Obama Blows Off Medal of Honor Recipients... Not Exactly

Just sounds to me that Obama made a good excuse on why he couldn't attend.... dosen't change the fact of the matter though.

Excellent article, Scott! Thanks for taking all that trouble. When I first read the headline of the other story I doubted it, especially because of the use of the term "blow off," which just sounded like more grist for the internet rumor mill. Thanks for verifying that gut reaction. Cheers, Carloz (formerly Gipper1)

Scott: The "fact" is that the sore losers want an excuse to dust off their favorite smears from the Clinton era, and one of them is that the President "hates the military." His speech at the CinC ball doesn't count for anything, therefore, as long as they can find one event he didn't attend.

Scott: Great piece. I am so glad to see Newsviners showing initiative and doing real journalism work, i..e. making calls and inquiries.

The more we do things like - in this case contacting Mr. Roberts - the more we can be seen as a real group of people who think for ourselves and do some journalism of our own.

Clipped to Newsviner's Picks. I'm on a campaign this year against lazy thinking and people just seeding other people's stuff without asking questions is high on my list of things we should be above doing.

The more original articles the better as far as i'm concerned.

Meta?

No excuse for a Commander in Chief. It shows his lack of respect for the military due to the fact that he is a coward and a liberal POS. That's just my opinion. He should NOT be the President of this country and the fact he is shows us where we are headed.

a liberal POS

What an exemplary american and human being you are. I'm sure whatever God you so fervently adore considers you perhaps not as qualified to throw stones as you do.

That is a good thing and fair enough too all in all. I always thought that was something most Americans shared, right and left and middle, a certain grudging tolerance of the extremes as the price of freedom.

Now people seem to barracade themselves behind a convenient label and secretly wish all the other labels were exterminated.

Sad really, used to be quite an tolerant country.

Ranger

He should NOT be the President of this country and the fact he is shows us where we are headed.

I suppose you think we were headed tn the right direction with jackass junior in office?

The President is our Commander and Chief of the military. To not show up at a function honoring the bravest of the brave is not acceptable. Other Presidents made the effort to attend so why excuses for this one???

Plus the lack of any mention in any of the media information about the ball, not listed on any of the releases ...

nice job Scott.....

Scott, if it's alright with the Legion it's alright by me. Inevitably somebody or group of somebodies gets their noses bent out of joint during an inaugural. Any number of ticket holders for the swearing-in ceremony never made it through the 3rd Street Tunnel to get in. Considering the number of people who swarmed into town last week, I think those of us who call the DC area home can be proud of the region's handling of the inauguration.

I think so.

One of my colleagues was in D.C. with her church group. She told me they couldn't see much, and the cold was excruciating, but they figured that if people in the past could suffer through fire-hoses and police dogs, they could suffer through a little cold to be part of a joyous moment in history. Anyway, she also described how people were climbing trees and climbing on top of port-a-johns to get better views, and the Park police were having the devil's own time making them stop it before anyone got hurt. Considering how easily even a happy crowd can get out of control, I think everyone in charge of keeping the inauguration orderly can take a very well deserved bow. It was a glorious occasion.

According to your list, he was in the same hotel as the veteran's ball. It's amazing how some people will let him off the hook regardless of what he does. You assume it was due to security and then say others will never accept the truth. It seems the truth is whatever you want it to be.

No need to be nasty. The individual didn't know about the two Renaissance hotels. A simple explanation would have been sufficient. I don't buy your explanation either about the security and the hotel. Security or not he should have made an appearance.... after all it was and seems to be a tradition. More importantly, it was to honor our boys who gave more than their lives to protect us. To heck with the Hollywood crowd. Roberts was only being polite, covering his butt so to speak. You don't really think he would come out against the President in writing? You can't be that naive.

I think you are right, Scott.  In fact, I think that will be Michelle's personal project while she is in the White House.  She's already shown that she want to do something for our troops and us vets as well.

LOL....What professional public answer do you think they would give you? Do you really think the most honorable men in the world would publicly say; "We are pissed that the CIC did not attend and it is a shameful act against America's warriors. Period. This is beyond partisan this is about our bravest men both Repub. and Demo. it has no bearing whatsoever. It makes me just plain ill. Yeah, they are gentlemen and won't say anything but they know and feel it just as I who is a Purple Heart recipient feels it. Shame on this guy. I think our men and women in uniform come before anyone and I'm sorry, when you snub them it is a sign of the Liberal transformation we are going through. Obama had gays sitting at his table at the inaugeration and he couldn't go honor the men and women of honor? Sorry....that dog don't hunt.

he attended the Comm in Chief ball via satellite. Even Clinton went to the CMH ball. He could rob a bank on national TV and you would say it's an attempt to stimulate the economy.

But you know the people who love these narratives. They'll never EVER give it up.

They'll never EVER give it up.

I just heard this morning that some folks STILL believe Obama is a Muslim even after the inauguration.

Grin! But what about the ambidextrous community, eh?

Scott:

I think you deserve the credit for showing the initiative to make the phone call and attempting to settle this question. But I would have to agree with John Lilyea that the letter to you was a form letter, at least in part, as suggested by the following email reply at another blog which is posted presumably with an earlier time stamp some time the previous day. We have to make some assumptions about time zones, and you can judge whether the response to you came first. Nevertheless, your post to Newsvine, came after an email that was already posted elsewhere suggesting the response was already formulated before you contacted them.  You can find it here.

Having said that, however, there is a difference between the email you posted and the one posted before yours which may indeed reflect a personal response to your question about whether A-L felt snubbed. (or it may also be a form response)

The new President’s absence was understandable considering the unprecedented logistical challenges presented by the vastly increased number of visitors to this inauguration and the necessary attendant security measures. The American Legion, as an organization, does not feel offended or “snubbed.”

That part is added to the form letter.

In any event, I'm not convinced their response is anything more than their effort not to piss people off unnecessarily...Biden did show up, so what could they say? Naturally, they're glad the VP showed up. Your point, and theirs, about the "logistical challenges" and security, etc. sounds like a bunch of PR spin unless someone can come up with a plausible reason why securing a venue where the VP shows up requires less effort than for the Pres. I can see it now:

Pres: secure outer perimeter, 16 floors, main corridors, ballroom exit, entry ways, all bathrooms

VP: secure half-outer perimeter, 10 floors, three corridors, ballroom entrances, 70% of bathrooms.

Bottom line(s): Let's put it this way.

(1) if Obama wanted to go, no one would be able to keep him away!

(2) whether the A-L says they didn't feel "snubbed" or not, they were snubbed by Obama.

If you invite me to a party, and I decide not to go, then I've snubbed you whether you care about it or not.

Obama is the FIRST president not to attend this symbolically significant occasion. Whether it was an oversight or deliberate, it was a bad move. Oops.

Incred:

Good reply. If I may add ....

Despite the loud a-hootin' and a-hollarin' on the other thread, I haven't the slightest doubt that both scott's and robertlyn's documents are genuinely reflective of the Legion's approch at the time the communications were presumably made. The earlier, with the manipulative and menacing tone, was an attempt to extort Obama into attending; the latter, conciliatory tone, after Obama refused to be blackmailed, was an attempt to make sure that they remained viable for WH access.

Therefore, I disagree about the snub being a bad move. Since the AL is at bottom a political organization (despite whatever the technicalities of tax law say)--basically the central organizing institution for right-wing  jingoism--I would no more expect Obama to reward them with his presence than I would if the Heritage Foundation sponsored a ball and invited Obama. If the AL is willing to play "ball" (pun intended) for the next four years, maybe Obama will attend in 2012. Otherwise, screw 'em.

jfx,

Since the AL is at bottom a political organization ...

I won't assume the MoH recipients, living and dead, are being exploited by the AL for political advantage. The fact remains that they are bona fide American heroes to whom the highest appreciation of their country has been bestowed. The Commander in Chief should have showed up, even if were merely conventional or obligatory. Is Obama truly the first not to have done so since Ike?

Otherwise, screw 'em.

He's only screwing himself and the MoH honorees, especially as his wife's campaign utterance "For the first time in my adult life..." still sticks in the craw (but not of liberals?).

Anyway, any disappointment by the MoH will be tempered by the Veep's presence, but still...Obama screwed up.

Incred:

 Is Obama truly the first not to have done so since Ike?

Yes.

I won't assume the MoH recipients, living and dead, are being exploited by the AL for political advantage.

I will.

Don't mean to be terse, but I expanded on this subject over on Colonel Jack Jacobs' new article and I don't feel like doing it all over again.

Don't mean to be terse, but I expanded on this subject over on Colonel Jack Jacobs' new article and I don't feel like doing it all over again.

ok, jfx, my response is over there as well.

You keep talking about your blog

As I wrote in your comment on my blog

What blog, where?

I'm having trouble following anything you are saying.

I don't think I'm finding you direct enough.

Oh, *zing* you got me on that one. I don't suppose you want to address the substance of your entire post based on supposition and your stupid feelings, do you? Or do you just want to discuss my not understanding the rules here about posting links (but it's fine if you post your link FOUR TIMES on my blog, huh?)

I've never dealt with a more immature, arrogant, condescending person in my life. You had a lot to say at my blog, you had a lot to say at your blog...and now you're all about enforcing a rule about new posters linking to the subject of the discussion. And it's all because YOUR idiot commenter couldn't find the link.

Piss off. Pound sand. Eat tripe.

I didn't interpret it at all. Read the original post - I only wrote about the facts. My co-blogger didn't interpret it, he merely reported from the event. All of the interpretation is coming from the Left trying to explain it away with their multiple choice answers.

I don't make money from blogging - well, I made thirty dollars last month which I immediately gave to other bloggers. I'm in it to silence the short-sighted and intellectually-stunted Left. You've just joined that number because of your intrusion into a discussion with no facts beyond a form email.

The next time you think you have something to add to the discussion at my blog, email it to me so I don't have to humiliate you in your house like you tried to do to me.

And, oh...grow the hell up.

J.L.,

The only person being humiliated here is yourself. Does acting like a frothing dog usually get people to hear what you have to say and persuade them to your point of view? You may have delusions of journalistic grandeur and ambitions to join FOX news some day but I wouldn't give up my day job if I were you.

Who do I have to persuade? If you're so stupid that you can't see the truth in front of your face, what hope do I have? But there's an unwritten rule of blogging that you treat other bloggers the way you want to be treated. Scotty here showed me how he wanted to be treated on his blog and I'm behaving like he did on my blog, it's not my fault he's been thoroughly cowed into silence. Since I'm on my second career, I have no ambition to work as a journalist - but I still have integrity. Let me know when you find some.

John: The truth, as in the verifiable facts, are that Obama did not attend the ball, citing security reasons, while Joe Biden did. Everything else -- the notion that it was a deliberate snub, the assumption that Obama hates the military, even the assumption that the medal recipients were offended, is all your interpretation and/or pure guess work. Learn the difference, please, between facts and inferences.

Scotty; Yeah, I'm a cyber bully. Remember that the next time you're tempted to challenge me with your supposition and phony polls in my house. If you had to put with the dimwits my co-blogger and I had to deal with over the last few days, you'd be a bully, too.

trex; I never said Obama hates the troops. In fact, in that post I never said a derogatory word about the President. You seem to suffer the same malady as other commenters here - that being the inability to discover the facts of the discussion before shooting off your keyboard. Tell me which security concerns were not present for the VP but would have existed for the President. Please.

Way to scurry in and defend your life partner, though. It's heart warming.

Sorry. I'm already married, but I'm flattered - well, not really, I'm just being nice.

Your PS; What? What does classified material have to do with anything? There's nothing the Secret Service had to do above and beyond their security measures for the Vice President. You're blathering now. I guess you're some kind of pseudo-para-security guru now, huh?

Your whole post was to toot your horn about your phone to call to Mr Roberts and to make up some poll that some goofus supposedly took with the Medal of Honor recipients, despite the fact that I didn't post about the story until the next day when none of the MOH recipients were around to respond to this nebulous poll. Your "source" was blowing smoke up your ass - or you're blowing smoke up up your readers' collective ass.

Just like you tried to blow smoke about the security detail. Give it up, stick boy. The only people who'll believe are the ones who want to believe you. The rest of us have too much common sense. Go back to whatever you were doing before you blogged.

John, am I supposed to be the "life partner" you referenced? ROTFLMAO! Well, Scott, then no one accused you of homosexuality because I'm a woman. I took my screen-name in honor of my mighty Cretaceous namesake Sue in the Chicago Field Museum. For the record, I'm also a very respectable married grandmother, so I am someone's life partner, but definitely not yours. John, I think you get a score of 1.5 out of a possible 10 for deductive reasoning and creative insults here.

OK, here's another reason your whole premise of "security" is wrong; You make reference to a 16-story hotel. There are no 16-story buildings in DC. There's an ordinance in DC that keeps building height below the Capitol Dome - 12 floors is the max. So, I guess that's another way to prove your "research" to be faulty.

Kind of like Bush put forth that he was anti middle class and only cared about large corps and himself.

Rest easy, your visions ARE wrong. They are distortions of perception resulting from listening to too much Limbaugh and believing too many hysterical chain-e-mails. Take a walk in the fresh air, turn of Fox, listen to a few people whose opinions are not exactly the same as your own, and you may start to see the world a bit more realistically.

I dont watch TV news ever, I do read several newspapers. I don't Even have FOX and where I live there is no access to Limbaugh.  I do on the other hand find it funny you list them for anyone who does not see things as you do.  I have voted for both republican and Democrat and have never missed a vote since my 18th birthday in 1978.   I do however read from actual accounts and do see his irreverence to the country.   I would ask to say what I have wrote is not the truth.  1) on several occasions did he not refuse to say the national anthem and put his hand over his heart?  2) Did he or did he not go to the ball in question?  It was deemed important to all other presidents since its inception.  All prior presidents but this one, Democrat OR Republican has attended to pay honor to those who has fought for this country.  There is nothing I have said that is not factual but saddening

Re the national anthem, the one thing that's required is to stand (when the anthem is performed live; you don't have to stand up for a recording). Putting your hand over your heart or keeping them respectfully folded is a judgment call. People who circulated that photo claimed, falsely, that Obama was refusing to salute the flag, when in fact he and the other candidates were standing for the national anthem, not the Pledge of Allegiance. Vintage Karl Rove.

Nice piece Brian, After all the filth and low level English being extolled in this article it is refreshing to see someone speak with decency.

I too felt that President Obama should have gone to the MOH ball. Travel time is not a factor for the presidential motorcade. Time to get out and quit our bellyaching and if we really believe what is being said by the conservatives here, GO TO WORK to do something about it in 2010. Yes I am a Vet and am very proud of my service and those that fought with me and continue to fight for our great country. God Bless America.

The likely reason Mr. Obama did not attend is that he, most likely, did not feel it important enough to make the effort... just like when he blew off the wounded warriors in Landshtul so he could go shoot hoops.

It would be just as 'likely' that as your second illustration at Landshtul has long been dismissed as a discredited invention to feed the maws of indignation of which you are part.

It is glaringly obvious, tediously obvious that you have no interest in any reality that jars with your finely tuned outrage thus the fact that Landshtul were shown to have requested the visit not take place escapes you because it doesn't fuel your indignation.

In order to maintain your disgust you must of course use your imagination. This you do most predictably. You say 'The likely reason' and 'most likely' , both absolute spin, neither based on anything other than your opinion and as such by definition no more 'likely' than any other singular opinion in the world. One final convulsive use of the imagination straight after where having set up with 'likely' and most likely' you launch yourself into the mind of another individual

"did not feel [emphasis mine] it important enough to make the effort."

So quite matter of factly you set yourself up as a mindreader.

Normally in a post like this I'd ask myself, 'Should I allow myself to enjoy making this person angry?'

In your case I doubt you are ever not angry enough for it to matter.

I mean that German intensive care hospital, to still be finding that personally useful after all that's been written about it? [not just all that suited you and the rest must be lies]

It's a little sad really.

Kinda living breathing, 'Ill thought but passionately scornful kneejerk reaction template #257'

Is that all it takes for you to feel scornful and superiour? a politically inspired fiction since disproven regarding a hospital and your own abilities as a telepathic?

Lordy! Can you be gullible and deceive yourself at the same time?

It seems so.

(Scott grabs popcorn, it's always fun to watch Winsome getting snarky. Makes mental note to mention Winsome during interview I'm publishing tomorrow about David Denby's book Snark. I took the pro-snark position for the interview)

He was pestering you at your blog, too? He must be awfully proud of his ONE PHONE CALL to Mr. Roberts if he's pestering everyone. He's going to be mighty busy, though; over seventy blogs linked to my original post.

Arn't you proud of youself John.

Oh here's some tripe for you

not refuse to say the national anthem

That is totall bull@!$%# and you know it and just use old rwr to pound your ego.  Not worth the time and effort to explain it to you again.  Just like the old flag pin that even old mccain didn't always wear until the rwr nutwackers make a big deal out of it but I bet you even have one pinned to your jockstrap.

Why no write Obama and ask him directly out why he didn't go.

Personally, I believe the email sent by the AL to Scott.  robertlyn's documents is pure farce.

WTF language is that?

I knew you had trouble following the English language just like following anything that you have been given containing facts.  You invent your own to fluff youself up.

Veryyyyyyyy intresting are you.

The bully pretender

Your childish and silly behavior is so similiar to my granddaugher's behavior it makes me laugh.

Can you say with a straight face that if Obama HAD visited Landstuhl you wouldn't have flayed him alive for daring to use Our Brave Troops for political purposes? Of course you would. McCain was ready with a TV commercial saying exactly that, in case Obama did go, as well as one attacking him for snubbing them if he didn't. But then McCain must have been seething that after he'd ridiculed Obama for weeks for not going to Iraq, Obama took up the challenge and went, depriving McCain of one of his precious few talking points.

You will interpret anything he does, no matter what he does, as "anti military." And you will do this because that's what you do, it's all you know. You used it against the Clintons, you will use it against Obama, and you will never understand why people don't take you seriously.

wow, a point by pointer.

All your rebuttal consists again of supposition and distraction overlayed with the same brittle ineffective superority. You miss the whole 'likely' sarcasm and in doing so use it to accuse me of confusing opinion with fact as I did you. and then it goes downhill from there.

Scott was doing it too? Scott did it first? do you realise how childish that sounds?

My worthless positions? quick, run and check. I didn't have any. but you go right ahead and pretend I did if it suits you.

At least you eventually came up with the fact of the matter and i agree, He was invited, he didn't go. Being the most powerful guy on the planet he could have but he didn't.

His priorities differ and were maybe a little more complex than you need to paint him as a dirty snubber.

Why don't you jump into his head and find out what they are?

Oh that's right you already have.

While you may intimidate some with your bluster I'm simply not effected by insults ill conceived, founded on your limitless scorn and missplaced confidence in the construction of argument.

Again, you can't refute stuff with opinion.  You can't refute stuff by distraction and you can't refute anything simply with the power of your opinionated arrogance.

save that stuff for the dining table.

CCP: You're right, I shouldn't be dignifying you with attention. But Obama decided not to visit the hospital because the hospital administrators asked him not to. They didn't want to appear to be endorsing any candidate in the upcoming election, and were afraid that any visit, with or without cameras, would convey that impression, and Obama abided by their judgment.

trex:

because the hospital administrators asked him not to

what the...you just pull this outta your, er, hat or what? Here's what happened. No hospital canceled no nuthin!

++ Visit to US Military Bases Cancelled ++ 1:42 p.m.: SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Obama has cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl US military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday. "Barack Obama will not be coming to us," a spokesperson for the US military hospital in Landstuhl announced. "I don't know why." Shortly before the same spokeswoman had announced a planned visit by Obama.

Don't you believe your own president when he said:

I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisors, a former military officer."

Continued Obama, "And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person, and it would therefore be perceived as political because he had endorsed my candidacy but he wasn’t on the Senate staff. That triggered then a concern that maybe our visit was going to be perceived as political. And the last thing that I want to do is have injured soldiers and the staff at these wonderful institutions having to sort through whether this is political or not or get caught in the crossfire between campaigns."

"So rather than go forward and potentially get caught up in what might have been considered a political controversy of some sort," Obama said, "what we decided was that we not make a visit and instead I would call some of the troops that were there. So that essentially would be the extent of the story."

He canceled the visit because if one of his campaign advisors (in fact, retired Major General Jonathan S. Gration) who was not part of the Senate staff went along, it would be perceived as political. So leave the poor guy in the hotel room! Instead, they canceled.

N.B. Instead of visiting the troops without Gration which he could easily have done as a U.S. Senator (and actually they could have left his entire political staff at the side of the road, making an even bigger point of his concern for the troops), they canceled the visit. Instead, he played hoops, got some exercise and rested up for the big crowds in Germany.

Open your eyes.

Scott:

The role of Gration was whatever it was and is subject to speculation, but Obama could have visited the troops without him. Besides, your idea suggests there is more value in a visit that never took place than in a visit that could have taken place albeit without Obama's adviser along.