Pentagon Confirms That It Told Obama He Couldn't Visit Army Base With Campaign Staff

[sabra]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/pentagon_confirms_that_it_told.php

I've just gotten clarification from the Pentagon on what really happened with regard to Barack Obama's canceled visit to an Army base in Germany, something the McCain campaign has been using to hit Obama since yesterday.

A Pentagon spokesperson confirms to me that because of longstanding Department of Defense regulations, Pentagon officials told Obama aides that he couldn't visit the base with campaign staff. This left Obama with little choice but to cancel the trip, since the plan to visit with campaign aides had been in the works for weeks.

The Obama campaign yesterday announced that it had decided to cancel the visit to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, saying that it would be "inappropriate" to make such a visit as part of a campaign trip.

The McCain camp has nonetheless been using Obama's canceled trip to insinuate that he's anti-troops. "Barack Obama is wrong," McCain spokesperson Brian Rogers said in a statement yesterday. "It is never 'inappropriate' to visit our men and women in the military."

[Hope And Change]

1. K & R!Thanks for posting!

[bunnies]

2. Shows how "knowledgeable" the McCain camp is.

Will they attack the Pentagon now? :shrug:

[ErinBerin84]

3. kick!

[Youphemism]

4. I hope this issue gets discussed more, because I'm confused...

Didn't both Obama and McCain visit bases during their trips to the Middle East? Is it a rule that any member of Congress can visit a base *unless* they're campaigning? Could Obama have left his campaign staff in the car and visited on his own?

As this article mentions, the visit was being set up for weeks... Nobody said anything about it until the last moment.

These wouldn't be major questions except that we've recently seen:

* Condoleezza Rice issue an edict telling state department members not to help candidates *after* McCain's visit to Canada and Colombia and hours *before* Obama's overseas tour

* The U.S. military issue an incorrect and completely unsupported statement that al-Maliki was mistranslated when he suggested a timeline for U.S. troop withdrawal.

* The President standing in Israel, stating that negotiating with political adversaries is "appeasement."

I'm not sure about this latest issue, but there is already a pattern of using executive powers to influence the campaign. Am I the only one smelling rotting fish?

[solara]

6. (Official) Sandbagging.. this is what Sen. Obama is up against and will be dealing with

probably for the rest of his life.

Sand-bag

1. A bag filled with sand, used in fortification, as ballast, etc.
-Such a bag used as a weapon
-To hit or stun with a sandbag
2. Informal:
- to set upon violently, attack from or as if from ambush
- to coerce or intimidate as by threats
- to thwart or cause to fail or be rejected surreptitiously or without warning


INVESTIGATE IMPEACH INDICT INCARCERATE :patriot:

(edited to add :kick: :kick: )

[Bluerthanblue]

5. k&r for the truth-

:hi:

[Alter Ego]

7. And you can dream on if you think the media will apologize

for breathlessly reporting the lie that Barack Obama "blew off the troops".

[Alter Ego]

8. Where the fuck is Bill Burton?

He needs to get on TV with "Despite what the McCain camp thinks, it is inappropriate to even give off the appearance of photo-opping with wounded American soldiers. Perhaps Senator McCain should go over some of his recent Senate votes concerning disabled veterans if he truly cares about them."

[glitch]

9. Gawd what petty loathsome people. Looks like those pics of Obama with the smiling troops really hurt

Boohoo Pentagon (and your wimpy rightwing overlords).