Liz Cheney Lies About Bush Visiting Dover AFB

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Liz Cheney called out President Obama for his early-morning trip to honor fallen soldiers arriving at Dover Air Force Base yesterday, suggesting President Bush honored America's heroes with a bit more class than his successor.

Cheney, on Fox News Radio's John Gibson Show yesterday:

"I think that what President Bush used to do is do it without the cameras. And I don't understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures. That's really hard for me to get my head around...It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do this."

It's not clear exactly what Cheney is referring to when she says, "Bush used to do it without the cameras."

It's true that Bush's Pentagon continued a long-standing policy of banning cameras at Dover when the nation's fallen arrived in flag-draped caskets from foreign battlefields. (Upon taking office, Obama lifted the ban.)

So that covers "without the cameras."

But as CBS's Mark Knoller reported yesterday, Obama was the first president to visit arriving dead at Dover during the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq -- meaning that when it came to taking trips to Dover like Obama did yesterday morning, Bush never used to "do it" at all.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10...ers.php?ref=fpa

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Cheney also said that Bush used to go there and meet with the families of the dead w/o the press, so how would Mark Knoller know what he did since he wasn't invited? He wouldn't, but the omission of that statement, from the same interview, makes your crappy source less than credible, as usual.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Liz never said Bush was at Dover at the time. But more liberal twisting.

[Nagishkaw 510]

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Cheney also said that Bush used to go there and meet with the families of the dead w/o the press...

Only, Bush actually didn't go "there".

Obama's predecessor, President George W. Bush, visited the families of hundreds of fallen soldiers but did not attend any military funerals or go to Dover to receive the coffins. In a 2006 interview with the military newspaper "Stars and Stripes," Bush said he felt the appropriate way to show his respect was to meet with family members in private

[Staashi 371]

I'm glad they removed the ban on pictures being taken at DAFB. They have found that 75% of the family members want the images taken and displayed. To me it says, "Don't forget the troops...that have fallen."

[Joseph & Ana 0]

Cheney also said that Bush used to go there and meet with the families of the dead w/o the press...

Only, Bush actually didn't go "there".

Nothing in the OP article says that.. She said Bush "did it"

She does not say he went to Dover. Try again.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I'm glad they removed the ban on pictures being taken at DAFB. They have found that 75% of the family members want the images taken and displayed. To me it says, "Don't forget the troops...that have fallen."

I believe that the decision on whether or not the media gets to cover the return of the fallen should be with the families. They deserve the right to make the call. Banning the media altogether was a bad decision in the first place - not one George W Bush made but one his father made.

Edited October 30, 2009 by Mr. Big Dog

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Cheney also said that Bush used to go there and meet with the families of the dead w/o the press...

Only, Bush actually didn't go "there".

Nothing in the OP article says that.. She said Bush "did it"

She does not say he went to Dover. Try again.

She did not explicitly say it but in the context of her remarks it can be understood that way - it's not clear whether "do it" refers to "going to Dover" or "pay tribute to our fallen soldiers". Could be one or the other. Either way, I did not actually claim that Liz Cheney said that Bush went to Dover. VW did in the post I quoted and I just wanted to draw her attention to the fact that he did not. Try again.

I don't know why he went to Dover. I mean I think that clearly it is very important for our commander in chief whenever he can, in whatever way possible to pay tribute to our fallen soldiers, our fallen miltary folks.

But I think, you know what President Bush used to do is to do it without the cameras. And I don’t understand sort of showing up with the White House Press Pool with photographers and asking family members if you can take pictures.

Edited October 30, 2009 by Mr. Big Dog

[Sofiyya 1,687]

It's not a fact that Bush didn't go to Dover. You have nothing to back that claim up.

[Joseph & Ana 0]

It's not a fact that Bush didn't go to Dover. You have nothing to back that claim up.

Thats true too.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It's not a fact that Bush didn't go to Dover. You have nothing to back that claim up.

What is a fact is that nobody knows that he ever did go. Bush himself was fairly clear on the point that he wouldn't attend any funerals of fallen service personnel because he felt that if he were to attend one such funeral then he'd feel he'd have to attend all of them.

“Because which funeral do you go to? In my judgment, I think if I go to one I should go to all. How do you honor one person but not another?”

It would appear that the same would hold true for receiving the coffins at Dover. How do you honor one with receiving the coffin but not another? Couple that with there being absolutely no record of him ever having been to Dover to receive fallen soldiers and I'd say that the case for him not having been there becomes pretty solid. Outside of your little bubble, that is.

[nowhereman 1]

Both sides cease fire. Bush enacted policies (including going to war in Iraq) that he believed in. On a personal level I feel very strongly that this was a bad decision, but at the same time I have no doubt in my mind that his remorse about fallen service members was sincere.

Attack Bush's and Obama's policies & decisions until you develop carpal tunnel system, but as a service member who has served in a combat zone I find the partisan rhetoric on this topic highly offensive.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

It's not a fact that Bush didn't go to Dover. You have nothing to back that claim up.

What is a fact is that nobody knows that he ever did go. Bush himself was fairly clear on the point that he wouldn't attend any funerals of fallen service personnel because he felt that if he were to attend one such funeral then he'd feel he'd have to attend all of them.

“Because which funeral do you go to? In my judgment, I think if I go to one I should go to all. How do you honor one person but not another?”

It would appear that the same would hold true for receiving the coffins at Dover. How do you honor one with receiving the coffin but not another? Couple that with there being absolutely no record of him ever having been to Dover to receive fallen soldiers and I'd say that the case for him not having been there becomes pretty solid. Outside of your little bubble, that is.

Of course, that's all conjecture on your part, and negative conjecture is par for the course. It's certainly not fact. Since a president goes few places alone, there are people who know if he went or not. It's not an unknown.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It's not a fact that Bush didn't go to Dover. You have nothing to back that claim up.

What is a fact is that nobody knows that he ever did go. Bush himself was fairly clear on the point that he wouldn't attend any funerals of fallen service personnel because he felt that if he were to attend one such funeral then he'd feel he'd have to attend all of them.

“Because which funeral do you go to? In my judgment, I think if I go to one I should go to all. How do you honor one person but not another?”

It would appear that the same would hold true for receiving the coffins at Dover. How do you honor one with receiving the coffin but not another? Couple that with there being absolutely no record of him ever having been to Dover to receive fallen soldiers and I'd say that the case for him not having been there becomes pretty solid. Outside of your little bubble, that is.

Of course, that's all conjecture on your part, and negative conjecture is par for the course. It's certainly not fact. Since a president goes few places alone, there are people who know if he went or not. It's not an unknown.

The fact of the matter is that there's no record of him ever having been to Dover to receive the coffin of any fallen service personnel. There would be had he gone, whether the media were invited or not.