Some of you might have noticed that my posting has been rather slow of late. I hope that some of my fellow bloggers have been able to keep you informed and entertained, but I realize that Arizona political news and opinion has been rather too thin on the ground around here. When I think about … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: In more than 30 years in politics, I cannot recall another campaign in which a presidential candidate suffered a worse week than John McCain. Most of the fault lies with the candidate himself, but I have to say, the McCain campaign is among the most amateurish and incompetent that I have ever … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
John McCain has begun airing a new attack ad against Barack Obama which demonstrates that he has crossed over to the dark side and adopted Karl Rove’s tactics of the "politics of personal destruction."
The ad criticizes Obama for canceling a trip to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to visit wounded troops while in Germany.
"Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras," according to the ad. "John McCain is always there for our troops."
McCain himself joined in the rebuke, saying in an interview on ABC’s This Week that "if I had been told by the Pentagon that I couldn’t visit those troops, and I was there and wanted to be there, I guarantee you, there would have been a seismic event."
As reported by Greg Sargent earlier this week TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Pentagon Confirms That It Told Obama He Couldn’t Visit Army Base With Campaign S.:
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.
* * *
But it turns out that the Pentagon did in fact tell Obama that in this case, it was not only "inappropriate," but against DoD rules, for him to conduct the visit with campaign staff.
"We have longstanding Department of Defense policy in regards to political campaigns and elections," Pentagon spokesperson Elizabeth Hibner told me. "We informed the Obama staff that he was more than welcome to visit as Senator Obama, with Senate staff. However, he could not conduct the visit with campaign staff."
After being told this, the Obama campaign announced yesterday that it had decided it was "inappropriate" to make the visit as part of a campaign trip.
It’s unclear how Obama could have made the visit at all, given the Pentagon’s directives. No Senate staff was on the trip, and the Obama camp says they received the Pentagon’s directives on Wednesday, after they were already abroad.
Greg Sargent concluded that the McCain campaign criticism appeared unfounded.
Brandon Friedman from VoteVets.org points out that "The problem here is that the McCain campaign was denied a visit to a military base under the same policy back in April." VetVoice:: McCain’s Double Standard on Campaign Visits to Military Bases Says Friedman:
I understand that the McCain campaign is disorganized and pathologically clueless when it comes to utilizing the media, but they’re clearly being dishonest in this case. McCain is demonstrably criticizing Obama for following a Pentagon rule to which the McCain campaign itself has been subjected recently. That’s a fact. So this seems to be a simple cheap shot at Obama, in the hopes that the media won’t be internet savvy enough (i.e., able to use Google) to figure out the whole story.
"We follow the rules," Steve Schmidt from the McCain campaign said.
Exactly. And they have no problem attacking Obama for doing the same. That’s the very definition of "double standard."
Regardless, the Pentagon will now be under more pressure to keep the playing field even–and to keep the policy consistent on both sides.
The Obama campaign response to McCain’s baseless attack ad is reported at Americablog McCain launches negative ad based on lie: The new Karl Rove version of John McCain is now on full display:
The Obama campaign sent out this response:
“John McCain is an honorable man who is running an increasingly dishonorable campaign. Senator McCain knows full well that Senator Obama strongly supports and honors our troops, which is what makes this attack so disingenuous. Senator Obama was honored to meet with our men and women in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan this week and has visited wounded soldiers at Walter Reed numerous times. This politicization of our soldiers is exactly what Senator Obama sought to avoid, and it’s not worthy of Senator McCain or the ‘civil’ campaign he claimed he would run,” said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: John McCain has spent the last year and a half of his campaign attacking the patriotism and loyalty of anyone who dared to suggest a "timeline" for troop withdrawals from Iraq, falsely accusing them of "embracing the policy of surrender" and "waving a white flag to al Qaeda." John McCain 2008 – … Read more
Posted by AZBlueMeanie:
John McCain has opted to become a Johnny-one-note candidate, asserting that he alone is qualified to be president because he alone had the knowledge, experience and foresight to insist upon The Surge® when all others about him were losing their heads. Only McCain in his superior wisdom knows what is best both for the American people and the Iraqis, despite what the people of these countries may think best. Sounds like a man with a Napoleon complex, doesn’t it?
McCain and his loyal allies in the McMedia have been baiting Barack Obama for weeks, demanding Obama should admit that McCain was right and he was wrong about the success of The Surge®. Said McCain, "I hope he will have a chance to admit that he badly misjudged the situation, and that he was wrong when he said the surge wouldn’t work, and admit that the surge has succeeded and that we are winning the war."
This is the real McCain, the school yard bully who no doubt earned his childhood nickname "McNasty." He is still the same schoolyard bully who wants to get the new kid in school down on the ground in a headlock and give him noogies demanding that he say "you’re the best." Well, Barack Obama has withstood this childish assault from McCain and his McMedia allies, giving a nuanced and correct answer that The Surge® was among several elements to come together in a complex Iraq society which reduced the level of violence. Obama has consistently praised our troops for their sacrifice and service.
Of course, McNasty insists that it was his insistence upon the tactical maneuver of adding more troops which alone reduced the level of violence, and if Obama will not concede to him that "you’re the best" for insisting that the tactical maneuver of adding more troops alone was the reason for reducing the level of violence, then McNasty will say Obama is dishonoring the service of our troops. Even though Obama praises the service of our troops. This guy is just a dick.
There is also a very real danger in a simple mind like his that believes military power alone is the solution to every problem. He is more inclined to resort to military power to solve problems. A vote for McCain is a vote for more war.
Even McCain in his rare lucid moments has stated that The Surge® was not just the tactical military maneuver of adding an additional 30,000 troops in Iraq to quell the violence, but was one element of a strategic plan called "The New Way Forward," which was intended to quell the violence to allow for ethnic and sectarian reconciliation that would then lead to a government capable of governing, defending and sustaining itself. With a functioning government, reconstruction of the infrastructure and economy of Iraq could begin to return life in Iraq to normal.
So how successful was The Surge® in achieving its broader strategic goals? The Government Accounting Office (GAO) has just released its report "Securing, Stabilizing, and Rebuilding Iraq: Progress Report: Some Gains Made, Updated Strategy Needed" (July 23, 2008). You didn’t know? Of course you didn’t because the McMedia never reported it. They are too busy parroting McCain’s favorite attack lines against Obama because politics is just fun and games to them, to be reported like a sporting event, who scored, who is ahead, and who is behind. Their simple minds would explode if they ever exerted themselves with actual fact checking and political analysis.