The McCain campaign has spent much of the past four days aggressively pushing a bogus smear, accusing Barack Obama of blowing off wounded U.S. troops in Germany. The goal, apparently, is to get the media to pick up on this story — despite the fact that the attack is demonstrably false — so the fabricated “controversy” will be part of the public discussion, without the McCain campaign having to spend a lot of money.
And, predictably, many news outlets are largely playing along. A variety of outlets are noting the attacks, without telling the public that the attacks are factually wrong. An MSNBC on-air personality falsely suggested that Obama did not “visit wounded American troops” during his overseas trip. Pat Buchanan said the same thing. A Fox News personality repeated the smear as if it were true.
And, voila, we have a “story.” As Atrios noted, “[I]t is truly inexplicable how something becomes ‘an issue’ when, prompted by a false ad from the McCain campaign aimed at members of the media, media figures repeat false charges.”
To her credit, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, who was with the Obama campaign during the trip, has taken the lead in reporting reality. Yesterday, she told viewers that the McCain attack “literally is not true.”
Now, if you watch the interview, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), a prominent McCain ally, changes the smear a little bit. He doesn’t defend the McCain campaign’s ridiculous ad, and he seems to concede that the Pentagon intervened to prevent Obama from visiting the troops at Landstuhl.
But Burr alters the attack by suggesting Obama should have ignored the Pentagon and blown off the Defense Department’s rules.
This is a bit of a twist, isn’t it? The argument isn’t that Obama blew off the troops, it’s that the Pentagon intervened and Obama should have stood his ground and gone to Landstuhl anyway.
There are a couple of problems here. First, try to imagine the response if Obama, in the midst of an overseas campaign swing, ignored the Pentagon and used the troops as political props. We would never hear the end of it, but that’s effectively what the McCain gang now believes Obama should have done.
Second, the hypocrisy here is breathtaking. McCain was scheduled to visit a military base in April during a campaign swing, the Pentagon said that would violate Defense Department rules, and McCain didn’t go. Aide Steve Schmidt told CNN, “We follow the rules.”
In other words, the McCain campaign has launched a demonstrably ridiculous four-day smear because Obama followed the exact same Pentagon rules that McCain did.
Before we leave this “story” altogether, I’d just add that Col. Katherine Scheirman, the retired Chief of Medical Operations for United States Air Force in Europe Headquarters at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, issued a statement yesterday that’s worth reading:
“John McCain’s new ad is dishonest and shameful, and I say that as the former Chief of Medical Operations. Senators Hagel and Reed confirmed to Bob Schieffer yesterday that Senator Obama visited the Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad as a part of their CODEL, with no media present.
“In Germany, Senator Obama made the right decision to respect wounded troops, and the doctors and nurses doing crucial and time-sensitive work, by not making a visit that was characterized as a campaign event by the Pentagon. Senator Obama should be thanked for putting our military above politics. And, I would hope that John McCain would think in those same terms, the next time he is put in a similar situation.
“Senator Obama has voted for the troops when John McCain has not, most recently on the new GI Bill. I am happy that Senator Obama puts the welfare of our troops above politics.”