Obama Campaign Strikes Back Against Former Navy SEALs

[cal04]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/08/obama-campaign-strikes-back-against-former-navy-seals/55847/

Politically speaking, Navy SEALs aren't the safest targets to rail against in a presidential race, but the Obama campaign isn't hesitating to take down a group of former SEALs who've criticized the president's national security decisions.

On Thursday morning, campaign officials waged a full court press against the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, a group of former U.S. Special Forces and intelligence officials accusing President Obama of leaking vital national security secrets and taking too much credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden. When the group launched its anti-Obama media campaign Wednesday, consisting of TV ads and a 22-minute film, it wasn't clear if Obama officials would avoid a potentially messy confrontation or refute the military veterans publicly. But now the campaign has made clear it views the attacks in the same light as the 2004 John Kerry "Swift Boat" attack ads, which, however misleading, were painfully effective.

"The Republicans are resorting to 'Swift Boat' tactics because when it comes to foreign policy and national security, Mitt Romney has offered nothing but reckless rhetoric," Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt told Reuters' Mark Hosenball last night. Taking a direct shot at the leaders of OPSEC, an Obama campaign official lambasted the group's accusations about national security leaks this morning. “No one in this group is in a position to speak with any authority on these issues and on what impact these leaks might have," said the official, speaking on background, "and it’s clear they’ve resorted to making things up for purely political reasons.”

(snip)
Additionally, as The Los Angeles Times' Ken Dilanian notes today, a number of OPSEC leaders identify as Republicans, such as Fred Rustmann, who worked for the CIA for 23 years before retiring in 1990, Scott Taylor, a former Navy SEAL and chairman of OPSEC, and Chad Kolton, an OPSEC member and former flack in the Bush administration At this point, the effectiveness of the OPSEC attacks rely almost exclusively on the identity of who's leveling the attacks (former Navy SEALs) rather than the merit of the attacks, which are pretty flimsy at this point. Still, the jury's out on whether it's a fight worth picking.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-group-attacking-obama-for-security-leaks-includes-past-leakers-20120815,0,2590161.story

[snappyturtle]

1. I think the President is right in leaving no stone unturned....just in case. nt

[LaydeeBug]

14. Yep. We've GOT to fight them where they live, even if we hate it

Otherwise a oft repeated LIE becomes the TRUTH.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

26. Sink the Swiftboats before they leave port

the Seals should be arrested

[flamingdem]

29. Good point, they should be n/t

[Rosa Luxemburg]

30. They should be labeled as conspiracy theorists and ridiculed

[LaydeeBug]

93. I don't know about arrested, but they need a sizing down, for sure. nt

[get the red out]

28. Yes, thankfully

It has been proven that you can take nothing for granted when battling the Republicans and assume nothing about what voters will pay attention to.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

81. People want a leader.

When a candidate allows him or herself to be abused they don't look like a leader. It's Machiavelli 101.

[ProSense]

2. Key quote:

“No one in this group is in a position to speak with any authority on these issues and on what impact these leaks might have," said the official, speaking on background, "and it’s clear they’ve resorted to making things up for purely political reasons.”

Anyone can say anything. Republicans lie. Former military who are Republicans also lie.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. Perfect response IMHO

n/t

[Bandit]

6. To me this statement seems an open admission there were leaks...

I can not fathom how the leaks could possibly endanger any service member..

[Ikonoklast]

32. You must have missed the "making things up" part.

They admitted to exactly nothing.

The administration told OPSEC that they are fabricating their narrative out of whole cloth.

[madashelltoo]

16. REPUBLICANS = ALL LIES . . . ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

[neohippie]

23. I shamed a Facebook poster who put this garbage up

I owned him with overwhelming facts so much so that he quickly deleted not only his original posting of the film but all of my links and comments which completely debunked almost every claim made in that video.

First, the experts in the video claim that all military operations depend entirely on intelligence, it's crucial, I think one of them says roughly "good intelligence is the difference between wasting lives on a mission or successfully completing a mission" Well when you manufacture false intelligence or ignore the agencies that provide you with intelligence because you don't like what they are telling you and then you go out and create the Office of Special Plans, as Bush/Cheney did so that you can create propaganda and filter out intelligence so that it jives with your own message, you are not following this concept of "good intelligence" and therefore when you mission - the war in Iraq, is founded on bad intelligence, you are wasting lives, looking for WMDs and invading a country that had no connection to the 9-11 attack, that is not going to be a successful mission and you have wasted lives.

Secondly the lady in that video Debbie Lee, I think was her name who talks about her son the very first SEAL to die in Iraq, on August 2, 2006, why were we in Iraq? Who was president on that date, George Bush, and he sent us there wasting billions of dollars, on a mission based on false or bad intelligence, so the video you are referring to, deals with issues, beyond the scope of this administration.

Thirdly one of the SEALs in this video state along with several other people that Obama had nothing to do with killing Bin Laden, but prior to that statement, another one of these experts, states, that you need the right intelligence to know where, when and how to strike your enemy, and that you need good intelligence in order to get the authorization to strike. Obama is the Commander and Chief of our military, all presidents hold this role, so when the intelligence goes up the chain of command who is it that you think gives that authorization? The SEAL team would not have been able to strike at all without the order from the President. The SEAL goes further to say that AMERICA killed Bin Laden, well who represents the ultimate power and authority for this country?

Another problem I see with the claims made in this video, is the idea that somehow drones, helicopter inserts, SEAL tactics etc. were somehow all secret before Obama somehow let the cat out of the bag. These claims are also laughable. Drones have been in use long before Obama, Clinton used them and so did Bush/Cheney, there existence and use was promoted on TV heavily during the war by Bush before Obama was ever elected. I especially laugh at the idea that somehow for the last 200 years there has been a sacred trust between the military and the Whitehouse that has just now been violated that national security should always come before politics. The military has just now for the first time in history been politicized. That is hilarious as the military has always been a political tool, every war ever fought has been because of politics and politicians.

The video suggests that operational security is important to the success of a mission yet both of the missions that these experts are complaining about were good examples of operational security, the missions were both completed successfully the Bin Laden strike and the Stuxnet virus both succeeded, and then after that the details of the missions were made public. These missions were successful due to good intelligence, unlike the war on Iraq. Lastly, the experts say that even though the bad guys knew we got Bin Laden, that we could have possibly gained more intelligence if we had not announced the mission immediately, do you seriously think that the Pakistani Government would have allowed us to hold quarantine that compound for a week or longer or that we didn’t also as a part of that raid collect computers, as much intelligence as possible to gather from that house at the time?

This is just a few criticisms, you will always be able to find people in the military that have issues with their superior officers, the politicians and the commander.

[progressivebydesign]

35. good for you. Be sure to find the clip of Wolf on CNN getting owned by the General in charge.

Wolf kept trying hard to push that the President had claim to credit for the mission, and the (republican) General was extremely forceful back in Wolf's face, telling him that the PResident made the call, and deserves credit as Commander in Chief. Wish I had the link, but if you can find it, it's a beautiful thing and repudiates this BS film.

[Cha]

71. And, according to this post, Bill McRaven, the Leader of SEAL TEAM 6,

was giving credit to the President, too!

"Bill McRaven, leader of Seal Team 6, was interviewed on Fox News

and the Fox guy (I forget which one), congratulated McRaven for getting Bin Ladin (and implying that Obama had nothing to do with it) but McRaven immediately said that he wasn't the one to congratulate, the President was the man in charge, and the president made the call all by himself. Fox tried several times to get McRaven to take credit, and McRaven kept saying he only followed orders given to him by the President. And McRaven pointed out that if the mission had failed, everyone would've blamed Obama fast enough. McRaven was very convincing.

I'm sure they can get McRaven, leader of the team that took out Bin Ladin, to do an ad, and I think that'd make the pub puppets like the jerks they are.

They swiftboated Kerry and succeeded, at least partially because the Viet Nam war was a long time ago. History is fuzzy and you can fudge it, especially since Kerry responded all wrong. The killing of Bin Ladin happened yesterday and is still fresh in everyone's mind, and Obama's team will hit back fast and hard. I think this attempt at swiftboating won't work, and might even backfire big time."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125171138#post17

:fistbump;

[CJCRANE]

59. Plus Repubs disagreed with the idea of going into Pakistan.

Shrub made no effort to get Bin Laden once he skipped over the border into Pakistan, citing Pakistan's sovereignty.

Also both Repubs and some Democrats disagreed with Candidate Obama when he said that he would go after Bin Laden in Pakistan, if that's what the intelligence showed.

[nikto]

83. "Anyone can say anything. Republicans lie."

"Anyone can say anything. Republicans always lie."




ftfy

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. This should not go unanswered

we saw what happened in 2004 to John Kerry. 'nuff said. I think that the Obama campaign's pushback is entirely appropriate.

[UTUSN]

5. R#4 & K for, full speed ahead, damn the torpoedoes, and all that crap. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

7. This "non-partisan" group shares an office with 2 GOP consulting firms - CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/16/politics/former-seals-obama/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Raster]

13. non-partisan my ass! This is a rethuglican "swiftboating" operation plain and simple.

[cal04]

64. Thank you for the link pinboy3niner

[1-Old-Man]

8. When the President talks its called declassification, not a leak

I do not know why so few people understand this, only the Executive Agencies, and not even all of them, have the authority to classify information and that authority derives exclusively from the President. So it is the President who has the sole ability to classify and when the President reveals something that had previously been classified its called declassification, not a leak.

[JaneQPublic]

9. Bingo! (nt)

[JDPriestly]

49. Unless there is a specific law against the leak such as the law prohibiting

publication of the name of a CIA agent under certain circumstances.

I'm not sure whether a president has the authority to release a CIA agent's name if it is protected by law.

Do you have any information to the contrary?

But when it comes to military operations, the president is the commander-in-chief, and that is that. He decides.

[ljm2002]

10. "Still, the jury's out"...

..."on whether it's a fight worth picking."

No, the jury is not out on this issue. First of all, it is not the Obama campaign who picked this fight: it is the secretive OPSEC group who picked the fight. Second, we know from bitter experience what happens when such charges are allowed to go unanswered for any length of time: people start to believe the slander. Once people start to wonder, Why hasn't he responded? they start to think there must be something to hide. Then it becomes too late to undo the damage.

The jury knows damned good and well that the Obama campaign has NO choice but to counter this bullshit from the gate.

[RBInMaine]

19. You NEVER EVER EVER fail to respond to ANY attack !! You hit back and TWICE AS HARD !!

[FatIrishBastard]

53. YES SIR...

I may be a Newbie here, but it seems to me, after months of reading thread after thread after thread, that there are some who post here that should start a web site called "On the Fence Underground", or "Giving Cover to the Republican Underground", or...or... nope!, I'm not going to do it! Just know that IMHO, it's beyond head scratching, & well on the way to just who the f#(& ARE these frogs? Is it naivete'?, I'm trying real freakin' hard to give the benefit of the DOUBT here!

[xtraxritical]

36. Show us the tax returns Mitty.

[nanabugg]

11. All retired and collecting Federal military retirement benefits from that "too big" government. nt

[jpbollma]

12. Glad these SEALS are Republicans

collecting their free education, VA healthcare, housing subsidies for the active, preferential hiring, and pensions. That evil big government and all! Obama should certainly slam them, and he should also run quotes of Mittfalca dancing around Bin Laden saying he would not move heaven and earth to get one man, and also saying he would not go into Pakistan for him. That would kill this whole thing quite quickly.

[mikekohr]

15. Bingo nt

[onethatcares]

73. he should run that mittfalca ad

with the Trade Towers falling down in the background and the first responders running in.

Then he should state that wearing a flag pin does not a patriot make.

I say, Give em hell, and don't retreat, it's about time we've grown a nationally televised set of

cajones or whatever.

[sarge43]

54. If they're all claiming they're retired, then I want to see their DD Forms 214

No blurry photocopy, a true copy with NPRC seal on them and scan online.

[Liberal_Dog]

17. K & R

I am glad that the President's campaign is responding forcefully on this.

[RBInMaine]

18. Get PRO OBAMA VETS UP ON THE AIR RIGHT NOW AND BLAST THESE TOOLS FOR WHAT THEY ARE !!!

[Iliyah]

20. Honestly I truly feel the goppers are for the terrorists

over the American people. It sounds like the goppers care more for OBL than the lives that were taken from OBL's terror. The goppers prefer OBL because he was their bogeyman and Pres O took that from them. This is truly frightening that the so called "Christian" Americans prefer a terrorist over the lives and security of the American people.

Then they also have a billboard out and from what I gather from it, it is insinuating that Pres O be assassinated and Mittens' campaign . . .crickets. . .

[get the red out]

34. They certainly got a lot of mileage out of "terrorists"

The right wing Christians loved the fact that the jingoism that was unleashed after 911 put them front and center with God, Country, Patriotism and a brand new Crusade.

[louis-t]

21. Who is financing this bunch?

[progressivebydesign]

37. here's a clue from the NYT:

"The Opsec group shares an office suite in Alexandria, Va., with a Republican consulting firm, the Trailblazer Group. Christian Ferry, a partner in the firm, said that he had sublet space to Opsec because it included “people I know,” but that Trailblazer had no role in the project."

[louis-t]

39. We're getting warm, anyway.

[progressivebydesign]

43. how about this? Frederick W. Rustmann, Jr. is all over Newsmax.

The NYT can do a little digging and find his shit out pretty quickly. He's a "consultant" but has no clients listed on his site.

http://www.ctcintl.com/news.shtml

[BeHereNow]

62. Do a search for the Trailblazer members: Connections to ROVE, everyone of them.

Who else could come up with these ads, but KKKarl.
Of course he hides behind the curtain and send evil minions out to
to do his twisted bidding.

Hope someone brings the connection to light and our President
shines the mega light on these roaches.

BHN

The Trailblazer Group
Christian Ferry
Craig Goldman
Doug Davenport
Ryan Price


Go ahead, search them one by one alongside "Karl Rove."

[hedda_foil]

92. Here's some.background on Ferry

Company Overview of BSI SA

Executive Profile Christian Ferry Senior Executive Vice President of Corporate Services Investment Products & Markets and Member of Executive Board, BSI SA Age Total Calculated Compensation This person is connected to 0 Board Members in 0 different organizations across 2 different industries. -- --

Background Mr. Christian Ferry serves as Senior Executive Vice President of Corporate Services Investment Products & Markets and Member of the Executive Board at BSI SA. Mr. Ferry served as Senior Executive Vice President of Investment Products & Markets at BSI SA. Mr. Ferry served as Senior Executive Vice President of Financial Services at BSI SA. He served as a Director of Haussmann Holdings N.V.

Corporate Headquarters Via Magatti 2 Lugano, Ticino 6900

Switzerland

Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]

Board Members Memberships Former Director Haussmann Holdings N.V.

Education There is no Education data available.

Other Affiliations Haussmann Holdings N.V.

Annual Compensation There is no Annual Compensation data available.

Stocks Options There is no Stock Options data available.

Total Compensation There is no Total Compensation

[Swede]

22. I'll trust Adm. William H. McRaven of the Navy,over these repukes.

In a CNN interview last month, Adm. William H. McRaven of the Navy, who oversaw the raid as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, said, “The president and his national security team — I’m not a political guy, but I will tell you as, as an interested observer in this — they were magnificent in how they handled it start to finish.”

He added: “At the end of the day, make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions, that was instrumental in the planning process, because I pitched every plan to him.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/16/us/politics/ex-military-and-cia-officers-attack-obama-over-bin-laden-leaks.html?_r=1

[panader0]

24. Adm. McRaven's statements should be made into a video rebuttal of the BS

Getting OBL is something the pubs cannot stand. I smell K Rove.

[sdfernando]

38. Unlikely scenario but....

These are Navy Seals, retired presumably not discharged. If so, unless they have final separation papers could they not be recalled to service?...then they would have keep mum about their CIC and follow his orders...Wouldn't that chap their hides!.

Hey I can dream can't I?

[CanonRay]

25. Kerry let that crap go on too long without firing back

a very serious mistake, IMHO.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

27. Yes

sink 'em

[SoapBox]

33. "Kerry let that crap go on too long without firing back"

Super ditto! Dems/Libs/Progressives need to crash into this kind of shit, head ON and immediately!

Bravo!

AND...wasn't that slime bag at the head of "Blackwater" a "special ops" type? The same guy that
has fled the United States to the middle East?

p.s...I loves me some Ben LaBolt...he's firey and a hottie at the same time.

p.s.s...off topic but I want to spread it around...new website:

"WTF has Paul Ryan done?"

http://www.wtfhaspaulryandone.com/

[The Wizard]

46. And the bums that made up the

"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" were well paid shills hired by Bush "pioneers." Gotta wonder if these guys have Swiss bank accounts too.

[Major Hogwash]

50. Kerry did fight back, but the media put their focus on the Swift Vet's accusations.

The MSM talked about the Swift Vet's side of that story much more and more often than they talked about Kerry's side of that issue.

What is Romney going to do, hand out Purple Heart bandaids at their GOP convention this year like they did in 2004?

[politicasista]

96. Yep. Let's blame ONLY Kerry

and let the Dems and the media off the hook.


Sorry to interrupt the bash Kerry to praise Obama comments in the thread.

[CanonRay]

97. I'm not bashing Kerry, I liked the guy

he was always a personal hero to me for standing up to the war. He was getting shitty advice.

[politicasista]

98. Ok

Do agree about the advice part though. If the post was over the top, apologies. Peace.

[Dustin DeWinde]

31. jury still out??!??

You ALWAYS hit back. Obama is doing what's right. The press is obviously not used to dems like Obama and Biden who fight so hard and so effectively. Keep up the good work dems

[progressivebydesign]

40. I LOVE that they're not letting this shit go. They are being financed by lobbyists.. of course.

"The Opsec group shares an office suite in Alexandria, Va., with a Republican consulting firm, the Trailblazer Group. Christian Ferry, a partner in the firm, said that he had sublet space to Opsec because it included “people I know,” but that Trailblazer had no role in the project."

Yeah.. right. they share an office space but have NO connection. Riiiiight.

Remember this. The scumbag republicans cannot win on their own merits. They have never been able to do that. They can only win by scurrilous attacks, lying, and character destruction, and disenfranchising. You know, I wonder why none of their voters get a clue on this.. does it not occur to them that these attack vs. ideas, are obvious clues that the ONLY reason the republicans want your vote is to enrich SOMEONE, and it's not you. They will do whatever they need to do, like say with a straight face that a siting president is "unamerican" or create these shadowy groups, or spend nearly a billion on outside attack ads, to stay in power.

Is there NO republicans out there willing to ask themselves WHY guys like Adelman and the Koch Bros, and these attack groups, are spending that much money? It's like this entire attack machine, from Rush to Coulter to Lobbyists to Tea Baggers to Koch Bros groups... with the SOLE purpose of taking over the Country. They don't seem to have a real vision at all, other than the need to enrich the top 1% even further, whether it's thru wars, or tax cuts, or cutting benefits, or shipping jobs to China. Their platform could be on one sheet of paper:

GOP Platform:

We Want ALL Your Money.

Forget the social issues, they use them to fire up their low info voters so that (see above platform.) That's what this is about, and I guarantee that the $$$$ for this group is coming from.. probably defense contractors. And I bet if we looked into the finances of the guys in front of this attack, they are probably "consultants" for lobbyist firms representing Blackwater and such.

Just SO glad that the President is fighting back. Hope they get into the finances of those POSs.

[southernyankeebelle]

41. This is just another attack at the president's strong suits. Shame on these people.

Your damn right to fight back. Don't let them frame you.

[graham4anything]

52. damn right to the damn right

and love your penquin

[southernyankeebelle]

67. Thank you on my little guy. You know you can get it on this "My Subscriptions". That is

where I got it.

[billky]

42. What do they know?

If they're retired, they weren't there, it's that simple. So they're probably making it up. These sorry Republicans can pay people to do anything; but they may not be lying on purpose, repubs are also good at making up stuff and convincing people that it's true. They know nothing has to be true, they just need to get it out there and see how many people believe it. I've never seen such lying.

[progressivebydesign]

44. they're political hacks. the lead guy is all over Newsmax... n/t

[Cha]

72. Exactly my thought. They Weren't There.

They know nothing but how much are they getting paid for lying in an ad about the President of the United States of America.

[The Wizard]

45. They haven't cited one case

where the President's Administration caused harm to American forces. It's the typical Republican propaganda plot, "Some say."

[Major Hogwash]

47. Well, their problem is, Bush didn't go after bin Laden . . . President Obama did!!!

And that's all there is to it.

End of story.

[Sheepshank]

48. NEVER let crap like this unanswered. The response was reasonable and direct. Good n/t

[madrchsod]

51. never ever back down when confronted by these groups

the president of the usa gave the order and it`s his responsibility for the mission. he relied on the people he gave the orders to to full fill the mission. they did and he gave them all the credit. what ever "details" were given were cleared by those who were involved with this mission.

so to the little boys who are complaining...shut the fuck up and go cry to your mommies.

[Bradical79]

55. It'll be a tough battle, but neccesary

Let this kind of crap go on and it'll be a disaster. Best to hit it head on and early.

[McCamy Taylor]

56. Any "Attack" ad that reminds voters that Bin Laden is dead is good for Obama.

Romney has some really shitty political consultants.

[BeHereNow]

57. Anyone else getting a waft of unmistakable stench that is KKKarl Rove from this?

You, know KKKarl who was most likely behind the leak of Valerie Plame which
put National Security at risk, due to the operations she was involved in?
He then threw Libby Scooter under the bus...

I wish some great investigative reporter could ties these ads to Rove, cause
I bet you anything, he is involved.

BHN

[TeamPooka]

58. NO SHOT GOES UNRESPONDED!

FIGHT!
Obama 2012!

[The Last Democrat]

60. The President

needs to keep firing back on this, not once…. but everyday give them a shot about this crap.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

61. Who's funding the ads and the campaign?

Unfortunately, they don't have to reveal the names of the guys putting up the money to fund this smear campaign. I have a pretty good idea who it might be however.

[BeHereNow]

63. You can bet KKKarl Rove is involved.

Who else could come up with these ads, but KKKarl.
Of course he hides behind the curtain and send evil minions out to
to do his twisted bidding.

Hope someone brings the connection to light and our President
shines the mega light on these roaches.
Google "Rove" next to each of the "Trailblazer" names below...

BHN

The Trailblazer Group (Mentioned in the NY times article, as the office NEXT to the Fake Ad group)
Christian Ferry
Craig Goldman
Doug Davenport
Ryan Price


Go ahead, search them one by one alongside "Karl Rove."

[DinahMoeHum]

65. Hey, RePukeFaces: Your boy Bush FAILED to stop 9/11. FACT.

. . .and then FAILED to get bin Laden for 7 years.

Obama made getting OBL a priority, and a little past midway in his first term, HE DID IT.

So, dear "former" Navy SEALs (IF you really are SEALs): STFU and go suck a lemon.

[BeHereNow]

66. These buffoons can't even cover their tracks...

http://www.hdmk.org/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_OPSEC_Education_Fund

If I can find out who the people behind the curtain are, I would
hope the White House can and reveals the truth about this shady group
who will not disclose who is funding it.

I think can all pretty much guess.

BHN

[annabanana]

68. Now THIS is another "swift-boat attack". I've seen the phrase used by lazy media

for ads that are verifiably 100% true and accurate. The thing that makes it a "swift-boat attack" is its falsehood. I'm glad there's immediate push back on this crap.

[humbled_opinion]

69. Teaheads claim

The leak came from the Whitehouse, it may not have been Obama directly but why are campaign managers privy to the nations highest classified secrets?

They clamour that they want a full investigation and insist this will be an Obama second term scandal bigger than Plame was for Bush, people will go to jail..

LOL, now thats not most of the teaheads only the hard core ones but it's still in their dialouge...

[BlueStreak]

70. ReallY??? You ant to bring up bin Laden? Really?

Seems to me that is the guy responsible for killing over 3000 Americans. It also seems to me that the previous administration didn't deal with the problem in 7 years.

Really, Mitt? This is what you want to talk about?

[Major Hogwash]

74. Wait until September 11 next month.

We already know that Romney and Ryan will claim that President Obama is politicizing the 11th anniversary of those attacks on America.

Except, President Obama made it a top priority of his administration to get bin Laden for making those attacks.
So, there is no politicization to be made from paying tribute to the people who were killed, hurt, or died later as a result of those attacks.

So, not only does Romney fail, but he will sound like a coward because he never said he would make it a priority of his administration when he first started this last campaign of his to become the GOP's candidate.

Instead, Romney was more interested back then in promoting his stupid little "Corporations are people, my friend" meme.

[magical thyme]

75. They're losing on the biz and financial fronts, so they want to open a new front on Foreign Policy?

GO FOR IT!!!!!!

1. OPEN with clips of McRaven on Fox making it clear who chose the plan and who gave him his orders

2. Seque to Libya support with no lives lost.

3. Seque to ending wars on schedule

3. Seque to nonmilitary international policy successes

4. Segue to Mittens going to the Olympics and insulting our closest allies.

BRING. IT. ON.

[orpupilofnature57]

76. F-ck his taxes !!!!!! all he's good at is opportunism

he couldn't bake a tv dinner, let alone help run and not ruin the world.

[Jackpine Radical]

89. Now, that's an outright falsehood.

rMoney does TOO know how to bake a TV dinner.

It's easy. You ring this little bell & tell the servant what you want.

[trayfoot]

77. Email from VoteVets.org

About | Our Candidates

Dear ,

You may have heard about this right-wing shell organization that is running a video slamming President Obama for leading the effort to kill Osama bin Laden. While it is amusing that the right believes that killing the world’s most wanted terrorist is a weakness for President Obama, it’s even more amusing that they’re ignoring Mitt Romney’s words and record.

“It’s not worth moving heaven and earth, spending billions of dollars just trying to catch [bin Laden].”

- Mitt Romney, 2007

That’s right. Mitt Romney said that. I have a piece about it, as well as his willingness to spend billions and billions in an endless Afghanistan War, at the Huffington Post. We need you to spread this piece!


CLICK HERE TO ‘LIKE’ AND SHARE OUR PIECE ABOUT ROMNEY’S QUOTE ON BIN LADEN NOW


CLICK HERE TO RETWEET OUR PIECE ABOUT ROMNEY’S QUOTE ON BIN LADEN NOW



It’s important we get the word out far and wide. Please read the piece, and share it on your social networks. Thanks for all of your support.


Sincerely,
Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran
Chairman, VoteVets.org
@JonSoltz

PAID FOR BY VOTEVETS ACTION FUND

[B Calm]

79. Excellent e-mail!

[life long demo]

78. Glad to hear Pres. Obama campaign strikes back

We know you can't let this stuff go unanswered. I was reading the responses on the Atlantic Wire website, some really looney, but one brought up something that has pained me since the 2004 campaign. The purple heart bandaid. I never forgot that, I always viewed that as an horrible insult to any of our armed forces who were wounded or killed and awarded the purple heart. Of course it was popular at the 2004 Repub convention. And those SEALS should be ashame of themselves. They have dishonored their brother SEALS.

[Turbineguy]

80. Let the IRS sort this out.

These people are not a non-profit charitable organization.

[cleduc]

82. So they GOP use people who have leaked stuff in the past

to rant about Obama's staff leaking?

Only the GOP could do such crap and be stupid enough to think they'd get away with it.

[Flatpicker]

84. It has to be done

If unanswered, the Rethugs get a Swift boat thing going.

Never again should we play defense. Hit them hard and as fast as possible.

[elbloggoZY27]

85. Bin Laden Take Down

I am pretty proud that the United States Navy Seals took out Osama bin Laden. But to attack the President who authorized the Mission as Commander In Chief is really not warranted. The truth be told the President was on his Watch and did the right thing.


As a Navy Vietnam Veteran I did my job to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

[Beartracks]

86. "making things up for purely political reasons"

Two things rightwingers can be counted on to do:

1) Support tax cuts for the rich as the "solution" for every problem
2) Make things up for purely political reasons.

================

[BeHereNow]

87. Kick

BHN

[gtar100]

88. Good. Our military should not be held as some sort of sacrosanct mission

that is outside the bounds of scrutiny. Far too many military-types fall for the bullshit that republicans are strong on defense. Serious mistake on their part. Republicans have abused the military and hide behind it like a bunch of bloviating cowards. I don't see Democrats doing that. On the contrary, I see quite a bit of honest respect coming from Democrats. These Navy Seals deserve to be put in their place by President Obama. He's done nothing but good things for the military since he's taken office.

[Zalatix]

90. Navy SEALs think they're Gods.

[datasuspect]

94. i saw a former russian sailor slap the shit out of someone spouting off about being special forces

it was at the bar that used to be near irving park and pulaski next to the grill in chicago.

the ex russian navy dudes would show up on thursdays after playing soccer and they'd keep to themselves and speak in russian.

one day, some chicago jagoff tough guy started spouting off some nonsense to the russian dudes and the russian guy just hauled off and literally slapped the shit out of the loudmouth.

laid him flat.

i bought all of them a round.

[Zalatix]

95. Ex-Russian sailors, punching an American... in America?

[heaven05]

91. right back

at em!!! such transparent BS by republican party tools. Obama's team ain't Kerry's team period