Posted by
Steve on Saturday, February 23, 2008 4:26:10 PM
Now that the two candidates have almost been decided, one issue has been brought to the front. That is criticism of Barack Hussein Obama can only be done by black people. If a white, brown or Asian person criticizes Obama, they are called racist. To me, that is a racist comment. I can criticize anyone because of what they believe. If I criticize that person because of their race or gender, then I am guilty of being a racist or some other form of bigot. But, a person’s beliefs are non-racial. If I believe that all people should drive Chevrolet Trucks. That is not racial. Someone can criticize that belief without criticizing me as a person of whatever color I am.
Yesterday, I heard Rush attack this idea in a funny way. He had his call screener, Bo Snerdley, come on as the official black to criticize Barack Obama. When I heard it I almost drove off the road, it was so funny. He made the point that you do not have to be black to criticize another black by having a black person criticize a black person. It was perfect.
The issue at hand was the claim in the Democrat debate by Barack Obama about a rifle platoon. He claimed that an Army Captain contacted him and told him that the platoon was supposed to have 39 soldiers. The Captain said 15 of those soldiers were sent to Iraq. The remaining 24 members of the rifle platoon were sent to Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, they had Humvee’s that did not work and that they had to get arms and ammunition from dead Taliban fighters because they did not have enough of their own.
On Friday, the Army reported that a platoon can have between 15 and 40 soldiers. A platoon is commanded by a Lieutenant. The Army has no reports of any units having Humvee’s that did not work or were deficient in any way. The Army also has no reports of any unit having any trouble obtaining ammunition for their guns.
Senator Obama’s office clarified the statement on Friday. The Captain was a Lieutenant when he commanded the rifle platoon. They captured and used Taliban equipment because it was available, not because they were not fully supplied with their own ammunition.
Note that Obama’s office did not report on the Humvee situation. The Army said there were no problems with the Humvee’s. Until we know more about this unit and their “problems”, we cannot know if the Humvee situation is correct. Senator Warner’s office has contacted Senator Obama to find out more information. That is where this information should have gone. It should have not gone to Senator Obama. It should have gone up the military chain of command and/or the Senate Armed Forces Committee. When Senator Obama’s staff found out about this information, they should have reported it at once to where it should have gone not sat on it. Now, we have people believing that the military has units in the field that are under equipped for the job they are being asked to do. That can not be allowed to stand. I am sure that Senator Obama’s staff thought that they had a gotcha moment and could use this against the Bush Administration. It is coming back to make Senator Obama look bad.
You have to be careful when you play gotcha. If you are not careful, you can look worse by playing gotcha than the person you are playing gotcha on. Liberals love to play gotcha. Liberals continually get hit back with their gotcha moments. They never seem to be able to learn.