Of Gaffes and Perspective

To me – such “mistakes” are the natural consequence of Americans choosing a president based on “tone” rather than knowledge/content. After hearing Bush and Kerry debate – I never imagined that Bush would be the POTUS. The same holds true for me regarding Clinton/Obama and the primary debates. His knowledge base is just not there.

Jake, I pray you share the same sensitivity for the holocaust of slavery and the surviving generations in this country.
(and what would be your reason to mention that…..PTSD)

I hate gotcha politics and god knows this blog is the number one purveyor of it this cycle so I can appreciate when your conscience kicks in, Mr Tapper.
So thanks.

Thanks for looking all that up, Jake. Excellent. But the name of his uncle appears nowhere in those citations. To rope this gaffe, you’d need a service record.
Citing the story of Buchenwald is not the same as verifying or denying his story. I don’t think he made it up and the horror of the events is a given, but your citation doesn’t *logically* demonstrate anything except that there are subcamps of a system of work camps called Buchenwald. The distinction between death camps and works camps only amplifies the horrors.
On the other hand…
Obama gets a pass on this. Google Buchenwald and see how many dates are returned because different sub-camps are liberated on different day by different units. Even Google won’t answer this right on the first pass. I wouldn’t expect someone who wasn’t there to fare better.
As to historical gaffes: on one day, Hillary Clinton can be beaten witless for talking, and on another, when Obama misspeaks, because of the events cited, you pull out the sympathy carpet.
It’s always different for different listeners, huh?

….and what if the shoe was on the other foot? I see no sensitivity to gaffes made by Hillary.

It seems like Obama joins Bush as a practitioner of what Stephen Colbert calls “truthiness”. It may not be the actual facts, but it sounds good, and anyway you know what I mean, and well, part of what I said was right. Again, I get the feeling that Obama is not experienced and mature enough to know what he doesn’t know.

I’d rather have a president who doesn’t know where Buchenwald and Auschwitz are, then a guy who doesn’t know the difference between a Sunni and a Shhite, seems to me one is more pertinent to our current predicament.
Obama was wrong, they admitted it and pointed out the real facts, tempest in a teapot

I would like to hear the GOP comment on George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, funding the Nazi war machine while Director of Union Banking Corp and involved with Consolidated Silesian Steel Company, Harriman 15 Corporation and Standard Oil – just to name a few.

I’m Jewish and I don’t think mixing up one camp with another is a big deal at all. But I do think Michael Dobbs’s treatment of this matter at the Washington Post is disgusting and totally out of proportion. He makes it sound like there’s no truth at all to Obama’s story when, in fact, aside from the particular camp it’s 100% true. What bothers me most isn’t Dobbs’s unfairness to Obama, but the aspersions he’s effectively casting on Obama’s great uncle. That guy sounds like a hero to me. If there’s any reason to set this whole thing straight, it’s to pay proper respect to him. But Dobbs just makes a muddle of it.

Posted by: Brandon | May 27, 2008 10:19:23 PM
if bho thought it was a “wonderful story” and was proud of the “white side of his family” he would have known the facts!

“just like Sunrise -Sunshine, Sioux Falls -Sioux City Obama throws stuff out there to appease people. Except he is wrong and is clueless. As a Jew I will NEVER vote for him and that goes for many. many. many.many or my people.”
Hey, peevil: do you know what “appease” means? Seems not!

I think the media reports on all this bs for no good reason I support Hillary and I guess putting up with the media who must be the lowest on all the food chains at least they sure have proven it this election we have no first class media any more in this country it is a sad day for the world that even are election’s get no respect from the MSM what can you do when thier is no honesty in the people who should hold the first admenment close to thier hearts but don’t.

pp,
I agree with you. If Obama had such an honorable great uncle, why would he not even mention this when he was in FL talking to the elderly Jewish population? Why would that not have been the perfect stage? You are quite correct. Obama did not see it as significant. What he did see significant was the context of PTSD and Memorial Day. He missed the the best point to be made because he does not get the significance.

Nice post, JPT! I love it when bloggers think. (That’s not sarcasm, btw.)

Posted by: michiganian33 | May 27, 2008 10:45:37 PM
If i knew years ago, and had mentioned it prior about my uncle, and now was having trouble with the jewish vote, i would have at least looked it up NOW to USE to appease the electorate. just another example of his lack of sensitivity to the subject.

” What I would like to know is: Where are his half brothers and sisters and what are they doing? Does he have contact with them on a regular basis. I understand there were seven on his father’s side and one sister on his mother’s side. The few reports I have read indicate they are of the muslim faith.”
You could look it up, Maria, if you were literate. Try reading Obama’s books; they are discussed in detail there. Also various press reports.
Hillary got you living in an informatiion vacuum?

Good thing Hillary didn’t say this. They mainline press (who simply adores Obama and will show him grace) would eat Hillary alive over something like this.

Barack Obama’s Memorial Day speech, in which he said, “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”
So, he saw fallen heros, dead people?
Is he really that smart as he appeared to be two months ago?

jt said:he’s never mentioned before that his great uncle helped liberate a concentration camp until it came up in North Las Vegas in a conversation about PTSD.
——
Except that it wasn’t a conversation about PTSD. The questioner asked him about how his grandfather’s service affected him.
Obama turned it into a lecture about vets with PTSD self-medicating with alcohol, being homeless, and finally his uncle. It was a completely self-serving political statement, and he demonstrated his lack of WWII knowledge in trying to use it as an illustration.
So if you want to be offended, perhaps you could consider being offended that Obama used a concentration camp to show how inadequate US vet care is and has been.

Maybe one small step toward reaching a more balanced and reasonable coverage of the campaigns is to hold off on posting about a “gaffe” until you have gotten all the facts.
I really do think the media has gotten all caught up in this “gaffe squad” business and it sometimes appears that the rush to publish the gaffe, then the attack from the opponent on the gaffe, then the reply and/or correction and/or apology from the candidate, and then the responses of the media, then the responses of supporters from one or both camps to the media and/or to the gaffe and/or the official responses to the gaffe, is a little paint by numbers.

Lisa S wrote:
His knowledge base is just not there.
—————-
Perhaps, but he sure has the 101 on campaign management. Last check the Obama campaign wasn’t $31 million in the crapper. Guess that’s the media’s fault.

Maybee – I agree with your comments. On Memorial Day, CNN did a show about PTSD so maybe this is where he got the idea of it. With his extreme liberal views, he might just disperse the military into the air. Soon, there will no longer be a military in the US.

this gaffe is a “misspoke” but it’s simply “stupid” when he doesn’t know Afghanistan doesn’t speak Arabic. Now see there’s a great pattern of him lacking the knowledge of history and foreign policies. Fellows, this is not a time when Bill Clinton ran for President, this is a time of war. You cannot just pick someone who has absolutely no military experience and foreign policies knowledge to be a commander-in-chief during a war.
It’s a good idea that McCain has pushed him to visit Iraq (I think obama is going there next month, no with McCain).

Since Obama doesn’t give us a lot of record to go on, I think what he does give us becomes even more important. I notice that his remarks frequently show a certain intellectual laziness.
When it comes to race issues he thinks of “typical white person” attitudes for instance – that’s a shortcut to making sense of race issues for him. When it comes to class issues he thinks of the less well off as “bitter” folk “clinging” to religion etc. – that helps him to understand why working class folks may not be voting for him. When he thinks of jews in concentration camps he jumps to Auschwitz. It seems that in trying to organize and understand things he tends to move toward generalizations and oversimplifications.

obama=eloquent stupidity

As the child of a concentration camp survivor, I found his generalized careless mistatements disgusting.
Obama thinking no one would check the facts, mentioning an ‘uncle’ he does not have and the most famous camp of all — Auschwitz (liberated by the Russians)– just to get points, so he could be a “hero by association” is offensive and pandering in the extreme.
I certainly will never vote for this man.
He shows himself to be more careless and callous with each passing day.

“And do we really need the headline ‘Where In the World Is Auschwitz?’ This isn’t a joke.”
No, it’s not. And getting it factually accurate, for the guy who would lead the free world, is sort of important.
Obama gaffes a lot, and there’s always some ready excuse for him.
Is this the biggest deal ever? Of course not. But he is WAY out of his league and it’s in these details where it shows.
Macaca, indeed.

My god people. The guy confuses the names of two nazi death camps but the essence of the memory is factual and this is what the right wing is frothing about?
Wow. You really have nothing do you? I can’t wait until Obama trounces McBush in November. It will be the most satisfying day of my life.

there are no FACTS to link an uncle or grand uncle to ANY of the death camps!
There is a name….. which didn’t go anywhere…. no miliatary records….. nada…..
If this were Hillary…….you’d be screaming your usual vile garbage at her.
How come you let B O get away with this stuff?
Don’t you think he can take it?
Or are you afraid Michele will come and grab you by your painful extremities?

LOL At this point? The Clintonites and the GOP (one and the same these days) will jump on any mistake and hang there for dear life even after it has been proven that the name of the camp was incorrect but the fact was correct. Not sure who they are attempting to impress or defrade since no one is listening except those that would never vote for Obama anyway…certainly not the super delegates since they too realize the fact was correct. Just more show of childish GOP tactics that fall on deaf ears.

You know RC…the ones who threaten to vote McCain? Would have anyway. They have no party sense at all and can’t assimulate facts.

Who knows the truth about him, nobody knows for sure!
Is he a Muslim when he was in Indonesia? Nobody knows.
Now, came out another one, his uncle, his grandfather,,,,
Where are all reporters this whole time?

From Obama’s web-site:
“My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton’s army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain. I don’t oppose all wars.”
Pearl Harbor was bombed Dec. 7, 1941.
However, according to the WWII Kansas Veterans Index. His grandfather, Stanley A. Dunham, enlisted in the Army on June 18 1942, more than six months after Pearl Harbor.
I have nothing but admiriration for his grandfather’s joining and his service. But again Obama apparently stretched the truth to create a more dramatic story.

He stretched the truth for a more dramatic story? Dam(n), who does he think he is? Hillary???

Jo,
If OBAMA Lose a landslide according to your prediction, I will come here Nov 6th 2 am EST and will write Bush the Greatest President of All time. Will support GOP for next 4 years. That is a Promise!!
OBAMA08!! YES WE CAN!!

George, don’t forget the Selma lie. That one was really disturbing.

Or how about the one where Bush’s presidency brought about people like Hugo Chavez….
Uh, Obama, Chavez came about in the Clinton administration.
Guess that wasn’t on the teleprompter.

RC, yeah we heard that in 2000 and 2004 too.
Good luck writing that good stuff about Bush. Like I said, get started now.

Jo,
The GOP, 2000 Election..lol
Anyways, 2008 you got no idea what is you are up against. Good luck!
Tell McCain, all his GOP money; wife Money and Gov matching will not be enough to save his old boat this time.
OBAMA08!! YES WE CAN!!

“To me – such “mistakes” are the natural consequence of Americans choosing a president based on “tone” rather than knowledge/content. After hearing Bush and Kerry debate – I never imagined that Bush would be the POTUS. The same holds true for me regarding Clinton/Obama and the primary debates. His knowledge base is just not there.”
Now, Hillary KNEW that she was under sniper fire in Bosnia. She was ACTUALLY THERE! Who are you going to believe? Her or the television reports?
Obama, on the other hand, is relying upon lying relatives who are conniving to plump up his resume….

Jo,
Get ready Buddy all your Southern Red states and Mountain West will be gone from Red for next 8 years!!
OBAMA08!! YES WE CAN!!

Yeah, you had those Ads in AL,NC and the result GOP losing seats..been there done that..say something new!!
OBAMA08!! YES WE CAN!!

RC, you mean those elections in which an extremely conservative democrats won?! You’re basing Obama’s win on that?
LOLOL. Keep talking cuz you’re making me laugh.

Imagine Rev. Wright played over and over until election day. And Bill Ayers too. And Michelle Obama’s comments. You’ll have people coming out of the woodwork who have never voted – coming out to make sure this clown doesn’t win.
No way Jose. Barack loses in a landslide. He may even lose 57 states!
Bwhahahahahahaha…… I love it.

yes she was actually there.. Nobody doubts the fact she was first lady. It is the embellishments and blatent untruths when it appears she is losing ground that convinced me long ago she was wiling to do or say anything she though the Kool-aid drinking followers needed to hear..Heres the skinny… Dems sweep the house elections, Pick up 3 more seats in the senate. and with a democratic Congress the newly elected President John McCain will do well pass his own gas..

thrh, I’m glad you’re enjoying it. It’s fun to put these people back to 2000 and 2004 when they were crying in misery. Sore losers is an understatement for them!

“I can’t clean up my own backyard (Chicago) but I’m going to clean up DC”
Barack Obama
Lol.

Much ado about nothing. The fact is his great uncle as part of the US forces DID help liberate a Nazi concentration camp. He simply tripped up by stating the wrong location of the camp as he may have been told as a child that it was Auschwitz.I do not think there was any intention on Obama’s part to deceive.

Jo,
Why are you here not joining the War, as you love War so much!!
War will not save you this year buddy keep dreaming!
OBAMA08!! YES WE CAN!!

doublestandard,
Very well said. Salute to you! Your ID is a perfect fit for all these shameless MSMs.

If you go to the Indonesian town where Obama attended school, and get out the school records book (as Inside Edition did) on Obama’s page where it says Religion, the word “Islam” is written.
And that’s a FACT. They have it on video.

first stop and consider all he knows of religion, Rev wright taught him. Which is something that is way out there, some where. It is a Black liberation religion. Which is very political driven.
Obama Obama is 100% unapologetic for anything he does. He lies straight faced, even when he gets catch in the lies, He does not care.
He does not care about the constitution, he wants to re-write it to suit his own ideas and goals.
Rev Wright did one thing, took a troubled mix-up kid and molded him into what he wanted him to be………..
The world Famous Pastor of all times. His sermons have gotten him vast amount of followers. He keeps preaching they will follow him anywhere, will do anything for him. They believe everything he says as truth.
It is not politics, it is not government, it is not a nation It is far more than that.

well, there are some people who would just step on others just to put their selves up.. how pathetic.

stepping on others to get ahead.. that is the american way…

Seah, yes he doesn’t want everyone to know how radical he is — that’s why most of the time he votes “present”

Wait, Beth, there is…huh…huh…huh…one more state left to go…

How many delagates does the Turks & Caicos have???

Jo,
Did not you cried about Obama’s Church for 20 years and now you are saying he is Muslim, man do you have any other story? Is he Jews or Hindu too?
OBAMA FOR ALL AMERICA!!
OBAMA08!! YES WE CAN!!

Texan,
Make Obama your Prophet and research every words come out from his mouth and let us keep moving this election until he wins it all the way! That is way it has been, why change, that is the way it will be..take it or leave it!!
OBAMA08!! YES WE CAN!!

Well said pp…..I am 100% with you and feel confident that out of the 17 million Hillary voters, a huge chunk of them feel as we do, and this country will remain safe and America will still be #1. Want someone who has the best interests for this country, not Africa, Indonesia, Afganistan or wherever the hell Obama the world citizen feels like reaching out to. If not Hillary….then McCain for 44th President of the U.S.

Posted by: Pat | May 28, 2008 2:42:31 AM
from his books, as thrh mentions, i think he sort of disowned or ignores the white side of his family….till now. perhaps that is why his memory is fuzzy.

Posted by: RC | May 28, 2008 2:50:30 AM
no president can institute the draft without the okay of congress….

RC…I have a 14 year old daughter who wouldn’t enlist. We are grateful for those who do, but last I checked we didn’t have a draft. These brave young men and women actually enlist and want to and some go back time and again.
I’m still voting McCain if Hillary is not an option.

This is pandering at its lowest … dont get the facts the country or the relationship correct , just reference the holocaust on Memorial Day to a crowd of veterans , and the very worst thing is … this is the very first time we ever heard of this relative , when it is convenient.. I guess for the first time in his adult life someone found him on obamas family tree?? I dont believe for one minute the man came home and stayed in the attic …embellishment is just a lie obama is a liar; I am repulsed that he finds the holocause a convenient reference for political purposes , I find obama reprehensible
MY father was a turret gunner and he flew in big bombers over Italy… and my children know what he did and where …

Every time Obama talks about the vets getting the shaft here at home with regard to health care.. or mentions PTSD, some will bring this up to divert the issue. It’s sad that some can’t stick to the real issues but jump at every possibility to yell liar, liar, pants on fire.
Time to grow up. Time to get real. Time to pay attention to what is being said, what the real issues are, rather than lay in wait for any minor bs to jump on.

I don’t think Obama ever listened to his granduncle/whatever and to the real story behind it. He’s just pulling it out of his ass now that it is somewhat convenient, that’s all. Of course he messes up along the way, just like he messes up with everything else (I’m still trying to find those new 7 states on the map; mind you, even my mother knew that there are no 57 states in the US, and no, we’re not Americans)
Excusing this with “mistake” is quite dumb. You can’t mistake Auschwitz and Treblinka for Buchenwald and Dachau if you have your facts together. It’s impossible. They don’t even sound the same. You have to lack every and all knowledge about the Holocaust and the history of WW2 to do that. Of course, if you believe that Treblinka is a typical Bavarian name… Well, who would be that stupid? Oh… nevermind.
My greatgrandfather was in Buchenwald. Why do I know that for sure? Cause I actually listened to the story. And I don’t have to make it up as I move on.
Obama… just… stop it, really. It’s getting annoying.

Someone who had a propensity for going on and on about stories with which he had a passing knowledge of the facts would maybe be considered to have a GRAVITAS problem, right?
GRAVITAS, it’s his middle name.

again..
from his books i think bho sort of disowned or ignores the white side of his family….till now. perhaps that is why his memory is fuzzy.

The bigger point is that Obama can say anything, make no sense at all, contradict himself repeatedly and his adoring hordes cheer and applaud like he is the second coming. They aren’t listening to what he is saying, they just worship him. That is very scary.

Family tales often get changed – I am sure that none of you have heard family lore and not questioned it. BTW – how many Charles Payne were there in the military back then.
Large people talk about ideas, little people talk about other people…

This guy is a snake oil salesman who will sell you the flavor of the month. He will sell you a bridge in New York that is not for sale and ocean front property in Arizona where there is none. This guy is a CON MAN of the highest caliber. The American people are being fed a big line from a guy who has come just been awaken from a sleeping cell.

“If Hillary isn’t the nominee, I’m voting for McCain”
————-
Let me save you the suspense…you should go ahead and change your voter registration now.

I remember in Obamas’ speach-preach in Philadelphia he referenced his reverend (wright)as…” he’s like the crazy uncle you keep up in the attic”…now he says, this uncle that helped liberate a concentration camp, came home and stayed in the attic for 6 weeks…just something that came to mind.

To all the “I’ll vote for McCain if Hillary isn’t the nominee” posters. You are probably from the Cheetos Brigade of Operation Chaos.
If any Hillary supporters are considering McCain because they think Obama is sexist, may I remind them that when ask “How do we stop the b**ch?”, McCain just chucked.

Ahhhh, The Messiah. He makes no mistakes. He only speaks the Truth. He’s the One we’ve been waiting for. He shall deliver us from our sins, from our selfish ways, toward a more enlightened world. Just ignore the fact that He’s an empty suit with no grasp of history or current events, who climbed his way to the top with the blessing of Anti-American extremists, who hides his true views of this country, with the assistance of a media that gets funny feelings in its pants upon the site of him. Yes, He’s the One we’ve been waiting for. And He’s the One who will return this country to the malaise, the cowardness, the ruinous period of the late 1970s ala Jimmy Carter.

Yes, Obama deserves being placed under a microscope…his campaign with him as their leader did it to Hillary and they if Obama is the nominee certainly do it to McCain…too bad…when will Obama’s constant whining start-up.
What really irritates me though about this is Obama realizing he had an uncle who liberated a concentration camp now that he needs the Jewish vote just like him finding his flag pin. The guy is a total politician, not the “above-it” guy his disciples love to believe he is.

Obama needs to remind people of the bigger picture and the lesson to be learned, which is that we only liberated the concentration camps after a long period of multi-lateral talks and our concessions and apologies to the Nazis. (For the benefit of any liberal college profesors — yes, I’m being sarcastic.)
I’d like to see McCain (or Bush — that would be even better) repeat Obama’s gaffes word-for-word to see what the press reaction would be.

Obama’s distortion or mis-remembering aside, commenting on what a great uncle may or may not have done is the equivalent of bragging about what your plumber did.

It was already unforgiveable that this man who hopes to be President did not even know the purpose of observing Memorial Day (to honor those who have died in service to our country), by hopelessly confusing it with Veterans’ Day (as demonstrated by his reference to “seeing many of them in the crowd that day,” which would be impossible if the holiday honors the dead), but to have him twist and distort his own family history just to “pander” to the crowd he was speaking to, is absolutely outrageous.
When will the DNC and the Super D’s wake up to the fact that this man has absolutely no business holding our country’s highest office when he obviously does not have enough regard for it to learn its history properly?

Obama wants a weaker military.
He wants to take away our SUV’s and our favorite foods and control our thermostats–if we don’t how will we look to other countries(according to Obama).
It wouldn’t hurt us to conserve but will Obama try to dictate what that is?
Will he ration gas like Carter in the 70′s?
When Obama talks this way I wonder if the teachings of Rev Wright begin to manifest.
We don’t want Obama or his extreme left
billionaire backers leading this country.

This is not a gaffe. Bittergate was a gaffe. Snipergate was flat out lies by Hillary. His facts were a bit off and no he didn’t use it when he spoke to FL jews either, but talking about PDSD to others. The fact remains his uncle helped liberate a concentration camp and suffered from it and his benefits were not enough even though he did so much for other people. That is the story here. Republicans shouldn’t even speak about gaffes or misspeaks considering McCain and Bush can’t go a day without saying something stupid or flat out wrong.

My Uncle fought for Irish independence. What does that make me? An Irish hero of some kind? I am my accomplishments not the sccomplishments of my ancestors. And the same is true of Obama. He is what he is. And nothing more or less.

for me,
it is not so much the story, as it continues to seem obama really is just a groomed presidential candidate.
if this is a personal family story that has been passed down, he should know this story a little better, and be able to relate it better, listening to him,
he did not come off as if this is a story he was very well familiar with.
and i agree with jake, why hasn’t he told this story before? he has been to fl, and talked with a jewish group down there, why didn’t he tell it, and it would not have seemed if he was pandering, this would be seen as part of people getting to know him. why didn’t he tell.
it is hard to believe he is not just a staged candidate.

Barack Obama, the new Forrest Gump

I voted for Obama in March.
Ordinarily, a story about a great uncle helping liberate a concentration camp, even if wrong in the details, would have made me more curious about the man’s family history.
However, added to the 57 states flub, repeated use of wrong wording (“ferment” for “forment”) and the rest of the steady stream of misspeaking, it is clear the man doesn’t have the intellect to be president.

mmmom -
Is it Germany or Poland that your uncle had visited last year, if he had visited one of the places?
Is it something you do not know, or just Poland being the first thing popped up in your mind.

“…it’s also worth noting that despite all the talk about Obama’s problems with the Jewish community, he’s never mentioned before that his great uncle helped liberate a concentration camp until it came up in North Las Vegas in a conversation about PTSD.”
You really have to love how our esteemed media use their facility with words to explain away anything that conflicts with their meta-tale.
Guess what, Tapper. As it turns out, Obama was telling this tale much earlier. But you missed that ‘tale’ much like you missed this one (what exactly do you do anyway?)
But keep playing catch-up with these CYA postings. You’ll just keep on getting more an more irrelevant. It’s why journalists are hardly respected anymore. In fact, according to Harris’ poll, “Journalists were rated ahead of just seven other occupations: union leader, stockbroker, entertainer, accountant, banker, actor, and real estate agent/broker.” (http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/460401/view?viewtype)
That’s rich, Tapper. You barely rate higher than actors and real estate brokers. It’s gotta hurt :)

“My God, if Hillary had given a story about her Uncle with incorrect facts she’d be crucified, and this goes practically unnoticed?”
The fact is that Obama has made a large number of significant gaffes – and is given a pass on it by the left and the media (sorry for any redundancy) that has never been, and would never be, extended to a Republican.

Good for you sir.

And can someone tell me how this compares to McCain repeatedly stating Iran is training Al Qaeda, when Iran is Shia & Al Qaeda is Sunni???
Even the most boneheaded FoxNews watcher, should realize that understanding the differences between Iran & Al Qaeda are much more relevant than a historical gaffe regarding WWII.

I think a big problem with this gaffe, on top of all the others, is that Obama seems to invent family stories (that later turn out not to be true) in order to bolster his standing with a particular audience. So he says he was conceived in the civil rights movement of Selma — off by 4 years. He says the Kennedys helped bring his father to America. Wrong! Now it’s the wrong concentration camp. There probably were others, as well.
It’s the pattern of embellishment. (And the cumulative effect is what you should be writing about.) Some would call it lying.
If it were HRC, people would be screaming, screaming, screaming at the top of their little lungs about it being lying.

beth,
i think he just does not KNOW the truth,
he is showing he is the best looking candidate money can buy,
and it maybe better for his handler that he be SEEN and not HEARD

baracktiminus prime,
obama does not know anything abou the us public school system.

And since when does Obama understand any of the differences between the Middle Eastern factions that all of you are criticizing Senator McCain for his seeming lack of awareness?
Remember, your sainted Obama is the one who believes they speak Arabic in Afghanistan.

Brian of the red states,
thanks for your comments.
and Welcome! glad you have joined us

Obama’s carelessness with the facts of this story is troubling. If this family history had had meaning or significance to the people who heard it, repeated it and passed it on, they should have made sure that their information was accurate – that includes a candidate for President of the US.
Another way to look at this is – is this a family story that should have been revealed? Obama has a way of invading his relatives’ privacy – first his grandmother – that typical white person and now his uncle who appears to have had an emotional breakdown.

Senator Obama was using his great uncles story for political pandering. He is such a pathetic liar. He even saw “the fallen” in his audience during his Memorial Day speech. Then changed his words on his web site. He is not honest.

Who cares? This is something so minor and insignificant that it doesn’t matter. Was it a mistake, of course, but that’s it. The media and people are making this out to be a much bigger deal than it really is just like they did with Hillary Clinton and her RFK statements. These candidates have been under the spotlight for more than a year and they’re bound to slip up sometime, after all they’re only human.
As for people claiming Obama has always and continues to get special treatment from the media. Are you out of your mind? Do you know how many times the Reverend Wright speech was played over and over and over again? And there was just as much media coverage on Reverend Wright’s second tirade. And what about “Bittergate”? Those who support Hillary Clinton need to realize, that while the media has been harsh on Hillary it hasn’t been easy on Obama either. The media has been easiest on John McCain. Republicans who disagree need to get their heads checked. Remember when Chris Matthews said the media is John McCain’s base? The small mistakes Hillary and Obama have been covered by the media MUCH more than McCain’s gaffes, lobbyist connections, and his abstaining from the GIA Bill.
As for pp, and “his plight of the Jews” comment, out of curiosity what the hell is the plight of the Jews? Are you talking about the Holocaust? No candidate has ever said the Holocaust is anything but a horrible tragedy. What else do they need to say? Are you talking about Israel and its place in the world? Hillary Clinton AND Barack Obama have announced their unwavering support for Israel. PP, you and Joe Lieberman keep on insulting Obama and anyone who wants make Israel SAFER by negotiating for peace in the Middle East. Do you want continuous fighting? Wouldn’t a long term peace be in everyone’s self interest? I don’t know about you pp but I base my choices on more important things than what is best for Israel. I care about what is best for America.

SandyB: You want to try to tell us what they speak in Afghanistan? You write as if it’s one language – the Afghanis might be a little surprised at that. Want to take a crack at Pakistan? Iran? Want to tell us what language those countries write in?

I expect a whole lot more people are now aware of which camp was which, their locations, and who liberated each.
What did I remembered from junior high and high school history classes (awhile back)? I recognized the names of Auschwitz and Buchenwald of course, but didn’t recall that Buchenwald was a work camp, not a death camp, or that it had two sub-camps. I had no recollection of who liberated which camps.
Back in the (Cold War) day, WWII history was mostly about what the U.S. did. So…I remember learning that U.S. soldiers liberated ‘a’ concentration camp, and therefore I assumed they liberated all of them. I honestly don’t recall being taught what the Russian soldiers did in Europe.

A lot of commentators don’t seem to be getting the point here.
Obama wasn’t mentioning the event because he wants credit by association. If he was doing that, there have been no shortage of occasions when it might have seemed advantageous to do so before! He was mentioning it to show his family has experience of PTSD, which was the context in which he brought it up.
In that context, the details of the event such as the name of the concentration camp are largely irrelevant – they don’t change the underlying story which is the relevant bit.

Why do waiters prefer elephants to flies? Have you ever heard anyone complaining of a elephant in their soup? .