http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/germany-news/ en-us Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:11:21 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051390/posts Obama’s behavior toward American troops in Germany was so egregious, even the New York Times this morning is picking up the story. The Times writes, “It wasn’t perfectly clear whether the Pentagon asked the Obama campaign to cancel the trip outright or the campaign decided on its own -- after quiet pressure from military officials -- that a political trip to the base was inappropriate.” “The trip” was a scheduled trip to visit American troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, one of the world’s largest military hospitals. Initially, Obama claimed it would be inappropriate because he was in... humanevents.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051390/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:11:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051360/posts Robert Gibbs, a senior communications adviser to the Obama campaign, briefed reporters on the planne today. I just received this transcript as I am in London, having leap-frogged ahead due to requirements for live shots here. This is the full transcript about the Obama camp’s perspective on the back-and-forth with the Pentagon about the canceled visit to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. {Read Transcript at the Link) Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051360/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:19:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051301/posts Over half of Americans (55%) rate Barack Obama’s historic speech in Berlin yesterday good or excellent, and the Democratic presidential candidate is experiencing a modest bounce over John McCain nationally in the latest Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. In a new Rasmussen Reports national survey, 26% grade the speech, delivered before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 200,000, as Excellent. Twenty-nine percent (29%) say it was good. Nearly as many (23%) feel it was only Fair, and 18% rate it as Poor. These results are based upon the 50% of voters who had heard or seen coverage of the... rasmussenreports.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051301/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:54:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051296/posts Wagner’s music is actually better than it sounds, Mark Twain liked to joke. The same can’t be said for Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign speech Thursday in Berlin. Obama’s speech fell flat. It amounts to an unforced error, perhaps prompted by the need to score another historic “first,” like Obama’s embarrassing claim at the outset that “I know that I don’t look like the Americans who’ve previously spoken in this great city.” As Victor Davis Hanson points out nearby, two distinguished blacks have served as secretary of State, representing the U.S. at the highest diplomatic level in Europe and around the... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051296/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:42:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051227/posts Chief Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell confirmed to Politico that Department of Defense officials cautioned Barack Obama's campaign that his planned visit to wounded American troops in Germany could not be political in nature and that he would be barred from bringing along campaign staff and reporters. He also said that Cindy McCain recently requested to visit sailors aboard the U.S.N.S. Comfort and was denied. "Sen. Obama is welcome to visit Landstuhl or any military hospital in his official capacity as a United States senator," Morrell said in a brief interview. "But there is a DoD policy which governs campaigning and... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051227/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:55:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051228/posts "Obama Addresses 200,000 in Berlin" -- thus ran the AP headline the day after Barack Obama's much-hyped speech in front of Berlin's Siegessäule or "Victory Column." This 200,000 figure has quickly become the standard estimate of the crowd for Obama's speech in both the American and the German media: so standard indeed that it is for the most part not even treated as an estimate. The estimates given by German public television ZDF actually during the event, however, were as many as 10 times lower. ZDF began its special "Obama in Berlin" coverage [German video] at 6:45 p.m. Central European... World Politics Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051228/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:56:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051226/posts Barack Obama's presidential campaign has been rocked over the bad publicity Obama is getting over his perceived snub of wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.ABC News reports Obama staffers staged three separate briefings in just forty-five minutes on O-Force One as they flew from Berlin to Paris today.Yesterday, the Obama campaign put out two conflicting reasons for canceling the visit. One blamed the Pentagon, the other said Obama chose not to visit over concerns the stop would be seen as political.The Pentagon has responded to reporters queries saying that Obama was welcome to visit as a senator... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051226/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:47:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051079/posts And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness. The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.... The Times of London http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051079/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:17:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051190/posts And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness... Times Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051190/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:28:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051189/posts NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube get the skinny on the abrupt cancellation of Barack Obama’s visit to Landstuhl and Ramstein yesterday. The campaign tried to excuse it by claiming that it wouldn’t be appropriate to visit while on a campaign-funded portion of his trip, but that wasn’t the real problem. When Obama found out he couldn’t use the visit as a photo op, he canceled: One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama’s representatives were told, “he could only bring two or three... Hot Air http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051189/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:27:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051091/posts The Germans were ecstatic when Barack Obama landed in Berlin. They called him the "American Idol," a political superstar they expected to walk on the River Spree. He didn't walk on water, but he didn't disappoint. He promised to remake the world where everybody would love everybody. "There is a sort of 'Obamamania' in Germany right now," says an aide in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, "but I think a lot of people will have their illusions shattered if he does become president." He's a novelty who causes skeptics to suggest he paraphrase JFK's famous boast at the Berlin Wall:... Townhall.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051091/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:32:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051132/posts He ventured forth to bring light to the world The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness... Times Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051132/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:45:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051139/posts Radical optimism is America’s contribution to the world. The early settlers thought America’s founding would bring God’s kingdom to earth. John Adams thought America would emancipate “the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.” Woodrow Wilson and George W. Bush preached their own gospels of world democracy. The great illusion of the 1990s was that we were entering an era of global convergence in which politics and power didn’t matter. What Obama offered in Berlin flowed right out of this mind-set. This was the end of history on acid. Since then, autocracies have arisen, the competition for resources has... wash post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051139/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:55:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051149/posts NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube get the skinny on the abrupt cancellation of Barack Obama’s visit to Landstuhl and Ramstein yesterday. The campaign tried to excuse it by claiming that it wouldn’t be appropriate to visit while on a campaign-funded portion of his trip, but that wasn’t the real problem. When Obama found out he couldn’t use the visit as a photo op, he canceled... In fact, those same rules applied for the CODEL trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. They serve to keep politicians from exploiting military facilities for political reasons, and to ensure that all visitors get treated... Hot Air http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051149/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:09:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051159/posts And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness. The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.... TimesOnline http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051159/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:26:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051163/posts The Pentagon said Barack Obama phoned wounded U.S. soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical center in Germany today a day after a firestorm developed over his cancellation of plans to visit the base and Ramstein Air Force Base.Pentagon spokeswoman Elizabeth Hibner told Bloomberg News that Obama was told by the military he could visit the bases as an offical but not as a candidate and without campaign staff.Obama chose to cancel the visit and instead phoned it in to the troops. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051163/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:31:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051042/posts Der Spiegel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051042/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:50:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051015/posts Obama’s “citizen of the world” speech in front of an adoring crowd of German leftists is likely to go over with many American voters like a lead Zeppelin. Indeed, the audacity of his presidential-style trip is nothing short of galling, and it is sure to backfire with many who see a glaring incongruence between Obama’s accomplishments and his magisterial pretensions. Europeans of course are delighted by their chance to hopefully influence an American election. The chance to be relevant in the impenetrable mind of the American voter is exciting enough, but helping to nudge what would be America’s first leftist... GOPublius.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051015/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:12:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050984/posts The McCain campaign is slamming Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over a decision to cancel a visit with U.S. troops in Germany. The German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting online that Obama has “cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl U.S. military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday.” “Barack Obama will not be coming to us,” a spokesperson for the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl told Der Spiegel. “I don't know why.” Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs told ABC News in a statement, “During his trip as part of the... ABC News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050984/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:12:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050970/posts <p>Obama, all his advisers, and the fawning MSM are clueless.</p> <p>As mistakes go, I would say this is the ultimate. A prepared speech (not an off-the-teleprompter gaffe), announced days in advance to the world. How is a mistake this huge possible? There is no chance he misread (misspoke), otherwise, there would be no mention of Belfast in that portion of the speech.</p> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050970/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:19:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050913/posts Berliners spent the whole day trying to catch a glimpse of Barack Obama. The rumor that he had spent the afternoon working out at the hotel gym took on all the significance of an Elvis sighting. Until 7:21 p.m., that is. The sentences grows louder and louder; they start to drown out the applause. At the end of most of his speeches in the US, Obama tells his audience that he loves them. But in Berlin he just said "thank you." For a moment, it was plausible to think that he wanted to quickly aunch a global transformation through this... Seigel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050913/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:01:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050921/posts The Moderate Voice http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050921/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:15:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050938/posts NewsBusters has learned that presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama has cancelled plans to visit two U.S. military bases while in Germany, this despite having all kinds of time to speak to gushing Berliners as well as getting in a workout at the Ritz Carlton.One of the bases, The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, "is an overseas military hospital operated by the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense...[that] serves as the nearest treatment center for wounded soldiers coming from Iraq and Afghanistan."Yet, as Ed Morrissey's Hot Air reported a few hours ago, Spiegel Online claimed at 1:42 PM local time... newsbusters.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050938/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:05:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050914/posts Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin's Siegessäule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the 44th president of the United States. He is more than ambitious -- he wants to lay claim to become the president of the world. Speigel OnLine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050914/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:03:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050894/posts Obama's damp squib speech today to 50,000 Germans (yes, that's all that was actually there, despite the free food, free drink, and the concerts) started off with Obama recounting to the Germans their own history. They must have loved that. There's nothing better than being told something you already know and was very personal to you by someone who wasn't there and had no part of it. It crossed my mind as he droned on, just what would have Obama done had he been in the Senate when the Berlin Airlift was proposed? Would he have supported it or would... Vanity http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050894/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:27:08 GMT