After Obama’s initial refusal to go follow John McCain’s example; to go to Iraq and see the success himself:
Via his spokesperson, Bill Burton:
“John McCain’s proposal is nothing more than a political stunt, and we don’t need any more ‘Mission Accomplished’ banners or walks through Baghdad markets to know that Iraq’s leaders have not made the political progress that was the stated purpose of the surge. The American people don’t want any more false promises of progress, they deserve a real debate about a war that has overstretched our military, and cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars without making us safer.”
Link: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_camp_says_no_to_baghdad.php
……He finally relents, and at least 3 liberal network devotees will string along:
The three network anchors will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week for Barack Obama’s trip, adding their high-wattage spotlight to what is already shaping up as a major media extravaganza.
Lured by an offer of interviews with the Democratic presidential candidate, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric will make the overseas trek, meaning that the NBC, ABC and CBS evening newscasts will originate from stops along the route and undoubtedly give it big play.
John McCain has taken three foreign trips in the past four months, all unaccompanied by a single network anchor.
This cracks me up:
Obama has “proven adept at generating excitement,” says David Folkenflik, media correspondent for National Public Radio. He said the anchors hope “a little bit of that excitement will rub off on their newscasts if they can convey an American phenomenon abroad, if that’s what it turns out to be. Senator McCain is not as magnetic a figure in that way.”
No, Folkenflik (gawd, what a name), you’re all excited because you and the rest of the dimwitted leftwing MSM think he’s the ‘Obamessiah’.
More on the leftwing media’s love affair with Obama:
The senator from Illinois has been drawing far more media attention than his Republican rival from Arizona. With this week’s Newsweek cover story on Obama’s religious beliefs, he has been featured on Time and Newsweek covers 12 times in the past three years, compared with five for McCain. This week’s New Yorker includes a 14,600-word piece on Obama’s political rise in Chicago. Obama and his wife, Michelle, were recently on the cover of Us Weekly……”
When McCain visited Britain, France and Israel in March and met with their leaders, no network anchors tagged along. NBC and ABC sent correspondents; CBS did not. None of the evening newscasts covered his trip to Canada last month. And McCain’s swing through Colombia and Mexico two weeks ago was barely covered, although NBC and ABC sent correspondents.
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/16/AR2008071602562.html
There’s just no love in the MSM for John McCain.
Obama’s campaign site conveniently deleted any reference to his criticism and claims about the surge, just in time for his little trip:
……The parts that stressed his opposition to the 2007 troop surge and his statement that more troops would make no difference in a civil war have somehow disappeared. John McCain and Obama have been going at it heavily in recent days over the benefits of the surge.
The Arizona senator, who advocated the surge for years before the Bush administration employed it, says the resulting reduction in violence is proof it worked with progress on 15 of 18 political benchmarks and Obama’s plan to withdraw troops by now would have resulted in surrender.
When President Bush ordered the surge in January 2007, Obama said: “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse,” a position he maintained throughout 2007. This year he acknowledged progress, but maintained his position that political progress was lacking.
Tuesday, while Obama gave a speech on foreign policy, the New York Daily News was the first to notice the removal of parts of Obama’s campaign site listing the Iraq troop surge as part of “The Problem.” An Obama spokeswoman said it was just part of an “update” to “reflect changes in current events,” as our colleague Frank James notes in the Swamp. The update includes a new section on the rise of Al Qaeda violence in Afghanistan.
Link: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/obama-surge.html
Updates to coincide with his flip-flops. The liberals can’t harp on Iraq anymore so they have to switch to Afghanistan, where after a good deal of success, American troops have just recently encountered renewed attacks by the Taliban and what’s left of Al Qaeda, who are crossing the border from Pakistan.
Hopefully, the troops will give Obama the same earful they gave Couric:
Link: http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2007/09/06/soldiers-set-katie-couric-straight/
Too bad he doesn’t have the guts to take Michael Yon up on his offer:
I hereby offer to accompany any Senator to Iraq, whether they are pro-or anti-war, Democrat or Republican. I will make this offer personally to a few select Senators as well. Our conversations during the visit would be on- or off-record, as they wish. Touring Iraq with me, as well as briefings by U.S. officers and meetings with Iraqis, would provide an accurate and nuanced account of the progress and challenges ahead, so that the Senators might have a highly informed perspective on this most critical issue.
Our civilian leaders need to make decisions based on the best information available. The only way to learn what is really going on in Iraq is to go there and listen to our ground commanders, who know what they are doing. Generals Petraeus and Odierno have years of experience in Iraq, and vast knowledge of our efforts there. But the young Soldiers who have done multiple tours in Iraq also have unique and invaluable perspectives as well. These young Soldiers have personally witnessed the trajectory of the war shift dramatically, and can articulate those changes in concrete and specific terms. It doesn’t matter if a Soldier is only twenty-something. If he or she spent two or three years in the war, that person is likely to have valuable insights.
The best way to understand what is really going on is to listen closely to a wide range of service members who have done multiple tours in Iraq. Some will be negative, some will be positive, but overall I am certain that the vast majority of multi-tour Iraq veterans will testify that there has been great progress, and now there is hope. Combat veterans don’t tolerate happy talk or wishful thinking. They’ll tell you the raw truth as they see it.
Whether any Senators take advantage of my offer, I do hope that the presidential candidates visit Iraq, not just for a photo opportunity, but to spend time with our commanders and combat veterans, who know the truth and are not afraid to speak it.
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/michael-yons-open-offer-to-us-senators/
This upcoming trip will be a media circus and an Obama PR campaign by the media.
With the type of press entourage he’s getting, expect nothing less.
I have been noticing EXTREME MEDIA BIAS in favor of Obama. In addition to the recent analysis which shows that Obama has enjoyed over twice the news coverage as McCain, cable stations and websites like CNN are producing television specials like “Black In America”, which I’m sure will air over and over ad nauseam, as a disguised P.R. promotion for Obama. CNN also shows extreme bias with the way they moderate their blogs in favor of Obama supporters, which is tantamount to censorship. And, now the three network anchors will be traveling with Obama overseas. It doesn’t get more blatant than that !!!
rawdawgbuffalo,
I will vouch for McCain inasmuch as he has military experience and takes national security against foreign threats seriously. My beef with him is that he panders to radical illegal alien supporters. He has not done enough to help secure the borders or monitor and deport those who snuck in, or stayed way past the expiration date on their visa.
I’m disappointed that McCain is the only Republican candidate. I’d rather have voted for Fred Thompson or Duncan Hunter. But, we have to settle for him.
Obama will not be President; not because of his skin color, but because of his radical, socialist politics.
SFC MAC
u know im with ya folk,
i hope yawl wipe them off the map and burn all that poppy folk
thanks for the drive by
but my point was none of the three dont act like they knw what the f is going on, wouldnt u agree
rawdawgbuffalo,
The Taliban is getting their asses handed to them, just like Al Qaeda.
In Kabul before December? Don’t bet your life on it, bro.
Oh yeah, and about the “Obamessiah”:
So far, he’s as accumulated Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers, Daniel Ortega, Jeremiah Wright, Hamas, and FARC among his admirers, friends, and supporters. He’s a human bug light for despots, terrorists, and hate spewers. No wonder you moonbats love him.
This is what the Democrats have to offer for presidential candidate: a self-absorbed, vacuous, magna-cum-numbnuts, who believes his own MSM press. He lacks the cognitive skills to understand cause and effect, he thinks playing diplomatic patty-cake with the world’s malefactors is a substitute for defense and necessary retaliation, and he’s intellectually as deep as a mud puddle.
That about sums it up, “dog”.
SFC MAC
the taliban will be in kabul b4 december