Yet again, the right attacks Obama for honoring veterans

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, but the right wing has managed to find a way to attack President Obama for speaking at a military base on Veterans Day. The Drudge Report is hyping Charles Hurt's New York Post column, in which Hurt accuses Obama of being “AWOL on Vets Day.” How was Obama AWOL, you ask? Well, because he celebrated the holiday at a U.S. military base in South Korea, rather than in the good ol' USA. You see, in Hurt's world, servicemen and women serving overseas apparently don't deserve the same respect as those stationed in the U.S.

Hurt wrote that Obama is “halfway around the world instead of being here in the United States to celebrate the sacrifices American soldiers, sailors and airmen have made around the world to keep the real, still-burning flame of freedom alive.” While he acknowledged that “Obama honored our veterans from afar by laying a wreath during a ceremony at an Army base in South Korea last night,” he nonetheless immediately attacked him for it, writing, “That is a distance from here matched only by the chasm that has opened up between him and the voters who elected him two years ago. This aloofness of his really is becoming a problem.”

In fact, Obama did more that just “lay a wreath” -- he gave a speech honoring the troops and veterans on Veterans Day. He spoke of “honor[ing] every man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of the United States of America;” “salut[ing] fallen heroes, and keep[ing] in our prayers those who are still in harm's way -- like the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan;” and “recall[ing] acts of uncommon bravery and selflessness.” But, no matter. He wasn't in the U.S. when he gave this speech.

Of course, this isn't the first time the right has attacked Obama for the location in which chooses to honor troops. Earlier this year, the right went apocalyptic because Obama planned to attend a Memorial Day ceremony at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois, rather than visiting Arlington National Cemetery. Never mind that previous presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. all attended Memorial Day ceremonies in places other than Arlington. Because it was Obama who did it, the action was a “slap in the face to our veterans.”

These people are shameless.