McCain Camp Rips Obama for Cancelling Troop Visit

When all is said and done, McWhiner is the best campaigner that Obama could ever have on his staff. Keep up the good work McWhiner. Oh by the way, kudos to the brilliant McWhiner staffer that encouraged him NOT to attend the Unity Conference where he would have had a lot of media coverage as it was a conference of 'journalist'? Talk about bad judgment? I believe it is McWhiner who...say it with me now...just doesn't understand.

Ex-Tex So why didn't McShame go and visit some wounded soldiers at a VA Hospital here in the States after so many of his campaign events got cancelled last week? Instead, McCain go's for a photo op at a german restaurant and then then another photo op in a dairy aisle at a grocery store. How cheesey is that? If McCain truely cared about the troops he would have also voted for the GI bill instead of opposing it.

Typical, typical, typical Obama true form. If it won't serve his purpose or help him get elected than it is not on his agenda. He is like a spoiled little child. The rest of the universe has to revolve around him. He should grow up! I am a disillusioned Democrat voting for McCain in November! Obama is the worst thing that ever happened to the Democratic party this year.

The 'real' story is that Obama could have visited the wounded soldiers, but the Pentagon said not with the huge entourage and media circus ... however, Obama supporters are now trying to mislead the American people by enabling Obama to now blame the Pentagon for HIS bad decision. This is a typical form of damage control that the Obama and his people have used throughout his campaign. If Obama does something right, they shower credit upon him ... if he does something wrong, they blame it on someone else, or they tell us we misinterpreted what happened.

I've scrolled through and read virtually all of these comments. I've concluded that almost no one is willing to be intellectually honest enough to look at FACTS, analyze them and use their judgement. The complete and utter determination of each side to convince the other why their candidate is better is sad. No one seems to want to actually engage in a constructive debate and analysis.

Democrats/liberals all want to use the DNC talking points, i.e., McCain = more of the Bush policies. Republicans/conservatives want to demonstrate why Obama is not really the stateman the media would have you believe. The TRUTH lies somewhere in between. McCain DOE NOT equal Bush, it's a simple way to try to attach Bushes pitiful performance to someone who stands for many things different than Bush. Obama has great poise and is eloquent -- and very intelligent. Does he have the experience and judgement - we'll not know until and unless he's elected.

90% of you making comments here are wasting your time trying to convice the others of your position -- it isn't going to happen so go talk to those who share your beliefs rather than looking like fools with your petty and inaccurate arguments!

You're delusional. Also, how does advocating ending the war equate to prolonging it? If anybody is looking to prolong this war for political purposes, it's the GOP.

Victory. A stable self governing Iraq. An Iraqi government that has met all but three of the 18 metrics for success.

Our Democrat Congress? They have a plan. Which is to not pass a budget until the Messiah gets elected. Right.

They have another plan: no drilling for oil. The Saudis need the money more.

Obama? He is down with the no drilling for oil bit. Because he cares about the poor.

The Republican spin on Obama's visit is sad. They dared him to go to Iraq-counted the days since he was there- said he couldn't handle the world stage. Obama went and has been a huge success. McCain went overseas earlier this year - but no one even remembers. So now the Republicans critize Obama for playing to big crowds of foreigners. Obama offered to visit the wounded soldiers in Germany but was waived off by the Pentagon, told they were sensitive to it being a campaign event. So Obama cancels rather than being accused of using our wounded soldiers as campaign props. Now he's critized for not doing the visit. We really have to just ignore this nonsense. Obama's done extremely well under great pressure. We'll be proud to have him represent us to the world.

Mistake: McCain is the one who bought the cheese and the one who has the whine.

I see Obama bought more cheese to go with his whine.

Robin, you wrote: "If McCain wants his Op Ed printed, he needs to follow the New York Times edit instructions that accompanied his script when the returned it. Or are you saying that only Obama is required to follow the New York Times format guidelines for Op Ed submissions?"

That is NOT the excuse that Opinion Page Editor Davis Shipley stated as the reason for the rejection. Here is an excerpt from Mr. Shipley's explanation for the rejection:

"It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq. It would also have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory — with troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate. And it would need to describe the senator’s Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan."

It sounds more like Mr. Shipley rejected Sen. McCain's article because he disagreed with the content and NOT because of some format guidelines that must be followed. Mr. Shipley is trying to dictate WHAT Sen. McCain must say before he will accept the article for publication.

Bill, the news media is reporting that the visit to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center was "cancelled." That implies that it was scheduled before hand. It's one thing to not schedule the visit. It is quite another to cancel a scheduled visit. IF in fact it was officially scheduled (as opposed to an internal "hope-to-do") you have to believe that the veterans at the medical center were probably notified of the visit. So they would have been expecting the visit. IF THAT is also true, then the last minute cancellation IS a perceived, if not an actual, SNUB. Furthermore, the fact that Sen. Obama is on the U. S. Senate Committee on Veteran's Affairs makes that snub even worse.

I thought Obama's overseas trip was a way to gain the appearance of experience in international politics ... in response to Senator McCain's statement that Obama was in experienced in foreign affairs. Obama's rationale was to go on a fact finding mission, in order to appear presidential, however it soon became evident to everyone that Obaman's real purpose was to use the trip as a self serving campaign photo op., Posing and pontificating in front of the crowds and cameras, rather than visiting our wounded soldiers. This is about the most unpresidential thing Obama could have done. In spite of his fabricated image, and lop sided biased American media adulation, thank God the American people are finally coming to their senses, and realizing that Senator McCain is the only real Presidential choice for America.

how many of you go to veterans hospitals and thank them for their service to our country? ahhh maybe less than 1% of you? and yet the thought of someone else not doing that disgusts you. I love my America and hope Obama can bring us back to the glory we once had on the world stage. Mccain could never draw half such a crowd like we saw Obama bring in Berlin. The world wants to love us again and I have to admit it felt good to see people from Europe cheering for Obama and the hope for a brighter future that can come from an America with better international ties with countries other than a reluctant Britain(and rightly so). Britain's like an old friend that's always been there through thick and thin and yet lately can't believe what we're up to but follows along based on all the good we've done in the past, but I feel that's wearing too thin as well....

lol, so completely hilarious.

If Obama had just gone and visited the troops by himself, everyone would be holding up this Pentagon ruling and saying Obama is exploiting the troops for political benefit.

The thing became a political football, so Obama said let's not cause trouble. There was no way to do it low key.

How in God's name is this a plus for him? People are really saying this is evidence he "doesn't care about the troops"? Get a grip. He cares about the troops as much as any other normal human being, which is to say he cares a lot. If he could go see them and say hello, well who wouldn't want to do that?

But the Pentagon said don't make it a circus, don't bring wounded men into the whole media show. So Obama said OK, let's leave them alone. Anyone who thinks that somehow means he doesn't care about them should have their head examined.

What kind of a monster would you have to be not to care about them? McCain cares about them, Bush cares about them, of course everyone cares about them. Some people need a reality check.

The tide is turning against Obama and rightly so. He wants to be CIC but won't even deign to visit our troops unless it's a Kodak moment for his campaign. Then he tries to spin it as some high and mighty "I didn't think it was appropriate blah,blah,blah".

Shunning the troops=Obama's macaca moment. Good riddance! If Europe wants him, they can keep him!

The section in which the Op Ed appears is not an like purchased space to say whatever you want, information has to be submitted just like one would submit an article to a research journal for example. There's format guideline as it pertains to content (not esthetic's)set by the New York Times. If McCain wants his Op Ed printed, he needs to follow the New York Times edit instructions that accompanied his script when the returned it. Or are you saying that only Obama is required to follow the New York Times format guidelines for Op Ed submissions?

Robin, The NYTimes refused to publish McCain's OpEd. He didn't refuse to provide one. Better check with Batman next time.

Robin, you wrote: "...because he (Sen. McCain) won't provide an Op Ed to the New York Times outlining same, as Obama did that I may read it for myself."

Actually Sen. McCain DID SUBMIT an op ed piece. But the NY Times rejected it stating that he needs to re-write it so that it is more like Sen. Obama's. So don't blame Sen. McCain for your inability to not be able to read what he stands for. And really you shouldn't blame the NY Times either. If you really wanted to read about Sen. McCain's stances on the issues you only have to check out his website!

Elitist, just keep spreading the half-truth! Sen. McCain did not support the GI-Bill that passed because he co-sponsored another GI-Bill that never came up for a vote. Sen. Obama is such a supporter of veterans that he snubbed the wounded veterans while in Germany yesterday. Now he may have lost most of the veterans' support that he once had because of that!

Let's review how McCain's campaign is going shall we?
1) riding around in golf carts with Grandpa Bush
2) standing in the food isle in front of cheese, knocking over applesauce
3) him-hawing for 10 minutes over the the question why insurance covers viagra and not birth control pills
flawed geography
4) the surge alone is what qwelled the voilence in Iraq
5) blaming Obama for the following:
gas prices; not going to Iraq with him; not going to Iraq period; going to Iraq; not talking to Petraeus; talking to Petraeus; the storm that prevented him visiting the oil rig; for not participating in townhall meetings with him; attending townhall meetings without him...etc...

Ok, would somebody do this for me. Would someone pin McWhiner down and ask him what he would do for our country if he were president, because he won't provide an Op Ed to the New York Times outlining same, as Obama did that I may read it for myself. I just would like to hear for once just what he would do as president, instead of grouching around taking potshots at Obama with every step he takes. Like get a campaign instead of following Obama's campaign, why don't cha!? Who is the Republican nominee, does anyone know?