by digby
The right is breathlessly working up a kerning scandal over the president's unannounced trip to Malia's soccer game the other day. We don't know what he's supposed to have done instead, but it seems they think the game never happened and he was sneaking out to do something nefarious to do with ... well, who knows?
Something is most definitely wrong. The President of the United States venturing out to a soccer game that didn't exist in a high-crime area. The Politico is also reporting that Obama acknowledged the problem with his actions:
Prior to Obama's bilateral meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Obama told his colleague, "Apparently I caused quite a problem," adding something about his secretary not telling the Secret Service, according to, ironically enough, the pool report.
What's more concerning is that no one can confirm if the Secret Service even accompanied Obama on his adventure. Furthermore, let's look at the elapsed time. If the president left the White House at 9:20AM as reported, according to Mapquest, it takes about sixteen minutes to get from the White House to 40th and Chesapeake NW, bringing his arrival time to the field at 9:36AM or so. But then he would have had to leave the field at the latest at 10:00AM to return to the White House at the documented time of 10:17AM. So he spent about twenty minutes at the game? When did the game end? That time is vague as well.
With all of the technology that people have -- iPhones, Blackberries -- not one person took a photo of Obama? And the press didn't get a shot of him getting into his vehicle? Obama loves the cameras, and this is what he looks like at his daughter's soccer game.
Even three days later, there are still no pictures of the president from Saturday's game. The USA just disarmed to Russia, Poland's president and 95 others were killed hours before, and there were many international leaders in Washington, D.C. for the nuclear summit set to begin on Monday, April 12.
And we shouldn't raise even more questions on his whereabouts? According to the MSM, the answer is yes.
There were plenty of people there according to numerous sources. Duh.
Silly stuff, especially considering the real conspiracy nuts --- the militia weirdos --- don't seem to raise much interest among the right. In fact, they defend people like this:
Federal agents investigating what they describe as a Christian militia bent on violence against police seized suspected crack cocaine and steroids, weapons, gas masks and a book of Adolf Hitler's speeches during raids of members' homes last month, according to search-warrant records.
[...]
Federal prosecutors say Stone and eight other members of the militia plotted the mass killings of police officers in the hope of sparking an anti-government revolution. They are charged with seditious conspiracy, or plotting to levy war against the U.S., and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction.
Some of the items seized include:
• Several cardboard tubes including two "with green/cannon fuse"; a 6- by 3/4-inch gallon nipple with end caps; a two-page document about a "funnel shape charge"; a 2005 daily planner book; a grenade holder; a Hutaree flag; three DVDs labeled "Waco"; a notebook detailing the doctrine and ranks of the Hutaree; and gas masks — at Stone's trailer home in Lenawee County's Dover Township.
• Substances believed to be crack cocaine and steroids and a lock-pick set — at the mobile home of suspected Hutaree member Kristopher Sickles in Sandusky, Ohio.
• A copy of "My New Order" by Hitler; audio of "The Turner Diaries," a novel that is popular with white supremacists; a samurai sword; a jeweled dagger; a ballistic helmet; an intrusion-detection machine; and a CD titled "Explosives, Ordnance and Demolition" — at the two-story home of suspected Hutaree member Thomas Piatek in Whiting, Ind.
Nothing to see there, of course. But the fact that the president wanted to see his kid's soccer game in private is cause for alarm. Of course he is a communist usurper --- and commies were crawling all over the place at the time --- so you do have to keep an eye on him.
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