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| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
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| Barack Obama's claims that he was not going to use a planned visit to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center as a photo-op were blown out of the water tonight by a spokesman for Landstuhl who told Stars and Stripes that plans had been made for Obama's campaign press contingent to film the candidate as he entered and left the hospital. | |||
| U.S. European Command spokesman Lt. Col. John Dorrian said that local and traveling press would have been brought to the entrance of Landstuhl to film Obama entering and leaving the hospital. | |||
| The article also noted that it would have been permissible for Obama to have a held a press conference as a U.S. senator on official business under Pentagon rules. | |||
| The Obama campaign has furiously denied the cancelled visit to Landstuhl was ever planned as a photo-op. They issued several statements with varying explanations that basically included the message that the Pentagon viewed the visit as a campaign stop. | |||
| Additionally, the Obama campaign told reporters there were no plans to take the press with Obama to Landstuhl. The Washington Post ran a front page article this week attacking the McCain campaign's ad criticizing Obama over the cancellation that included comments from Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs: | |||
| Gibbs said yesterday that the campaign had planned to inform the traveling media members sometime on the morning of the flight to Ramstein that Obama was intending to visit the hospital but had made no plans to take reporters, including even the small, protective press pool that now accompanies him most places. | |||
| Reporters, he said, probably would have been able to get off the plane but not leave an air base facility close by. "We had made absolutely no arrangements to transport the press to the hospital," he said. | |||
| ...Gibbs was asked yesterday (Tuesday) about the continuing allegations from McCain that the real reason was a desire to bring a media entourage to the hospital. | |||
| "That's completely untrue, and I think, honestly, they know it's untrue," Gibbs said. | |||
| Obama spoke about the cancelled Landstuhl visit at a press conference in London the day after (from MSNBC): | |||
| "We had scheduled to go. We had no problem at all in leaving press -- we always leave press and staff out, that's why we left it off the schedule," he said, explaining that the campaign had planned to treat the trip the same way they treated a recent visit to Walter Reed, which the senator made without press. | |||
| Obama added, "I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisers, a former military officer. And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person and it would therefore be perceived as political, because he had endorsed my candidacy but he wasn't on the Senate staff," Obama said, referring to Gen. Scott Gration, who had worked to organize the trip. | |||
| "That triggered then a concern that maybe our visit was going to be perceived as political, and the last thing that I want to do is have injured soldiers and the staff at these wonderful institutions having to sort through whether this is political or not or get caught in the crossfire between campaigns. So rather than go forward and potentially get caught up in what might have been seen as a political controversy of some sort, what we decided was that we would not make a visit and instead I would call some of the troops who were there. So that's essentially the extent of the story." | |||
| Obama and the mainstream press have tried to put this story behind them but it keeps coming back because Obama and his campaign failed to do the right thing--by the troops and by the truth. Obama's snub of the wounded warriors at Landstuhl has been compounded by his inexplicable lying about it. | |||
| This episode may well prove to be a defining moment in Obama's campaign as voters judge his commitment to the troops and the truth. | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 02:29, 1 August 2008
LRMC Main Entrance | |
| Location: | Landstuhl, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany |
|---|---|
| Built: | 1951, remodeled 1993 |
| Budget: |  $95.5 Million (2006)
|
| Beds: | 140+; Up to 1000 in Emergencies |
| Operated by: | United States Army, U.S. Department of Defense |
| Commander: | COL BRIAN C. LEIN (US Army) |
The Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) is an overseas military hospital operated by the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense. LRMC is the largest military hospital outside of the continental US. It is located near Landstuhl, Germany, and serves as the nearest treatment center for wounded soldiers coming from Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, it serves military personnel stationed in Germany as well as their family members.
A large proportion of serious casualties from the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters are treated here, flown in via the Ramstein Air Base.
External links
Barack Obama's claims that he was not going to use a planned visit to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center as a photo-op were blown out of the water tonight by a spokesman for Landstuhl who told Stars and Stripes that plans had been made for Obama's campaign press contingent to film the candidate as he entered and left the hospital.
U.S. European Command spokesman Lt. Col. John Dorrian said that local and traveling press would have been brought to the entrance of Landstuhl to film Obama entering and leaving the hospital.
The article also noted that it would have been permissible for Obama to have a held a press conference as a U.S. senator on official business under Pentagon rules.
The Obama campaign has furiously denied the cancelled visit to Landstuhl was ever planned as a photo-op. They issued several statements with varying explanations that basically included the message that the Pentagon viewed the visit as a campaign stop.
Additionally, the Obama campaign told reporters there were no plans to take the press with Obama to Landstuhl. The Washington Post ran a front page article this week attacking the McCain campaign's ad criticizing Obama over the cancellation that included comments from Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs:
Gibbs said yesterday that the campaign had planned to inform the traveling media members sometime on the morning of the flight to Ramstein that Obama was intending to visit the hospital but had made no plans to take reporters, including even the small, protective press pool that now accompanies him most places.
Reporters, he said, probably would have been able to get off the plane but not leave an air base facility close by. "We had made absolutely no arrangements to transport the press to the hospital," he said.
...Gibbs was asked yesterday (Tuesday) about the continuing allegations from McCain that the real reason was a desire to bring a media entourage to the hospital.
"That's completely untrue, and I think, honestly, they know it's untrue," Gibbs said.
Obama spoke about the cancelled Landstuhl visit at a press conference in London the day after (from MSNBC):
"We had scheduled to go. We had no problem at all in leaving press -- we always leave press and staff out, that's why we left it off the schedule," he said, explaining that the campaign had planned to treat the trip the same way they treated a recent visit to Walter Reed, which the senator made without press.
Obama added, "I was going to be accompanied by one of my advisers, a former military officer. And we got notice that he would be treated as a campaign person and it would therefore be perceived as political, because he had endorsed my candidacy but he wasn't on the Senate staff," Obama said, referring to Gen. Scott Gration, who had worked to organize the trip.
"That triggered then a concern that maybe our visit was going to be perceived as political, and the last thing that I want to do is have injured soldiers and the staff at these wonderful institutions having to sort through whether this is political or not or get caught in the crossfire between campaigns. So rather than go forward and potentially get caught up in what might have been seen as a political controversy of some sort, what we decided was that we would not make a visit and instead I would call some of the troops who were there. So that's essentially the extent of the story."
Obama and the mainstream press have tried to put this story behind them but it keeps coming back because Obama and his campaign failed to do the right thing--by the troops and by the truth. Obama's snub of the wounded warriors at Landstuhl has been compounded by his inexplicable lying about it.
This episode may well prove to be a defining moment in Obama's campaign as voters judge his commitment to the troops and the truth.
References
- Fichtner, Ullrich (2007-03-14). "A Visit to the US Military Hospital". DER SPIEGEL. Retrieved 2007-03-20.
49°24′15″N 7°33′37″E / 49.40417°N 7.56028°E / 49.40417; 7.56028
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