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Me#1You#10
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 Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject: Novak: "The Soldier Voting Scandal" |
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Bob Novak shines the light on a national disgrace...
| Quote: | July 24, 2008
The Soldier Voting Scandal
By Robert Novak
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Roy Blunt, the House Republican whip, on July 8 introduced a resolution demanding that the Defense Department better enable U.S. military personnel overseas to vote in the November elections. That act was followed by silence. Democrats normally leap on an opportunity to find fault with the Bush Pentagon. But not a single Democrat joined Blunt as a co-sponsor, and an all-Republican proposal cannot pass in the Democratic-controlled House.
Analysis by the federal Election Assistance Commission, rejecting inflated Defense Department voting claims, estimated overseas and absentee military voting for the 2006 midterm elections at a disgracefully low 5.5 percent. The quality of voting statistics is so poor that there is no way to tell how many of the slightly over 330,000 votes actually were sent in by the absentee military voters and their dependents and how many by civilian Americans living abroad -- 6 million all total.
Nobody who has studied the question objectively sees any improvement since 2006, and that is a scandal. Retired U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Charles Henry wrote in the July issue of the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings: "While virtually everyone involved ... seems to agree that military people deserve at least equal opportunity when it comes to having their votes counted, indications are that in November 2008, many thousands of service members who try to vote will do so in vain."
Henry, now an independent broadcast journalist, has personal experience with this enduring scandal. While serving as a Marine at sea off Iran, he received his 1980 presidential ballot too late to count. President Harry Truman said of troops fighting in Korea, "The least we at home can do is to make sure that they are able to enjoy the rights they are being asked to fight to preserve." But the U.S. military that has so perfected the art of war over the past half-century is at a loss to enable soldiers to vote.
A combat officer has enough to do without handling the votes of troopers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. A Defense Department Inspector General's report in March last year recommended "appointment of civilian personnel" as "voting assistance officers." The Pentagon brass rejected the idea.
I reported four years ago that the problems of 2000 overseas military voting had not been corrected for the 2004 presidential election. At that time, Under Secretary of Defense David Chu was put in charge of the problem. During massive turnover at the Pentagon, Chu remains in place -- best known among critics of the military vote problem for his chronic failure to return telephone calls.
Congressional attention to the problem has been scattered and limited mostly to Republicans such as Sen. John Cornyn, who earlier this year decried "a lack of will" at the Pentagon to solve the voting problem. Democratic interest about tackling the problem might be tempered by apprehension that soldiers will cast too many Republican votes.
Nevertheless, at least one prominent Democrat -- House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer -- described himself to me as eager to deal with this problem. (Hoyer's home state of Maryland is one of the worst offenders, with ballots of only 4.1 percent of overseas voters counted in 2006.) Hoyer and Blunt, who have become friendly adversaries in a bitterly partisan Congress, conferred several weeks ago and agreed in principle on co-sponsoring a resolution aimed at getting the Defense Department moving.
Hoyer wanted the resolution to cover expatriate Americans as well as the military, and Blunt did not object. They turned the issue over to their staffers and went about the business of major legislation. Blunt had instructed his staff to seek agreement with Democrats but, if not, to introduce a resolution applying only to the military, which was the outcome.
One presidential staffer who is familiar with the situation privately dismisses the Pentagon bureaucrats as "hopeless." In a lame-duck administration counting the days before a troubled eight years finally end, American fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan deprived of their right to vote constitute the least of White House worries.
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LewWaters
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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Gore gave us insight into how they feel about Military Absentee ballots in 2000. Obviously little has changed since no Democrat will sign on to this bill.
But, they support the Troops. Unless they vote??
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zinfella
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject: |
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| LewWaters wrote: | Gore gave us insight into how they feel about Military Absentee ballots in 2000. Obviously little has changed since no Democrat will sign on to this bill.
But, they support the Troops. Unless they vote?? |
And Obama can't be bothered with visiting wounded troops in Germany, even though he has extended his intended stay by two hours.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D924E4KO0&show_article=1
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Me#1You#10
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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I dunno Zin. I'm still mulling this one over.
Let me devil's advocate this for a moment though and try to imagine the probable opposition "spin" had he chosen to visit our wounded troops.
I believe it's quite probable that he would have been accused of crass political opportunism in using our wounded troops as props.
Frankly, I'm inclined to think he was presented with a "Hobson's Choice" on this one and chose the less odious of the two options. |
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zinfella
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| Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Me#1You#10 wrote: |
I dunno Zin. I'm still mulling this one over.
Let me devil's advocate this for a moment though and try to imagine the probable opposition "spin" had he chosen to visit our wounded troops.
I believe it's quite probable that he would have been accused of crass political opportunism in using our wounded troops as props.
Frankly, I'm inclined to think he was presented with a "Hobson's Choice" on this one and chose the less odious of the two options. |
Obama keeps telling everyone that this is not a campaign trip. He told the Germans that he was not there as a political candidate. Then he said that it wouldn't be right to visit the troops while on a trip paid for by the campaign. But, that isn't true, the trip is being paid for by the American taxpayers because they set this trip up as a "fact finding mission". He can't have it both ways.
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TEWSPilot
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:36 am Post subject: |
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This is the work of a talented conservative cartoon artist, Mark Dean!
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zinfella
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Location: Mesa, Az
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Me#1You#10 wrote: |
I dunno Zin. I'm still mulling this one over.
Let me devil's advocate this for a moment though and try to imagine the probable opposition "spin" had he chosen to visit our wounded troops.
I believe it's quite probable that he would have been accused of crass political opportunism in using our wounded troops as props.
Frankly, I'm inclined to think he was presented with a "Hobson's Choice" on this one and chose the less odious of the two options. |
I might be mistaken here, #1. Certainly it has become a clouded issue. I was wrong about the Berlin part of the trip being publicly funded, evidently, it was campaign funded. Still, he approached the German people claiming not to be there campaigning.
A stop to visit wounded troops was planned, then cancelled at the last minute. Currently, there is a controversy over why Obama cancelled the visit. Some claim that the Pentagon nixed it, but, the Military spokesman in Germany said that it was cancelled after the Obama campaign was reminded that he could not use the visit to campaign. If the Pentagon nixed the visit, the campaign would have had advance knowledge of it, because it was a scheduled stop. But, it was a last minute cancellation. lending credence to what the military spokesman said. The Obama campaign originally said that they cancelled the stop because it was inappropriate. Well, if it was, shouldn't they have known that before it was ever planned?
I don't trust anything coming out of the mouth of Obama, or his campaign. The way I see it, he didn't go because he couldn't make hay out of it. As sitting Senator, he can visit out troops, no problem, but as a candidate, he cannot.
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TEWSPilot
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: Stumbling, Bumbling America-Hating Gaffe Machine |
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| With every situation he encounters, he demonstrates his dishonesty, his disdain for the American people ("citizen of the world") and his total incompetence to be POTUS/CIC. He is nothing more than an over-achieving "community organizer", and the sooner the American people realize it, the better off we will all be. It had better be BEFORE the election, though. |
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zinfella
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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Amen!
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shawa
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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His purpose was for it to be a press event, plain and simple. Only when he was told the Press could not accompany him while visting the soldiers, he decided he didn' t want to see them after all.
Had he been smarter, he would have gone ahead with a 'private' visit. The fact that he canceled because he couldn't have press with him just emphasizes that he really has no interest in imparting gratitude and encourgement to the injured. Just makes him look really bad.
| Quote: | ~snip~
On Obama’s flight from Berlin to Paris, Gibbs offered more details. Around July 15, the Pentagon approved Obama’s visit. But military officials later invoked a rule on political activity at military bases and questioned whether it would cover Obama’s visit, Gibbs said.
Obama spokesmen said they were seeking clarification on what the rule is. Gibbs also declined to speculate on why the Pentagon did not cite the rule until Wednesday.
That account, however, didn’t square with the Defense Department’s explanation. The Pentagon said it informed the Obama campaign on Monday that he and his Senate staff could visit Landstuhl, where wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are treated, but that no press would be allowed.
"Sen. Obama is more than welcome to visit Landstuhl or any other military hospital around the world," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. "But he has to do so, just as any other senator has to do so, in his official capacity. It is not acceptable to do so as a candidate."
"In an election year," Morrell said, "I don’t believe that any candidate is allowed to visit a DOD facility with press."
He cited a Pentagon directive that activities "reasonably viewed as directly or indirectly associating the [Defense Department] with a partisan political activity" should be avoided.
Morrell said the U.S. military was prepared to accommodate Obama’s traveling press and campaign staff at the passenger terminal at Ramstein Air Base, the U.S. Air Force base in southern Germany where Obama’s plane had been cleared to land. |
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/07/obama-cancels-x.html
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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TEWSPilot
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Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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| shawa, you're dead on. The "Agent of Change", faced with the option of respectfully visiting our wounded heros in his official capacity as a United States Senator or NOT being allowed to visit them only to use them as a backdrop for a photo op for his political campaign, demonstrated his concept of "change". If his choice is between doing what is right and doing what only benefits him, he "changes" his plans to suit his own selfishness. His kind of "change" we can all do without. I certainly don't want him watching my six. |
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shawa
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Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject: |
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After deciding the trip to Landstuhl wasn't worth it, he went to the gym instead where it was reported that he can do a full workout and not even break a sweat. Wow, what a man!
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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TEWSPilot
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Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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| What would you expect from a guy who shoots nothing but "air balls"? |
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Me#1You#10
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:40 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="shawa"]<snip> | Quote: | ~snip~
That account, however, didn’t square with the Defense Department’s explanation. The Pentagon said it informed the Obama campaign on Monday that he and his Senate staff could visit Landstuhl, where wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are treated, but that no press would be allowed. |
Ah, so it was a "No Press? No Visit." scenario. Figgers.
Thanks for the info. |
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 11:24 pm Post subject: |
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And of course we can always count on Andrea Mitchell to cover for Barack. She reported on NBC this morning that Obama REALLY WANTED to visit the hospital but THE PENTAGON SAID NO. That's it, simple as that.
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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