Right-wing media attack Obama over Memorial Day plans

[Political Tiger]

Right-wing media attack Obama over Memorial Day plans

Conservative media have attacked President Obama, claiming that his plans to attend a Memorial Day ceremony in Chicago while allowing Vice President Joe Biden to lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery are disrespectful to the military. However, previous presidents -- including Ronald Reagan -- allowed others to lay the wreath at Arlington to honor fallen troops.

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(This part of the article features the hypocritical comments from Reich-wing Fascists like Beck, Erickson, Malkin and some idiot appropriately named JammieWearingFool)

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Previous presidents have allowed others to lay wreath at Arlington Cemetery to honor troops

1983: Reagan attended summit meeting; Defense Department official Thayer laid wreath at Arlington. Deputy Secretary of Defense W. Paul Thayer laid a wreath at Arlington Cemetery during the Memorial Day ceremony in 1983, according to a May 31, 1983, Washington Post article (accessed via Nexis). The AP reported that President Reagan attended a "summit meeting in Williamsburg, Va., with leaders of the industrialized democracies."

1992: George H.W. Bush allowed VP Quayle to lay wreath. In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, according to a May 26, 1992, Boston Globe article (accessed via the Nexis database). The Globe reported that President George H.W. Bush attended a wreath-laying ceremony and made brief remarks at an American Legion hall in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he also played a round of golf.

Veterans Day 2007: Cheney attends ceremony to pay tribute at Arlington as Bush remained in Texas. On November 11, 1007, the AP reported that "President Bush honored U.S. troops past and present at a tearful ceremony Sunday for four Texans who died there." The AP further reported that "Vice President Dick Cheney went to Arlington to pay tribute to Iraq veterans."

http://mediamatters.org/research/201005250053

[Captain Hilts]

1. FDR skipped a few as well. Sent Eleanor. nt

[Connie_Corleone]

2. I'm surprised those idiots don't criticize Obama for smiling too much.

The man can't do anything right according to them.

[Cha]

16. I've read they did and now he's not emotional enough.

They're impotent whiney vultures.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

19. If he walked on water they'd complain he couldn't swim.

[Peacetrain]

3. Bidens son served in Iraq... and having Biden lay the wreath is a thoughtful gesture.

those bean brains who will jump at anything negative they can find .. can jump off a cliff as far as I am concerned!

[flakey_foont]

4. geez,,,, they are a thin skinned bunch

doesn't take much to upset those mooks and raise the outrage level

are they going to tell their Mommys?

[RamboLiberal]

5. Good thing he is going to the gulf Friday

Or he'd be facing double criticism. How many days did Bush have in vacation by this time in his term? Probably triple or quadruple time.

[eleny]

6. Sounds more like sharing the privilege

[RamboLiberal]

7. Doofus Erick Erickson weighs in

“Obama skipping the Tomb of the Unknowns this weekend for Chicago is offensive. Chicago can wait. The Commander-in-Chief has a job to do.”

Pretty quickly, it was established that President Reagan had occasionally skipped annual duties at the Tomb.

As had President George H.W. Bush.

As had the more recent President Bush.

Caught red-handed, Erickson has just responded with another tweet:

“Diff b/w Reagan and Bush not going to Tomb and Obama? No one questioned their support for soldiers and belief in American Exceptionalism.”

http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2010/05/25/yes-playing-politics-with-tomb-of-unknown-is-offensive/?cxntfid=blogs_jay_bookman_blog

[Jennicut]

12. Belief in American Exceptionalism? What are we exceptional at, starting

needless wars and creating huge oil spills?

:rofl:

I think the VP, whose won son was in Iraq, can handle laying the wreath.

[Cha]

8. Vice President Biden is perfectly capable of

doing that tradition this year..Pres Obama did it last year.

[11 Bravo]

9. If he ever wears white after Labor Day, they will initiate impeachment proceedings.

[tallahasseedem]

11. +1

LOL!

[spiritual_gunfighter]

10. There are legitimate issues to have with things Obama does

This kind of horseshit not only makes the Republicans look like complete idiots and hypocrites, it undermines any other argument they might have against the White House. So please continue this junk, it only makes you look petty and ridiculous.

[Arkansas Granny]

13. The RW media will attack Obama at every opportunity, regardless what he does or doesn't do.

They're obligated to do so in order to satisfy their audience. It's best to ignore them since they won't accept the truth or the facts that would prove it.

[political_Dem]

14. It seems like the RW are more prone to hypocrisy than they would like the public to believe.

It also reveals how often they forget the endeavors of their own side.

[cullen7282]

15. Thank You!!

I am very thankful for this post. There is a copy and paste status going around facebook:

President Obama picks Memorial Day weekend to go home to Chicago instead of following traditions and speaking at Arlington National Cemetary. The President is Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces. HE needs a break on the ONE day that we are suppose to remember our TROOPS and all they have done for us. Repost this sta...tus if you think our TROOPS are worth REMEMBERING-------I KNOW THAT I DO!!!!!

The first thing I did was come here and do a search so I could have some facts to reply with. My reply:

Biden will be laying the wreath at Arlington. Is this the first time the President of the US has had someone else do it? Nope, in 1983 Ronald Reagan had an official from the Defense Dept, Thayer, do it. In 1992, George H.W. Bush had VP Dan Quayle do it while he was in Maine. Finally, in 2007, George W Bush had Cheney do it while he was in Texas. Tell me, why wasn't everybody freaking out then?

It has started a very interesting conversation. Although, not with the people who were going off about it before I posted. The only people posting now are people that agree. Funny how when you start laying out facts everyone shuts up.

[mariema]

17. it is appropriate

I think it entirely appropriate for our President to attend the ceremony at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. To me, he is leading by example, as Paul Rieckhoff, of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in an editorial on that website, said the President should. But Rieckhoff thinks the only place the President should be on Memorial Day is at Arlington. I do not agree. My relatives are buried in Wisconsin, but are due just as much respect and honor as those in Arlington National Cemetery. I think the example the President sets shows that you don’t have to be in the national capitol to honor the nation’s fallen, it can and should be done in every corner of the country, in cemeteries everywhere. I can’t help but wonder if all those who are complaining about President Obama not going to Arlington attended memorials at ANY cemetery today.

[zulchzulu]

18. They are out of ammo on the Memorial Day tribute crap

Perhaps they will blame EVIL Chicago for having the audacity to have it rain during the ceremonies.

Secondly, is ONLY Arlington a legitimate place to honor the Fallen on Memorial Day?

[Cha]

20. Poignant post on another site that asks the right questions..

"Are the veterans of the wars who are laid to rest at The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Chicago somehow less heroic or had they served less than those buried at Arlington? Was their blood less brave, less red or less precious? Should President Obama be held in contempt because he chooses to honor fallen vets and stage the ceremony for doings so in an American city other than D.C.? What difference does it make if he chooses to honor the fallen in service in any other American city? Isn’t this the United States of America? Are the families who lost their loved ones in Chicago somehow less deserving of Presidential honor than those in D.C.." by Will