Buchanan again falsely suggested Obama did not visit wounded troops while abroad

Written by Christine Schwen

Published

In his column, Pat Buchanan falsely suggested that Sen. Barack Obama did not visit wounded troops during his recent trip abroad. Buchanan asserted: “While the first half of his foreign trip, to Afghanistan and Iraq, was official, the European tour was campaign related. Yet, it was on this leg that a visit to wounded U.S. soldiers had been scheduled. As campaigning in a military hospital is prohibited, the visit was canceled.” In fact, according to Buchanan's colleague, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, Obama did visit with wounded troops during the “official” part of his tour.

In his syndicated column Pat Buchanan again falsely suggested that Sen. Barack Obama did not visit wounded troops during his recent trip abroad. In his August 5 column, Buchanan, an MSNBC contributor, asserted: “While the first half of his foreign trip, to Afghanistan and Iraq, was official, the European tour was campaign related. Yet, it was on this leg that a visit to wounded U.S. soldiers had been scheduled. As campaigning in a military hospital is prohibited, the visit was canceled.” In fact, according to Buchanan's colleague, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, Obama did visit with wounded troops during the “official” part of his tour, as Media Matters for America has noted.

Mitchell reported on July 25 that while in Iraq, Obama “visited a casualty unit in the Green Zone, without photographers, as part of the congressional delegation.” Obama has also reportedly visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Indeed, on July 28, Mitchell confirmed her previous reporting, saying, “I can attest to the fact that he did visit troops in Iraq only four or five days earlier, that there was no notice of it, that I confirmed that it happened, but they had no video of any type and no reporters. And that he's been to Walter Reed. So let's at least get that off the table.”

Buchanan previously asserted that Obama's cancellation of his planned trip to visit the wounded troops in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany gave “the sense that, you know, Barack is not one of us. He's just not a normal guy who would go see the wounded troops.”

From Buchanan's column, headlined “Mr. Obama, Welcome to the NFL”:

For all its gracelessness, the McCain campaign, given openings by Barack, stepped in and put Muhammad Ali on the canvas.

The first opening was the clumsiness with which Barack dealt with a planned visit to wounded U.S. troops in Landshul [sic], Germany.

While the first half of his foreign trip, to Afghanistan and Iraq, was official, the European tour was campaign related. Yet, it was on this leg that a visit to wounded U.S. soldiers had been scheduled. As campaigning in a military hospital is prohibited, the visit was canceled.

But, instead of going ahead and visiting the troops alone, without aides, press or cameras, Barack bailed out and flew on to Paris.