Dear Mr. Obama

[snopes]

Comment: I was sent this email by several people over the weekend. I do
not like to forward anything that has not been checked out as true.

"This commercial was done by a local kid. You have to watch the whole
thing. When he finishes talking and walks away, you get a sense of how
this could be the commercial of the campaign season.

Bob Cook and I were on the Lake County Republican Central Committee
together. His son Joe returned from Iraq last year and I was at the
celebration to welcome him home."

I don't know who the above was written by.... but it doesn't matter. See
below and click the link.

Hi, My son Joe just did a commercial for John McCain.

Please pass this on.

Thanks
Bob Cook

------------------------------------------

Comment: Was the Joe Cook video called "Dear Mr. Obama" put out by the
John McCain campaign or was it self generated by a real family named Cook
who have (or had) 3 sons in Iraq and no connection to the McCain people?

[RivkahChaya]

Whether it's "authentic" or not, having served in Iraq doesn't give anyone special insight. My husband served in Iraq, and he thinks it was a mistake. He didn't at first, but he does now. So, does that cancel out the guy in the video? And, my husband can tell you that the typical serviceman (or woman) has so little contact with Iraqi people, that he (or she) can't, just on the basis of that service, make an informed judgment of what the Iraqi people do or don't want.

While it's sad and effecting that he lost a leg, that doesn't give him any special insight either. In fact, if you think about it, it damages his credibility, because the cost of the war is so great to him, he will probably be the last one to let go of any illusions. Losing a leg to a great cause is, well, great. No one wants to have lost a leg to a mistake.

[Avril]

I wouldn't think it was put out by the McCain campaign because it is missing the magic words, "My name is John McCain, and I approve this message."

Avril

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

While it's sad and effecting that he lost a leg, that doesn't give him any special insight either. In fact, if you think about it, it damages his credibility, because the cost of the war is so great to him, he will probably be the last one to let go of any illusions. Losing a leg to a great cause is, well, great. No one wants to have lost a leg to a mistake.

I agree. I get this from time to time from people who have lost a relative in Iraq. They insist that the war was not fought for phony reasons, that we did go in to protect ourselves in the aftermath of 9/11, etc. etc., and I'm expected to believe that their opinion is worth more than mine because of their loss.

Seems to me that people who have lost a loved one are more likely to buy into whatever bogus justification they hear as to how their little Jimmy, or Susie, didn't die to support some corporate balance sheet, but to protect our precious freedom.

[Cowboy Joe]

This thing just grates on my nerves because we have heard all of this crap so many times before. The fact that the Iraqis now agree with a plan very similar to what Obama has proposed doesn't seem to get through to a lot of people. They are ready for us to leave, so we should do it ASAP.

That this war is protecting our freedom is the biggest load of crap ever perpetrated on the US population. Our freedoms came under greater attack from this administration via the Patriot Act than any number of terrorist groups could have pulled off.

I know several veterans of this war who went in with all the idealism and confidence in the virtue of their mission who have now become completely jaded as to the war, the failure to support returining veterans, the flag orgy of false patriotism etc.

It makes me sick to my stomach that supporters of this war continue to flog the same old failed justifications for mass killings against a society that never attacked us and posed no threat to our freedoms.

In short, I am one really pissed off cowboy today after watching that.

[lord_feldon]

Someone posted this as a note on Facebook with "Forget who he's talking to or that it's political and just watch the video for the message about freedom..."

Umm, so forget all of it then?