the Rock Star’s bender is making ME sick!
So the Rock Star Messiah’s enjoying his European trip and lapping up the luuuuuv from the crowds like Jim Morrison on a three-day bender. Only I’m the one clutching the porcelain god and suffering bed-spins. Seems that Mr. Rock Star won’t be visiting wounded U.S. soldiers at our military hospitals in Germany …is it because they won’t let him bring in his campaign paparazzi?
Obama cancelled a request to visit wounded U.S. servicemen and women in hospitals at Rammstein and Landstuhl. The official word from the rock star’s spokespeople is that he decided it would be inappropriate to visit them on a trip paid for by campaign funds.
But NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube (big hat tip to Riverdaughter and Grayslady) reported that U.S. military officials told the Obama camp they could bring only two or three Senate staffers and absolutely no campaign photographers or campaign staff. The way NBC reports it, it’s hard not to conclude that Obama and friends withdrew their request to visit after they discovered they couldn’t treat it like a red carpet photo op. (What, Paris Hilton wasn’t available?)
If you actually care about wounded U.S. troops, you go visit them whenever you’re in the neighborhood, with or without your entourage. Punk-rocker-turned-author-and-speaker Henry Rollins does it. So can Obama. (I’d give up a few years of spa pedicures to see Henry take down Obama in a debate. You WILL NOT wrest me from my front-row seat.) Perhaps the campaign finance lawyers advised him to pull the plug on it. Sometimes you have to do what the lawyers tell you to. But that’s not what the campaign said.
I can’t decide if I’m more sick to my stomach or frightened by Obama’s European jaunt. We all know how much we need to rehabilitate our image in the world community, thanks to the “up yours” attitude of our present clown-in-chief, but it’s not Obama’s job to speak as America ’s leader yet. (If we HHers have our way, it never will be.) Yes, I know politicians running for office do these kinds of things—McCain has been to Canada , Mexico and Colombia lately, and I believe the campaign paid for all of them. I don’t consider such trips to be bad by definition (tacky and transparent plays for power, occasionally, but not necessarily dangerous). But Obama’s over-the-top media coverage, the stage craft and message control amping up his messiah-tude, and now the apparent phoniness of the cancelled hospital visits, contribute to my growing sense of dread that he’s becoming a rock star who believes his fans when they tell him he’s a god.
The trouble with rock stars is that they get so high off the uncritical luuuuv of the crowd that, if they’re not careful and strong and grounded, they’ll do anything to get that buzz. When they can’t get it from the crowd 24/7, they turn to drugs and booze and orgies to fill the gap, and we all know how that turns out. Obama’s not a substance-abusing rock star and he’s not going to need a stint at Betty Ford, so don’t anybody take me literally. For me, however, this trip is the latest sign that he’s getting drunk on his own press, his own spin, and his own worshippers. Another reason to say: No Deal! We’ve had nearly eight years of a leader so drunk on his own righteousness that he eviscerated the Constitution, led us into an ill-conceived and unnecessary war, gutted our economy for generations to come, and ruined our reputation around the world. This time out, I’d much prefer a sober leader.
on July 26th, 2008 at 1:25 am
i agreww with you minx the pied piperi just much into himself
mabey he thinks hes to good for the troops in germany.
guess his work out was more inportant to him.
i guess hes to bust being a citzen of the world to care
i think ill start calling him mr no class or low class
on July 26th, 2008 at 5:19 am
shameful. shameful. shameful.
c’mon, obama. face those soldiers who are suffering, their limbs blown off, their faces disfigured, battling internal injuries. Explain to them why you were never accountable for the very committee you chaired, foreign relations committee with oversight on Afghanistan.
tell ‘em, barry. you were too busy campaigning to give a damn about them.
on July 26th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Morning heels.
Guess the precious his showing his true colors to the world— and they ain’t red, white and blue!
— scl
on July 26th, 2008 at 10:00 am
What’s just as sickening is how Newsweek and Time bolstered this guy even when he was out of the country in this past week’s print editions. I happened to be in a doctor’s office and saw both magazines…and I put 2 and 2 together…but the ordinary person in a rush would probably just see a positive glow…
Talk about Media Coverage! TIME actually tried to FAKE PEOPLE OUT in a story on Mandela that was NOT CURRENT, which coincided with Newsweek’s spread on Obama’s religious “quest.” And CNN (Time), of course, ran two nights of “Black in America.” All to keep the home fires burning. Newsweek also did a job on McCain as well….
I’m so irritated by the media and always have been…but this is so OBVIOUS….
http://tinyurl.com/66hztu
July 21st Editions of Newsweek & Time Pander as Obama Travels: One “Revisits” His “Spiritual Quest,” the Other Uses Mandela (and Fudges His Birthdate, Prints an Old Web Story as Current, and Uses a “Black Power” Fist to Illustrate)
(If you scroll down after this piece and onto the next page or so, you will also see my post “Brian Williams Writes Home” which points out the garbage coming from GE/NBC…..)
on July 26th, 2008 at 10:14 am
So rabid with the glow of people’s response to his promise of hope, he fails to track along with the discipline of fulfillment… the campaign disputed HRC’s assertion of 35 years of service; suggesting substance pales in the face of a dream that is but an escape. Serious daddy complex from junior guided by Cheyney, Rove & Barbara passing the baton to a dreams-of-my-father gusher without roots.
on July 26th, 2008 at 10:34 am
c’mon, obama. face those soldiers who are suffering, their limbs blown off, their faces disfigured, battling internal injuries. Explain to them why you were never accountable for the very committee you chaired, foreign relations committee with oversight on Afghanistan.
Give us a break on this stuff - Shinseki told the Dept of defense that Iraq would need 300 thousand troops to hold, they fired him.
Our troops in the ’stan went in about two-three weeks too late to get bin laden, and that’s not the fault of barry, or the troops, but the executive.
let’s pin the blame where it belongs, not blame obama for everything that went wrong - what’s next, are we going to blame him for 9/11?
on July 26th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Good morning everyone!! O could have visited the troops had he chosen to leave behind his entourage and camera crew. His superior judgement led him to select photos over demonstrating he is presidential material. Senator Cover Boy will have lots of quiet evenings in his Mansion in Chicago, (bought with the assistance of his pal and convicted felon, Rezko) when his disrespect of our men and women in uniform costs him his life long aspiration of becoming the President of the United States. He and his wife, who will be running her own house, not the White House, will have plenty of time to paste lots of photos of the European photo opportunity in the family photo album; after which the Senator can retire to his study and write the sequel to his book, soon to be entitled “Audacity of Ignorance.”
on July 26th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Maybe this will shed some light on the avoidance of the troops. Sorry it is so long but I can’t get it to show up on a search.
From Ricki Lieberman’s Electa:bility Watch Update LETTER FROM A 23 year vet of
more than one branch of the military
The Cagle Post MY MEETING (ALMOST) WITH OBAMA
I had a first hand view of Barrack Obama’s “fact finding” mission, when he passed through this base. While I can’t name it, it’s one of the largest air bases in the region, with up to 8000 troops (depending on influxes and transients in mobilization/demobilization status), mostly Airmen and Soldiers, but some Marines, Sailors, Koreans, Japanese, Aussies, Brits, US Civil Service, contractors including KBR, Blackwater and Halliburton, among others in the news. The overwhelming majority of all of these are professional, courteous and disciplined. Problems are rare.
…I will try to present the facts as I saw them. I wasn’t able to see much, which makes a point all by itself. When his plane arrived (also containing Senators Reed and Hagel, but the news has hardly mentioned them), there was a “ramp freeze.” This means if you are on the flight line, and not directly involved with the event in question, you stay where you are and don’t move. For a combat flight arriving or departing, this takes about ten minutes, and involves the active runway and crossing taxiways only. For Obama’s flight, this took 90 minutes, during which time a variety of military missions came grinding to a halt. Obviously, this visit was important, right? 95% of base wanted nothing to do with him. I have met three troops who support him, and literally hundreds who regard him as a buffoon, a charlatan, a hindrance to their mission or a flat out enemy of progress. Even when the rumors were publicly admitted, almost no one left their duty sections to try to see him, unless they were officers whose presence was officially required. Mister Obama’s motorcade drove up from the flight line and entered the dining hall toward the end of lunch time. Diners were chased out and told to make other arrangements for food, in the middle of the duty day. Now, there are close to 8000 troops on the base and its nearby satellites. No one came up from the Army side (except perhaps a few ranking officers). The airbase resumed operation, once he cleared the flightline, as if nothing had happened. The dining hall holds about 300 people and was not full. The troops did not want to meet him and the feeling was apparently mutual. In attendance, besides the Official Entourage, were the base’s senior officers, some support personnel, and a very few carefully vetted supporters who’d made special arrangements. No photos were allowed. No question and answer with the troops. No real acknowledgment that the troops existed.
Obama left around 1530, …less than three hours… 90% of the troops I know, even those opposed to the war, say that is the way to win. Victory comes from winning, not from “change.” In fact, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is on record as opposing Obama’s strategic theory.
Since he obviously knew in advance that’s what they’d tell him, and since he didn’t care to talk to the troops and find out how they feel, and was barely in country long enough to need a shower and a change of clothes, we can only call this for what it is.
A disgraceful PR stunt, using the troops as a platform for his ego and campaign.
In comparison, I’ve seen four star generals and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on this base. They each held an all ranks call, met with and briefed the personnel, and took questions on every subject from tour length to uniform design to rules of engagement to weapon choice to long term policy, from the newest airmen to the senior NCO with TEN 120-180 day tours since Sep 11. It’s very clear they want to know what the troops think, and to keep them informed of events. It’s equally clear Obama does not.
on July 26th, 2008 at 10:58 am
and don’t we pay for the Rock Star’s “secret service” entourage???
Secret Service wants more money for candidates
The 2008 presidential campaign cycle is the longest in Secret Service history by about five months. The Secret Service budgeted $106.65 million for the 2008 campaign cycle, compared to $73.3 million in 2004…
the extra money would be used for the added costs for the candidates’ international travel and a late-in-the-game decision by Barack Obama to accept the Democratic nomination at Denver’s Invesco Field at Mile High - an open-air, 76,000-seat stadium - instead of the 20,000-seat Pepsi Center, which is the site of the party’s national convention.
Obama is on a six-day trip to Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain. Before that he was on a three-day congressionally sponsored trip to Afghanistan and Iraq…
on July 26th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
yes we do princess .
on July 26th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
to the tune of evita’s rainbow tour by tim rice lyrics by andrew llyod webber:
l
ets here it for the rainbow tour will it have been a incrdible success? i have to admit i have my doubts would obama win out…it is anyones guess…
my oh my europe has “warmed” up to the charms obama….his stollen speeches in the koolaid induced haze remind of europes imperial haze….
lets hear it for the rainbow tour it looks like an incredible success we have to amit Puma has its doubts will obama with out? could it be yes
next stop on the circus is iraq and afganistan to visit our troops and get a fact or two
so obama cand be as informed as me and you….
oh my what is this obama look “bored”?
he seems out of his element every word from his mouth misstatement
no time to shake any soldiers hands what as sham
doesnt really mater, they’ll vote mccain
lets hear it for the rainbow tour it may not be a big success we have to admit we really have big puma doubts would obama win through? is it a qualified yes
final stop in berlin for beer bust the brats were warm and the musc loud
where was the million plus crowd?
only managed 20,000 now
germany is not impressed with american obama’s glory?
maybe they equate him with hitler cant imagine why?
some comming home in truimph sould be arranged!
get axlrod on as he enters the plane….
lets here it for the rainbow tour it has been an incredible success
we have to admit through all our doubts would bama win through and the answer is no and ys and no and yes and No…
on July 26th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
sorry for the errors but you get the idea….
fuzzybeargville
on July 26th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Okay, this was posted at HCSFJM…this is hilarious and I think you guys will really appreciate the humor.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0drwfnGlF_E
on July 26th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
I know a second wave feminist whose books I love as several of them have expressed what I needed to know as if they were unlocking my feelings into words. She is a heroine of the movement starting with her book “Women and Madness” in ‘72 through my favorite, “Women’s Inhumanity to Women” and the last “The Death of Feminism”(which is about western feminist’s refusal to organize and fight the slave status of women under the Islamic theocracies).
Phyllis Chesler sent this note out to the blogosphere and I hope you get a change to watch TV tonight or tomorrow.
————————————
This weekend, on both Saturday and Sunday evenings at 8pm, EST, Fox-TV will be airing a one hour documentary about honor murders in America. They interviewed me (Phyllis Chesler) at length and you may see my face and my words on camera.
FOX was the only national media outlet that really covered the honor murder of Sarah and Amina Said in Dallas Texas early this year. Kudos to them for their interest in this subject. The crew told me that I was the only domestic violence expert willing to say that honor murders have something to do with….Islam and with Muslims.
The Fox team was utterly amazing: Friendly, professional, exceedingly well prepared. About six or seven serious men arrived with lights, cameras, and computers and they turned my home into a studio-quality locale. I was interviewed by the very beautiful and brainy Lauren Greene but as I now understand it, the program will also be hosted by Megan Kelly. Let me thank Justin Laffer and Byron Garoufalis for providing excellent backup.
I would welcome your views of the program and the subject right here at my blog.
http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/
on July 26th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
hey princess the austin newspaper just posted that puma story
.i sent you a link to that story let me know what you think.
go hillary
on July 26th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
it wont let me post links on for some reason
or id post it on here.
puma power
on July 26th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/region/legislature/stories/07/26/0726texdems.html
let me know what you think .
on July 26th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I think he is narcissus that enjoy big cheering crowds that boost his ego.
on July 26th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Perception is reality.
I don’t buy into the Obama camp’s reasoning.
He is on the Veteran’s Affairs Committee. He is still a US Senator. He has a duty to visit wounded soldiers while in country.
If he wants to be CIC, it is imperative to always put the troops first.
on July 26th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
ill bet that if media where let in the base. the chosen one would have been there .
go hillary
on July 26th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
thnks guys…off to bed …tomorrow is another day — and each day we chip away at the Messiah’s lead…little by little…he should be 20 points ahead of mccain, who, as sista puts it….is as dull as dishwater (god i love that line)…
hillary would be viagra for mccain campaign - doncha think (please folks, figuratively of course!)
on July 26th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8126
on July 27th, 2008 at 4:09 am
another turn of the tide: where once the obots pointed out hrc’s “high negatives” as a rationale for the urgency of now, the stagnation in his polling numbers since june beg a ‘look who’s talking’ review.
where once hillary’s numbers were “flat” beyond 45%, the prospect of obama in the wh has her looking better and better. few things make a girl prettier than hanging out with ugly friends.
on July 27th, 2008 at 11:40 am
The danger is that not only will rock stars like Obama do anything to get the buzz but that he will use the buzz from the crowd to manipulate them. With a background that includes such friends as Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Michael Pfleger and Louis Farrakhan one has to be concerned with what he might ask his adoring masses to do.
on July 27th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
good point. pagan
on July 27th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Give me Hillary. Not this egomaniac president wannabe.
on July 27th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
We have one terribly important job to do at this juncture, and it is to persuade Hillary to put her name in nomination. There are a ton of reasons why she wouldn’t, but a lot of good reasons why she should, and we need to all start writing to her and convince her of that fact. Just as everyone flooded her site with donations to retire her debt, she now needs to hear from supporters everyday, about how important this is for all of us.
I tried to let her know that letting them sweep this candidacy under the rug will have a chilling effect on other female politicians who might even consider the run.
She has spent her life doing things that no one else would attempt. It is time for her to do it again, if it changes the script that Dean and the othes have planned, then the script was wrong anyway (no question there). I hope everyone visiting this site will contact Hillpac and let them know how you feel.
on July 27th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
DO YOU have her e-mail warrior princess
on July 27th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
894 out of 899 and 5 jets crashed
on July 27th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Art- so he’s not a good pilot? What’s your point?
on July 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
If the Department of the Navy deem him as a liability, they would have never allowed him to fly on a mission. Try a little harder if you are going to discredit his service if you must.
Lets just try to get HRC as a nominee, if not then an unholly alliance maybe necessary. Else we go in our separate ways.
on July 27th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
unholy
on July 27th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
http://whatsuddenly.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-gave-media-his-western-wall-note.html
on July 28th, 2008 at 12:13 am
yea whats your point.
on July 28th, 2008 at 12:17 am
boogieman
You can write to HRC at Hilpac. Obviously, everything is going to get screened, but as more and more mail of this nature gets in, it will start the ball in motion.
I do know that during the campaign, I spent a lot of late nights sending in notes on the debates, and next debate, there were changes made. I don’t, for a moment, think that was all my doing. What I do beleive is that enough watchers let them know areas that might need to be addressed, and that made those areas reasonable places to look at changing. Things like not letting him hold her chair for her. I remember saying, “: Where are the aides? He is making it look like date night, and he’s in charge.” Do any of you remember the dabate, can’t remember the place, when HRC stopped letting him tower over her on the stage? After the intermission, she waited until he was in place, to make her entrance. BO waited so long to try to help her in her seat, he looked like he was lost, and in my living room, we actually chuckled a bit.
He was so bad in debates, and it was such an uneven match, I wasn’t surprised when they just said no to anymore of them. There was no way to defend against her superiority in that venue. Unfortyunately, her staff, and the rest of us didn’t know what they had planned when they started this little gambit, or we might have been able to cut them off at the pass.
Now, all we can do, is work with where we are. That isn’t easy, since the media has him on an endless loop. On the other hand, even with all those advantages he can’t seem to pull out ahead convincingly. There are no super d’s to pull him over the line in Nov. so how do they plan to rig the general election? And before you start thinking I am imagining things, think Caucus, think Rev. Wright, think of all the other rediculous things that have occured in this primary, and tell me how in the heck he is even still here? No other primary candidate has ever survived these types of faux-pas. So, why wouldn’t we think that the Axeman has some kindf of back up plan to put into place. They are already planning to shut down Denver. They are renting the arena for BO’s speech. It is a done deal for them. They don’t intend to lose over a silly little thing like democracy.
on July 28th, 2008 at 3:51 am
http://contrariancommentary.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/anti-obama-movement-leader-andy-martin-says-disaffected-democrats-are-surging-against-obama-in-the-media-and-online/
on July 28th, 2008 at 9:00 am
An email from Ireland to all of their brethren in the States…a point to ponder regardless of your political affiliation:
We, in Ireland, can’t figure out why you people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.
On one side, you had a pants wearing female lawyer, married to another lawyer who can’t seem to keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer, who goes to the wrong church, who is married to yet another lawyer, who doesn’t even like the country her husband wants to run!
Now…On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate ‘Mc’ terminology, married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship!
What in God’s name are ya lads thinkin’ over in the colonies?
on July 28th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Well, Will, now we know what they are thinkin’ over there in the “old country”.
on July 28th, 2008 at 10:20 am
FYI:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that Barack Obama’s Berlin bounce is fading. Obama now attracts 45% of the vote while John McCain earns 42%.
on July 28th, 2008 at 11:25 am
As long as the numbers are this close, the silent “majority” will end his charade for the wh.
on July 28th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
We were stationed at Ramstein for three years and my daughter was born in the army hospital at Landstuhl. Both bases welcome visitors and Senator’s Obama’s shunning of them speaks volumes about his character. To say the senator is a selfish, self-aggrandizing man would be beyond an understatement. Having lived around the world, I feel acutely the embarrassment he’s inflicted on the US. I so sincerely hope ALL the delegates are having their eyes opened, too. THERE IS STILL TIME TO CHANGE COURSE.
fieryside.blogspot.com
on July 28th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
From the BBC (justin webb, normally a BO devotee)
on July 31st, 2008 at 7:13 am
The first reports I read about Barack Obama’s cancelled trips to U.S. soldiers in military hospitals in Germany made it easy for me to conclude he cancelled because he couldn’t bring his campaign entourage in. Now, this blow-by-blow in the Washington Post reconstructs what happened by talking to primary sources–you know, what we used to call reporting–and concludes that wasn’t the case. Assuming the Post account is correct, that makes at least part of my recent “rock star” post incorrect. I may not like the guy, but I won’t cling blindly to something I wrote if facts revealed later undercut it. So the rock star gets some slack from the Minx, for now, about not visiting the wounded soldiers in Germany. Much of his campaign still gives me the willies for the same broader reasons I posted about last week, but I can’t in good conscience continue to bust him over the hospital visit story.
It’s also a good lesson for me–and all of us–to keep alert and honest about stories as they develop. Some stories that seem to paint Obama terribly may turn out to be not so bad. More often, as we believe here, other stories will gloss over things that should rile up American voters. If we’re going to be effective in returning democracy to the Democratic Party and even getting Hillary the nomination, our brains are going to have to be as sharp as our claws.
on August 1st, 2008 at 12:15 am
Sorry Minxie…i’m not buying obama’s bullcrap story….this from the hospital in germany:
Dr. Danny Jazarevic, who served as the Chief of Trauma, Critical Care and Vascular Surgery at Landstuhl, issued the following statement on Barack Obama’s canceled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl:
“Last week, Senator Obama skipped a visit with wounded U.S. troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany because the Pentagon would not allow campaign staff or media to accompany him into the hospital. I served as director of trauma surgery at that hospital for nearly four years and saw the effect that a visit from a celebrity like Senator Obama could have on morale. During that time, I do not recall a single member of Congress canceling a visit with the troops despite being just a few hours away, but Senator Obama seems to have been more concerned with how the visit would affect him than how it would affect the soldiers recovering from wounds received in the service of their country.”