Whoops! GOPers Attack Obama For Flying In Aircraft He Criticized -- But McCain Did Same!
Republicans are trying to argue that they've caught Obama in a gaffe because he flew into Jordan today in an Osprey aircraft -- despite the fact that last year he spoke out against funding the aircraft, describing it as wasteful.
It's not the most devastating hit ever launched. And it doesn't seem to be getting lots of traction today.
But alas for these GOPers, it turns out that John McCain also used the Osprey for his trip to Iraq in May of this year -- even though he, too, criticized the project as wasteful!
You can see pictures of McCain arriving in the Osprey here and here. But back in 2007, McCain dismissed the Osprey as untested and too costly.
And it actually gets worse, too. As you can see in those pics, McCain was wearing body armor when leaving his Osprey in Iraq. And McCain can be called out under the rules of Washington discourse as having voted against body armor, the sort of charge his campaign regularly lobs at Obama. He did, after all, vote against the appropriations bill that included a time-line for leaving Iraq as well as funding for body armor and other approps.
So on his trip to Iraq, McCain used not one, but two things he previously criticized or voted against in some fashion -- the Osprey and body armor. But who's counting?
Does the GOP want to help publicize Obama's ME visit? Do they want more coverage of Obama flying around with Military personnel?
July 22, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's official: we are running against the gang that can't shoot straight.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
July 22, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah if the GOP keep up these attacks then this wont be much of a competition for the presidency
Video of MSNBC Andrea Mitchell disses Military footage
July 22, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
This seems awful silly to me. I guess there is not much we can do about Team McCain's immature attacks, but still, is this all they have? Really?
Desperation, plain old desperation.
July 22, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
they're really running on fumes.
July 22, 2008 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't realise members of congress got to pick what aircraft the military transports them in. Clearly a harrier jet and flight suit would have been appropriate.
July 22, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't realise members of congress got to pick what aircraft the military transports them in. Clearly a harrier jet and flight suit would have been appropriate.
July 22, 2008 2:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just when you think these people can't possibly get more lame, they come up with some harebrained whine like this.
There has to be a "Dump McCain" movement building in the GOP backrooms.
July 22, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
The official fish of the McCain campaign?
Carp.
July 22, 2008 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
whenever a republican criticizes a democrat for something they themselves have done...you just have to remember the one guiding principle of the republican party
IOKIYAR!
July 22, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, any time a Republican critizes a Democrat, especially if it's a ridiculous criticism, you can bet on the charge being something the Republican himself is guilty of.
July 22, 2008 9:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
The McCain team needs to relax, take a deep breath, and respond like adults who can coherently compare and contrast their candidate's positions and policies.
They seem as if they are in panic mode. It might even behoove them to just lay low and say less, versus what they are doing now.
July 22, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
When in danger,
When in doubt,
Run in circles,
Scream and shout!
July 22, 2008 3:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly.
I want Obama to win, but McCain deserves better than having his surrogates embarrass him.
July 22, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why?
July 22, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
mcwhine should have listened to rumsfeld:
July 22, 2008 9:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just the sort of response you want to see in a president, right?
July 22, 2008 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the Osprey didn't exist, there would have been another aircraft (possibly a superior one) that could have gotten him from A to B.
Seems as though McCain is saying that anytime a senator votes against funding something, they shouldn't be allowed to use it.
Talk about a binary point of view.
July 22, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, its okay to be critical of someone for something you also do. Now shut up and keep off my lawn!
July 22, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's he supposed to ride in? A Prius?
July 22, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Every 10 minutes this guy says something that is disengenuous, misleading, incorrect or simply an outright lie...
This really can't be the same person than ran for President in 2000. This is just fucking scary.
July 22, 2008 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a difference 8 years makes. He has noticabily aged both in mind and body. His temper has gottten worse also. God, I hope he picks Mittens for VP. Then we can run against the two biggest flip floppers in history.
July 22, 2008 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are, and we thank you for it.
I hope the Obama campaign is storing up these nuggets, and preparing for some ads.
But I have a feeling that they may not want to play that way. "That way" being the petty b.s. way where stuff gets thrown out there, and some of it sticks.
Which makes me conflicted.
Howard Fineman tells me that there might be a backlash against Obama's trip. It figures. The candidate has knocked the ball out of the park so far, but there's got to be a downside, right?
According to Fineman, the American people don't like to see a candidate looking so presidential before he's elected. Such utter and complete bullshit, 'scuse my language. Howard Fineman would have been one of the first talking heads to start wondering whether Obama can demonstrate "gravitas". He's done just that, so now it's a problem?
Shoot me.
July 22, 2008 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Howard Fineman is no dummy. Without conflict, there are no ratings, or so goes the addiction. He speaks eloquently for the elite, but not for most. Fineman complains to earn his keep.
With the War Criminal in Chief at 21% approval (SQUAWK!), I'm sure people do not mind that Obama looks Presidential. No one has looked Presidential in many a year, approaching that trusted scientific measure known as "a coon's age and a day."
Meanwhile, MCNBC reports McCain was greeted by one reporter, and one photographer on his Triumphant Return to New Hampshire.
July 22, 2008 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was just about to say the same thing. Good point. I do think the Obama campaign needs to mindful of not appearing to take over the presidency while George Bush is still in office.
July 22, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes; in the political world, especially, being seen as too cocky can really get in the way of accomplishing the things you want to do. A bit of humility goes a long way toward greasing the skids in that arena.
I get the sense that he realizes this can be a problem for him, and that he's working on it, because he has reacted quickly to change course when that criticism is made (to wit: the quick quashing of the campaign seal that generated some flap a few weeks ago).
July 22, 2008 10:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
But but but but = Does Obama get to choose what fucking aircraft the military flies him around in? I mean really - he goes to the hangar and points: I'll take the Osprey today, guys - it works like that, McLame? Honest?
How fucking stupid do they think we are?
July 22, 2008 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
He would've looked far worse had he said, "Oh no, I'll only ride in vehicles I deem acceptable." The Republicans are probably disappointed he didn't demand a solar powered helicopter or an armored limousine.
July 22, 2008 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have all heard about how John McCain criticized his wife, Cindy, for all the makeup she uses; does that mean he can never again visit the cockpit?
July 22, 2008 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
With $1 million in credit card debt, that's a fuckload of mascera. Is she really that hideous underneath?
July 22, 2008 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ding ding! We have a winner!
July 22, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have depressing news. I polled my intro class this morning about whether they're following the election and who was their candidate.
6 out of 11 chose McCain, because "he knows the military and has experience while Obama doesn't" or some variation of that theme .
5 out of 11 said they hadn't decided.
These are college students.
July 22, 2008 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is summer school, right?
Well there you go.
:^)
July 22, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, I hope so.
They're actually a very lively and talented bunch.
July 22, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
You don't have to worry about the youth vote. Just look at how much larger Obama's facebook group is.
July 22, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
So: did you engage them in a discussion about why they thought military experience was so critical in a president, using the opportunity to point out that the presidents who presided over the two most serious wars the US has engaged in (the Civil War and WWII) had little or no military experience themselves, and yet managed to provide superb wartime leadership? (Lincoln had spent a month or three as a volunteer militiaman in a minor Indian war; FDR never served in the military, but was Assistant Secretary of the Navy during WWI.) Ulysses Grant, on the other hand, was a war hero, but he was a lousy president -- one of the very worst, even. In fact, all of the presidents who followed Andrew Johnson through the end of the 19th century had military experience, with the single exception of Grover Cleveland, and for the most part, their presidencies are eminently forgettable.
A president does not need to be a military expert; he only needs to be sufficiently intelligent to understand strategy and perceptive enough to realize when he is getting good advice from military leaders and when he is not. Lincoln was a far better strategist than almost all of his generals, and he was much better as a wartime political leader than was Jefferson Davis, who did have military experience (and for the most part had better generals).
A president has plenty of military experts to give him military advice. The president's job is to take that advice and marry it with his own knowledge of civilian politics, because one of the lessons that we should have learned from history long before now is that wars are won and lost not on the battlefield, but on the civilian front. That is where presidential wisdom and leadership is critical.
July 22, 2008 11:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
John McCain looked at her through Beer Heiress Goggles!.
Her wealth was better than Viagra for Ye Olde Fortune Hunter.
July 22, 2008 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does this mean that when Republicans vote against highway funding, they're not allowed to drive on freeways anymore?
July 22, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
[terrorist fist bumps]
July 22, 2008 11:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Say "G'night," Grampy McSame.
July 22, 2008 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
No more Acela trips on Amtrak for GOPers who voted against rail funding.
July 22, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
The right brain/left brain dominance phenomenon has been nagging me ever since I started supporting Barack Obama. He appears very right-brained.
One notable characteristic of right-brained individuals is they process information from whole to part in a non-linear fashion. They're synthesizers and evaluators if you're into Bloom's Taxonomy. The opposite holds true for left-brainers. They're sequential list people.
I just found an interesting study conducted during the Kerry v. Bush campaign which demonstrates that liberal to very liberal voters are most often right-brain dominant and conservative to very conservative voters left-brain dominant.
According to Daniel Pink in "A Whole New Mind," our population is skewed toward left-brain dominance manifested in a "form of thinking and an approach to life that is narrowly reductive and deeply analytical." Teaching to the test perpetuates left-brain, non-creative thinking. Educators are moving toward a product-oriented approach to get back to nurturing innovators rather than regurgitators, but the tests still loom large.
Most readers are aware of the educational backgrounds of the candidates, so I won't re-hash in this space, but they're telling.
The challenge from here on out will be how to communicate to the left-brainers out there why, from an intellectual, problem-solving perspective, Obama is clearly the best qualified to solve our nation's many serious problems without scaring them off. They honestly don't grasp the critical difference between the two and might even be intimidated by Obama.
The pundits are flummoxed because they can't compartmentalize Obama. I think it's because he's right-brained. If he were sequentially oriented they could get a better fix.
Sorry this was so long. Maybe it sheds a little light.
July 22, 2008 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think right-brain/ left-brain is an either-or thing.
Your right brain tells you what to want (values); your left brain tells you how to get it (reason).
July 22, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're right that it's not either/or. However, whether a person is right or left-brain dominant does have a dramatic effect on how s/he goes about accomplishing tasks. The ideal is to have a good balance.
If you compare Obama and McCain and how they've run their campaigns, Obama appears to have an over-arching but fluid strategy while McCain tends to stick to his talking points or veer into reactive mode.
July 22, 2008 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, McCain said he wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years, but when he went there, he left.
July 22, 2008 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Man, this is really turning into the Key-Stone cops campaign. And I love the post in Times that Robert Novak is whinning about being used by the McCain campaign, in floating the annoucement that he will name his VP this week
check it out: http://thepage.time.com/2008/07/22/novak-i-just-put-something-on-the-internet/
July 22, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd really like to see what Mitchell had to say about the previous dog and pony shows McCain and HRC participated in?
I would, in all seriousness, give her props if this is a consistent message she is delivering. But if it is an inconsistent view it would expose her to charges of partisan reporting.
July 22, 2008 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know about McCain coverage, but I remember very vividly during the Iowa caucuses how she practically tripped over herself to point out, in the moments just before Sen. Clinton addressed her supporters, that the ballroom had been nearly empty 20 minutes before, and that a crowd had been assembled for the television cameras. And she said that not once, not twice, but every time the MSNBC cameras were turned on her. It was like it was the only thing she could think of to report.
I don't think Mitchell was ever assigned to any McCain campaign coverage; she was assigned to the Clinton campaign during the primaries, and is now assigned to Obama's. (Her regular beat is foreign affairs, not domestic politics. It shows.)
July 22, 2008 11:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
they're both braver than me
I wouldn't fly in one of those rube goldberg contraptions
July 22, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Interesting. Condi puts out a memo that the DoS is not to help campaign - rent a bus or anything else (despite the fact that they had helped McCain when he was in the ME). So she provides him with an Osprey - so the wingnuts can poke fun at him, when they are not revealing his travel itinerary. Probably not a Hatch Act violation per se, but still.
July 22, 2008 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know whether to laugh or cry...
...cry laughing that is.
Has there ever been a presidential campaign worse than McCain's? Granted, I'm only 40 and my insight only goes back so far, but...holy cow.
July 22, 2008 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shazam, Walter Mondale 1984, co-opting the Wnedy's slogan "Where's the Beef?". Perhaps not the worse campaign ever, but certainly the most embarrassing.
Or Ralph Nader (fill in any year).
July 23, 2008 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink