I don’t get the outrage. This is General “Betray Us” we’re talking about, an “ass-kissing little chickensh*t” allegedly according to the left’s favorite military commander, the man “pimped” to the public to defend Bush’s war, a man whose sworn testimony isn’t worthy of belief (or a vote of support) from a top presidential candidate, whose reports of progress in Iraq are so incredible that the likely Democratic nominee hasn’t even bothered to meet with him privately. Why, McCain’s practically doing Obama a favor by using a photo of him, isn’t he?
On Monday, Memorial Day, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen wrote an open letter to troops in uniform that “the U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times. It is and must always be a neutral instrument of the state, no matter which party holds sway.”
“The only things we should be wearing on our sleeves are our military insignia,” Mullen wrote.
Three days later, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, sent a fundraising solicitation using an image of him and Gen. David Petraeus…
Presumably the McCain campaign did not ask Petraeus’ permission to use the picture. Do you think it’s at all contrary to Mullen’s message to use the photo of McCain and Petraeus in a fundraising solicitation?
Petraeus’s spokesman confirmed that he didn’t approve McCain’s use of the photo and isn’t endorsing either candidate — but follow the link to ABC and read Tapper’s last update for the punchline. The whole point of Obama’s increasingly likely trip to Iraq is to practice the commander-in-chief variation of his looking-off-into-future pose alongside U.S. soldiers while press pool photographers snap away. Those photos may not end up on his website, but the point and effect are the same. Exit statistic: Barring any major attacks tomorrow, knock wood, May 2008 will have seen the fewest monthly U.S. deaths in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
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