Posted on 05/27/2008 7:09:52 PM PDT by Libloather
Obama mistaken on name of Nazi death camp
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writer
28 minutes ago
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Barack Obama campaign said Tuesday the candidate mistakenly referred to the wrong Nazi death camp when relating the story of a great uncle who helped liberate the camps in World War II.
The Democratic presidential candidate said the story is accurate except that the camp was Buchenwald, not Auschwitz.
"Senator Obama's family is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II — especially the fact that his great uncle was a part of liberating one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. "Yesterday he mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically."
Aides said Tuesday that his grandmother's brother, Charlie Payne, helped liberate a Buchenwald sub-camp in April 1945 as part of the 89th Infantry Division.
In a meeting Monday with veterans, Obama discussed the importance of improving treatment for soldiers suffering post-traumatic stress. To illustrate his point, he talked about his own family.
"I had an uncle who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps. The story in our family was that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn't leave the house for six months," Obama said. "Now, obviously something had really affected him, but at that time there just weren't the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain."
Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet forces as they marched across Poland in January 1945. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum says Americans liberated several death camps in Germany, including Buchenwald, Dachau and Mauthausen.
"On April 4, 1945, the 89th overran Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Ohrdruf was the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by U.S. troops in Germany," according to the museum. "A week later, on April 12, Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and Omar Bradley visited Ohrdruf to see, firsthand, evidence of Nazi atrocities against concentration camp prisoners."
Obama's mistaken mention of the camp on Monday quickly generated Internet chatter, ranging from puzzlement to outrage. The Republican Party demanded an explanation.
"It was Soviet troops that liberated Auschwitz, so unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there's no way Obama's statement yesterday can be true," said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
To make it worse, I believe this would have been a - ssshhhh! - WHITE great uncle.
ROTFL.
Wow! In the past 24 hours this story has been posted here on the average of once every 4.54 minutes.
Goober, I like that. It fits.
Would anyone know if this was picked up by Howie Carr or other radio hosts?
I really like Howie the most out of all the radio talk show hosts, he’s a smart man..
I respectfully disagree with the appropriation of the word "goober" for this application .
> Aides said Tuesday that his grandmother’s brother, Charlie Payne, helped liberate a Buchenwald sub-camp in April 1945 as part of the 89th Infantry Division.
Alright, this should be blood-simple to prove or disprove.
Payne, Charles. 89th Infantry Division. April 1945.
Was he there at Buchenwald, or not? And in what capacity? Believe it or not, the US Military keeps excellent service records: there will be no mistake one way or another.
And I do believe these are a matter of public record now. Does anyone know how to check this out? I’m a foreigner otherwise I’d check it out myself.
There is nothing more despicable than a Valor Thief.
I did a little investigating, and found that the division his great uncle belonged to (the 89th Infantry Division) is nicknamed “The Flying W” - heh, heh, heh... kindof ironic...
...in other news, Dan Quayle is a dummy...
I post. You decide.
Is that right? (Not the ironic part...)
Kenyan tribesman liberates Buchenwald singlehandedly.
This specific error may be important to some folks, but what bothers me is the consistency of his errors and the narrowness of his experience each one betrays.
Was it one of these four WWII Kansas-natives named Charles Payne...??? Can some FreeperSleuths investigate better than I???
World War II Kansas Veterans Index
Surname: Payne
Given Name(s): Charles
Branch: Army
Your search returned 4 results.
Results 1 through 4
Name Service Service # Registration Place Comments
Payne, Charles A. Inducted 11 April 1942, Army 37255144 Registered, order # 2043 Lyons, Rice Co. (Board # 1)
Payne, Charles E. Inducted 9 June 1943, Army 37531353 Registered, order # V11125 Augusta, Butler Co. (Board # 2)
Payne, Charles J. Inducted 12 September 1942, Army 37223827 Registered, order # 11191 Wichita, Sedgwick Co. (Board # 3)
Payne, Charles L. Enlisted 1 October 1942, Army 0498672 Registered, order # U-894 Fort Scott, Bourbon Co. (Board # 1)
Pages: 1 |
Source: Adjutant General Armed Forces Personnel Who Served between September 16, 1940, and June 30, 1946.
We’ve got to get a good nickname for Obama.
We had flip-flopper for Kerry.
Butt Obama is more like “A Lie a Day”
Any ideas.
From Obama’s books “ in his own words:
From Dreams of My Father: “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.”
From Dreams of My Father: “I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.”
From Dreams of My Father: “There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.”
From Dreams of My Father: “It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.”
From Dreams of My Father: “I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn’t speak to my own. It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa , that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.”
From Audacity of Hope: “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
I guess Obama will use them whiteys if he finds it convenient.
We’ll need his serial number, these were used before the SS numbers were used. I know, I have a serial number. If someone can get nobama’s uncle’s serial number we’ll have the man.
Barack is wrong about this, too.
He needs to see the movie, Let there be light
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