New John McCain ad spotlights Barack Obama's derailed troop visit

Barack Obama took his own shot at defusing the flap surrounding the canceled visit to a U.S. military hospital during his overseas trip. But John McCain's campaign isn't about to let the matter rest.

Indeed, the Republican elevated the contretemps to what passes for the height of political discourse these days: it's a key element in a new television ad (see video below).

The 30-second spot zings Obama for making time for a gym workout while in Germany earlier this week, but removing from his itinerary a planned stop at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. The ad continues:

"Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras.

"John McCain is always there for our troops.

"McCain. Country first."

(The last line recently was unveiled on McCain's website as his....

... campaign's latest stab at settling on a simple slogan it will stick with.)

To take Obama to task more extensively over the canceled visit, McCain media aides today also issued a release from retired Lt. Col. Joe Repya, a veteran of three wars, that scolds the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for stiffing the troops while "flitting from one European capital to the next." It concludes:

"For a young man so apt at playing president, Barack Obama badly misjudged the important demands of the office he seeks. Visits with world leaders and speeches to cheering Europeans shouldn't be a substitute for comforting injured American heroes."

(No shortage of none-too-subliminal messages in those two sentences.)

Obama gave his version of the confusing chain of events that led to the cancellation in an interview that aired today with Fox News Channel's Bill Hemmer. Asked by Hemmer about "taking heat" for the nixed visit and whether it was a mistake not to make the stop, Obama replied:

"Well no, not at all. It was scheduled, we intended to go and we got wind that there was some concern that this might be perceived as political; because we were using campaign resources. And at that point, the last thing I wanted to do is to in any way distract the terrific work that’s being done in terms of treating our troops, by getting it fouled up by a bunch of politics. ... I didn’t want it to be a distraction.”

But that's exactly what it's become for Obama, and it may linger -- one can assume that McCain allies periodically will play the "he-stiffed-the-troops" card.

The various explanations seem to come down to crossed signals between Obama's staff and Pentagon officials. Bottom line: Having put the visit on the candidate's schedule, the vaunted Obama campaign team stumbled in not making sure he made good on the commitment.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Greg]

This is an outrageous ad and attack by McCain. But I find it equally outrageous that the media continues to hint that the Obama campaign's explanations are not true. Do you think they could come up with one alternative explanation for why he wouldn't go? Its pretty clear that the Bush Pentagon set the Obama campaign up for a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-don't. They clearly where prepared to attack Obama for campaigning with the injured troops if he went. Also why not point out that the Pentagon only told the Obama campaign about their concerns the night before leaving no time for alternative planning?

[David]

Nowhere in the blog post is the fact that the McCain campaign is lying through its teeth that Obama will not visit troops unless cameras are present. He has done so in Walther Reed, and he did so while in Iraq. In fact, the footage from the ad that shows Obama playing bball was from Kuwait, when he visited the troops there. Because the purported troop visit was never on the media travel list, he had never planned for the media to be there. What happened is the Bush Pentagon told the Obama campaign just a few days before the event that it could not come unless he didn't have the General with him.

[John]

That's just about the _lamest_ attack ad I've ever seen. Smacks of desperation.

[Abel]

Let us not forget that McCain was the second choice to the worst president in recent history. Can we really take a chance with McCain? How bad does it have to be before we realize his approach does not work?

[John Dowd]

Why don't you report the whole story. Stop carrying McCain's water!

Obama was basically trapped by a dirty trick. He received notice 24 hours before the visit that he could not bring campaign staff to the military base (what rule is that??) and his senate staff had left.

If you're going to comment on the story, carry both sides.

[Washington D.C.]

Under the Hatch Act and similar restrictions on military members, government employees cannot engage in political partisan activity. Barack Obama during his time in Germany was at least arguably engaging in campaign events of a nature different from the congressional (non-campaign) visit he paid to Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, even if he wanted to argue that his visit to the base was not political, government employees such as military members would be in a difficult situation in figuring out whether their participation in events with Obama was a violation of policy. The Pentagon statement to Obama reflected that functional divide with respect to purpose and inflected a note of caution into any decision Obama might make.

[rdl]

So, if McCain is elected, he will NOT meet with European leaders or stand in front of cheering crowds? The pathos of John McCain and his handlers is embarrassing. It would be great to have a president who is actually loved as much as the real United States - our culture, our spirit, our real gifts - is by our friends and allies around the world. And Obama is likable, GOPers, like it or not. Who wants another curmudgeonly, uptight, self-righteous president?

Lets think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders
but get gamblers instead.
- Salt of the Earth (Rolling Stones)

[Christina Mui]

This is a big, negative story for Obama. It's funny how Obama media apologists like Chris Matthews didn't even mention this bungled non-event in the lead to his show. I suppose he was still dealing with that tingle up his leg.

[Dennis Berry]

John McCain will lose this election, because all he can do is attack Barack Obama. As well he should.

This isn't 2000, when McCain's insurgent candidacy against George Bush was scuttled by similar lies orchestrated by Karl Rove. It worked then. But it won't work now.

It's obvious that John McCain has nothing to say about himself - he's just the "Anti-Obama," an old man with tired old ideas that have been proven NOT to work. A tired, grumpy old man with no vision and no future.

So all he can do is follow Rove's old script.

McCain deserves to lose. And he will.

[Gunther]

If this is the best that McCain and his people can come up with, then it's game, set, match Democrats. Honestly, this entire article was simply pathetic.

[Eddie Zalez]

John MCain's rantings remind me of the old Mr. Magoo. Maybe he should change his name to Mr. McGoo. He wanted Obama to go to Europe, now is unhappy because it did not work the way he expected...

[tlhwraigth]

Is this really what our country has come down too? Fighting over whether or not a scheduling conflict constitutes snubbing troops?

Gosh, no wonder we are slipping as a country, this is actually what we consider to be part of the discourse with becoming POTUS? Obama DID visit troops in Iraq, Obama DID schedule a visit to see the troops in Germany.

The word is jingoism people. Don't let hyper-nationalism once again take the place of good sense. McCain really is just a re-hash of Bush, who will go down as the worst POTUS in history. Why on earth would we ever elect ANOTHER war-mongering out of touch person to run this country because they managed to head fake people into believing the other guy wasn;t "patriotic" enough?

Flag pins and cancelled troop visits should not be how we choose a leader in these troubled times. The last time it was "the guy we could have a beer with" and look where that got us, two wars, two recessions, and a whole lot of not-good stuff.

[tony]

So Obama was supposed to go ahead with an event after someone at the Pentagon expressed reservation that the visit at the hospital might not be appropriate? If he had gone ahead with the visit would the Republicans criticize him for ignoring concern that the event might not be appropriate? Is this one of these cases that he would be criticized no matter what he did?

[J.N.]

Not visiting the troops was an extremly stupid thing to do on the part of the Obama campaign. Obama is your typical genious (I beleive his IQ is up there if you beleive the rumors).

With any smart person they dont screw up often but when they do...it's HUGE.

he was already in a damned if you do, damned if you dont position and he chooses NOT to visit the troops? nd now a Conservative GOP boot licking pentagon is saying they wouldnt let him bring cameras so he left?

GOD WHAT A MORON.

I''m an Obama supporter but when this guy screws up he goes allll the way lol

[tdub]

Well, kids, so much for McCain running a "respectful" campaign on the "issues" and wonderful to have a willing press to play along in the pig slop.

[Joan from Virginia]

McCain is stooping really low in this ad. Obama met with troops in Iraq and only canceled his trip because the Pentagon had concerns. So much for McCain staying away from attack ads. Hopefully, the American people will not fall for this and other ads that do not focus on the issues.

[hesingswithfrogs]

More bald faced lies from the McCain campaign. Obama voted to support our veterans. He voted to provide comfort to our veterans. McCain, time and time again has voted against our veterans. For McCain to come out and try to act like Obama doesn't support our troops is not only disingenuous ... it is a lie. This is Bush/Rove/McCain politics at its worst.

[Cindy]

McCain is fully using injured soldiers in Germany for political gain now.

Shame on you, McCain!

[Tom Goetz]

The Republicans are reaching for anything they can to discredit Mr. Obama. The process, tactics and decision making reveals a lot about the people around Mr. McCain and McCain himself and I would think the American people would have had enough of this from the Bush team.
It is a damned if you do or damned if you don't tactic that speaks to a very underhanded approach to character.
If that is what being genuine is all about then Mr. McCain needs to take some 101 character education classes.
We need more people in leadership like Obama who are willing to take the high ground.

[Gerald Shields]

After reading this story on John McCain's new commercial dissing Obama's botched visit with American troops in Germany , I thought to myself, "So that bit about McCain not supporting that new GI Bill expansion was JUST an anomaly (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=4652517) huh?" Nope. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave this man who's always there for the troops a grade of "D". This man who supports the troops got a 20 percent vote rating from the Disabled Veterans of America while Obama got an 80 percent vote rating. Vietnam Veterans of America noted McCain had “voted against us” in 15 “key votes.” One need not to visit the troops in order to prove that he supports the troops.

[GARY LEE]

I am sick of hearing from McCain and any Lt. Col. he can pull out of the woodwork that the interest of our nation and this world seem to rise and set on the constant acknowedgement of the US military. We have been "SURGED" into ad nauseum by McCain!!! Mr. Obama would have been damned if he had visited those wounded troops just as he is being damned because he did`nt. It is a no win situation with the McCain campaign.

[Mike]

This is irrelevent to leading our country. If Obama wanted he could make a much bettter point than McCain by pointing out that McCain did not vote for the recent GI rights bill.
This smacks of desperation in my opinion, as Obama showed that he would be a far more popular ( and therefor influential leader) on the world stage.

[Henry Landis]

If anything depresses me about this campaign it's the descent of McCain's image now that his rhetoric has sunk to the level of the Republican smears used during the Bush 1 and 2 elections. Poor John knows very well that the GOP did all they could to throw roadblocks in the way of Obama's visit to the troops. The notion that he didn't go because no media could accompany him is pure nonsense.as well as a vicious lie. With Kings and Prime Ministers standing in line for the chance of a photo-op with him Obama needs news coverage like any of us needs a migraine headache. If McCain, by his own claim,"Knows how to win wars" why is one of the most powerful men in the Senate talking about another 100 years war ? When I was a kid vaudeville performers who bombed in front of an audience used to wrap themselves in an American flag and prance across the stage. The applause was for the flag NOT for the ham actor. Shame on you John. We expected better of you.

[DiAnne]

Excuse me! If it weren't for John McCain, there wouldn't BE all the wounded troops to visit.

[Jen]

Los Angeles Times
U.S. military authorities told advisors to Barack Obama this week that he could not bring press or campaign staff on a visit to wounded troops from Iraq and Afghanistan at a hospital in Germany, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday.

After advisors learned of the restriction, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee canceled his scheduled visit Friday to the military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in southern Germany.
>>>>>>>
So if Obama can't take his campaign and the media in to get big pictures then he determines the troops are not worth a visit.

Just like Obama, he is just for the glitter & glamor.