If we could turn aside from today's outrage and revisit one of the distant past (i.e. five days ago), some interesting news has broken over Wouldn't-Visit-Our-Noble-Wounded-Troopsgate

When talking to reporters about Obama's cancellation of his plans to Visit the Troops in Germany following the Pentagon's sudden case of the vapors over the possibility it might be deemed a political event, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs made the following point to the press on the plane:

At another point a reporter asked, "Why not just say it is never inappropriate to visit men and women in service -- what is your response to that?"

"Again, I would reiterate that we would not want to put anybody who had been wounded in service to our country in the potential position to be part of the political back and forth ... It is entirely likely that someone would have attacked us for having gone. And it is entirely likely -- and it has come about -- that people have attacked us for not going," said Gibbs

As subsequently reported by Jake Tapper (notwithstanding the king-sized bug Tapper's had up his ass about Obama for the last year, I might add),  

An Obama adviser, Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration (Ret.), later elaborated on Obama's decision to skip the event.

"We learned from the Pentagon last night that the visit would be viewed instead as a campaign event," Gration said. "Sen. Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perveived as a campaign event when his visit was to show his appreciation for our troops and decided instead not to go."

So basically, given the certainty that he'd be attacked no matter what he did, Obama decided that he'd rather be attacked for refusing to visit them than for using wounded troops as campaign props.  Or, put another way, he decided to follow the memorable advice of Shepherd Book: "if you can't do something smart, do something right." 

Although they generously noted that Obama's team had noticed the likihood they were being set up for an attack no matter what they did, no one in the MSM seems to have considered this assertion sufficiently likely to credit Obama with having done something right. 

Now, however, that well-known flamingly liberal biased rag known as BusinessWeek has a rather interesting scoop, straight from the pig, er, I mean, horse's mouth:

What the McCain campaign doesn’t want people to know, according to one GOP strategist I spoke with over the weekend, is that they had an ad script ready to go if Obama had visited the wounded troops saying that Obama was...wait for it...using wounded troops as campaign props. So, no matter which way Obama turned, McCain had an Obama bashing ad ready to launch. I guess that’s political hardball. But another word for it is the one word that most politicians are loathe to use about their opponents—a lie.

Emphasis added.  

It's kind of funny that Jon Voight has come out with his big anti-Obama screed this week, because the Straight Talkin' Hero has been reminding me of an exchange between the characters played by Matt Damon (Obama supporter, incidentally) and Voight's in "The Rainmaker." 

Rudy: I'm curious.
 Leo: About what?
Rudy:  I'm just wondering, do you even remember when you first sold out?
Leo: You're an arrogant little pissant, aren't you? I advise you to mind your manners.

That's what corrupt old sell-outs always say, isn't it?  "Mind your manners, you arrogant little pissant."