Father of Fallen Soldier Says White House Turned Down Request for Obama Phone Call

LeVeL

Forum Addict
Joined
Jun 16, 2007
Messages
13,246
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...e-turned-request-obama-phone/?test=latestnews

It was bad enough that after Sgt. Sean Collins was killed in Afghanistan his parents received a senator's letter of condolence with the wrong name.

But the soldier's father says the White House added to the sting by subsequently turning down a request for President Obama to personally call Collins' mother.

Pat Collins, a retired lieutenant colonel, told Q13 FOX in Seattle that the family was told last month that the president could not fit it "into his schedule" to call mother Linda Collins about their son's death. Pat Collins, who initially made the request with the White House, said he would've understood, except for the fact that around the same time, Obama found an opening in his schedule for a much-publicized phone conversation with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie.

"He is the president of the United States, and he's a very busy man, very important man -- but then to find out that he fit it into his schedule to call the president of the Eagles to thank him for giving Michael Vick a second chance, that kind of burns a little bit," Collins said.

The White House's response marked another "disappointing" turn for the family in the government's handling of their son's death.

Collins, who joined the Army in 2005 and had already served two tours of duty in Iraq, was killed Dec. 12 while on patrol in Afghanistan. Five others were killed in the attack as well.

After the attack, the Collins family received a letter of condolence from Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell. The top of the letter got Sgt. Sean Collins' name right, but the final paragraph referred to him as "Bryn."

Linda Collins, in an interview with Q13 FOX, called the mistake "a little disappointing."

Cantwell has since acknowledged the error, and the Collins family has accepted her apology.

It's unclear who the family may have spoken with in the White House regarding the possibility of a presidential phone call.

Pat Collins said he was told within "two or three days" of asking that his request would not be granted. Though Collins voiced concern that Obama carved out time to talk about the Eagles' Vick, that discussion was part of a broader conversation between Obama and Lurie about the use of alternative energy at Lincoln Financial Field.

A senior administration official told Fox News that the president remains committed to honoring the troops.

"The president honors the sacrifice of all our men and women in uniform and sends hand-signed letters to the families of those who lost their lives. My understanding is that President Bush had the same policy," the official said.

Aside from sending hand-signed letters, Bush also reportedly met privately with hundreds of families of troops who died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I guess its not the President's job to condole families but surely that's no less important than Michael Vick?
 
Naturally, FOX News will make a big enough stink out of this, right-wingers everywhere will use this to reinforce themselves why they hate that damned Muslim socialist Nazi fascist asshole, and next thing you know, Obama will hold another "beer summit."
 
Naturally, FOX News will make a big enough stink out of this
They're not. Its just a short article, not headline news...


right-wingers everywhere will use this to reinforce themselves why they hate that damned Muslim socialist Nazi fascist asshole, and next thing you know
... what???


Obama will hold another "beer summit."
Which was none of his business anyways...
 
Dude, I was being sarcastic. ;)

BREAKING: Obama Reportedly Claims, "Man, fuck that guy, he's not even in my fantasy football lineup."
 
How many personal phone calls to deceased soldier's parents did Bush make?
 
How many personal phone calls to deceased soldier's parents did Bush make?
No idea. Like I said though, is talking about Michael Vick really more important? I feel like a quick phone call is not that much trouble after they misspelled the soldier's name in the letter... Not a requirement by any means but see my question about Vick.
 
I don't give a fuck who the president calls personally.

And if he did call the guy back, that would set a horrible precedent. You can't just call the white house and expect to speak to the President.
 
Dubya had the time to go into kid's classroom knowing one plane hit the WTC, and had the time to sit there for many minutes after knowing his country is under attack.
 
Dubya had the time to go into kid's classroom knowing one plane hit the WTC, and had the time to sit there for many minutes after knowing his country is under attack.

The country was in good hands.

dick-cheney-gun.jpg


:p
 
Dubya had the time to go into kid's classroom knowing one plane hit the WTC, and had the time to sit there for many minutes after knowing his country is under attack.
You just NUKED this thread. Duck and cover!
 
Dubya had the time to go into kid's classroom knowing one plane hit the WTC, and had the time to sit there for many minutes after knowing his country is under attack.
Idk why you're bringing that up at all but since you did - GW didn't want to freak the kids out by running out so he stayed for a few minutes. You can argue whether or not it was the right decision but it least there is some logic behind it.
 
Idk why you're bringing that up

Having time to sit with kids when the US is attacked - bad.
Having time to call some sports personality (I guess) when one of thousands of US soldiers died in one of the wars going on - not that bad.

GW didn't want to freak the kids out by running out so he stayed for a few minutes. You can argue whether or not it was the right decision but it least there is some logic behind it.

The president suddenly having something important to do probably adds very little freak-out for the kids in that classroom on top of 911 itself.
What would be the problem with <get whispered "America is under attack">, stand up, tell kids "Sorry kids, something's come up that I need to deal with. Keep on reading."?
 
Because it's another case of "A doesn't have the time to do B but has time to do C. B is important, fuck C!".

Substitute A for Obama, B for call soldier's mom, C for call Eagle guy... or substitute A for Dubya, B for 911 response, C for sit in a classroom.



Adding perspective, if you will.
 
I don't know why this is even considered a story.
 
Because it's another case of "A doesn't have the time to do B but has time to do C. B is important, fuck C!".

Substitute A for Obama, B for call soldier's mom, C for call Eagle guy... or substitute A for Dubya, B for 911 response, C for sit in a classroom.



Adding perspective, if you will.

The article doesn't defend Bush's decision to stay in the classroom for several minutes. You dragged that in. I never defended Bush either (I said that that decision might have been right or wrong and did not disclose my position) and yet you randomly jumped on his case in an apparent assumption that I love Bush or something.
 
The article doesn't defend Bush's decision to stay in the classroom for several minutes. You dragged that in. I never defended Bush either (I said that that decision might have been right or wrong and did not disclose my position) and yet you randomly jumped on his case in an apparent assumption that I love Bush or something.

Did I say you love Bush? No, you jumped in on my post in an apparent assumption that I meant that.


My post puts Obama's decision of not having time to do something seemingly important while having the time to do something seemingly unimportant into perspective. Previous presidents have done much much worse things in the same pattern, see my Dubya example. This has nothing to do with you.


If you want me to post something that does have something to do with you, let me rephrase your OP:

I guess its not the President's job to keep America secure but surely that's no less important than watching kids learn to read?

FTFY.
 
Last edited:
The fact that previous presidents have made mistakes does not mean that current of future presidents' actions/mistakes should go unnoticed. So what that Bush did this and that? Why must he always get dragged into every discussion? When someone says "Obama did this" your response shouldn't be "yeah, well Bush did that". Completely irrelevant.
 
Dubya had the time to go into kid's classroom knowing one plane hit the WTC, and had the time to sit there for many minutes after knowing his country is under attack.

i dont believe he went in there AFTER the plane hit, im fairly sure it was before. please correct me if im wrong
 
I don't consider Obama's choice of phone calls a mistake, just a misleading biased piece of journalistic garbage. That's just me though, you can feel free to notice whatever you like.


i dont believe he went in there AFTER the plane hit, im fairly sure it was before. please correct me if im wrong

According to his chief of staff he was informed of the first hit before entering the classroom.
 
Last edited:
Top