad McCain has been running:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obamas_celebrity_cred.html

quote:

He won't beat Obummer by going negative with things that are sooooooo easily discounted.

quote:

Anyways, I don't think the Obama camp is adequately responding to the criticisms. They are taking the "high ground" hoping that their absurdity will be enough to negate them on their own.

quote:

Anyways, I don't think the Obama camp is adequately responding to the criticisms. They are taking the "high ground" hoping that their absurdity will be enough to negate them on their own.

quote:

But what does that have to do with these ads that McCain is running?

quote:

Like I said, anytime you question anything about NObama he plays the race card.

quote:

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.

quote:

A GOP strategist is now reporting that the McCain camp had prepared two seperate scripts in advance to Obama's cancellation of his visit to the troops. One criticizing him if he didn't go, and another criticizing him for politicizing the troops if he did go

quote:

ORIGINAL: todd_t

quote:

A GOP strategist is now reporting that the McCain camp had prepared two seperate scripts in advance to Obama's cancellation of his visit to the troops. One criticizing him if he didn't go, and another criticizing him for politicizing the troops if he did go

I'm shocked.

I don't blame McCain for playing political hardball - but his camp has grown so desperate to present any possible ammo (real or imagined) of Obama being an anti-American Attilla The Hun that's it's become quite entertaining.

quote:

It's true that Obama doesn't resemble the guys on dollar bills, as it is that so much fear-mongering on the blogosphere has been made of his horrifying middle name, the idiotic theme being that Obama is a closet terrorist.

quote:

Besides, you just said yourself that many voters will likely base their ballots based on race.

quote:

ORIGINAL: inthysite

Nice to see the ol' double standard is still alive and kicking.

The media quotes an unnamed source smearing McCain and the assumption is automatically that it must be true. First you say "if it's true...", then you continue on as if it is true.

Had this been a statement about NObama you would want facts not just smear. But since it's about McCain, hey it must be true.

Not to mention if you read the article the guy is definitely pro NObama. No there's no bias there, yeah right.

Oh and the source, a GOP strategist! All the media stations have either GOP or DNC strategists on all the time and they have no more clue about what is going in inside these campaigns than your or I do. They are not affiliated with the campaigns. He doesn't say his source was a campaign insider so for all we know this is just this guys opinion about what is going on.

So as you always say, back it up with facts no inuendo!

quote:

The genius thing about this Rovian brand of politics is that regardless of if the attacks are true or not, it allows the McCain camp to determine what issues will be discussed and when, forcing Obama to follow their lead.

quote:

ORIGINAL: todd_t

Are you suggesting Obama's political opponents haven't been riding a whisper campaign that he's a "secret Muslim" all summer long - not to mention ginning up dime-novel horror stories about what may happen if he's elected?

quote:

ORIGINAL: todd_t
Plus, you can't tell me that some out there have no intention of voting for Obama strictly because he's black.
I'm not saying that's the motive of all who support McCain, and/or reject Obama's politics, but you can't tell me that race is a non-factor in this election. Heck, it was used (with ugly effect) against McCain himself in 2000 with that "he fathered a black baby" story floated by Karl Rove in SC during the primary season.

quote:

ORIGINAL: todd_t


It's true that Obama doesn't resemble the guys on dollar bills

quote:

Where's the proof or is this just typical political slander?

quote:

And you can't tell me that there are some folks that will vote for Obama simply because he is black; or that won't vote for McCain simply because he is white

quote:

But I would like to hear your thoughts on the topic of the OP, if you want to offer them.

quote:

Today, Dr. Danny Jazarevic, who served as the Chief of Trauma, Critical Care and Vascular Surgery at Landstuhl, issued the following statement on Barack Obama's canceled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl:

"Last week, Senator Obama skipped a visit with wounded U.S. troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany because the Pentagon would not allow campaign staff or media to accompany him into the hospital. I served as director of trauma surgery at that hospital for nearly four years and saw the effect that a visit from a celebrity like Senator Obama could have on morale. During that time, I do not recall a single member of Congress canceling a visit with the troops despite being just a few hours away, but Senator Obama seems to have been more concerned with how the visit would affect him than how it would affect the soldiers recovering from wounds received in the service of their country."

quote:

ORIGINAL: todd_t

Newsmax? Are you kidding? Why not use the National Enquirer or NY Post as a source?

Also, it's interesting that the doctor in question does not serve at Landstuhl any longer. The man is certainly entitled to his opinion on Obama, but he had no direct involvement with this "story" that Fox and their right-wing parrots are trying so hard to keep alive when the Washington Post has debunked it.

quote:


Further, the whole Obama-hospital diss story has been debunked.