A Chance Encounter With The Commander-in-Chief
Timing matters a lot in this business, and yesterday, New York Daily News reporter James Gordon Meek's was excellent. The reason he happened to be standing in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery had nothing to do with his job, but it nonetheless produced an exquisite piece of journalism.
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1
Thanks for posting this Karen. I read the article via a Twitter link and was quite moved.
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1.1
I wonder whether Lenin, Stalin, or someone like that ever said something like, "the best propaganda is the kind that makes those who point out that it's propaganda look bad". If not, I'm sure they knew it.
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Obviously, it's difficult to criticize the article without looking bad, but at the same time Karen Tumulty might want to note that the idealized role of the press is to hold those in power accountable. It's not to offer hagiographies.
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Hagiographies wouldn't be so bad if that wasn't all we got from the press.
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If Tumulty wants to be useful and wants to live up to the (very rarely reached) ideals of her profession, go ask this question tomorrow there in DC. Don't worry: they'll let you in, so there's no excuse. -
1.2
Sour grapes.
Hey, buddy, just ask KT for a hagiography. she probably has a template somewhere ....
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2
The guy writes for the Daily News? and it actually got past Murdoch censors?
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2.1
Admittedly that was cynical. But it's no less ironic. Good story.
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2.2
Aren't you thinking of the New York Post?
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2.3
Your first three words, Stuart Zechman...that'd be me
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3
Thanks so much for posting this, KT.
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4
That was a lovely piece. Thanks for posting that.
Coming from a military family, Veterans Day always makes me sad.
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5
Thank you Karen for posting this, and thank you James Gordon Meek for sharing this moment.
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6
Great post KT -- Let's hope the wingnuts will just choose to be quiet rather than be up for another round of liberal press bashing.
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6.1
Dee:
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Err...umm...you haven't, ah, bought into the rightists' "liberal media" mythology, right?
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You meant to use scare quote around "liberal press" when describing the centrist establishment press corps, correct? -
6.2
Oh yeah should have definitely used the quotes because there is nothing liberal about the press, I don't even think they are centrists anymore, since they are so used to carrying water for the right wing I think calling them centrightists would be a better description.
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6.3
I think much of the press is strictly corporate – whichever side can make them the most money is where they lean. I'd bet even Murdoch / Fox applies here. And was Murdoch REALLY the inspiration for Elliot Carver in Bond flick “Tomorrow Never Dies”?
(stuart, thx for excellent 3.6 comment back at KT's What's Ahead for HR Reform post, but I have q's about background for stories and trusting KT's use of it, thx) -
6.4
deconstructiva:
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I replied to your questions here:
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link to hopefully inoffensive reply -
6.5
…read it, thanks! Good stuff.
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6.6
"centrightists"
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I dig it! -
6.7
Dr. I seem to have misplaced my centritis meds...
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6.8
Dee, take a look downthread, you moonbat.
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7
completely unrelated, but I thought I would post in the offchance you read this because I dont know how else to contact you swampland commentators.
I was on facebook today, and there was a "poll" asking if you agreed with "the presidents decision to replace the Christmas tree with a Holiday tree."
A quick check on factcheck.org revealed this was a viral email with no basis and quite false. The thing that caught my eye was that the facebook poll has had over 300,000 respondants as of today. (and of course there was no polling option to say "this is bunk.")just thought Id throw that out there in case it missed the news media's radar thus far. Seems like another attack on the Presidents supposed religious leanings.
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7.1
Well not to "jump to conclusions" on the President's choice to call the Christmas tree a 'Holiday Tree', when in fact it IS a Christmas Tree is simply more PC confabulation by the liberals.
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Did you check the source of the email, doubleang? Most of those "viral emails" come from liberal sources themselves, just to stir up more crap amongst their liberal far left extremist base.
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I received an email from MoveOn.Org the other day about healthcare reform and how all the "Conservatives are going to try and "kill the bill", and we must send in our money to MoveOn.Org so they can "keep up the fight" against the conservatives.
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Do you people ever wonder if it all isn't one big scam to take your money? -
7.2
rusty, I wouldn't bother sending money to MoveOn, but I sure as heck hop you didn't send money to the Tea Party Patriots. Looks like one of the founders is in trouble regarding the use of funds:
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http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1109/Tea_Party_civil_war.html
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An ugly legal battle has broken out among organizers of the "Tea Party" movement, a sign of the growing pains for the new populist right.
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Amy Kremer, who had been a founder and top staffer for the Tea Party Patriots -- one of the central, newly-created groups organizing the early protests -- emailed the group's supporters, and wrote on her blog this week, that she'd been forced out by the group's board in September, and was now subject of a lawsuit.
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You didn't flush any of your cash down that toilet, did you, rusty? Geez, and wasn't Glenn Beck urging his viewers to support that organization?
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8
Mr Meek showed class; and the account is moving. What a great way to mark Veteran's Day.
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9
Thank you so much Karen for sharing Mr Meek's experience with us. it means plenty.
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10
Yes Karen, thank you for sharing. However it was disheartening to learn that the death of this great American soldier died at the hands of his own buddies.
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That sort of really took away from it all.
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By the way, what did you think of how Obama first announced the Fort Hood murders? At his Indian speech. You know, how he "shouted out to...", kept on with his speech to the Indians in attendance, then said "oh, by the way....there were 13 people killed today at Fort Hood.....but don't jump to conclusion, the murder suspect is a Muslim".
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I guess walking through area 60, kinda made up for his insensitivity to the families of those 13 killed at Fort Hood, don't you think?-
10.1
Rusty, it seems like even when you have no beef you just go ahead and make up one. I was watching that speech and Obama didn't announce the tragedy the way you describe it here. I get it you don't like the President, but if he is as bad as you claim, why don't you ever have anything truthful to use as point against him? I mean at this point why would anyone listen to you about anything, when you lie about everything. At this point is it even possible for you to have an opposing point of view without using a barrage of misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and lies to try and make a point?
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10.2
Oh self-righteous Dee. Have a look at 13.1. There you can read my further clarification.
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The great thing about the YouTube information age, Dee. We can refute everything you attempt to LIE about. Yes Dee, YOU LIE.
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You distort the truth, you lie and are the biggest lamest excuse for a human being God ever created. So stuff that in your peace pipe and smoke it!!
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Your President is the one who dissed the 13 dead at Fort Hood, not mine. No President would one day make this event to sound like nothing more than a car accident on the outer beltway.
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Then come back after the outrage of public dissent over how he has treated it, and then make an attempt to look good walking over the graves of the bravest men alive who died for your freedom and liberty.
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You and Obama simply digust me. -
10.3
rusty, the best part of all this is that it is just eating you up that Obama is president. You and spob (who openly proclaimed his hatred of all things Obama a couple of Fridays ago) will just have to writhe and suffer.
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I'm not usually one to enjoy watching people suffer, but in your case and in spob's case, I'm really enjoying it! -
10.4
"I'm not ususally one to enjoy watching other people suffer"
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You'd make a terrible sadist. Small steps at first and then make the plunge.
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11
"Do you people ever wonder if it all isn't one big scam to take your money?"
I don't give group, left right any money and I doubt you send in anything to moveon. Why are you on their mailing list anyway?
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11.1
So I can monitor and counteract all the bullcrap and lies they tell. Know what they are coming up with next. What the next big liberal strategy will be. Ingenious, no?
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I feed it to Glenn Beck so he can help to counteract it all and get the info out on his webpage and email contact list.
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12
A beautiful account of a solemn moment that should remind us of our need for national unity – spoiled by a few unfortunate comments determined to drive us farther apart.
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12.1
Give us a break, FO. I think Dee started the stuff in here.
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13
Rusty, This is what the President actually said. He was supposed to give a closing talk to the tribal leaders, which is why he said the few sentences he did about them. He then went on to say the following about Fort Hood. This was not a press conference to announce the shootings, but a talk at a historic meeting that he essentially canceled to talk about the shootings. Please stop repeating the slanted story about shout-out and pretending that he started with "oh by the way..." that is just wrong..
As some of you might have heard there has been a tragic shooting at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas,” President Obama said this afternoon at the Department of Interior, speaking at a previously scheduled Tribal Nations Conference meeting of Native American leaders.
“We don't yet know all the details at this moment,” the president continued. “We will share them as we get them. What we do know is that a number of American soldiers have been killed and even more have been wounded in a horrific outburst of violence.”
“My immediate thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and with the families of the fallen and those who live and serve at Ft. Hood,” he said. “These are men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk and at times give their lives to protect the rest of us on a daily basis. It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on American soil.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/11/president-obama-speaks-about-fort-hood-tragedy.html
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13.1
Here you go Ivy_B, Obambi's YOUTUBE video at the Indian Conference.
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"I want to give a shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner, Joe Medicine Man Crow. Blah blah blah....But, as many of you may have heard by now...
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Yea, maybe not quite "oh by the way". "But", starting out this speech is where the significant impact would have been not only appropriate, but what any President would have done. Please tell me when you have ever, EVER witnessed a National tradgedy announced in this way? I would really like to know.
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We report, you decide. American will decide again in 2012, hopefully we can rid ourselves of this lame excuse for a President in modern history. -
13.2
Ivy, the bottom line is that even the Boston Globe's editorial page criticized Obama here. I mean, really, he knew about the deaths, yet he gave a "shout-out". Let's get that right before tossing out criticisms.
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13.3
Yep, rusty, the Beck/Hannity/Lmbaugh/Murdoch contingent was up in arms.
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But no one else saw anything wrong with it.
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So what else is new? -
13.4
The Boston Globe editorial board, for one.
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http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/11/07/obamas_delayed_empathy/ -
13.5
spob:
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The Boston Globe editorial board, for one.
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And outside of the Murdoch realm, I'd say that is the one. Unless you;ve found dozens of others, spob... -
13.6
Rusty has put himself on record as saying abortions are morally wrong unless the foetus is a Democrat.
Personally, I feel death panels are morally inexcusable, except for Rusty.
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14
I wouldn't exactly call this "journalism". It's a moving piece, but it isn't searching or anything like that. Nor does the "army brass" get to tell its side of the story when it comes to the friendly fire incident.
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It's a story. And one that should have been told, and one that was told well, but it's something different from news reporting. How about "My turn" written by a journalist?-
14.1
spob, you mean it didn't really happen as the reporter described it?
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14.2
No palininatowel, just that it didn't have the hallmarks of news reporting, e.g., giving people the chance to comment etc.
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14.3
"Giving people the chance to comment?"
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Have you been to a newspaper website lately, spob? People are permitted to comment on just about every story. -
14.4
Palininatowel, read for once. I had mentioned the army brass not getting a chance to tell its side of the story upthread. Usually, when an accusation is made, the accused get contacted for a quote or comment. That didn't appear to happen. So your snark about reader comments is, once again, ridiculous.
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I don't think that my comments on this are out-of-line or offensive at all.
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And, I think you show your colors. You cannot seriously think that, at a minimum, Obama was well-served by his communications people. The problem here is the juxtaposition of his jocular "shout-out" with the massacre of American servicement. No serious observer has said that Obama's actions were ok. Just a lot of silence.
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15
Rusty, I will go back to not responding to your remarks. I am sorry for you. Maintaining that level of hate and vitriol must take a toll on you.
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16
Journalism = "Giving people the chance to comment?" No, that is called COMMENTARY.
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Journalism is the reporting of FACTS about EVENTS and PERSONS. Real journalists REPORT facts, rather than just create and/or spin them. To this end, including the accounts of ACTUAL PERSONS PRESENT AT AN EVENT makes sense - they are in fact, witnesses so their description of the event's details, including the effect that it had upon him/her as a witness, is completely appropriate as part of a news reporting function.
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In this case, the journalist also happened to be part of the event as it was happening. As a result, his reporting on the reaction of witnesses is in the 1st person, rather than 3rd person. Nevertheless, he reported the events and the reaction of witnesses (including himself). Nowhere in the article does Mr. Meeks post his own viewpoint on the President's policies or say that he is a likes the Obama's. Indeed, this is probably why his direct interaction is in quotes in order to be as factual as possible about the event.
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What made the event moving was the EVENT that occurred and the Obamas' ACTIONS.-
16.1
Spob - I meant to post my previous response to your post.
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Also, FYI - yes, I am a Democrat, but as much as I disliked the previous administration, I do not hate G.W. Bush. In fact, as wrong or misguided as I think he was at times in his policies or choices, I do not think he is inherently evil. In fact, I do not know of any Republican politician that I would say is always wrong and/or always making decisions based upon immoral or flawed reasons. Unfortunately, I am not able to say the same about some of their fringe followers whose hatred and vitriol is so intense as to deny both the humanity and any facts of anyone in disagreement with their views. Yes, this exists problem exists on the left, too, but not nearly in as much in terms of intensity and proportion. It's almost like the 1960's again, except that this time, it is the right that is angrier than the left. -
16.2
You're wrong. There was a charge in there that the chain of command failed the soldier's family. Typically, an author of a piece of journalism would give the chain of command a chance to respond.
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In any event, I don't want to get into the author's conclusion that Obama gets it when it comes to his burden as Commander-in-Chief. -
16.3
Spob - Mr. Meek wrote:
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"I didn't tell the commander in chief that Dave was killed by friendly fire. Or that the Army bungled notifying Dave's parents of a probe that concluded his lieutenant tragically mistook him for a terrorist in the dark and shot him."
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If these are FACTS which Mr. Meeks has previously confirmed as true, then it does not turn this piece into a commentary, nor does it automatically require a response from the military. Substitute in this story Pat Tillman for this young man. That the Army mishandled reporting Tillman's death by friendly fire has already been proved (by the US Defense Dept Inspector General) and thus, is indeed a statement of fact that is not in dispute (even by the then Sect. of the Army Pete Geren).
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In other words, unpleasant facts do not necessarily turn a report into commentary, particularly when the topic and key elements of the report are neither contradicted nor confirmed based upon the statement. While the word "bungled" is not the most neutral term, I can think of much stronger language such as "cluster f*&$" or shamefully mishandled, or screwed up, not to mention throwing in the term "coverup". So, while one could possibly argue that Mr. Meek's language implies a particular bias or slant, it does not cross the threshold from reporting to commentary.
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17
These wingnuts as usual are ridiculous. They always have a reason for acting inappropriately and it's always someone else's fault that they run off at the mouth with their special brand of vitriol. I suppose that if I hadn't hoped out loud that didn't do that this time around, they might have taken the high road, but I wouldn't bet any money on that. They hate this president and make no mistake no matter what he does he can't do it right in their eyes. The only folks they respect is the Glenn Beck types, who until he found this latest shtick was a ratings loser and so he reinvented himself on Fox.
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By their own admissions, they acknowledge that they are nothing more than performers, modern day clowns entertaining the masses. In the tradition of the "War of the World" they are creating an alternate reality and as soon as something violent or untoward happens and people blame them, they are going to be the first ones to say that they are just entertainers. That its all for fun and not meant to be taken seriously. So now the right wing have gone from believing the lies told to them by Bush and company to believing entertainers like Beck and Rush who don characters that are hyperbolic and outrageous in order to get ratings and pretend to be the new political leadership of the right. Well I guess PT Barnum was right, a sucker was born every minute because the right wing has pledged fidelity to clowns.
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But here you have the President preparing to address a roomful of people who came to be part of this conference. You don't see the previous speakers on the you tube version, but as others are on the dais are speaking the president is told by a staff member that this tragic even has taken place. Of course unlike George W. Bush who in a similar situation, simply froze and pretending to continue reading "my pet goat" even though the book was upside down with all the school children gathered in the room he didn't know what to do, President Obama stepped up to the microphone and acknowledged all of the people who were in the room and thanked them for the hard work they had done putting the conference together and announced that he heard everything they had to say and assured them that their issues were important, but while he he had planned to respond to their issues and would do so in the future, something has recently transpired, that some may have already heard about. I guess the wingnuts are pissed that Obama acknowledged that some of them may have had a blackberry with breaking news depicting the shooting -- how dare he!.
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The bottom line this wasn't the president announcing to the world about this tragedy. This was the president explaining to a group of people who came to see him why he couldn't continue with his planned speech. Just because it was some news venues went to it live, doesn't mean he gets to ignore where he is or why he was there. He didn't go into detail because he didn't know all of the facts. Or would you rather he had acted like the Bush administration that immediately speculated that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11.-
17.1
Dee, you could have saved us all the wind-up. Bottom line is that only a few sycophants actually defend Obama here. Most sane people on your side say that the criticism is overblown.
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When you find out about a massacre of American servicemen, it's supposed to bother you enough to prevent you from yukking it up and giving "shout-outs". And certainly, one would hope, it would prevent you from botching the difference between a Medal of Honor and a Medal of Freedom. One would hope.
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Dee, he f'ed up. Get that right. The argument is about what it means.
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18
Good story KT. Nice job.
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19
Thank you KT. There was also another story I read today about a family visiting their son's grave. They were from NH and did not vote for the President but appreciated his comments to them. Some folks want everything to be about partisanship. Our military has served us from all walks of life and we owe them our love and our thanks no matter who they voted for, or what color their skin is or who they worship.
There are some who comment here that tend to forget that.-
19.1
well, since I served a little over 5 years, I'll accept your thanks . . . .
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19.2
Hey Spob. there is an absolutely exquisite line of dresses out in Armani's Spring Collection. I know you will just die for them Go and check them out. Armani dot.com. Hurry.
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20
[...] democrats, white house, arlingto cemetary, barack obama, tour, veterans day As Karen Tumulty noted on Thursday, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama made a solemn visit to Arlington National Cemetary [...]
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21
[...] Geez, and wasn’t Glenn Beck urging his viewers to support that organization? palininatowel. November 12, 2009 · at 6:38 pm. 8. Mr Meek showed class; and the account is moving. What a great way to mark Veteran’s Day . bitterpill8. November 12 , 2009 ….. Unfortunately, I am not able to say the same about some of their fringe followers whose hatred and vitriol is so intense as to deny both the humanity and any facts of anyone in disagreement with their views. …Continue Reading… [...]
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