I have donated to Obama and have no problem with him using the campaign plane for this. It’s not like it is taxpayer money as in McCain’s case.
Well, I would enjoy seeing this Republican spokesperson fired outright and drummed out of the Corp. I would also enjoy learning that he/she had been officially excommunicated or kicked the hell out of whatever, if any, church he/she held membership in and I would further like to see his/her entire family band together to publicly swear they would have nothing further to do with him/her forever unto eternity, amen. And he/she should be made to walk the streets to the city gates while ringing a small bell and wearing a sign bearing the warning “unclean, unclean” and there he/she should meet the final fate of being stoned and I don’t mean by smoking weed.
Some of the old ways still have a lot to recommend them.
It’s his grandmother, who raised him from when Obama returned to the US until he graduated from high school.
Of course it wasn’t. The ONLY excuse for the McCain staffer to criticize it would be that he was sick & tired of the piling-on about Palin’s wardrobe expenses & grabbed onto the first thing that came to mind, and that’s still a crappy excuse.
However, he did not criticze the visit itself, but the supposed use of a campaign-funded plane to do so. Still crappy.
There’s a lot of things I think Obama is just wrong about & I’ll be voting against him because of these. But this is something in his favor.
Ditto, and shame on the McCain spokesman for trying to make hay out of an ailing grandmother. Jeez, guys.
I honestly could not possibly care less if he goes to visit Grandma or not. It’s none of my damn business, and if he wants to take his own private plane and thousand staff members, sure, whatever.
That said, the first thing I read about this said that his grandmother was on the brink of immediate death, and I assumed she was sick with cancer or pneumonia or something. Apparently she has a broken hip, which obviously isn’t good, but that’s hardly a life-or-death situation - she’s not even in the hospital.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
-Ralph Nader.
He doesn’t need a massive entourage. The Airport is a secure area and it’s routine to move people behind the scenes to avoid crowds. He could have boarded with a handful of SS without any problem. With that said he can certainly afford to rent a private jet to make the trip.
I would go to see my Grandmother. I would also take my family.
It was only wrong if he did it for political reasons. Which I see no reason to think he did.
It is a life or death situation when you’re that old, however.
From this fact sheet, though a quick search on “broken hip mortality” or something along those lines will find numerous cites for the 25% mortality figure.
I was under the impression she had been released from the hospital to die at home.
Me too. Thanks for the kind words.
And I’m glad pepperlandgirl’s sister is going to be OK, too.
25% mortality rate != death sentence.
Again, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with this, but the media coverage of it has been kind of half-assed. Not that that’s a surprise. It’s one of those situations where less information would be better: “Senator Obama flew home to Hawaii to spend time with his grandmother, who is unwell” is IMO better than “Sen. Obama flew home to Hawaii to spend time with his dying grandmother,” which reeks of sensationalism, regardless of how true it may be.
Thanks. And thanks Harmonious Discord. I went to visit her today (she lives about 40 miles away) and her face looks like nothing worse than a sun burn, so she should be back to normal soon…
obama’s grandmother has severe osteo, and the prognosis is that she will pass before election day.
she is in hospice care at her home. and yes, sen. obama had to get there.
if the mccain camp wants to jump on that they are in a very, very, sad place.
Neither McCain or Obama is evil. Especially not Obama.
And this is more evidence that McCain wants to lose. To attack a guy for visiting his dying grandma is ludicrously poor judgment.
Isn’t McCain’s mother still alive and in her 90’s? I have no doubt that were she to fall ill McCain would be there to see her by whatever means necessary.
Yep. She was at the RNC. She’s like 100 and still looks like she could take a full-grown man in a fair fight.
It’s sad that anyone would think there should even be a debate about this.