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Father of Fallen Soldier Says White House Turned Down Request for Obama Phone Call Published January 07, 2011 | FoxNews.com Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/.../#ixzz1ASXvzeX7t 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.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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No time to call the Mother of a fallen soldier, but he has time to call the Eagles owner thanking him for giving Vick a second chance?
Obama is a piece of garbage.
One Big Ass Mistake America.
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I'd like to think the request was denied by an underling of the President's, and that Obama actually had no knowledge of it having been made. If that is the case, the underling needs to be fired.
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No time to call the Mother of a fallen soldier, but he has time to call the Eagles owner thanking him for giving Vick a second chance?
Obama is a piece of garbage.
One Big Ass Mistake America.
And time to be on Mythbusters and Jon Stewart
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A close friend of my wife's was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. The White House sent a representative to his funeral to speak. The representative repeatedly called the deceased by the wrong name. It was appalling.
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I can understand the policy. If the president made a call because it was requested he would have to do it for all fallen soldiers. Granted now we aren't having a high number of deaths but if we were to he simply wouldn't have time.
#gmstrong
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I'd like to think the request was denied by an underling of the President's, and that Obama actually had no knowledge of it having been made.
All Obama supporters would like to think that. I'd like to think that for the family's sake. If that were actually the case, maybe Obama could apologize to them.
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.
- John Muir
#GMSTRONG
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Obama, Man what a guy. I know that Democrats can't be embarrassed but they should be. I guess he was just to busy screwing up the country to bother. To bad the kid wasn't a Muslum or an Illegal Alien. Obama would be all over that.
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Sorry....where in the man's job description is personal phone caller to all deceased? Its not like he called the Eagles prez rather than call this family.
This "news" is partisan garbage....Fox News...the lupus of news.
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As I said when people made a big deal about Bush not meeting with that Sheehan woman --
The problem isn't that they don't meet with these people ... the problem is that they presided over their loved ones being there in the first place.
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I'd like to think the request was denied by an underling of the President's, and that Obama actually had no knowledge of it having been made. If that is the case, the underling needs to be fired.
Why?
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I can understand the policy. If the president made a call because it was requested he would have to do it for all fallen soldiers. Granted now we aren't having a high number of deaths but if we were to he simply wouldn't have time.
I agree. While no fan of the president, this seems a bit of a set-up and a unfair attack.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn. GM Strong ![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/small-gator-chomp.gif)
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Why?
Because I think that a decision as politically charged as this should be made above staff-level, and because I'm trying to give Obama the benefit of the doubt. Just because I disagree with him on policy doesn't mean I think he's Satan. There are not so many soldiers KIA now that a specific request could not have been accomodated, and if the request had been brought to the President's attention I believe it would have been.
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I can understand the policy. If the president made a call because it was requested he would have to do it for all fallen soldiers. Granted now we aren't having a high number of deaths but if we were to he simply wouldn't have time.
I agree. While no fan of the president, this seems a bit of a set-up and a unfair attack.
Seconded. There are thousands of stories like this one that the public never hears about.
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Quote:
Quote:
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I can understand the policy. If the president made a call because it was requested he would have to do it for all fallen soldiers. Granted now we aren't having a high number of deaths but if we were to he simply wouldn't have time.
I agree. While no fan of the president, this seems a bit of a set-up and a unfair attack.
Seconded. There are thousands of stories like this one that the public never hears about.
Thirded...That's exactly what I was thinking.
![[Linked Image from i75.photobucket.com]](http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i302/lrhinkle/d5eaf0b9-e429-4211-b53f-b843bfcf6aa9_zps2ac17420.jpg) #gmstrong
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Fourtheted.  If he were to accept every single request, then people might start asking for calls to multiple family members ... if he denies any of those, he's a "big jerk". Even if he were to even honor those, then the second he makes a personal visit to someone, and doesn't visit everyone else in return ... he's a "big jerk".
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LOL - The Rish will be upset with this news as well. KS just doesn't prioritize winning...
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Fifthed.
Sixed. Or sixted.
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I started something bad here,.... 
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I started something bad here
Seconded.
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Quote:
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I started something bad here
Seconded.
Thirded...LOL
#gmstrong
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Fifthed.
Sixed. Or sixted.
seventhed. Oh wait, I said it first. I am kidding. I don't really care who said what.
#gmstrong
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As a huge Obama supporter before the election, HE WONT GET RE-ELECTED.
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Well I did not, but I do understand how you feel. However, we don't know that he won't get re-elected, yet. That's what is always frightening.
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Obama has to call every solider's mother now? Honestly what would it have accomplished anyways? Non story, waste of time.
"The medium for the bad news was ESPN, which figured. The network represents much of what is loud, obnoxious and empty in sports today."
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No, he doesn't have to, and I have already stated, it is a media shame that he was dragged into this.
And I m not knocking anyone here at all, but could you imagine the character of a President who did take the time to make this kind of effort ? He'd probably get chastised for doing it right,....
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One would think the President would have more stuff to do than call the parent of every fallen solider. Honestly it would be a phony call to begin with, and if I were the parent would be upset had he made the call. The call coming from his boss in the army would be much more meaningful. I dont see how the president's call would even "be the right thing to do".
"The medium for the bad news was ESPN, which figured. The network represents much of what is loud, obnoxious and empty in sports today."
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The President does have "more stuff to do." Whether anything could be more or less important is debatable. I would want that phone call -- but I wouldn't demand, or demean, it.
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Obama has to call every solider's mother now? Honestly what would it have accomplished anyways? Non story, waste of time.
You are correct. This is a non-story. Just like Patty Sheehan SHOULD HAVE BEEN a non-story, but wasn't.. she was the lefts media darling for quite a long time, propped up by democrats hoping to make a point and using a willing media to follow her every move and help to make that point. Her point was that George Bush lied, which a commission found that he didn't.. and her point was that George Bush owed her something, a meeting and/or an explanation, which now in this case it seems the President does not owe the parent of a soldier anything... In fact, if memory serves, mac was adamanet that George Bush owed this woman a face to face meeting to explain to her why he lied and why her son was now dead because of it... However now it seems that Presidents have better things to do and citizens and the media need to be more conscious of the message they are sending when they spew hateful rhetoric... whatever.... 
yebat' Putin
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Kind of sad that we have a grieving father using the death of his son to attack the President and a Senator. One never knows how the loss of a son or daughter will affect loved ones. In this case, it appears that a grieving father is very angry, looking for someone to lash out at over his son's death.
He asked the President to call his ex wife, the soldiers mother then claims Bush did it. I can't find any record of Bush making phone calls to the parents of soldiers KIA. He may have, but I find no record of Bush honoring such requests.
It is a highly unusual request by an ex-husband, who is retired military and a grieving father. Usually such a request would follow a chain of command and be checked out to make sure it was not some kind of hoax.
I believe the father was told that the President does not usually call the grieving parents of soldiers KIA and that obviously pissed him off and he decided to use the opportunity of his son's death to lash out in anger and score political points.
As for the typo...again, obviously this is an angry, grieving father who sadly, is looking for any opportunity to score cheap political points...very, very sad, IMO.
It is hard to know what the state of mind is of a grieving father, ex-military, who just lost a son who was a soldier, fighting in a war.
If it was his goal to honor his son, I'm not sure this is the way to do that. If it was his goal to make the death of his son into a political event...he obviously succeeded in that.
My condolences to the family of Sgt. Sean Collins.
FOOTBALL IS NOT BASEBALL
Home of the Free, Because of the Brave...
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I believe the father was told that the President does not usually call the grieving parents of soldiers KIA and that obviously pissed him off and he decided to use the opportunity of his son's death to lash out in anger and score political points.
With whom do you think he was trying to score political points?
yebat' Putin
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As for the typo...again, obviously this is an angry, grieving father who sadly, is looking for any opportunity to score cheap political points...very, very sad, IMO.
Oh the irony of your entire post ... you do this all the time with YOUR son, and fortunatly, he's still living.
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As for the typo...again, obviously this is an angry, grieving father who sadly, is looking for any opportunity to score cheap political points...very, very sad, IMO.
Oh the irony of your entire post ... you do this all the time with YOUR son, and fortunatly, he's still living.
The real irony is what mac had to say about Bush when Sheehan was doing much, much worse.
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Yup. I caught that in his post but didn't want to be the first to wade in on another Attack on Mac.
![[Linked Image from i28.photobucket.com]](http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c201/shadedog/mcenroe2.jpg) gmstrong -----------------
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Yup. I caught that in his post but didn't want to be the first to wade in on another Attack on Mac.
I'm not attacking mac - just pointing out his hypocrisy depending on who is president at the time.
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I know that, arch. I just wanted to put rhyme in a post.
gmstrong -----------------
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Oops - I didn't catch it.
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All Pro
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As a huge Obama supporter before the election, HE WONT GET RE-ELECTED.
I think he will. I was positive bush wouldnt' get reelected either, he was categorically viewed as a disaster at that time. But people are sheep. In this case, thank god for me, because I still think he's great.
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Quote:
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As a huge Obama supporter before the election, HE WONT GET RE-ELECTED.
I think he will. I was positive bush wouldnt' get reelected either, he was categorically viewed as a disaster at that time. But people are sheep. In this case, thank god for me, because I still think he's great.
Wow. Yeah, he's fantastic. 
You and I do agree on one thing, and I'm quite sure only one thing, I do believe he will be elected again.
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Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Obama snubs family of fallen
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