Barack Obama Defends Patriotism to Vets

[Hissyspit]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Barack Obama defends patriotism to vets

By Johanna Neuman and Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
8:02 AM PDT, August 19, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama defended his patriotism today, chiding rival John McCain for impugning his integrity and challenging the Republican to acknowledge that they can disagree without maligning each other.

"I have never suggested that Sen. McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition," Obama told an audience of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest. Now it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-campaign20-2008aug20,0,4279443.story

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[Captain Hilts]

1. The Rev. Wright stuff hurt him among white men. nt

[independentpiney]

4. I'm an over 50 white guy

And it didn't hurt my opinion of him at all. Maybe you should qualify that as 'low info, racially biased white men', or 'white men who really really wanted Hillary and can't get over it.

[Captain Hilts]

6. Sorry, 8 years in polling makes me less judgmental than that.

But I'm always amused to read comments from people that judge the world from their own, personal experience and view. Thanks!

[Frances]

7. How many white men who wanted Hillary do you know?

I don't know any and I'm a long time Democrat.

It would be more accurate to say white men who voted for Bush. They supported Bush by a large percent as I recall.

[Captain Hilts]

10. Our personal associations are very self-selecting and not accurate ...

depictions of Democrats or voters as a whole.

[independentpiney]

13. I don't know any personally

but according to the talking heads she had the white working class sewn up :eyes:. But your right, it would be more accurate to say white men who voted for bush.

[Captain Hilts]

14. His numbers with white Democratic men sagged after the Wright stuff. nt

[Frances]

19. When I lived in Maryland,

many of the white men who were painters etc had Bush stickers on their trucks in 2000. I think they thought Bush would protect them from competition from immigrants.

I think the white men who were for Hillary in the primaries were for her because they approved on Bill's economic policies.

But I think the majority of white men in 2000 and 2004 were for Republicans.

[razorman]

9. I'm afraid it is not over yet, either.

Once the conventions are over, and the general election race is officially started, the Republicans are going to bring Jeremiah Wright front-and-center into the public discourse again. The R's didn't have to say much about him the first time around, since Hillary Clinton's camp was doing the work for them, but they are not going to let it go.

[Captain Hilts]

11. Clinton didn't touch the Rev. Wright stuff, but McCain will. nt

[razorman]

12. The candidates themselves don't really have to go on the attack anymore.

They all have surrogates who are more than glad to do it for them, so that the candidate can keep his or her hands "clean".

[BonnieJW]

17. Then the Dems can bring up

Songbird McCain. I have a feeling McPow's campaign is going to get civilized.

[brooklynite]

2. Does anyone know what the audience reaction was?

[rsmith6621]

5. A Good Response in the

....affirmative.....they had no problem accepting it as heartfelt and complete truth.....

.......

[madfloridian]

3. Here's a couple of video clips from Al Rodgers at Kos.

I have not watched them yet...not heard anything about the VFW speech.

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/8/19/91852/4854/165#c165

[No Elephants]

8. McCain needs to stop accusing Obama of treason. It's an outrage.

[rinsd]

15. This is why this man should be President

One day after McCain addressed the same group, Obama gave a spirited defense of his foreign policy positions, using events in the last few days to buttress his argument that "the calamity left behind by the last eight years is too great" to merely "use the same partisan playbook where we just challenge our opponent's patriotism to win an election."

On Iraq, the Illinois senator said that while the surge may have worked militarily, it has failed politically.

"We have lost over a thousand American lives and spent billions of dollars since the surge began, but Iraq's leaders still haven't made hard compromises or substantial investments in rebuilding their country," he said. "And while we pay a heavy price in Iraq -- and Americans pay record prices at the pump -- Iraq's government is sitting on a $79-billion budget surplus from windfall oil profits."

More -

On Georgia, Obama, like McCain, called for Russian troops to leave. "There is no possible justification for Russia's actions," he said. But he argued that the conflict over Georgia's disputed regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia showcased the failure of U.S. leadership.

"We failed to head off this conflict and lost leverage in our ability to contain it because our leaders have been distracted, our resources overstretched and our alliances frayed," he said. "American leadership means getting engaged earlier to shape events so that we're not merely responding to them."

[YvonneCa]

16. C-Span just ran the whole speech. It was...

...EXCELLENT, and well received by the VFW audience. They announced a re-play at 2:15 Pacific, 5:15 Eastern.

[Better Believe It]

18. This Was A Very Weak Response From Obama ....

and it's exactly what McCain was counting on.

Obama just won more votes for McCain!

"I have never suggested that Sen. McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition,"

Well you should Obama if you want to win this election!

"I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest."

Bull shit! You don't really believe that now, do you Obama? If not, why say that??? McCain wants to drag this nation into a war with Russia, Iran and any other country he doesn't like!

"Now it's time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same."

McCain will never do that. Go after the sob where he should be at his weakest. The issue of war and more wars .... so-called "national security".

[YvonneCa]

21. I think it was a very STRONG response...

...from Obama. He did not recant on his position to fight this election battle on a higher plane. He drew the line about ANYONE questioning his patriotism, and how wrong it would be to tolerate that...on either side. He taught a lesson on how this war really started.

And he clearly gave the pro-military audience a clear rundown on his policies toward veterans...respect them, support them when they return from war, GI bill for college, more VA hospitals, improve the processing for services with technology, honor their service by valuing their skills rebuilding America going forward.

I think it was a home run! :patriot:

[bluedeminredstate]

20. Disgusting that he has to defend his patriotsm

This is right out of the LBJ playbook and it's too bad Mccain is being allowed to get this much traction out of this.

[YvonneCa]

22. Agreed, but...

...so did Clinton, Gore and Kerry. It is a Republican strategy against Democrats that HAS to stop. Obama handled it well. :)