Someone tell McCain wounded troops are not fair game

The following is very good and goes a long way in showing that the troops should never be used in anyone's campaign, especially wounded ones. Obama has never allowed reporters to cover his trips to see the wounded and as far as this trip goes, reporters were never under the impression they would be going to Landstuhl this time either. It was to be a private visit but even at that, the retired General he was taking was told that his visit would appear to be political. It made Obama aware that his visit would be seen that way as well.

What McCain managed to do was use wounded troops in Landstuhl as part of a political game. Not just in the lie created in his commercial, but by also saying that McCain has been any kind of a champion of wounded troops or veterans. His record shows how little he manages to support them when it counts.

The biggest indication of this is the fact the DAV has given McCain such a deplorable grade on veterans issues. Keep in mind that while the DAV as an organization stays away from taking political sides, the majority of people in the DAV are Republicans. They put wounded and disabled veterans ahead of any kind of politics and proved it when they ranked McCain at 20%. Most of the highest ranks from the DAV have gone to Democrats simply because it is not the majority of Republicans supporting the veterans when it counts, but it is the Democrats.

If Obama had used his trips to Walter Reed or Bethesda Naval Hospital as a political stunt, I would have come out against using the troops. If McCain ever does manage to support the wounded, it would go a long way to proving what he says. Someone really should tell him that the troops, the wounded and the disabled veterans are not tools he can use in a political game. Obama has to run on his record and what he does. McCain has to run on his record and what he does but especially because McCain is a wounded veteran, what he fails to do carries a lot more ramifications.

Fact Check: No evidence that Obama troop visit was to be media event

10:10 AM CDT on Thursday, July 31, 2008
By Robert Farley / PolitiFact.com

A John McCain campaign ad claims that Barack Obama "made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras." Mr. Obama's campaign denies the Democrat ever planned to take reporters with him, and The Washington Post reported Wednesday that there was no evidence that media would be invited. Some background:

In an effort to shore up his foreign policy chops, Mr. Obama took the unusual step of making a trip overseas — to the Middle East and Europe. The idea, in part, was to show the presidential candidate's gravitas as an international leader.

But the strategy backfired a bit when Mr. Obama canceled plans to visit wounded troops at a military hospital in Germany.

Mr. Obama had been part of a congressional delegation that visited Iraq and Afghanistan, but when that trip ended Mr. Obama stayed on the road, spending several days on a campaign-funded tour of Europe. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, was supposed to be one of the stops.

The decision to cancel was made after the Pentagon raised a number of issues about its policy against campaign activity at a military base — including visits by campaign staff or any media coverage or speeches. As a sitting senator, Mr. Obama was welcome to visit troops, but no one on the campaign trip with him, including a retired general who is advising his campaign, could go along.

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