McCain caught spinning lies about Obama hospital visit
The wingnuts, and that term now includes McCain, have been having a great time spreading the lie that Obama wouldn't visit our wounded troops at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany because he wasn't allowed to bring reporters & staff with him.In other words, they are claiming that Obama didn't go because he couldn't use the visit as a photo-op.
In fact, there were never any plans to go there with reporters and staff. Obama did want to bring one of his military advisers, Scott Gration, a retired Air Force General and the Pentagon said that wouldn't be appropriate because that would make it a political visit. After some thought, Obama decided to cancel the visit because he realized that it may be seen as a political stunt.
In a shocking, shocking development, a mainstream media outlet has actually done some fact checking on one of John McCain's dishonest attacks on Barack Obama:
Also, here's the revised and true story from the original source:
"More to the story: about my post on Obama canceling visit to troops in Germany, By Lynn Sweet on July 29, 2008 4:52 PM, Chicago Sun-Times
"Though the Rammstein visit had been planned for days, Obama senior strategist David Axelrod said that the Pentagon notified an Obama military advisor only yesterday or the day before that he should not come. The Pentagon "viewed this as a campaign event and therefore they said he should not come," Axelrod said.""
Thanks a lot Lynn, for clearing all this up FOUR DAYS later and for, you know, feeding the right-wing hate machine all the raw meat they needed!
For anyone who still needs more:
"Lie:
Barack Obama didn't take time to meet with troops on his overseas trip.
Conservative blogs, referencing an inaccurate email from abroad, have been spreading the rumor that Barack Obama gave troops the cold shoulder on his foreign trip.
Barack Obama didn't take time to meet with troops on his overseas trip.
Conservative blogs, referencing an inaccurate email from abroad, have been spreading the rumor that Barack Obama gave troops the cold shoulder on his foreign trip.
Truth:
Barack Obama spent time throughout his trip visiting with and thanking our troops in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was proud to meet so many of our troops overseas and has repeatedly praised their service and dedication."
Barack Obama spent time throughout his trip visiting with and thanking our troops in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was proud to meet so many of our troops overseas and has repeatedly praised their service and dedication."
UPDATE FROM ARMY TIMES: "Anti-Obama e-mail was wrong"
"An Army officer’s negative e-mail account of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s visit with the troops in Afghanistan that set the blogosphere ablaze prompted Army officials to correct aspects of the e-mail and resulted in a statement from the message’s author that “some of the information that was put out in my e-mail was wrong.”
"An Army officer’s negative e-mail account of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s visit with the troops in Afghanistan that set the blogosphere ablaze prompted Army officials to correct aspects of the e-mail and resulted in a statement from the message’s author that “some of the information that was put out in my e-mail was wrong.”
FactCheck.org debunked the inaccurate email from abroad:
"This is another viral e-mail falsehood. The author now says it's not true; the Army says it's not true; and video and photos show Obama shaking hands with troops and eating breakfast with them as well."
"This is another viral e-mail falsehood. The author now says it's not true; the Army says it's not true; and video and photos show Obama shaking hands with troops and eating breakfast with them as well."
The nydailynews.com even debunked this false claim:
"...Army brass debunked the Obama-bashing soldier's allegations, which went viral Thursday over the Web and on military blogs such as Blackfive."
"...Army brass debunked the Obama-bashing soldier's allegations, which went viral Thursday over the Web and on military blogs such as Blackfive."
All I can say is thank goodness the media are getting to the bottom of the vastly important issue of why Sen. Obama didn't visit a military hospital in Germany...instead of wasting their time (and ours) on trivial, pointless topics like the economy, the energy crisis, global warming, the war in Iraq, Iran's nuclear program and the US housing crash.
