Sunday, September 28, 2008

Obama and fallen soldier's name rumor-false

How did this end up making it's way around the net as "Obama can't remember the name on the bracelet he wears?" But after you read this, keep reading to find out how this one is not totally true either.

Sen. Obama responded saying, "I've got a bracelet, too, from Sergeant - from the mother of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek, given to me in Green Bay. She asked me, 'Can you please make sure another mother is not going through what I'm going through?' No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they're carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they've provided. Our troops have performed brilliantly. The question is for the next president: 'Are we making good judgments about how to keep America safe? Precisely because sending our military into battle is such an enormous step."

**

In February, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on the moment when Tracy Jopek gave Obama the bracelet, and Obama's mentioning of Jopek after he won the Wisconsin primary.

"We're here because of the mother I met in Green Bay, Wisconsin, who gave me this bracelet that I'm wearing," Obama said then. "Inscribed on it is the name of her son Ryan. Next to his name it says...'All gave some but he gave all.' We are here because it is time to ask ourselves as a nation if we are serving Ryan and his compatriots and all our young brave men and women as well as they are serving us. They need us to end this war and bring them home and give them the care and the benefits that they deserve."

Ryan Jopek was 20, a member of the Wisconsin National Guard like his father. He deployed to Iraq in 2005, was killed there in 2006.

In February 2008, Ryan's mother Tracy and his sister Jessica traveled to Green Bay and waited in the cold for 45 minutes to give Obama her son's bracelet. A campaign staffer arranged it so they could meet him.

"I didn't get to say what I wanted to say. I just cried," Tracy Jopek told the newspaper. "It wasn't for anything but for him to know this is real, something he needed to know. . . I do believe (the war) needs to end, but I believe it needs to be done very carefully and very thoughtfully."

She said she was honored by Obama mentioning her son in his speech.

"I couldn't believe it. It was such an honor, such an honor," she said. "To know that he does know his name. It means a lot."

**

But a month later, Ryan's father Brian -- who is no longer married to Tracy -- told Wisconsin Public Radio that his ex-wife had misgivings about Obama wearing the bracelet and mentioning their son on the campaign trail. It seems as though just as Tracy Jopek supports Obama and wants to end the war, Brian Jopek has a different take on what should happen in Iraq and may be more inclined to support McCain.

(You can listen to Brian Jopek about 10 minutes into THIS CLIP.)

After pointing out that he and Tracy are not married anymore, Brian says that "from what I understood from email exchanges with Tracy….she wanted to put a name, she wanted Sen. Obama to know Ryan's name...She wasn't looking to turn it into a big media event...She just wanted it to be something between Barack Obama and herself."

Bryan Jopek went on to say that "because of some of the negative feedback she’s gotten on the Internet, you know Internet blogs, you know people accusing her of… or accusing Obama of trying to get votes doing it… and that sort of thing, she has turned down any subsequent interviews with the media because she just didn’t, she just didn't want it to get turned into something that it wasn’t. She had told me that in an email that she had asked, actually asked Mr. Obama to not wear the bracelet anymore at any of his public appearances."
go here for more
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/bracelet-wars.html


It's really amazing how people can be so fooled!

Then again they didn't notice that McCain lied about the way he feels about veterans either. He says he cares, but votes against them. As for other "issues" no one noticed that McCain doesn't wear a flag pin anymore. What's up with that?

Is there something wrong with is face? Seriously, he doesn't look right.

But then you'd have to believe everything you hear,,,,, turns out the first report on this post is not the whole story.


Soldier's mother 'ecstatic' about Obama's bracelet

AP foreign
Monday September 29 2008

By DINESH RAMDE
Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) - The mother of a Wisconsin soldier who died in Iraq says she was ``ecstatic'' when Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama mentioned during Friday's debate the bracelet she gave him in honor of her son.

Tracy Jopek of Merrill told The Associated Press on Sunday she was honored that Obama remembered Sgt. Ryan David Jopek, who was killed in 2006 by a roadside bomb.

Jopek criticized Internet reports suggesting Obama, D-Ill., exploited her son for political purposes.

``I don't understand how people can take that and turn it into some garbage on the Internet,'' she said.

Jopek acknowledged e-mailing the Obama campaign in February asking that the presidential candidate not mention her son in speeches or debates. But she said Obama's mention on Friday was appropriate because he was responding after Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, said a soldier's mother gave him a bracelet.

``I've got a bracelet, too, from Sergeant - from the mother of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek, given to me in Green Bay,'' Obama said during the debate. ``She asked me, 'Can you please make sure another mother is not going through what I'm going through?' No U.S. soldier ever dies in vain because they're carrying out the missions of their commander in chief. And we honor all the service that they've provided.''
go here for more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7835269

As you can see, it turns out there is a lot of false reporting being done in this country. This is from The Guardian and an AP report. While McCain found it easy to just bring up the fact he wears a bracelet, and has done so many times, Obama respected the meaning of it too much to just use it as a "show of support" and only did it when McCain pulled his stunt.

Another thing that gets overlooked is the fact Obama is on the Veterans Committee and knows how McCain votes against veterans yet when Obama had the chance to correct the false claim McCain always comes out with when he had the chance, he didn't. He should have because the veterans in this country deserve to be reminded of how little McCain has "proven" how he says he supports them.

UPDATE
Unfortunately part of getting emails and alerts means having to read some idiot making false claims intended to damage the "enemy" in their own eyes. In the process these people are not only attacking truth, their lies attack the men and women who serve this country and are paying attention to what is truth and what is nothing more than attempts to keep the truth from being reported. This "Gateway Pundit" is notorious for doing just that.




Busted... Soldier's Family Told Obama Not to Wear Son's Bracelet!
By Gateway Pundit(Gateway Pundit) Matthew Stanley, a resident of New Hampshire and a soldier that lost his life in Iraq in 2006. Obama said that he too had a bracelet. After fumbling and straining to remember the name, he revealed that his had the name of Sergeant Ryan


This mother lost her son and asked Obama to wear his bracelet. While she is very happy that he did and understood when he mentioned the name of her son, what was being reported at first was that Obama couldn't even remember his name, which was proven false. Having failed at trying to spin that one, they turned around and further insulted this woman by saying she was against him wearing it. Now we know that is not true as well but these people have no shame and find no problem using anyone to support their twisted minds.

To support the above that Tracy Jopek was not against Obama, we have this also reported on Army Times, again the report from the AP,,,,,

Mom of GI defends Obama mention of bracelet
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Sep 29, 2008 13:35:58 EDT

MILWAUKEE — After Tracy Jopek gave Sen. Barack Obama a bracelet in honor of her son who was killed in Iraq, she asked Obama not to mention the bracelet on the campaign trail.

But Jopek told The Associated Press on Sunday that she’s satisfied with how Obama discussed it during last week’s presidential debate.

Jopek gave Obama the bracelet at a Green Bay rally in February. It has the name of her son, Sgt. Ryan David Jopek, and the date the 20-year-old was killed by a roadside bomb, Aug. 2, 2006. “All gave some — He gave all,” it says.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_bracelet_092908/

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