Friday, June 24, 2011

Obama Makes Another Gaffe

President Obama made another gaffe today. He was talking to the 10th Mountain Division, congratulating them on their service, and gave the name of the wrong Medal of Honor winner.

Now, some might say that that's an easy mistake to make, but is it? If you pay attention to what you're doing, it really shouldn't be. One of 'em died, the other didn't, and was the first MoH in Afghanistan who was still living. when awarded the medal. How can you get those names wrong?
RUSH: "What's Up With All the Presidential Gaffes, Anyway?" writes Michael Ledeen. "Big Media doesn't pay much attention to them, even though Obama makes an amazing number of errors in his public statements. And I think it's easy enough to understand why the BM largely ignores them: to report them all would totally undermine the image of the president to which a surprising number of 'reporters' and pundits are wedded: that of an unusually intelligent and well educated man. Yet someone who tells a crowd in Vienna that his 'Austrian' isn't very good, who tells Marines that he's pleased to speak to the 'Marine Corpse,' and who, just [yesterday], said he'd given the Medal of Honor to a survivor from the 10th Mountain Division, when in fact the award was given posthumously, doesn't fit my definition of a brilliant and cultured man."

I don't know if you are aware of this, but this is a mistake that is pretty bad. This is bad. Obama did visit the 10th Mountain Division, and he congratulated them on their service, and he told the soldiers that were all gathered there that he had given the Medal of Honor to Jared Monti. President said: I've given this Medal of Honor to Jared Monti, who came back from Iraq alive. But he didn't. Jared Monti died in Afghansitan. He was killed in 2006. It's reminiscent of Vice President Bite Me in St. Louis. "Stand up, Chuck! Let 'em see you, Chuck!" He's in a wheelchair. Bite Me notices in a wheelchair and Bite Me says, "Oh, God bless you. Oh, gee! What I did I say? Everybody, let's stand up for Chuck! Let's stand up for Chuck." But this? Here, we have audio. Here is the president making a mistake about a soldier killed in action in Afghanistan yesterday afternoon, Fort Drum in New York.

OBAMA: I had the great honor of seeing some of you because, uh, a comrade of yours -- uh, Jared Monti -- was the first person who I was able to award, uh, the Medal of Honor to, uh, who actually came back and wasn't, uhhh, receiving it posthumously.

RUSH: He did receive it posthumously. He did not come back. Obama had no clue what he was talking about. Whoever put that on his teleprompter had no clue what he was talking about. Nobody in this regime knows what they're talking about. Now, some people think they do this on purpose, just to insult members of the military. "Yes, there was a Medal of Honor winner who lived to receive it, but it was a different man. The living honoree is named Giunta; the deceased hero from the 10th Mountain Division was named Monti. Both are Italian names. Did a White House speechwriter confuse the two Italians? And if so, what does that tell us about the ship under the command of President Obama? That's worth pondering for a moment.

"When you add up all the mistakes [Obama has] made -- not slips of the tongue, but real errors in statements and speeches he could read from the ubiquitous teleprompter -- they make quite a number. So what? you may ask. The answer is that hundreds of people traditionally read the drafts of presidential speeches and statements. That happens for two good reasons. First, presidential utterances are instant policy. It's hard to walk away from a public statement. Second, the myriad political appointees want their leader to look good, and they strain to ensure the accuracy of his statements," that they write for him and end up on the teleprompter.

"Or at least they" used to. Ledeen says, "I don't think that is happening in this administration. A friend said to me earlier today that he was really amazed at the discipline of Obama's team, specifically in the small number of leaks compared with previous administrations," and that's because so few people are in the loop and know anything going on, because nobody trusts anybody in there. But he goes on to point out we're not dealing with a profound intellect here. Fifty-seven states? We can recount all the faux pas here, and they just laugh and look the other way. "Oh, yeah, it's just Obama." But this is major: Announcing somebody as alive who isn't, at an awards ceremony!



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