In his “John McCain’s Metamorphosis From Smear Politics Victim To Smear Politics Perpetrator,” Shaun Mullen commented on the McCain smear tactic du jour. This time the one in which, in order to try to “portray Barack Obama as unpatriotic, John McCain and his surrogates are accusing him in a TV commercial and elsewhere of canceling a visit to wounded troops at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a military hospital in Germany, because he was not allowed to take reporters and camera crews with him.”
In tomorrow’s edition of the independent military newspaper the Stars and Stripes, in an article titled “Landstuhl clarifies press rules for aborted Obama visit,” we read the following scoop:
LANDSTUHL, Germany. “Although news outlets have reported charges that Sen. Barack Obama canceled his trip to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany because the media weren’t allowed to cover the event, U.S. European Command officials say plans were in place to allow limited press coverage.
All media, including local press and the more than 40 journalists accompanying the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee on his eight-day international trip last week, would have been able to photograph the Illinois senator entering and leaving the hospital, said Air Force Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. European Command spokesman.
There are reports that the McCain campaign had two versions of smear ads ready to air: version one for the contingency where Obama did visit the troops at Lanstuhl; version 2 for the contingency where Obama did not visit Landstuhl.
It now looks like they need to concoct version two-and-a-half for this latest contingency. Can’t wait.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.