Isn't mixing up the name of the concentration camp your great-uncle helped to free...

[Bicoastal]

...a bit like saying you helped a 90-year-old woman cross 5th Avenue during rush hour...

...when it was actually later confirmed to be 6th Avenue, and she was only 87?

By all means, keep hammering Obama on this one--you're making him and his family look REALLY bad...:eyes:

[beachmom]

1. Agreed. I never would have heard the story about Obama's great uncle,

had the RNC not decided to pounce. They should have fact checked it more thoroughly before attacking him. They look pretty dumb now.

[DevonRex]

2. Yep. And I have a HUGE confession. I haven't double checked

all the war stories my father told me or my mother or siblings told me about my father's service.

He might have mixed up a date. They might have mixed up a place. I might have confused both dates and places since then. It has been a loooonnnngggg time since WWII.

[DevonRex]

3. Oh yeah. Rec'd. nt

[JimGinPA]

4. K&R

[NashVegas]

5. It's Not As Bad As Saying Your Parents Got Together Because of Selma

When you were born 5 years before those events.

I might put it more like, confusing a corkscrew dive to evade sniper-fire with actually being under sniper-fire.

[mainer]

10. he didn't say that, and you know it.

He said that because of what happened at Selma, his parents were able to get together. He never said they "met" at Selma.

[MethuenProgressive]

65. mainer, what happened at Selma happened 5 years after he was born.

"He said that because of what happened at Selma, his parents were able to get together."
Yeah, he said that. And it was a pandering lie.

[Bicoastal]

12. Also, I don't see any proof that Obama MEANT to deceive his audience--

--because the story wouldn't have changed if he had correctly said "Buchenwald". There would be no point in lying--he merely said the wrong name. It doesn't change what happened at all.

Whereas, with the sniper-fire episode, she deliberately changed the sequence of events to make it sound more dramatic.

[frickaline]

50. Well, I wouldn't say 'no point'

The story certainly gets more attention this way. More people will learn of his Uncle's heroism because of the slip up. I wouldn't be surprised if this was done on purpose, but as you say, there is no proof.

[ErinBerin84]

15. whatever

Didn't Hillary say that she was named after Sir Edmond Hillary? I realy doubt that, but it doesn't mean that her mother didn't tell her that, so I don't hold it against her.

[NashVegas]

48. Given the Choice Between Exploiting a Possible Connection to a Famous Explorer to Score Points

And exploiting one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century ...

[onenote]

61. exploiting? he was making a point about PTSD

Dense much?

[NashVegas]

68. Funny I Don't See Anything About That

In the OP.

[NotThisTime]

40. And just curious, Was Your Great Uncle A Member Of The 89th Infantry Division That Liberated The Ohr

Or any party of your family?

[SwampG8r]

45. so who and when was anyone ever actually "under sniper fire?"

[MethuenProgressive]

64. In the same speech he claimed his 'entire existence' was thanks to JFK - another lie of his.

His self authored personal history doesn't stand up to the slightest examination.

[NJSecularist]

6. Just another mistake by Barack Quayle Obama.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[unblock]

13. ok, hillary sniper fire clinton apologist.

[Lucky 13]

18. Read this, knucklehead.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/Obamas_World_War_II_history.html

[LaurenG]

19. It's really pathetic when the RNC lets it go but the DLC will not.

:eyes:

[Lucky 13]

23. This is ridiculous.

If they are looking people to call out for lying....

[cui bono]

28. LOL

where did you find that lovely pic?

:rofl:

[cui bono]

21. self delete

...

[Forkboy]

26. Says the McCain and Bush defender.

[ClassWarrior]

38. Is this the latest talking point? Little Quayle's name keeps popping up here today.

Fortunately Obama's too intelligent for this smear to hold up in the minds of reasonable people.

NGU.

[stevietheman]

46. What would you like on your Tombstone (TM) ? n/t

n/t

[roguevalley]

47. Tuzla, another LIE by Hillary "IT'S MY TURN!" Clinton

[dionysus]

60. good thing you only have a week left to do this...

[onenote]

75. Sir Edmund Rodham Clinton, of course, has never made a mistake

At least not unintentionally.

[Lucky 13]

7. TOTALLY.

[Marrah_G]

8. You are absolutely right- The things people obsess over here are absurd

This goes to people in both camps. When you start sounding like Freepers it's time to check yourself.

[DevonRex]

14. Marrah, you're still wonderful! I saw you post in that other thread

but I didn't want to reply and kick the thread up. Anyway, I appreciate what you've said.

And people wouldn't believe the family stories I've mixed up. Including one about a bootlegger who was really NOT my grandfather but the guy who worked with him. Boy did my mother give me what-for about that.

On the other hand, there's another story that IS true that I would never, ever repeat in a zillion years. The bootlegging thing was quite tame in comparison.

[Marrah_G]

16. Thanks Jen- first and foremost we are all Dems.

OOOoo now you have me curious about the one you won't tell about !

[tammywammy]

51. Agreed

:thumbsup:

[suffragette]

11. Perfectly stated

K&R

[suston96]

17. But the real question should be: was there any sniper fire during that liberation......? nt

[Skittles]

20. no

one is casual conversation, the other is part of a campaign speech. A correction was in order and since it was made, that should be the end of it.

[Bicoastal]

24. You understand analogies, don't you?

Don't be so literal minded. Besides, I never said the "help old ladies cross the street" thing WASN'T a campaign speech. If *I* had done it, I'd try running for borough president or some such...

Aaaaaaaanyway, thanks for acknowledging that the issue is a non-starter. I'm just curious to see if Joe Lieberman tries to make political hay out of this--especially after his best buddy mixed up Iran with Al Qaieda.

[Skittles]

25. all these "issues" are utterly RIDICULOUS

and I am SHOCKED how many DUers fall for them - all of it - bittergate, RFK, Wright, snipergate blah blah blah - it disgusts me not just that idiots fall for this stuff but to see it on DU - it is EXTREMELY disturbing

[Bicoastal]

27. The RFK thing, for me, was a visceral shock...

...until I calmed down and realized that I was reading something that wasn't actually there. As the first black candidate with a chance to get into the White House EVER, you can't blame us for being paranoid as hell--after watching YouTube clips of fully-dressed Klansmen confident that "something" would happen to"remove" Obama from the race, I can't deny that I lept to a conclusion all too suddenly.

[Skittles]

31. the tabloid media just hammers this stuff non-stop

they make an issue when there really isn't one there - get ready for all sorts of garbage about Obama - it's gonna be a field day. It's all so very one-sided too - when McCain confuses warring factions in Iraq, that is VERY SERIOUS INDEED yet it's just gone with the wind while they wait on the next Dem non-issue to pounce on. ARGH!!!!

[WeDidIt]

22. He was probably told time after time as a child it was Auschwitz

because to so many Americans after the war, all of the concentration camps were "Auschwitz".

I know that's how I heard any of the camps referred to. I read books about the holocaust as a child and consistently had to explain the differences betwen Buchenwald and Auschwitz to adults (including teachers).

[MJJP21]

29. Grasping

You Hillary supporters should get a life and stop grasping at every t thats not crossed and every i thats not dotted. No it doesn't really matter whether its 6th ave or 5th ave. Both avenues are busy and the woman is 90. WW 2 ended over 60 years ago. Get something else of substance to talk about. It's not like Obama said HE liberated that camp but you might expect Hillary to make that claim. Hillary lost and there is no way she is going to win unless her dark wishes come true and even then I don't think she will win against McCain. That is why the GOP wants to face her and not Obama.

[SeattleGirl]

30. I'd like to ask the people going after Obama over this non-issue if

they remember every single detail of their family history.

[HooptieWagon]

32. LOL, so true

I only even knew one of my great uncles, and have made similar faulty recollections of family history when the stories had changed being passed down over time... like the old child's game.

[2rth2pwr]

33. His uncle liberated Auschwitz is as about as accurate as saying his cousin cheney

was President.

[Bicoastal]

34. I don't really see your point, but silly me, assuming you had one.

[2rth2pwr]

35. Quoting you- "You understand analogies, don't you?"

uncle=Great Uncle
cousin=Eighth Cousin

Auschwitz=Ohrdruf
Vice President=President

[AZBlue]

37. The problem is, you're having a discussion with Ignored.

:D

[ClassWarrior]

36. You don't think Cheney's President?

:rofl:

NGU.

[YOY]

57. ...

:spray:

[AllentownJake]

41. Do you know the point he was trying to make

with his story? That soldiers need better mental health coverage.

Damn that OBAMA wanting to get help for our soldiers with PTSD.

[2rth2pwr]

42. Good for him, but why exaggerate?

[tammywammy]

49. How is it exaggerating?

He said 1 death camp as opposed to another. It's not like his uncle liberated a pie factory.

[onenote]

62. exagerrate? you're stretching so hard you're going to be sore for weeks

he got the camp wrong.

Let me ask you something. Do you think that Buchenwals was a holiday camp?

[Hugabear]

70. Hillary dodging sniper fire in Bosnia was an exaggeration. This was not. End of story.

Please, try to learn the difference between an exaggeration and a simple mistake. His uncle (many people do refer to their great-uncles as "uncle") DID liberate a Nazi death camp. So he got the name of it mixed up. Big fucking deal. I love how you and every other Hillbot is obsessing over that, and not what his actual message was!

[sailor65]

39. If you want my opinion,

EVERY American soldier helped to free EVERY concentration camp, so the attack on Obama is totally illogical.

edited for clarity

[WinkyDink]

53. I think the soldiers themselves would disagree.

[Erin Elizabeth]

43. Attention Hillary supporters:

THAT is an example of misspeaking.

Making up an entire story out of WHOLE CLOTH is called lying. (Bosnia under sniper fire)

You guys apparently can't tell the difference between misspeaking and lying and I thought it was nice that we now have a wonderfully concrete example of misspeaking versus lying. What Hillary did with the Bosnia story is calling l-y-i-n-g.

[Erin Elizabeth]

44. By the way, for the longest time, I had the details of my

grandfather's WWII service mixed up and had some cities wrong. Right before he passed on, my mother corrected me on a few of the areas (he flew B-24 bombers in missions over north Africa) and so now I have it straight, but had I spoken about it before then? I would have gotten a few details wrong. Shrug. No biggie, as he WAS in WWII and DID do all the things I thought he did, I just had some locations wrong.

Good thing I'm not running for president, eh? LOL!

[WinkyDink]

54. Precisely.

[WinkyDink]

52. But why mention a "great-uncle" at all? Although I admit to wanting to hear Bush discuss

Grampa Prescott.

Perhaps, though, in thinking of his great-uncle's WWII years, Obama will understand the following--- i.e., "Boomer"---generation's history, as well.

[merh]

55. He was responding to a question

He was discussing PTSD. It wasn't during a prepared speech but during the Q&A.

[WinkyDink]

56. Really? His relative as a liberating soldier experienced PTSD?

Pretty much pales in comparison to what the camp victims endured.

[Peacetrain]

59. He was using the story of his family member

to make a point on the importance of medical care, physical and mental for returning veterans.. they experience things that cannot just be left on the plane when they rotate back into the states, look at the number of suicides by military members active and rotated out. and it is a sorry shame that some have so little consideration for what others have endured.. to attack someone who is trying to fight for care for vets., tells a story all of its own..

Senator Obama has the judgment to understand that it is policy makers that puts our armed forces in harms way.. Like Afghanistan it is a necessary thing to root out the terrorist cells who have us in their cross hairs as well as the ordinary person living in the middle east.. But the war in Iraq, was not ...nothing but the attempt to implement the pnac theory..

But unlike others, he does not try and deny the needs for care for those who serve..

[onenote]

63. okay, so now we're going to diminish the experience of the soldiers

Send that one to the HRC camp. I'm sure they'll sign you on as a campaign advisor.

[merh]

69. Sure does

And your ignorance is not pretty, I suggest you go do some research to discover how the experiences screwed up folks.

[Hugabear]

71. Stupid Post of the Day

At least so far. Give it some time, though, and I'm sure that this will be topped.

Nice going. I don't think anyone EVER tried comparing PTSD to what the camp victims endured.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

58. First it was....

"My parents got together because of the Selma marches in 1965," even though Baby Barry was born four years earlier in 1961...

Then it was "My father was on the Kennedy air flights from Kenya" even though his father came a year BEFORE the Kennedy air flights...

Now his uncle liberated Auschwitz!


and his peeps made a HUGE thing over Hillary "sniper fire" embellishment....let's see if any apologize for it


meh.

Hillary claimed that she was under fire in Bosnia--and she was actually there.

[MethuenProgressive]

66. We might have to cut BO some slack on this...

...maybe he thinks Auschwitz was the only camp the Nazis had.
We know how much history was taught at that exclusive private prep school in Hawaii.

[EnviroBat]

67. "and she was actually there."

AND never really in danger of being fired upon by some imaginary sniper now was she? Laughable. You Hillbots are really reaching...

:puke:

[mainer]

72. she was actually there -- so she should know better.

And you're slamming Obama for events that happened before he was even born? And expecting him to be accurate about what happened?

[GoesTo11]

74. Obama was relating a family story. Hillary was relating her own experience.

In the retelling, it wouldn't be surprising if Auschwitz got mixed up with Buchenwald. I don't know how word got passed down, but since his uncle didn't want to talk about the war, his grandmother might have heard about the death camp and inferred that it was Auschwitz, and told Barack that.

In Hillary's case, the difference between being under sniper fire and not being under sniper fire was for her to see. No one got mixed up.

There's a difference between

Obama: saying something you believe is correct that you heard second hand, even if there is an error that is not of material importance to the point you're trying to make.

and

Hillary: saying something you know first-hand is false just to make yourself sound more impressive.

The latter is intentional, and that makes it a lie. The first is not a lie at all.

[George_Bonanza]

73. Buchenwald was actually a cakewalk compared to Auschwitz

How dare he mistake the two!

[Ian_rd]

76. It's true! Buchenwald was actually a resort! A virtual Semitic Oasis of Joy in the midst of the war!

:rofl: