Blog Reactions
The Page by Mark Halperin: Paying Respects
Taylor Marsh: Afghanistan in the Caucus Room: Levin Slams Cheney
| @KarlRove I wonder if he made the same "You make s good photo0-op" comment to the returning dead soldier's family http://bit.ly/16aPu3 15 days ago |
| Obama honors returning dead soldiers at air base: http://bit.ly/16aPu3 10/30/2009 |
| a publicity stunt, but at least dignified: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/us/30obama.html 10/29/2009 |
Paying Respects
The Page by Mark Halperin —
AP Obama stops at Dover Air Force Base overnight to honor returning war dead .
Afghanistan in the Caucus Room: Levin Slams Cheney
Taylor Marsh —
Afghanistan in the Caucus Room
Taylor Marsh —
... House health care bill, which isn’t pleasing everyone in her caucus, no matter how hard she and others worked to get a “robust” public option done. So, please use “In the News” to blast it out because…
This morning I’ll be at an event, “Afghanistan: Basic Questions – Strategic Choices,” which was organized by the Rand Corp., with Steve Clemons of NAF.
As backdrop, Jeff Zeleny has the story. With this from the White House pool late last night. Pres. Obama ...
Paying Respects
The Page by Mark Halperin —
AP Obama stops at Dover Air Force Base overnight Wednesday to honor returning war dead .
Obama Pays Respects in Dover
Talking Points Memo —
... 3:39 am the President walked up the ramp of the C-17 to attend a short prayer given by Major Richard S. Bach, an Air Force chaplain. Obama emerged minutes later, the last in a line of personnel, and stood at attention in the cool night breeze, his hands cupped at his side.
At 3:50 am the flag-draped transfer case--not a coffin or casket--was carried from the plane to a waiting vehicle while all those participating saluted.
The NYT has some photos here.
...
I'm Sure This is Good News for Republicans
Booman Tribune —
Or as Glenn Beck might say, this is just another example of Obama's use of Fascist techniques in his ongoing attempt to subvert the Constitution, create a permanent tyranny and destroy our Grand Republic: President Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base early Thursday morning, where he met with family members and paid his respects as the bodies of 18 Americans killed this week in Afghanistan were returned to the United States. [...] As the Commander-in-chief stood on the darkened tarmac and saluted, the flag-draped case was unloaded from the cargo plane in what the ...
Signal Visit: Powerful images as president prepares weighty decision
The Note —
... "The trip was a symbolic one for Mr. Obama -- intended to convey the gravity of his decision as he moves closer to announcing whether he will send more troops to Afghanistan," Jeff Zeleny writes in The New York Times. ...
Honoring the fallen
Mudville Gazette —
... How to turn the situation around? Some say more troops, some say change strategy, others say withdraw - but someone in the White House got the bright idea that now would be a good time for a photo op. ...
President at Dover
Political Animal —
... -- and whether the American public should be allowed to see -- flag-draped caskets as fallen U.S. soldiers return home, it was good to see President Obama pay his respects this morning at Dover Air Force Base. It was apparently the president's first trip to the air base. The trip was not announced in advance and Obama arrived shortly after midnight. Obama stood at attention to salute Army Sgt. Dale Griffin of Indiana, whose family gave permission for this morning's coverage. The NYT reported , "The bodies returning to Dover Air Force Base shortly after midnight included seven ...
OBAMA’S TIMELY VISIT TO DOVER
Right Wing Nut House —
... Weston, like Obama, was a Harvard Law School graduate. Obama’s participation in this sad military tradition comes at a critical time for the President, as he weighs sending as many as 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. President Obama continues to deliberate with his commanders and advisors and will likely announce his decision after the Afghan elections on November 7 and before he departs for Asia on November 11, though the announcement could come after he returns from the Asia trip. The New York Times referred to Obama’s trip as a “symbolic event” designed to show the ...
Podcast: Honoring the Fallen and Cash Payments from the C.I.A
The Caucus —
... ? The White House is referring all calls to the C.I.A., which isn’t talking, after The Times reported a debate between military and intelligence officials over the payments. Faced with this and far larger decisions about the Afghan war, President Obama made an early morning trip Thursday to Dover Air Force base to witness the transfer of military remains returning from Afghanistan. But White House officials insist he will keep any emotions the trip might have stirred out of his decisions about how to proceed. Meanwhile, as the president vows to keep the cost of his proposed ...
Obama At Dover Air Force Base: Photo-Op or Tribute
Nice Deb —
... Liz Cheney discussed the question with John Gibson earlier today on his radio show:
Video via Gateway Pundit
It’s too awful to think that the President is so cynical, he would use the death of these brave and worthy men to prop himself up. One is inclined to hope that he only had the best of intentions.
But one wonders.
The New York Times originally reported in their article, Obama Visits Air Base to Honor Returning Dead:
The images ...
The New York Times rewrites
Mudville Gazette —
...the Obama at Dover story.
Oops! The New York Times original report on the president's midnight trip to Dover said: The images and the sentiment of the president's five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste....but somebody didn't like that. The new version (hat tip to Nice Deb) reads: The trip was a symbolic one for Mr. Obama, given the ...
The Early Word: Health in the House
The Caucus —
... financial institutions whose failure could threaten the entire financial system. Presidential Daybook: President Obama’s schedule is light on the public events on Friday, appearing only for a signing ceremony for legislation reauthorizing Ryan White Care Act. The president does have a full day of meetings, including one with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Afghanistan and Pakistan. On Thursday, the president discussed the aftermath of his trip under the cover of darkness to Delaware to honor service members recently killed in Afghanistan . According to The Times’s ...
Did White House pressure NYT into changing Dover story?
Hot Air » Top Picks —
... Originally, the New York Times reported on President Barack Obama’s visit to Dover AFB and the arrival of fallen serviceman by explaining that the White House wanted Obama to be seen as concerned and aware of the sacrifices made in America’s war policies: A small contingent of reporters and photographers accompanied Mr. Obama to Dover, where he arrived at 12:34 a.m. aboard Marine One. He returned to the South Lawn of the White House at 4:45 a.m. The images and the sentiment of the president’s five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the ...
Propping Up The Dead
Confederate Yankee —
... the funerals of a Wellstone or a Kennedy, there is never a moment too solemn for liberals to soil if the slightest political opportunity presents itself. Our odious President Barack Obama is as feckless and sociopathic as his political brethren, and carted up a helicopter full of photographers and journalists to take to Dover Air Force Base. He wanted to use the bodies of those who died in Afghanistan as a photo op, in a move so blatantly calculated that even the New York Times was forced to comment on it. A small contingent of reporters and photographers accompanied Mr. ...
President honors troops, right attacks president
Political Animal —
... Bush didn't used to "do it without the cameras"; President Bush didn't used to do it all . After seven years of the war in Afghanistan, Bush didn't greet returning caskets once. He didn't even want journalists to take photographs of the events, fearing that the images may turn public opinion against the war. What's more, President Obama didn't "show up with the White House Press Pool." The trip was not announced in advance -- the White House wasn't seeking publicity -- and only a " small contingent " of journalists were allowed to attend. In fact, " ...
Revising Web-based Newspaper Articles Without Informing Readers — NYT Edition
The Volokh Conspiracy —
... The original version of an NYT story on President Obama’s visit to the dover Air Force Base included a paragraph characterizing the trip as a staged event, “intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste.” At some point, however, this paragraph was removed from the story, and yet there is no indication that any change was made, as ...
Liz Cheney: Obama Should Not Have Gone to Dover
The Moderate Voice —
... What’s more, President Obama didn’t “show up with the White House Press Pool.” The trip was not announced in advance — the White House wasn’t seeking publicity — and only a “small contingent” of journalists were allowed to attend. In fact, “ ...
Seriously, Sarah?
The Republic of T. —
... The long-overdue display of national gratitude and regret by the commander in chief rekindled a note of most solemn ritual that the country owes sons and daughters in uniform sacrificed in war. The president was restoring a post-Vietnam tradition that included the graphic embraces and wrenching words personally extended by President Ronald Reagan to the families of the 241 soldiers, sailors and Marines who perished 26 years ago in the bombing of the Marines’ camp in Lebanon. ...




