# McCain campaign slams Obama's visit to his grandmother **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 23, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233 "2008-10-23T17:27:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/101 "2008-10-24T04:21:49Z")
I’ve got to dash to work, so apologies if it’s already been covered… but if I’m reading this correctly, Obama has used funds earmarked for his political purposes to charter a flight to Hawaii. Is that correct? Because if so - and I say this as someone who is distinctly anti-Republican - that’s more than a little shitty. It’s great that he’s got strong family priorities, but it shouldn’t be done on taxpayer’s money. I feel this way about all personal expenditures charged to company funding, btw, so it’s really not political. I wouldn’t contemplate charging my employer if I had to fly at short notice on personal purposes, and I don’t see why anyone else should be doing it either. Dying grandma or not, you pay your own way if your moral compass is correctly aligned. Again, apologies if it’s already been covered, or if I’m completely off-base. I really will pop in after work and read this through properly, so feel free to ignore me if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick here. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/102 "2008-10-24T04:26:19Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > I’ve got to dash to work, so apologies if it’s already been covered… but if I’m reading this correctly, Obama has used funds earmarked for his political purposes to charter a flight to Hawaii. Is that correct? Incorrect. Obama turned down public financing, and all his campaign money has been raised from individuals. Now the Secret Service has to go with him, and that is coming from the taxpayers, but they’d be with him even if he was home in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/103 "2008-10-24T04:27:05Z")
Ta! Was on my way out the door and refreshed the page. Ignorance fought. 🙂 Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/104 "2008-10-24T04:27:19Z")
> [@Queen\_Bruin](#): > > I just lost my grandmother two months ago. She was my most favorite person in the world. I miss her every day; her character is the example to which I try to aspire. I’ll be lucky if I’m half as good a woman as she wasl. I wish I could have visited her one last time. It is right now my deepest regret in life. > > If Obama didn’t go visit her, I’d think less of him. Same if McCain’s mother was ailing. > > WTF is wrong with people? My grandfather died the day before my brother had the day off to go see him. It still haunts him two _years_ later. I’m with you. When I heard Obama was going back to Hawaii, I wondered if there might be anyone crass enough to make an issue out of it. The Republican PR machine didn’t disappoint. Or, rather, they did. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/105 "2008-10-24T04:37:46Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > I’ve got to dash to work, so apologies if it’s already been covered… but if I’m reading this correctly, Obama has used funds earmarked for his political purposes to charter a flight to Hawaii. Is that correct? > > Because if so - and I say this as someone who is distinctly anti-Republican - that’s more than a little shitty. It’s great that he’s got strong family priorities, but it shouldn’t be done on taxpayer’s money. Wait, wait-- so, when Palin returned to Alaska on the campaign charter from September 10-13, she was going there to conduct campaign business? ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/106 "2008-10-24T04:42:13Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I thought it was a military term. Maybe it is. No shortage of ex-military in my old neck of the woods. I really don’t know, though. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/107 "2008-10-24T04:42:27Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > [Tell that to Nixon](http://books.google.com/books?id=qtCRa7bCz3oC&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=president+nixon+commercial+flight&source=web&ots=WhUcA3JwPd&sig=HbK1AYytv7bTvY_SeHcQSVozZos&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result). There’s been at least three people arrested so far on suspicion of trying to assassinate Obama. How many were arrested for that while Nixon was in office? Word has it the SS is using cellphone jammers at Obama appearances because they’re worried about someone trying to get him with an IED. I’m thinking that there’s some _serious_ concern on the part of the SS that some whacko is going to try and take Obama out. If he gets elected, I wonder if he’ll do the walk during the parade like just about every President has done since Carter? Or will he, like Lincoln, be shuttled around in secrecy and armored vehicles? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/108 "2008-10-24T05:51:37Z")
> [@](#): > > **pepperlandgirl** : We can’t keep making policies and decisions based on the experiences of our parents and grandparents. Don’t write us off yet. One out of every eight Americans is 65 or older and the full force of the Boomers will be hitting that age group for the next twenty-odd years. Policies and decisions will be catering _more_ to the elderly, not less. That’s the bad news for you youngsters. The good news is that the aging generations are the leading edge of the very attitude that you described. We are not as frightened by words and progressive ideas. We _were_ the generation that gave birth to the counter-culture. My oldest granddaughter is twenty-one. My mother is ninety-five. She has a grandson who is a grandfather. We ain’t dead yet, missy. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/109 "2008-10-24T05:58:01Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > We ain’t dead yet, missy. Not that I have anything against you, **Zoe** , but my first thought when I read this was, “Hold still.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/110 "2008-10-24T06:29:31Z")
I ain’t leaving till I’m bored. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/111 "2008-10-24T06:55:10Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Don’t write us off yet. One out of every eight Americans is 65 or older and the full force of the Boomers will be hitting that age group for the next twenty-odd years. Policies and decisions will be catering _more_ to the elderly, not less. That’s the bad news for you youngsters. > > The good news is that the aging generations are the leading edge of the very attitude that you described. We are not as frightened by words and progressive ideas. We _were_ the generation that gave birth to the counter-culture. > > My oldest granddaughter is twenty-one. My mother is ninety-five. She has a grandson who is a grandfather. We ain’t dead yet, missy. Yeah, but can you see why it might be a little bit frustrating to be stuck in a time warp from an era that is far removed from the life many of us live now? My parents weren’t even involved in the upheaval of the 60s–because they’re Obama’s age! It’s bad enough that 2004 was reduced to squabbling over the Vietnam War, but now we’re not even discussing the War itself. Now McCain wants to make this campaign about some guy who did some shit that hardly anybody cares about or remembers. When that doesn’t work, he wants to plunge the country back even further, into McCarthyism. That crazy bitch from Minnesota didn’t start talking about anti-Americanism on her own, she was just following McCain’s lead. Neither Palin or McCain seem to believe that the Cold War is over. It’s just getting tedious. And stupid. I know the world didn’t start in 1982, but McCain doesn’t seem aware that the world has moved on in the past 40 years. Maybe one day McCain will join us in the 21st Century…maybe that’ll be the October surprise. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/112 "2008-10-24T07:29:33Z")
> [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](#): > > The right wing cabal has only been listening to itself for so long they appear to believe that most Americans think what they think. When they come out in the open and say the stuff that gets applauded on FOX and the equivalent print/blog world to regular people, they make things worse because it sounds so horrible. So far, they don’t appear to be able to figure out why they are being given such a hard time. Instead of evaluating the situation and realizing that they’ve been playing on a tilted field for so long that they’ve lost touch with level, they’re blaming everything else. Politics has always been personal, but is this when it got mean? Shortly after the honorable congressman from Georgia presented his Contract for America I remember reading an article in the WaPo talking about how back in the day legislators would slug it out on the floor of the House and hook up for a drink at the end of the day, and that after CfA the slugging would continue on after working hours. Now I’m not naive - personal slurs have been a part of politics ever since the people in power stopped being able to chop off heads due to whims and moods. It just seems to me (even factoring in for my young age) that the last few election cycles have been inordinately dirty. Is it the intarwebs? The 24-hour news cycle? Am I just savvy enough these days to attune myself to the nastiness? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/113 "2008-10-24T09:12:11Z")
One interesting theory I heard on last night’s Daily Show (I watched it today on DVR) is that they have to keep coming up with new slams because, with the 24-hour news cycle, gaffes and scandals are only good for so long before they grow old and die. The McCain campaign has tried everything and nothing has stuck to the wall yet, so ISTM they’re in Kitchen Sink Mode. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/114 "2008-10-24T10:22:39Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Hey **Bell** , is Nova still screwing over their English teachers over there, or are they finally out of business? Nova collapsed several months back, and other companies stepped in to hire a number of the teachers who were teaching for them. It still left many people stranded with either unpaid wages or unreturned tuition. The English education over here is fluctuating to a certain extent; the government-funded JET program has been cutting teachers across the country. Nothing is looking like a nationwide collapse or anything, but the way that English programs are implemented in the schools here needs to be examined in many ways. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/115 "2008-10-24T10:35:17Z")
So Obama ‘wasting time and money to visit his dying grandmother’ is McCain’s solution to the global economic crisis? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/116 "2008-10-24T11:46:51Z")
The thing is, even in the best case scenario for McCain–this charge against Obama takes traction–Obama’s countermove is blindingly obvious. He could express exasperation with McCain’s focus on the politics of personal destruction, publicly reimburse his campaign for the cost of the jet trip, and move on. He comes out looking great; McCain comes out looking appalling. It’s yet another incredibly dumb move. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/117 "2008-10-24T12:26:09Z")
**pepperlandgirl** –I was born in 1962 and I’m sick of the damned Baby Boomers–no, I’m not really One of Them–I have no memory of Vietnam etc. I consider myself a child of the Energy Crisis and Watergate (which I was too young to understand as well). Believe me, MOST of the country is sick of Vietnam, hippies, counter-culture BS and all the BB baggage. I’m fine with addressing the needs and issues of that generation–but I’d like to move on from the culture war crap. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/118 "2008-10-24T12:29:40Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > He WAS trapped in the 1960s. For five and a half years! My love of the \*\*Bean \*\*is rekindled. that was beautiful. Criminally sick, but beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/119 "2008-10-24T12:32:45Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Yeah, but can you see why it might be a little bit frustrating to be stuck in a time warp from an era that is far removed from the life many of us live now? My parents weren’t even involved in the upheaval of the 60s–because they’re Obama’s age! It’s bad enough that 2004 was reduced to squabbling over the Vietnam War, but now we’re not even discussing the War itself. Now McCain wants to make this campaign about some guy who did some shit that hardly anybody cares about or remembers. When that doesn’t work, he wants to plunge the country back even further, into McCarthyism. That crazy bitch from Minnesota didn’t start talking about anti-Americanism on her own, she was just following McCain’s lead. Neither Palin or McCain seem to believe that the Cold War is over. > . Tell me about it. The thing that drove me the most crazy in 2004 was exactly that it was reduced to squabbling over Vietnam. I’m just glad to see that the tactics seem to be imploding and that maybe by 2016 we can be squabbling about Gulf War I or something. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233/120 "2008-10-24T14:52:35Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > I’m thinking that there’s some _serious_ concern on the part of the SS that some whacko is going to try and take Obama out. If he gets elected, I wonder if he’ll do the walk during the parade like just about every President has done since Carter? Or will he, like Lincoln, be shuttled around in secrecy and armored vehicles? I vote Popemobile. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccain-campaign-slams-obamas-visit-to-his-grandmother/469233.md?page=7)