McCain’s Charges Questioned

There are questions being asked of McCain in regards to his charge that Obama cancelled his Landstuhl hospital visit because he couldn’t take his media entourage.  In fact, there is no evidence to suggest that Obama cancelled his trip because he couldn’t stage a photo op with wounded troops.  Why would he?  He had already met with wounded troops privately at Walter Reed and in Iraq.  No press was present then.  McCain has a lot of nerve, calling Obama on this, especially after missing votes on veterans’ issues like the GI Bill.

From the linked (above) article:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has now joined his voice to the chorus of aides and campaign surrogates who have been alleging that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) canceled his visit to a U.S. hospital in Germany because he couldn’t bring a media entourage.

McCain said Monday on CNN’s “Larry King Live”: “I know that according to reports that he wanted to bring media people and cameras and his campaign staffers … “

And the campaign released another statement this afternoon, this time from a former Sergeant Major who worked at the hospital, who said, “if Senator Obama isn’t comfortable meeting wounded American troops without his entourage, perhaps he does not have the experience necessary to serve as commander in chief.”

In fact, there’s no proof that Obama ever sought to bring the media or any entourage.

In essence, the McCain charge is this: Obama cares so little for the welfare of wounded American soldiers that he canceled the visit when he was informed he could not bring reporters and television cameras to document it.

But there is no evidence that Obama ever planned to bring anyone to the hospital other than a single military adviser, whose status as a campaign staffer sparked last-minute concern among Pentagon officials that the visit would be an improper political event. The Obama campaign has cited those concerns as the reason for canceling Obama’s visit.

McCain, apparently, is sinking into the political gutter — after he said he wouldn’t — and attacking Obama’s character.  There really isn’t much he can attack Obama on as far as policy goes; both McCain and Bush seem to be following Obama’s lead on many issues lately.  (Ironic, isn’t it?)  Obama, to his credit, has continued to treat McCain with respect.  Campaigning positively, on the issues, is a promise Obama has kept so far.  McCain has not. 

McCain better hope Obama doesn’t attack McCain in kind.  There are many questions that can be asked of McCain.  Just to name a few (thanks to Let Us Talk for some of these):

• The Keating Five — although McCain wasn’t charged or even censured by the Senate in this case, what exactly was his role in the Savings and Loan scandal?
• His apparent lack of respect for women — calling his own wife a c-word (the actual word won’t appear on this blog — I hate it) really speaks poorly about his respect for women.
• His temper — it’s legendary.  Along with his sailor’s colorful language, this is a real liability for McCain.

The bottom line is that McCain should watch what he starts.  People in glass houses should not throw stones.