(HT: PowerLine)
From Obama's Memorial Day speech:
On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.
I know we all make mistakes. But this is inexcusable.
Cross-posted on Southern Appeal.
Comments (18)
I think the error is perfectly excusable. However, the double-standard in the media where Republicans get skewered for verbal gaffes while Democrats get free passes is a travesty ....
Newsbusters.org maintains a nauseating log of pro-Democrat media bias ..
Posted by MarkC | May 27, 2008 1:03 PM
When I went to see a mummy exhibit with some friends, I didn't miss a beat after seeing the ghoulish thing before saying, "I see dead people." My friends groaned in agony, the security guard guffawed.
Posted by Step2 | May 27, 2008 3:18 PM
Frank, if you'd waited another day you could have blogged an even bigger one, one that looks a lot more like outright fabrication than like an error: Obama's mythical uncle who "liberated Auschwitz." Details at LGF.
Posted by Lydia | May 27, 2008 6:59 PM
When Obama makes up stuff like that, it accentuates McCain's virtues. The race becomes a battle between real war hero imprisoned in a Vietcong prison camp vs. great nephew of mythical war hero who did not liberate anyone from concentration camp.
Reminds me of that line from the Bob Dylan song, "Trouble in Mind" (1979):
"When the deeds that you do don't add up to zero
It's what's inside that counts, ask any war hero."
[Thanks for pointing out the typos in my original comment, Rob #2. They are now changed.- FJB]
Posted by Francis Beckwith | May 27, 2008 9:25 PM
Shouldn't we give the benefit of the doubt to Harvard graduates?
Posted by Ken Mueller | May 28, 2008 12:19 AM
"When the deeds that you don't add up to zero
It's what inside that counts, ask any war hero."
So it was Buchenwald, rather than Auschwitz--big whoop. Anybody can make a mistake. A quick look at Mr. Beckwith's Dylan quote will reveal that he made two mistakes in a 19-word clip (that should have had 20 words.)
To err is human. For those still struggling to find Mr. Beckwith's mistakes, please note that he left out the word "do" between "you" and "don't" in the first line, and he omitted the "'s" from what should have been the word "what's" in the second line.
Attention to detail is important. But it should be noted that the gist of what Mr. Obama said was valid, despite his error, as was the gist of Mr. Beckwith's message; the main difference between the two being that the former was said to praise somebody, and the latter said to mock. To quote Dylan once more: "It's what's inside that counts."
Posted by Rob #2 | May 28, 2008 4:51 AM
The problem with Obama is not Auschwitz or Buchenwald, the problem is a steady stream of the species gaffe. He does seem to have confused his birthday and the march on Selma for example, a mistake that I'm sure liberals would say is perfectly understandable, after all it's only his birthday.
What we are witnessing is the self induced grandeur of the political egoist where history and facts fail to interfere with the magnificence and vision of the orator. Where in fact they take second place to his revelations of his own magnificence.
It used to be called delusional but we live in a new age where history is merely a recounting of America's crimes and Great Britain is an island somewhere in the Atlantic, where Now stands isolated and the Future is to be molded by the tender hands of Power and Pride, found always in the hands of the political class, no less ignorant than much of the trustful and even adoring crowds that cheer every inanity.
Posted by johnt | May 28, 2008 10:52 AM
The seeing of dead people is just a gaffe, but it is a little dent in the myth that he's some great orator.
But claiming that his uncle (great uncle) was among those who liberated Auschwitz and Treblinka shows that he's accepted these stories as fact, without ever having studied up on the details. If my great uncle had been with Patton at Buchenwald, I would know every date, every battle, and the details of every unit he was with.
Invoking "Auschwitz" shows intellectual laziness.
And then to micturate on the man by saying he spent six months in the attic? Nice work, Barry.
Posted by Loren Heal | May 28, 2008 10:57 AM
The Auschwitz/ Buchenwald is actually no gaffe at all. Or at the most, he accidentally fell into something quite accurate.
By train, both are only accessible by the Osweicim train station (which is Polish for Auschwitz).
When I toured the place, my tour guide map referred to Buchenwald as Auschwitz III, because in someone's arbitrary numbering, it was the third site within the city known as Osweicim (Auschwitz).
Auschwitz I was the military base used a concentration camp and now is a museum.
Auschwitz II was the death camp housing the gas chambers and incinerators.
Posted by Royale | May 28, 2008 5:23 PM
Retraction with egg on my face.
I meant Birkenau.
Mein Deutsche ist sehr sclecht.
Posted by Royale | May 28, 2008 5:39 PM
Auschwitz, in Poland, was liberated by the Red Army, period.
Truth is, as Loren says, Obama can't be bothered to check stuff. He says what sounds exciting without even the care to throw in some qualifier like "if I recall correctly." He knows he'll be given a pass by the press, who will hasten to cover his tail by telling everyone what he "really meant to say" when in fact he's too careless to have "really meant to say" the other thing, because he never bothered to get it right in his own head in the first place.
Posted by Lydia | May 28, 2008 8:11 PM
Sitting under the teaching of the veracity-challenged Jeremiah Wright has its consequences.
Pastorbation makes your congregation go blind. :-)
Posted by Francis Beckwith | May 28, 2008 8:35 PM
And let's remember that earlier Obama has said that his grandfather "heard the stories of fellow troops who liberated Auschwitz and Treblinka." This should be relevant to our evaluation of the new claim that his great-uncle really _did_ liberate Buchenwald, that that was what Obama meant to say, and that he just slipped up. No, he goes around saying stupid stuff like this habitually.
Posted by Lydia | May 28, 2008 10:19 PM
Americans seem to take politics very seriously. You seem as passionate about the Presidential race as any contentious moral issue. I've always been curious to know why this is.
Graham Veale
Northern Ireland
Posted by Graham Veale | May 29, 2008 11:23 AM
By the way Francis Beckwith, thats the worst joke I've ever heard/read. Which is quite an achievement.
Posted by Graham Veale | May 29, 2008 11:24 AM
Graham, that's not the worst of it. I have so many bad jokes that it would drive an Irishman not to drink. :-)
Frank
Posted by Francis Beckwith | May 29, 2008 2:24 PM
Frank
Yep, that one beat it.
Graham
Posted by Graham Veale | May 30, 2008 11:21 AM
Frank
Out of curiosity, why is it that Americans make the Presidential elections such apocolyptic
affairs. I'm not attacking the Religious Right by any means here. Michael Moore and Janeane Garofalo have a certainty in their politics that would make a Jihadi blush. They won't be forming a think tank any time soon,granted, but why is it they seem to have the same vehemence in their views as, say, Pat Robertson.
Or am I misreading the situation as an outsider? In any case understanding this would explain so many episodes of the West Wing...
Graham Veale
Posted by Graham Veale | May 30, 2008 11:31 AM