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Obama corrects gaffe on kin's participation in freeing Auschwitz
The Boston Globe ^ | May 28, 2008 | FOON RHEE

Posted on 05/28/2008 5:23:22 AM PDT by Baladas

Republicans tried yesterday to jump on it as a question of Barack Obama's judgment. His campaign chalked it up to an innocent mistake.

The latest gaffe in the presidential campaign started during a Memorial Day event in New Mexico, where Obama talked about his uncle being among the US troops who liberated the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. "And 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.

The veracity of the recollection started rebounding around the blogosphere, then yesterday, the Republican National Committee issued a missive.

"Barack Obama's dubious claim is inconsistent with world history and demands an explanation," RNC spokesman Alex Conant said. "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. Obama's frequent exaggerations and outright distortions raise questions about his judgment and his readiness to lead as commander in chief."

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; barackhusseinobama; democratprimary; gaffe; obama; obamafamily; wwii
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To: Baladas

The gaffe can not be corrected. His gross ignorance was displayed for all to see. His confusion of the two camps indicates a level of education not up to Presidential standards.

He is ignorant, therefore unfit


21 posted on 05/28/2008 5:46:59 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . The Bitcons will elect a Democrat by default)
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To: Blue Turtle

All he wants to, the media will give st. barry a pass on everything


22 posted on 05/28/2008 5:47:48 AM PDT by sticker
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To: Baladas

Actually saw it on CNN of all places AC180 last night happened to be flipping channels and they went into it in very great detail and then of course excused it as harmless. I agree many camp usrvivors would take exception!!!


23 posted on 05/28/2008 5:48:02 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Will this thread be jacked by a Mormon?)
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To: Rappini

“His Uncles name was Jeremiah, and to top that off I always thought that Jeremiah was a bullfrog.”

He definitely was a bullfrog. I have heard that so many times.


24 posted on 05/28/2008 5:48:10 AM PDT by shineon
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To: Baladas
Obama's gaffes and the LSM's cover ups amuse some of us and outrage some of us. But has absolutely no effect of the vast multitude of DDOs*. They're voting Obama no matter what.

*Dumbed Down Ones.

25 posted on 05/28/2008 5:48:10 AM PDT by upchuck (Who wins doesn't matter. They're all liberals. Spend your time and money to take back Congress.)
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To: econjack
Yea, Auschwitz and Buchenwald do sound a lot alike.

I think what's most disturbing is that anyone who knows the history of WW II would know that Auschwitz was in Poland and thus could not have been liberated by the U.S.

That means Obama has very limited understanding of the most important world event of the last century. Which might explain why he thinks FDR meeting with Stalin and Churchill, our then allies, is the equivalent of meeting with a sworn enemy like his pal in Tehran. He doesn't know the history and he doesn't understand the role of appeasement in leading to that horrible war. And that should give people pause.

26 posted on 05/28/2008 5:48:24 AM PDT by Numbers Guy
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To: PA Engineer
The part about this lie from Obama that he is getting heat on isn't nearly as important as the reason he made the claim.

The next part was what his lie was leading up to, his claim that his Uncle had mental problems after he got out of the military.

Why does that matter? The anti-gun RATS have a ton of bills they are trying to pass that will put all X-military on the “no purchase” gun registry list!

27 posted on 05/28/2008 5:48:33 AM PDT by Beagle8U (FreeRepublic -- One stop shopping ....... Its the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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To: Numbers Guy
Which might explain why he thinks FDR meeting with Stalin and Churchill, our then allies, is the equivalent of meeting with a sworn enemy like his pal in Tehran.

Good grief...I missed that one!

28 posted on 05/28/2008 5:53:44 AM PDT by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
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To: Baladas

This must not be allowed to rest.

Obama is an ARRANT LIAR and he has now sought to hijack the memory of the Greatest Generation to his cause. Wrongfully.

For Shame.

This is his Swiftboat, if anyone wants to pursue it.

This Pretender must never be permitted to occupy the White House.


29 posted on 05/28/2008 5:55:38 AM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: Baladas

I just read that this great-uncle he is talking about served in the Navy. Not sure it is true. It probably is since Obama is a liar.


30 posted on 05/28/2008 5:58:13 AM PDT by imskylark
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To: Eurale
How old was his “great uncle” in 1945? 50 or 60?

Only if he's somewhere between 110 and 120 years old today.

Barack was born in 1961. His mother, Ann Dunham, was born in 1942. Her mother, Madelyn Dunham (née Payne) was born in 1922, making her 19 at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

According to a DUmmy citing a geneology site, Charlie Payne was born in Kansas around 1924, making him 17 at the time of Pearl Harbor.

31 posted on 05/28/2008 6:01:54 AM PDT by ReignOfError
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To: johnny7

It seems now that this mysterious uncle of Barry Hussein actually served in the NAVY! If correct, the ship evidently sailed to Buchenvald, a few guys jumped off and took a look around, and the Enterprise then beamed everyone back into the Pacific—or Atlantic—or...no, wait, maybe it was his grandfather after all. Stay tuned.


32 posted on 05/28/2008 6:07:22 AM PDT by Oldpuppymax (AGENDA OF THE LEFT EXPOSED)
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To: Baladas

Was the uncle REALLY in the ARmy??? I read where he was in the NAVY? Has anyone looked into it??


33 posted on 05/28/2008 6:08:38 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Baladas

When O’bomber is POTUS lying and falsehoods will be common place. John Kerry will be able to claim all sorts of medals from his exploites in Vietnam. But for now a few laws are in place.

Fake claims of war heroics a federal offense

Ex-soldier fights for medals’ honor

By John Crewdson

Tribune correspondent

11:09 PM CDT, May 27, 2008

Dick Agnew, a retired Army major, was hunting for a parking place at Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport when something stopped him cold.

Agnew had just passed a car bearing a rare Legion of Valor license plate, an honor Texas reserves for its most exalted military heroes.

“I know everybody’s car,” said Agnew, the Legion’s commander for north Texas who received the Distinguished Service Cross in Korea after killing an enemy sentry in hand-to-hand combat despite a broken ankle. “Nobody in our organization has a maroon 2001 Chevy.”

Agnew also recalled spotting a paper cutout of the Navy Cross, the Navy’s second-highest decoration for bravery after the Medal of Honor, taped to the inside of the rear window. With a little detective work, he determined that the car belonged to a screener for the Transportation Security Administration assigned to DFW airport.

Further checking showed the man wasn’t a Legion member, did not hold the Navy Cross and had no right to be sporting the Legion’s license plates.

In the view of many veterans and others, unauthorized use of the Legion’s plates amounts to a slur against actual medal recipients, including some among the nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed and the more than 30,000 wounded in Iraq.

As the bogus Legion members may soon find out, such deceptions entail not only an insult, but a crime. A little-known federal statute imposes criminal penalties on those convicted of falsely claiming to have been awarded a medal of valor.

The law was signed in December 2006, when Congress and President George W. Bush combined to enact what has become known as the “Stolen Valor Act.”

Since then, those who in an earlier era might have been dismissed as barroom blowhards are being brought before the federal courts, convicted, fined and sentenced to prison after suspicious co-workers, former comrades-in-arms or jilted lovers alert authorities.

excerpt

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-valormay28,0,4768252.story


34 posted on 05/28/2008 6:14:53 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: Baladas

Don’t tell me, let me guess: his “uncle” was also under heavy sniper fire.....not to mention he’d have been a very old man at the time he liberated Auschwitz....”I’m-a beat yo’ asses, you Kraut honkies!!!”


35 posted on 05/28/2008 6:20:55 AM PDT by NRA1995 (Bill Clinton: HILLARY!'s other big ass)
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To: imskylark; All

Here’s the link to the blog that purports to show Obama’s great uncle served in the Navy, not the Army, during WWII:

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/

Follow the links in that article; the case is pretty strong. Obama’s only American great uncle was Charles W. Payne, as shown by the article’s linked court records. Then the article links the “World War II Kansas Veterans Index” of th Kansas State Historical Society for the Army to show there was no “Charles W. Payne” in the WWII Army and links the same index for the Navy to show there was a “Charles W. Payne” in the Navy.

All in all, that’s a pretty strong case for the hypothesis that his great uncle served in the Navy. It certainly puts the burden on him to prove his great uncle served in the Army. At this point we have definite grounds to hope that an ‘08 Rathergate might be developing. Let’s hope Rush or Hillary picks this up today.


36 posted on 05/28/2008 6:22:45 AM PDT by libstripper
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To: econjack

From Charles Krauthammer:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/post_40.html

“Obama cited Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman as presidents who met with enemies. Does he know no history? Neither Roosevelt nor Truman ever met with any of the leaders of the Axis powers. Obama must be referring to the pictures he’s seen of Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta, and Truman and Stalin at Potsdam. Does he not know that at that time Stalin was a wartime ally?

“During the subsequent Cold War, Truman never met with Stalin. Nor Mao. Nor Kim Il Sung. Truman was no fool.”


37 posted on 05/28/2008 6:25:02 AM PDT by Numbers Guy
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To: syriacus
re: Barack has a habit of painting a bleak view of reality, so that he can pose as a savior who will make things better.

Excellent point! If things weren't so bleak we wouldn't need Obama the Messiah and his bitter wife to change things.

38 posted on 05/28/2008 6:30:47 AM PDT by Nevadan
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To: libstripper; All

He’s so damned dumb he probably wouldn’t be able to tell you the difference between the army and the navy. FWIW (about nothing), the moonbats are having the same trouble “verifying” this story -

http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:6RaaN2kRlOIJ:www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php%3Faz%3Dview_all%26address%3D132x6149938+%22Charlie+Payne%22%22Obama%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

although some of them are saying the records were destroyed in some fire. Riiiiiiight - if Charlie had done all what BO claimes, he would’ve been decorated.

It’s NOT like “dialing a wrong number” - it’s more like “lying”.


39 posted on 05/28/2008 6:31:22 AM PDT by Baladas (M)
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To: Baladas

Gaffe? GAFFE?

It was his uncle. No, his great-uncle. Who we’ve never heard of before, even when comparable references were made prior. It was his grandfather we heard about before, who heard of the liberation, instead of this [great-]uncle who was there. Or was nearby. He was in the Army, which he joined the day after Pearl Harbor ... no wait it was the Navy he joined six months later. Yeah, he was there at Auchwitz. The Americans liberated that camp ... or was it the Soviets. No wait, it was Buchenwald he was at. Well, a sattellite camp. Yeah he was there. Or he heard about the liberation from soldiers that were there.

Ya know, when _every_ facet of the story is wrong, it ain’t just a “gaffe”.


40 posted on 05/28/2008 6:32:09 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (The average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. - Ratatouille)
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