Scoop’s Views

While you and I are sitting at home, enjoying all the creature comforts, American fighting men and women are in distant lands, including Afghanistan and Iraq, sweating their butts off, literally, while going on patrols, doing raids, and other duties, and their performance – or responses – could be the difference between life-and-death.

As for Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is doing a tour of specific areas in Afghanistan and Iraq, supposedly getting a first-hand look at the situation on the ground, things are much different. His environment will be hot, sandy, dirty, but secure, for the most part. Because Obama, like McCain and others during past trips, are members of Congress, the military will provide a shroud around the “dignitaries” – ensuring, to the best of their ability, the survival of the elected officials, even at the expense of service men and women.

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MSNBC is reporting former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm is stepping down as co-chairman of Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign.

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