Tony Gutierrez / AP / Obama at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas 8/31/12

It’s interesting what happens when everyone begins to realize that a tyrant is on his way out. There’s a sense permission to stop pretending that everything is okay.

Via Daily Caller.

President Barack Obama was greeted with fleeting applause and extended periods of silence as he offered profuse praise to soldiers and their families during an Aug. 31 speech in Fort Bliss, Texas.

His praise for the soldiers — and for his own national-security policies — won cheers from only a small proportion of the soldiers and families in the cavernous aircraft-hanger.

The audience remains quiet even when the commander-in-chief thanked the soldiers’ families, and cited the 198 deaths of their comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The audience’s reaction was so flat that the president tried twice to elicit a reaction from the crowd.

“Hey, I hear you,” he said amid silence.

The selected soldiers who were arrayed behind the president sat quietly throughout the speech.

CNN and MSNBC ended their coverage of the speech before it was half-over.

We also know that Romney is leading Obama among the military big time. That’s why this sort of news concerns me. Greatly. The GOP should investigate this ASAP.

Military absentee voting looks weak this year

Military requests for absentee ballots are remarkably low this year, according to a recent report from a military voting advocacy group that faults the Defense Department with not providing mandated voter assistance to service members.

“The absentee ballot data for 2012 paints a bleak picture for military voters,” a report from the Military Voting Participation Project says.

In Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio less than 2% of all active-duty military members and their spouses have requested absentee ballots for the November election. And between 5% and 8% of military voters in Illinois, Colorado, Nevada and Alaska have made the request.

The report also cites less extreme examples, as in Florida where almost 16% of those eligible have requested ballots…The report estimates roughly two-thirds of all military voters would need an absentee ballot to vote because of their location at the time of the election.

“The fact is that an incredibly small percentage of military voters are requesting absentee ballots for the 2012 election, even though a majority of military members will need to vote by absentee ballot,” the report states.

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14 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. Chuck says:

    The most interesting part of the story: “CNN and MSNBC ended their coverage of the speech before it was half-over.” I wonder why.

    (Maybe the networks realized that they were covering an empty podium…)

  2. Maynard says:

    “Hey, is thing thing on? [tap] [tap] [tap]”

    Crickets.

    Har har har.

  3. deaves1 says:

    I wouldn’t be so sure of the weak absentee voting this year. From the uniformed members I’ve been talking to here, they intend to cast their ballots, but will affix 1st class postage to it instead of writing “free” in the corner of envelope, which flags it from coming out of the war zone, thereby getting them tossed immediately due to no date/time stamp in postmark. The President’s support among our men and women in uniform is near zero. SECDEF came out with a memo barring them from attending political rallies in uniform so people noticing non participation in his rallies by the military. He can just lie and say, “oh yeah, they’re attending alright, but not in uniform”. The Armed Force are not kean on Romney, but will cast their ballot for him just to rid themselves of Obama. I spent 24 years in the military, and have not seen support for the Commander in Chief this low since President Carter. Between the Defense spending cuts, extended deployments, and surrendering under their feet, the military has all but washed their hands of him.

  4. rosebud2186 says:

    All my loved one’s in the various branches of our military HATE HIM. Maybe it’s because of the military budget cuts, maybe it’s because he bows to the enemy, or more likely because he forbids them to SHOOT & KILL the enemy during war. It’s time our troops have a new boss. Mitt should learn to emphasize this better in his campaign.

  5. MaryVal says:

    I’m betting a lot of the military audience was ordered to attend. Otherwise it would have been empty seats and silence. CNN and MSNBC – contemptible. Did they think people wouldn’t find out if they didn’t cover O less than enthusiastic reception by our military.

  6. Dave says:

    GOTTA GET THAT MILITARY VOTE IN!

  7. dennisl59 says:

    As for me, and if given the choice to either have listen to “IT” at a base somewhere safe in America, or be in a firefight, anywhere, and exacting righteous revenge, for my fallen brothers and sisters in arms, on the Barbarians, I’d take my chances, knowing the risks, in the firefight.

    posted 9/1 150pm Texas[Pass the Ammo!]Time

  8. […] (with a superb video) and the fact today’s Romney-Ryan event in Florida is packed. Given the tepid, pathetic performance of Obama at Fort Bliss, Texas, I think we can safely assume in which camp the energy and enthusiasm of the nation […]

  9. OGisMyName says:

    Here is the video If you can stand it. The men behind him are absolutely stone-faced throughout.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ68SkaljaU

  10. Southrider says:

    Shortly after Clinton’s reelection Terry Brady, the head of the Democrat party in Florida at the time, was on the local (Jacksonville) Sunday morning talk show. One of the panel remarked surprise how well Clinton did in Duval County with the number of military bases there. Ms. Brady laughed and said they throw almost all the absentee military ballots out because ‘they never fill them in right’. I was active duty and wanted a copy of the tape for the admiral the next morning. Funny thing, the station said that was the only episode not recorded.
    Yeah, funny.
    Never again!

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