Team Hillary distancing themselves from Bergdahl swap?

Hot Air  "The first hint that Hillary Clinton didn’t want to tie herself to the spike-the-football strategy from the White House strategy for the Bowe Bergdahl swap could be described as a dog that didn’t bark. The former Secretary of State held her tongue for two days, and then only tepidly defended the deal in which Barack Obama traded five of the most dangerous men in Gitmo for the captive US soldier:
...
"Forget the bandwagon analogy, and think of sinking ships instead. Within less than a day after that statement, “former officials” in the State Department were busy talking with The Daily Beast’s Josh Rogin to explain that Hillary Clinton would have driven a much harder bargain than Obama, and even then may not have done the swap anyway:" ...

Harry's just wild about it all: Harry Reid: 'Glad' to Get 5 Taliban Out of Gitmo and Into Qatar:

Let's release more yet! " 'Guantanamo has been there far too long, and I think that we should get them out of there as quickly as we can," he said of the remaining 150 prisoners still classified as "enemy combatants" and held without charges."
 

Newsday

Krauthammer: I Find It Odd That Congress Didn’t Complain About Obama Changing Health Care Law 38 Times But Is Complaining About Bergdahl Exchange

Downtrend  “ 'The spirit of the law was to prevent Obama from emptying Guantanamo, unilaterally,” Krauthammer said, when speaking about the law that requires the President to give a 30 day notice to Congress before releasing prisoners from Gitmo. “This is somewhat different, and I’m surprised he didn’t make this case… The case that I would make is that this wasn’t an emptying of Guantanamo, this was a prisoner exchange.”

"[Krauthammer] went on to chastise members of Congress for criticizing the President for performing the exchange without Congressional notification when they didn’t criticize him for other, more obvious, examples of executive abuse."
 

See the return of Bowe Bergdahl

 

http://terrellaftermath.com/

 

Taliban release video showing handover of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

 

... "A Black Hawk helicopter then lands and two Taliban fighters, one carrying a white flag, lead Bergdahl half way. He is greeted and taken by three Western-looking men in civilian clothing to the helicopter, where soldiers in Army uniforms are waiting." Video

Prisoner swap blows up on White House   "Feinstein said leaders of the House and Senate Intelligence panels were almost unanimously against a prisoner trade when it came up in 2011."

This liberal says The Bowe Bergdahl Story Is Right-Wing Crack   "First, if a Republican president had swapped five Taliban leaders for Bergdahl, all the people howling today would be spinning it positively. And second, while there are legitimate questions here—yes, I wrote that it was “fair to ask whether the price” of Bergdahl’s freedom was “too high”—what we’re about to get is another relentlessly politicized series of investigations that will be aimed not at determining the truth but at trying to turn possible errors of judgment by the White House into high crimes and misdemeanors. That’s the game here. Anyone who denies it is being naively or intentionally delusional."

The substance of his complaint here is that while conservatives have a legitimate case, he hates that they will make an issue of it. 

 

From Hope n' Change:

"Meanwhile, Susan "I'll Say Anything" Rice has made the rounds of news shows claiming that Sgt. Bergdahl served "with honor and distinction" which doesn't seem to quite square with the impression given by every other soldier who served with him. Then again, perhaps Ms. Rice has simply been misinformed by a Youtube video."

Newsday

Veterans see red as Jane Fonda tapped to speak to UCLA grads

Commencement season is a funny thing. For example, Condoleezza Rice was unwelcome at Rutgers University, despite a stint as secretary of state and concert pianist, among other things. But it’s all about who is speaking to which audience. Jane Fonda, whose accomplishments include standing in front of cameras, will speak to the graduating class of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. Never mind the time she traitorously stepped in between a Vietcong anti-aircraft gun and a camera, which earned her the nickname “Hanoi Jane” and universal distain from Vietnam Veterans for supporting the enemy. It will be interesting to see if Hanoi Jane, who reportedly converted to Christianity and apologized for the Vietnam incident, will say anything of substance. But it may be lost on the sophomoric graduates looking to be the next generation of Hollywood.    The Patriot Post

This Rutgers alumnus declares that Rice not worthy of guest-speaker role

Fox News   ... "But the propaganda photo that resulted from that trip is forever etched in the memories of Vietnam veterans."

 
“ 'We are truly honored to have Jane Fonda speak at this year’s commencement ceremony,” said Teri Schwartz, dean of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. “Jane is a visionary and a remarkable artist who has spent her life telling deeply powerful stories that have moved and inspired audiences worldwide to action for the greater good and to a greater understanding of our common humanity through her films, philanthropic efforts and personal journeys.' ”

Why Team Obama Was Blindsided by the Bergdahl Backlash; The anti-military president and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class.

National Review Online

 

"Congratulations, Mr. President! And identical congrats to your sorcerer’s apprentice, National Security Adviser Susan Rice. By trying to sell him as an American hero, you’ve turned a deserter already despised by soldiers in the know into quite possibly the most-hated individual soldier in the history of our military.

"I have never witnessed such outrage from our troops."

"Exhibit A: Ms. Rice. In one of the most tone-deaf statements in White House history (we’re making a lot of history here), the national-security advisor, on a Sunday talk show, described Bergdahl as having served “with honor and distinction.” Those serving in uniform and those of us who served previously were already stirred up, but that jaw-dropper drove us into jihad mode. But pity Ms. Rice. Like the president she serves, she’s a victim of her class. Nobody in the inner circle of Team Obama has served in uniform. It shows.
...
... "In the best Manchurian Candidate manner, she said what she had been programmed to say by her political culture, then she was blindsided by the firestorm she ignited by scratching two flinty words
together. At least she didn’t blame Bergdahl’s desertion on a video."  Full article here.

supportbowe.org

A little Obamafreude on the Bergdahl Debacle

wnd.com

A little Obamafreude on the Bergdahl Debacle  "I did the right thing and called for decorum and an investigation before we hang young Mr. Bergdahl. But I can no longer contain the enjoyment I am getting watching the sh*tstorm envelop the Obama team. Not only are these folks the world's worst negotiators (if you don't know who the sucker is at the table...well), but how could they not have at least anticipated that trading terrorists for traitors might ruffle a few feathers."
...
"This cunning plan to wag the dog combined with a stalking horse for emptying Gitmo by declaring the war "ended" crashed and burned into a self-inflicted, own goal."

A Matter of Honor: Why So Many Soldiers Are Angry at the Bergdahl Deal
"And of course, the predictable happened. The military initiated a massive search, and men died. American heroes died. Have their parents had a presidential photo-op like Sergeant Bergdahl’s parents enjoyed? In the moral calculus have we even considered or mentioned the Americans who may have died in the combat operations that led to the capture of the Taliban leadership?"
...
"Let’s state this as plainly as possible: While we may attempt to end our combat operations against the Taliban, the Taliban have made no claim of ending their hostilities against us. We will be under zero obligation to hand over soldiers to an entity in an ongoing belligerent status against the United States."

After Bergdahl disappeared, “IEDs started going off directly under the trucks. They were getting perfect hits every time.”   ..."Within days of his disappearance, says [Bergdahl's team leader] Buetow, teams monitoring radio chatter and cell phone communications intercepted an alarming message: The American is in Yahya Khel (a village two miles away). He’s looking for someone who speaks English so he can talk to the Taliban.

...

"It was “very suspicious,” says Buetow, noting that Bergdahl knew sensitive information about the movement of U.S. trucks, the weaponry on those trucks, and how soldiers would react to attacks.

CNN's Jake Tapper has this.  Video link interview with Bergdahl's team leader.

 

....
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, defending against critics of the prisoner swap, said Bergdahl's "safety and health were both in jeopardy" at the time of his rescue.   ..."Hagel, visiting troops in Afghanistan, was met with silence when he told a group of them in a Bagram Air Field hangar: "This is a happy day. We got one of our own back." It was unclear whether the absence of cheers and applause came from a reluctance to display emotion in front of the Pentagon chief or from any doubts among the troops about Bergdahl."

This writer thinks your reaction is simply a matter of what you think of Mr. Obama  

... "FIRST IMPRESSION: Talk about a tough call: If the Afghans act against the United States or its allies, Obama will have blood on his hands. This is where your opinion about Obama probably tracks closely with your opinion on the deal.

"If you trust the president—if you buy his assurances about the U.S. capacity to monitor the terrorists and his resolve to take swift action—you're likely to give him the benefit of the doubt on the swap. In your mind's eye, you see a drone emblazoned with the names of five nasty Afghans.

"If you don't trust much of what Obama says or does, you're likely to hate this deal because it depends so heavily on the president's judgment." 

The Godzilla of Incompetence

BUUUUUSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Could these two posts be called anachronistic? " ... "the representation of something as existing or occurring at other than its proper time, esp. earlier.
..."anything that is or seems to be out of its proper time in history"

1. The problem was caused during the Bush presidency  

"Mother Jones dusts off an old favorite in defense of Obama.

"It’s been years since he left office and Bush is still the left’s only excuse for Obama’s failures.

"Amazing.

 

2. Jay Carney: Obama clueless again, first learned of VA scandal from the media  Video

"The problem with that explanation is that the Obama-Biden transition team was informed of VA wait time discrepancies in 2008, according to the Washington Times.

"Responses from Twitter were brutal, according to tweets compiled by Twitchy, which included:

 

Jay Caruso @JayCaruso Follow

What kind of executive are you if you don't know about what goes in your admin until you hear about in the media?

 

Krystle @TarheelKrystle Follow

If this admin STILL gets all of it's info from the freaking news, they're not just inept--they occupy jobs they

shouldn't have.

Recent Bergdahl stories in one post

There is much out there on Bergdahl, but in light of the Blackfive request to make the VA mess a bigger priority, we gathered these Bergdahl stories into one link, instead of many posts on him.

First off, in order to be balanced on this story, we searched "bowe bergdahl innocent" and Bing had this.
Search the words "bowe bergdahl a hero" and you get this.

Two leftist sources have this:
Mother Jones; Yep, Republicans Are Even Outraged Over the Release of a POW
Slate; The Obama administration needs to butt out and let the Army decide if he deserted and should be punished.

Sergeant who served with Bergdahl: He’s at best a deserter, at worst a traitor   "Army sergeant Josh Korder was interviewed by CNN’s only real journalist Jake Tapper today and said Bowe Bergdahl doesn’t deserve the celebration he’s getting in the media."
 

A most excellent source, Lucianne posts these:
 

Admin of Anti-Bergdahl Facebook Group Revealed as Former Squad Leader   "The man behind the Facebook group “Bowe Bergdahl is NOT a Hero!” isn’t, as most would initially believe, some conservative crank mad at the Obama administration for swapping five Taliban prisoners in exchange for the American prisoner of war. According to Jake Tapper, Greg Leatherman, the creator of the group, was actually one of Bergdahl’s squad leaders before he disappeared and allegedly abandoned his post."

Watch Obama's face as Bergdahl's dad invoked Allah in Arabic  “ 'What none of these media is reporting is that the father’s (SGT Bowe Bergdahl’s father Bob) first words at the WH were in Arabic – those words were “bism allah alrahman alraheem” – which means “in the name of Allah the most gracious and most merciful” – these are the opening words of every chapter of the Qur’an except one (the chapter of the sword – the 9th) – by uttering these words on the grounds of the WH, Bergdahl (the father) sanctified the WH and claimed it for Islam. There is no question but POTUS knows this.' ”

Shoebat

Revealed: How freed US POW's biker father told the Taliban 'God will repay the death of every Afghan child', learned Pashto, grew a beard and adopted liberal views in wake of son's capture

 

 

The narrative in the Bowe Bergdahl saga has changed from heroism to one of compassion

Life in the land of the free

Stop this insanity  "I went to the VA Hospital in Iron Mountain today on business. While there I stopped at the Chapel and found pinky-purple curtains with mesh at the top, covering the altar. (You know the type. They use them between sick patients in the hospital).

Weasel Zippers

"I stopped in my tracks, shocked at what I saw. I peeked behind the curtain, and found what used to be the welcoming part of the chapel, the Cross, a picture of Jesus, and other Christian icons familiar to the majority of Americans.

"I found Chaplain Bob Mueller, to ask what the meaning was of this change. This is what he told me.
"A couple of months ago, an order came down from Washington DC to cover all things associated with Christianity in the VA. Their solution is to cover everything in all the VA Chapels across the country.' "

Never Say "I Kill White People Like You" When Asked To Turn Off Your Phone Post-Takeoff

The Smoking Gun  "Following takeoff from Nashville Sunday afternoon, a United Airlines passenger warned a fellow flyer that, “I kill white people like you” when she was asked to turn off her cell phone, investigators allege.

"The disruption on Flight 4205, which was bound for Houston, resulted in the Embraer 135’s return to Nashville’s airport, where Lashonda Lee Williams was arrested for assault.
...
"Investigators noted that Williams told the other passenger, K. Colleen Coult, 50, that she would follow her upon reaching Houston “and find out where she lived.” The comments “created fear in Coult for her safety,” the affidavit notes.

"A United flight attendant told cops that Williams’s statements “were causing anxiety and fear throughout the cabin.' ”

Don't Let The Bergdahl @#$% Storm Distract from Fixing the V.A.

Blackfive  "With all that's happening with Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, the media is definitely concerned with the "unexpected" blow back from the prisoner trade for Bergdahl.  

The problem with the Veterans Affairs issue is that it is only going to continue to get worse as investigations continue.

"The Wall Street Journal is reporting that there are discrepancies on wait times across every facility.  Well, no @#$%.  Also, I believe this is self-reported data.  Not real findings from an outside the VA auditor.  But it shows internal metrics identifying that Phoenix was a known problem." ...