McCain Ad: Troops
Well, since Bush's economy is tanking even further (more banks were taken over by the Feds this week and there's the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailouts), and since McCain is NOW saying a 16-month timeframe for withdrawal from Iraq doesn't sound so bad, what is the old coot to run on? The trooops, of course.
In a new ad, McCain stopps lower than low to say that Obama only cares about the troops when cameras are around. That takes a lot of balls when you've been missing from the Senate for months and stood in opposition of increasing educational grants to service members, but McCain has nothing if not balls.
The trip in question was to happen at the end of Obama's recent swing through Europe. Upon hearing concerns from the Pentagon that the trip would put injured troops in an awkward position as backdrops to a political event, Obama cancelled.
From CNN:
Senior Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said Friday that retired Major Gen. Scott Gration, a policy adviser to the campaign, received a call from Pentagon officials earlier in the week expressing concerns about the trip -- specifically because Obama was heading there on his campaign plane and campaign staff members would be accompanying him on the visit.After speaking with Gration, the campaign decided to cancel the trip. Gibbs said Obama is "comfortable with the decision" because he did not want to make the troops part of a campaign event.
I guess McCain is perfectly comfortable using the troops as political props.
UPDATE:
Looks like MSNBC is the only MSM outlet to report this tory correctly. From TPM:
NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports that there was never a plan for Obama to take the press to Landstuhl, despite the claim by McCain folks and others. The plan was to go with his military aide, retired General Scott Gration. The Pentagon said Gration was off-limits because he had joined the campaign -- violating rules that it not be a political stop.
Obama had gone to see wounded troops in Iraq earlier in the week, without even confirming he'd been there. No press, no pictures. He has done the same when he goes to Walter Reed -- never any press.
