I gotta say I wasn’t there myself. I had gardening to do and live 3000 miles away, more or less. Since I don’t have television I won’t be able to see the Faux News report on me until someone puts it on-line.

What else does one expect from Republicans? All the know how to do is lie. And the TradMed lets them get away with it. Daily.

Summing up: Reagan only missed to attend an international economic summit, and W never missed after the prep for the Operation Iraqi Liberation was in full swing — optic-errific!

The MSM will never bring that up. Its funny how the Free Press never mentions things, certain topics, its almost like they are Censored.
Free Press Free Press if they keep repeating it it must be true.
Lets see if the MSM mentions the Liberty sinking this Memorial Day.

Nope. St. Ronnie also skipped Arlington in ’81 and ’83, ’87, and ’88.

IOKIYAR

Well, it is OK if you’re a Republican. Republicans are strong on defense– there has never been a terrist attack on their watch. Democrats, OTOH, are weak on defense, they hate the military and they always want to surrender to the terrists. So they have to constantly kiss the military’s ass.

Sheesh, get with the program.

Thanks, BT. I noticed a poster on your morning thread mentioned this, as if he weren’t doing anything but barbecuing today. Glad to see you’re clearing it up.

I should add, that’s also why it’s no big deal if a Puke forgets to wear his or her flag lapel pin, but if a Democrat fails to wear a flag pin it is because he or she hates America.

I do not believe that the behavior of other presidents is a relevant consideration. The President is the Commander in Chief and the least he can do is honor those who gave their lives at Arlington Cemetery, our national cemetery.

I would, if I were President, and I expect him to do the same.

If I remember correctly, President Obama did place the wreathe at the Tomb of the Unknowns last year.

I have no problem with his honoring those buried at the Abraham Lincoln Cemetery this year.

Bullshit. Of COURSE precedent matters.

And what about those who gave their lives who are buried at Abraham Lincoln who Obama is honoring today? They chopped liver?

My dad is buried in a “National” Veterans Cemetary but it is not Arlington. Are you saying those cemetaries deserve less respect?

He should do Punchbowl next year.

My sister and I spent a couple of hours there one afternoon trying to find Ernie Pyle‘s grave (we didn’t have a location, just that he’s buried at Punchbowl)

It’s good to read that Obama observed at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, when I at least first heard that he would take the day off I was a bit disappointed. For that matter he could have gone to nearly any cemetery in the country and paid respect to the fallen that were buried there. I’m glad I was wrong about this.

You seem to forget that we thought we were electing someone better, more compassionate, and less tone-deaf than Bush!

There are two wars going on, no small thanks to Obama. The Gulf Coast is dying. Israel is trying to precipitate nuclear war. And Obama is on vacation.

Meanwhile, apparently he was “rained out” of his chosen cemetary ceremony, because of thunder. Everyone went back to their cars to wait for it to pass, but left after half an hour when they were told Obama had left!

He’s not much for sacrifice, that one! And I voted for him, by the way.

Fuck the testosterone capitalism/war racket that’s destroying the world and reducing us all to homelessness.

Oh, and making some ceremonial bullshit seem important enough to tear each other apart over. Very important.

I hope your post was sarcasm, but if it wasn’t, can you tell me who was President at the time of the 9-11 attack on the Trade Center and other targets?

I’ve read this poster for a while now. It was surely sarcasm.

If there was a little less glorifying of war, there would be fewer fallen to honor after the fact. Why is no one lamenting today that all wars are caused by the greed of arms merchants? Why is no one honoring the dead who carried no weapon during America’s imperialist wars?

Just saying.

You should scan some of Riesz Fischer’s other posts. He clearly meant to quote the standard Republican talking points including the famous use of terrists so popular in years gone by.

So was this the ceremony at the Lincoln Cemetery or another? Chicago is not a bordering state and this is news that is not easy to stumble across.

Thanks.

via Mark Knoller (CBS News) twitter,
# Pres. Obama holding again at Lincoln National Cemetery in hopes storm will pass and he might yet deliver his Memorial Day speech. about 1 hour ago via web

#Pres. Obama boarded buses on which some audience members took refuge from the storm to explain his safety concerns for them. about 1 hour ago via web

#In belief storm won’t pass, Obama departing Lincoln National Cemeter to return to Chicago and flight back to DC. about 2 hours ago via web

#
Obama told crowd: “A little bit of rain doesn’t hurt anybody but we don’t want anybody struck by lightning.”

Sigh, another instariff brutalized by the facts.

Nice post, but still I blame you for not including all the information that I might’ve used to draw any even tangentially related inference, without my having to resort to the Google.

Fercryinoutloud….everyone makes Obama’s couple of days in Chicago seem like a vacation in the Bahamas. He has a wife and two little girls he probably doesn’t spend enough time with. He planned to go to a Chicago cemetery and honor the fallen there. It is pouring rain and thunderstorming and the radar looks like it will keep doing so for at least a couple of hours.

This constant Obama bashing is wearing very thin. I have been disappointed in many of his actions — he is not the man I thought I was voting for — but please just get off it for awhile.

Odds of being killed in any sort of non-transportation accident: 69 to 1

Odds of being struck by lightning: 576,000 to 1

Odds of being killed by lightning: 2,320,000 to 1

Odds of being murdered: 18,000 to 1

Odds of getting away with murder: 2 to 1

Odds of being the victim of serious crime in your lifetime: 20 to 1

Odds of dating a supermodel: 88,000 to 1

Actually, other than my wife, my chances of dating a supermodel are much worse than 88,000 to 1

How Dare President Obama Skip Arlington on Memorial Day! Who Does He Think He Is, a Republican?

I thought he WAS a Republican.

I based this on the old.. If one looks like a Republican, acts like a Republican, and talks like a Republican, chances are good he/she is a Republican.

I know he doesn’t control the weather. And no one wants to cause someone’s death by lightening, agreed!

But I have to say it seems like a metaphor for the Obama Presidency.

I’ll get off it as soon as he gets on the Oil Spill!

Sorry, but I’m in mourning for Gulf. And I’d like to see my tax dollars at work.

Michael Whitney has a fresh cross-post available: BP CEO: Sickened Cleanup Workers Probably Have Food Poisoning

As long as you are so critical, keep in mind that your state of “mourning” does not do a fig’s worth of help for anything. Mourn on. Chicago can certainly count for the laying of the wreath….but things do get rained out. Get real.

The Commander and Chief taking a vacation instead of being at Arlington says more about Obama than anything anyone could possibly write or say ever. It says it all. How about a change in Presidents we can believe in?

I try to be reality-based as much as possible. I cut some slack when I think it’s warranted. This is one of those times.
I can just hear the bitching if he had gone ahead with his speech: “He made people stand in the pouring rain, old people, children! Just so he could give a speech for a photo op.”

Can you not read?

1) Obama is presiding over a ceremony at another National Cemetery; and 2) Every Republican President since Nixon has taken on vacation instead of “being at Arlington” on Memorial Day.

Blue, How are you? No reason to bother them with the facts, as you know.

I agree. I criticize him a lot. This whole topic, though, is a joke.

It can be useful to read the story and some of the responses in order to get a sense of how the conversation is proceeding. The point being that Arlington as a place is not very important in comparison to paying respect in some measure. Obama intended to pay his respects at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery which should be commended. Where I disagree a bit with BT is that I hold all Democrats, including Obama, to a higher standard than the Rs. I expect disappointment from Republicans.

Is that b/c you’ve quit wanting to know what Perino thinks about something? Hysterical to see her cited for anything.

Yeah, they don’t seem to make a dent on their thick, wingnut lizard brains.

Did you look at how many other Presidents have “skipped” Arlington? Or did you just disgorge a rightwing talking point without reading the post?

@dhfsfc:

I’ll get off it as soon as he gets on the Oil Spill!

What exactly would you like him to do to “get on” the oil spill? Put on a wetsuit and go down to the BOP?

These are exactly the sorts of comments that drive me crazy. There is plenty to criticize about the man, but puhleez.

A cross poster from FOX! Welcome to reality!

Speaking of FOX, I read their article, then went back for a second look because I was going to comment on it. The second time I saw mention of Obama’s plans and that Biden was going to Arlington. Was the article updated or did I somehow miss that the first time around?

Not to mention Robert Stethem’s memorial in 1985…and he was in town. I thought Reagan was a dick anyway, that sealed it.

He was at the cemetary in Chicago. Why are you disrespecting the veterans who are in that cemetary?

Hey, I volunteered in New Orleans after Katrina, and I would do it again after this disaster!

FYI, mourning, and accepting reality the about this Administration’s weaknesses, does some good! Try it sometime!

No, because of lightning! Big difference, y’know.

People standing around in a lightning storm under…umbrellas!

Can you imagine the abuse that would be heaped upon him if he had continued, and someone in the audience had been struck by lightning? It does happen.
And if you are from one of those states like California that rarely gets ol’fashioned gullywasher downpour thunderstorms with lots of lightning, and you’ve never experienced one, then you don’t understand the danger.

Good grief, this is getting long past ridiculous.

Oh, and whoever said it was hard to find about Obama’s speech in Illinois – I saw it, the bit of it that got made, on both C-SPAN and CNN. Live.So it wasn’t hard to find.
Of course, a quick check of Fox (all I can stand is a second or two) showed them discussing whether offereing a job to a congressman is illegal or not. Big surprise.
I suppose they didn’t bother to cover Biden at Arlington, either. That would have messed up their little narrative.

While FOX spinning this as a disgrace isn’t surprising, I have to admit that I share FOX’s view. Perhaps I expect less from Republicans, but considering the fact that Obama is not scaling down any of the wars, I want him to be there. If he was serious in his deliberation, going to Dover and all that watching the dead return before deciding to escalate the war in Afghanistan, I want to see him at Arlington, watching the families of the fallen morn their dead. It is his policies now that are perpetuating the cycle. It isn’t Bush’s fault anymore. It is his, he has to own it.

He speaks about responsibility for all the faux pas in Afghanistan and the loss of civilian life there, but what does that mean? Absolutely nothing. Does he pay the family members from our coffers? No. Does he do anything other than give flowery speeches? No.

Considering we are at war and he has made these his own, he should have been there, plain and simple.

Sure FOX is using it as ammunition, but in this case, I agree with them.

Did you read the actual thread?

I re-read it to make sure I understood the thread and article. Personally, I stand by my view on this matter. I see his decision to go to the Illinois cemetery to be one of convenience, not respect. He was already in Chicago, this looks like he didn’t want to go back to Washington.

I hadn’t heard anything about this FOX story or anything prior to seeing it here. I did hear that Biden was speaking at Arlington and that Obama had canceled due to weather in Illinois. I could care less what past administrations have done and I will not be shamed into believing that Obama was somehow providing some sort of touchy-feely personal affair by going to a lesser recognized cemetery. It was convenience plain and simple.

If he had gone to somewhere in California or Washington state, then perhaps I’d feel differently. In my personal opinion, this is just laziness on the President’s part.

One commented saying he could have made several stops or done any number of things. Considering his escalation of the wars in both theaters, I would expect him to do that. Perhaps Republicans have done less, but if I can’t count on Obama for policy decisions, it would be nice to at least see consistency on his public appearances.

The images of him at Dover strike a chord with me, but to think he could only be troubled to go perhaps under a hundred miles to do a single speech on Memorial Day, it is bad form, plain and simple. Put on that caring Commander-in-Chief face and go lie to the people about how meaningful the soldier’s sacrifices have been. Go lie and say how they are protecting democracy. I guess his corporate handlers allowed him a day off. After all veterans and returning soldiers aren’t huge contributors, so they can “eat cake”.

Obama has to be the most dense ham handed pol I’ve seen in a long time. Photo ops? The picture of him today bending down with his finger on the sand was rather pathetic, and his body language, likewise.

Is he uncomfortable with this job, or just lazy? Not appearing at Arlington was a snarky error. Not knowing that his appointee to MMS, S. Elizabeth Birnbaum was fired the day of his press conference was sad, but even more sad is that she like Brownie before her had no experience whatever for the job, and was a crony appointment in a sensitive and crucial Dept. Salazar another Obama pick was to clean up Interior, and inspite of all the warnings both he and Obama [April 2nd] brayed about how “unlikely a spill would occur from drillimg which was afe, etc”.

Obama really doesn’t get it and cannot engage. He feels we’ll vote for him no matter what as Rham assured him that we have nowhere else to go.

He’s in for a big surprise.

Wirerat1 – As mentioned online at CBSNews earlier:
“Like his predecessors, Mr. Obama has expressed deep feelings about the troops in both words and deeds, often with as little fanfare as the presidency allows. Like other presidents, he meets privately with the families of the fallen. He watches developments in the buildup in Afghanistan and the planned drawdown in Iraq.

Unlike other presidents, he paid a middle of the night somber visit to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to witness the return of dead soldiers.

Perhaps the most eloquent statement on Mr. Obama’s stand on the military comes from Gold Star Mother Carol Barbieri of Maryland. Her son, Army Specialist and paratrooper Thomas “TJ” Barbieri, was killed in Iraq in 2006.

TJ’s brothers Stephen and Matthew were visiting his grave at Arlington on Veterans Day last year when Mr. Obama stopped to pay his respects. He asked about their loved one and expressed his appreciation for the sacrifice.

When Obama went to Arlington a year ago, he did something his predecessor did not — he visited the graves in Arlington’s Section 60, where troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.

Reflecting on the president visiting an Illinois cemetery today, Barbieri told CBS, “Our heroes are interred all over the nation. The President of the United States should be remembering and honoring the men and women who have fought for this country. It doesn’t matter where he does that as long as he never forgets them.”

So Obama HAS been to Arlington (just not today), and has seen the families of the Iraq/Afghanistan dead, even spoken with them (something Dubya never did).

Morris – Birnbaum had years of experience as an environmental lawyer, and as a member of a multitude of groups, organizations and boards dealing with energy and the environment (unlike Brownie who had ZERO experience with FEMA-like work in his background).