Political Punch

response to

McCain's soldier, military and POW status diqualify him because he will be a very dangerous militarist president, all he knows is war and military might and he will bring America into very dangerous military adventures. If the WBush-Cheney diplomacy was called the "cowboy diplomacy", with McSame there will be a worsening because it will be the "boots diplomacy". God save America from McCain. God bless America and God bless Obama.

McCain does have a military background. Yes he knows war. Yes he knows how to fight. However, lets not forget he was also a prisoner of war. He also understands the power of war and the misery of war. He also has a better understanding of what a soldier is going through during this time. Unlike Obama who never served his country and one with little political experiance not to mention his 20 years of service in a church that allows, bigets and racist remarks to be apart of their beliefs. 20 years of this crap he digested. YOu dont think that maybe he just might of agreed with it. That it was not instilled in him at all in even the slightest bit that it was true what the pastor preached....It certainly is amazing to me that it was not until it was let out and a video of the preacher making all his lovly remarks that he decided hey..wait..I think that was horrible.. Oh boy I disagree and will denouce the preacher and church that he attended for 20 years. Ya think maybe it might just be because he is running for President that he decided to leave the church after 20 years.
It amazes me how so many people want to desperatly to believe in this "change" and this "lets unit again" speaches...Hilter made the same speaches...and as we found out..the people didnt get quiet the hope they thought they were going to get. THey allowed struggles of life and the hardships they were facing along with the fact they still had their tails between their legs after WWI. effect their thinking. CHange...promiss of better life...promise of uniting us...the promis of Im the savor...His savor and his church I dont need. Not with preachers like his. Open your eyes you dont think there arnt a few red flags around Obama saying...sneaky speaker. He certainly can talk the talk.. I am no Rep and Im not a Dem. I am one who simply believes in which ever person will be the better of the two. McCain was not my first choice but again Obama was never a choice.
As a former Marine, I support the GI bill from McCain. Like a civilian job, I earned my right through dedication, loyalty and commintment to my company to get 7 weeks of vacation, extra stock options, and better insurance at a better rate over those who have only been here a few years. Its not so much a huge worry about soldier leaving and many will, most wont. Its the fact that there is an incentive to stay longer for better bennifits. My father served in WWII I served in Panama, and my Son service our country now. We know sacrafice..we know commitment and our duty. McCain knows as well. Obama..until he walks in a soldiers shoes he will never know what it it like and understand what we all went through or how we feel. So honor your great speaker and your great hope for this wonderful change. But do not be surprised if the change that comes is not the change you hope for.
Wake up people. See the man for what he is. For what he stayed for 20 years helping make the man. Form his beliefs..and form his thinking. He might not show it now...but if he gets the big apple...wait and see what unleases.

Ok it appears the magicians have pulled it off.

Every post here yaks about the picture.

No one points out the "lie" in the text:
"but you don't take the opportunity to sit down with General Petraeus"

Now the letter does not say Obama in this sentence but that is the insinuation with the pronoun "you". Well to the author of the letter, Obama, Clinton, Dr. Paul and McCain all took time out and talked with the General when he did his recent visit to Capital hill.

DanielC in SC

the mccain presidency will be the thing which unleashes the true progressive ghost. the one which is comfortable with spreading blood libels about the troops. not that they've been very restrained in that respect so far. it's just odd to think that all of this nonsence about military veterans being nascent military dictators and fascisti were the self-same cranks who demanded that we respect kerry's bona fides as a "war hero" the last time around.

i guess progressives only support the troops who mouth their line. progressives only support the pretend troops in their cardboard coffins. actual troops they regard as babykilling fascists.

i mean what do they want us to believe that they're offended at here? i thout he was "general betray us" who they say is a rightwing zealot and a tool of neocons who's word requires the "willing suspension of disbelief". screw the progressive hypocrits who are pretending that some citadel of apoliticism they respect has somehow been breeched.

The picture seems to be in the senate offices and probably right before or after the general testified. Hence there is nothing wrong with it. What McCain is showing is that unlike Obama he trusts Petraeus.
No Aengil Obama did not question them better. Unless of course by "better" you mean confusing the Iraqi and Iranian governments which Obama did.
As for the GI Bill, its (to be nice" complete bunk. If you think Webb and the democrats care so much for the troops ask yourself the following: Why attach their GI Bill to a war funding bill that they already know Bush will veto? Then ask yourself why do they pack a war funding bill with BILLIONS (like 450 mil to repair roads, or 200 mil for the space shuttle, etc) of dollars in domestic spending specifically doing exactly what Bush asked them not to and if they did Bush would veto it? In reality the democrats care enough about the troops to use them as they always have, political fodder.

Isn't the content of this mailer further evidence that the McCain is illegally coordinating their efforts with Votes For Freedom?
Seems pretty obvious to me.

McCain's soldier, military and POW status diqualify him because he will be a very dangerous militarist president, all he knows is war and military might and he will bring America into very dangerous military adventures. If the WBush-Cheney diplomacy was called the "cowboy diplomacy", with McSame there will be a worsening because it will be the "boots diplomacy". God save America from McCain. God bless America and God bless Obama. OBAMA08.

If Petraeus wants to remain apolitical, he will insist that the McCain campaign scrap the fundraising and apologize to him and to the soldiers under his command. Nothing less will have the effect of removing this stain from Petraeus's reputation.

Umm McCain thinks that people only stay in the military because they have no where else to go. \

McCain thinks that if you give people the option to leave the military, like fully funding schooling before they serve 12 YEARS will cause a loss of NCO's.

Why does McCain question the loyalty and patriotism of our troops?

My brother has gone 2 times, why? because he loves his comrades. McCain's insinuation that he would leave if the money was right is insulting to the sacrifices that my families and others have had to bear.

And the GAO says the higher benefits would offset losses by increasing recruitment.

The McCain/Graham GI bill would have asked WWII veterans to serve a tour in Korea before they could go to college.

How about a story on how the McCain campaign is recruiting supporters to leave comments on blogs that are scripted talking points from his website! They reward them with a "points" system. Looks like a few people here are already on board!

I think the use of the picture of Petraeus and the patriotism crap is for political gain and it makes the military a political institution.

It sucks on both sides, just like the flag pin bs.

Judge whether you support the troops by the number of people you support on their quest to give their lives supporting our government.

Therer is no issue! But there is issue from Obama's site you point us to See Iraq is not is a Civil war and if Obama can not see that how can he be President!!

The surge was to complete 16 benchmarks, some of which the libs made unobtainable by the military, but all 16 have been met, violence is down which is allowing the Iraqi government to meet.

By the way they got more done then the libs in our congress and all our congress has to do is try to help our economy! which they failed, but then again they failed to even bring down gas as promised!! So we say the libs need to pull out of Congress!!

1. Interesting that McCain's defense of this image implicitly undermines his 'Obama won't talk to the military' message.

2. Seems to me there's a vast difference between a picture of a candidate with random rank and file used as an illustration versus a picture of a candidate with well-known, commonly identifiable high-ranking military officials used as a campaign fundraising tool.

I don't know if there's anything there, but I hope you'll explore this further, Jake.

when was the last time Bush was in Iraq?

Jeremy, you wrote: "That means he won't have a specific demand for concessions standing in the way of meeting if it can be productive."

IF IT CAN BE PRODUCTIVE? That sounds like a condition to me! But one can not know if a meeting is productive until AFTER the meeting. So what happens if there is a meeting and it is NOT productive?

Stacey, Sen. McCain does not support Sen. Webb's G.I. Bill because it creates a new bureaucracy with new rules and it offers the same benefits whether you stay in the military for three years or longer.

HOWEVER, Sen. McCain is a CO-SPONSOR of the Graham-Burr-McCain GI Bill which "enhances the existing Montgomery G.I. Bill by significantly improving education benefits for both service members who choose to leave the military as well as those who decide to make military service their career. The legislation will help more military personnel attend college debt-free, and allow them to transfer their education benefits to their spouse or children. It also bolsters recruitment and retention efforts, encouraging service members to continue their military careers."

This latter bill is a better bill because it gives more benefits for longer service AND is transferable to one's spouse or children.

It is telling that the son of an adminal wouldn't use a picture of him with an "average joe".

Petraeus should be in hot water because McCain didn't use a photo of him with average soldier because the soldier might come out and say I'm not for McCain.

Obviously, Petraeus is not a problem for McCain. Lack of due diligence details by McCain on getting permission for a high profile public figure.

The only way that McCain can defend his commitment to the Bush approach to diplomacy is distortion. Obama said that he "would be willing to meet without preconditions". That means he won't have a specific demand for concessions standing in the way of meeting if it can be productive. McCain has totally distorted that position. I guess I'd be grasping at straw men too if I were trying to get another neocon elected.

I clearly saw Gen. Petraeus endorse Obama (in fact, I think he said he "loved" him) about a month ago on Saturday Night Live.

So McCain uses a pic of the General, and its just A-OK? Right.

If Obama had sent out an ad with a picture of HIM and Petraeus taken after the Senate hearing, both Jake and his GOP minders would be shouting from the roooftops about Obama COMMITTING TREASON BY VIOLATING THE RULES OF THE MILITARY."

Petraeus supports McCain or whoever the GOP nominee is or would have been, with plausible deny ability.

McCain didn't ask to use the image, he didn't have to. (wink wink,nod nod)

He's already in the running for the 2012 nomination, or would accept the nomination as Caesar if things don't work out so well for a President Obama.

McCain doesn't even support vets since he doesn't support the new GI bill.

What a fraud!

Like Bush McCain wants to use the Military as a political arm of the Republican Party.

Since when is the military for a single political party, and not the US as a whole.

This more like a Military Junta.

It is a bit of an odd thing for McCain to say, given that McCain knows full well Obama questioned Petraeus at the Petraeus-Crocker hearings held by the US Senate earlier in the year (and to better effect than both Clinton and McCain I might add):

As far as using the photo goes, I think that's a non-issue. If Petraeus was endorsing McCain, that would be contrary to Mullen's message, but McCain using the photo isn't, depending on the context.

The problem with McCain's mailer isn't the use of Petraeus's photo, but his use of it to attack Obama by saying, effectively, "Obama doesn't want to know about the situation in Iraq". That's patently untrue.

There's nothing wrong with it. It isn't implying that Petraeus endorses McCain. It's a snapshot of the day-to-day business of McCain as a U.S. Senator.

Great mailer by the way; previews of coming attractions. And it should be noted that if he'd wanted to play dirty, he would have had Obama's and Ahmadinejad's photos instead of his own and Petraeus.

Go McCain!