Posted on 07/26/2008 12:03:36 PM PDT by kristinn
McCain Campaign on Barack Obama's Cancelled Troop Visits
Contact: Press Office, 703-650-5550; www.JohnMcCain.com
ARLINGTON, Va., July 26 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today, retired Lt. Colonel Joe Repya issued the following statement on Barack Obama's cancelled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl:
"The most solemn duty of a commander in chief is to fulfill his responsibility to the men and women who serve this country in uniform. Barack Obama had scheduled a visit with wounded American troops who have served with honor and distinction in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he broke that commitment, instead flitting from one European capital to the next. Several explanations were offered, none was convincing and each was at odds with the statements of American military leaders in Germany and Washington. 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."
Army Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Joe Repya served 30 years of duty and three wars, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was born in 1946 in Gary, Indiana. He was the oldest son of a disabled combat wounded veteran of the European Campaign of World War II. Awarded an ROTC scholarship he attended Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, graduating in 1969. Upon graduation he was appointed to the Regular Army as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry. His 30 years of service in the US Army (12 years Active and 18 years in the National Guard & Reserves) lasted from 1969 until 2006. He served as a Combat Infantry Rifle Platoon Leader in Viet Nam in 1970/71 with the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment (Band of Brothers "Currahee's"), and an Aero Rifle Platoon Leader with A Troop, 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment. In Desert Storm 1990/91, he served as a Combat Helicopter Pilot and Staff Officer with the 4th Brigade (Aviation), 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One). He initially retired in 1998.
After the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, he was one of 12,000 US Army retirees who volunteered for Retiree Recall to Active US Army duty for Operation Iraqi Freedom. LTC Repya was selected as one of only 350 retirees who were returned to active duty status. At 58 years old on October 1, 2004 he returned as an Aviation Branch Officer for two more additional years of active duty service with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, KY. He served for nine months as the G-3 Air for the Division. In 2005 he served as the Senior Liaison Officer for the 101st Airborne Division with the Multi National Corps Headquarters at Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq. He reentered retired status at the end of September 2006 at the age of 60.
Ah, hell what does this guy know? It ain’t like he ever was on Oprah or anything important. I’ll bet he ain’t even wrote a book on how great it is to be him.
I don’t think Obama should visit any of the troops. He has fought AGAINST them every step of the way, and he is still invested in their defeat. If I was one of the troops, Barack Husein Obama, as well as any other anti American DemocRat, would be the last person I would want to see!
And don’t forget the workout room at the Ritz Carlton.
But if McCain and his campaign staff think criticism of this and similar incidents is going to sway many voters they are more out of touch than I thought.
It's going to take issues larger than this.
People that care about this are have already made their minds up and won't be influenced by McCain's whining one bit.
Has anyone thought that this slight to the military might have been interntional on Obama's part?
Disrespecting his own country will be a feather in his cap to much of his base.
If anything, this insult to the US military will put the lefty nut-roots and other America haters even more solidly in Obama's camp.
Obama is performing on the world stage and getting rave reviews while McCain is nipping at his heels like a pesky pup.
Obama might only think he is a Mesiah but he is big enough that McCain isn't going to bring him down slinging pebbles like David did to Goliath.
Carping on and on about this incident makes McCain seem smaller and more on the periphery. It's time for him to move along to bigger issues.
I don’t know about that. I think the effort is to put the spotlight on BO that shows when the chips are down he just doesn’t love this country enough to be it’s president. My granddaughter said as much when she said she likes McCain better becausee he “loves America more” I don’t think that is minor stuff. Is it enough ? I don’t know, but it ain’t beanbags
Play this to the hilt, Freepers; play this to the hilt.
I know a retiree who is an expert in a specific form of warfare who was asked to return and would not.
A democrat.
The only other duty more solemn than that is to have to be a casualty assistance officer.
I was a participant in one of my soldier's funerals. It was by far and away the hardest, most difficult duty I have ever done.
While I 100% agree that they should not play with this for too long, pointing out a discrepancy now and then is fine. Plus, this will make some military persons on the fence to think twice about voting for Obama. At the end, though, this kind of thing shouldn’t be their main strategy of winning.
I agree it is important, especially as a piece of the bigger picture, showing that Obama is less of a patriot and has less national loyalty than he would have us believe.
But McCain needs to be careful that he doesn’t end up being portrayed by the media as a whiner, carping about small potatoes, while the Great Obama is changing the whole world.
I know this is about all McCain had to work with over the last few days but it will backfire if he doesn’t move on.
They used to joke about Reagan (and others) being the Teflon President but that came about because the people themselves saw through the false charges made by his detractors.
However that was nothing compared to Obama - nothing at all seems to stick to him. Of course, he has the MSM as his first line of defence.
No kidding. How in the world did it come down to these two? Neither one of them appeal to folks beyond their bases.
McCain is running a Bob Dole moonshot campaign, he is.
Has anyone seen the ad that McCain cut? He says that Obama went to the gym instead of visiting the troops. In it, they show the video of Obama shooting hoops WHILE HE WAS WITH THE TROOPS in Kuwait. Think about that for a minute.
“But if McCain and his campaign staff think criticism of this and similar incidents is going to sway many voters they are more out of touch than I thought.”
It is going to sway voters. It is going to sway those independents who are national security conscience. There are more moderates today then at any time. They are not Conservative because Conservatives say that being Conservative 95% of the time is being Liberal. And they are not Liberal because they might be pro-life, anti-gay marriage or fiscal Conservative.
Question becomes, who wants these voters more?
It is DemonRATs like Obama who have subverted our efforts in Iraq every step of the way. They have aided and abetted the enemy and caused them to press on thinking it is only a matter of time before we give up. The enemy took this as a cue to kill and maim more Americans.
Most of our military understand the menace to our war effort the DemonRATs have been. Obama would have been unwelcomed at Ramstein and Landstuhl.
Exactly! I'm sure he was unwelcomed by most of the troops. His campaign was careful what media had access to him, and they arranged for troops they knew would be enthusiastic to see him (from Chicago).
The ENEMEDIA can manipulate any image they want us to see, and Obama has mastered it!
Here's an oldie but goody to remind us of the ENEMEDIA!
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