Poor Ed Schultz tries to blame General McChrystal, an Obama appointee, on Bush

Poor, pathetic Ed Schultz. He tries to blame General McChrystal, an Obama appointee, on Bush. And gets nailed on the facts.

Poor, pathetic Ed Schultz. If we were betting men, we’d say he was probably the fat kid who got picked on by bullies every day during recess.

“Gen. McChrystal has put the president of the United States in an untenable position,” the chubby MSNBC host said. “The president either has to fire him or let this culture of insubordination permeate through the ranks of the men and women under his command…”

“So, once again, here’s President Obama,” Schultz continued. “He has to fix yet another problem he inherited from the Bush administration. I want the president to step up, stand up, take charge, and fire this jackass, Gen. McChrystal. Our troops deserve more.”

Uh-oh, here come those playground bullies from Politifact to pick on Ed with the facts:

McChrystal is a career military officer who rose steadily through the ranks from his first day as a second lieutenant in 1976. It’s true that McChrystal served in several senior Army positions during the years that Bush was president, including as commanding general of the Joint Special Operations Command from 2003 to 2006. In Afghanistan during 2001 and 2002, McChrystal was chief of staff of military operations. He also ran commando operations in Iraq, and he served in two positions with the joint staff in Washington.

But there’s a much stronger argument for linking his career to Obama than to Bush.
On May 11, 2009 — less than four months after being sworn in — Obama ousted Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top American commander in Afghanistan, and installed McChrystal. It was widely seen as a deliberate shake-up designed to improve the execution of the long-running war. In announcing the move, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that ”fresh eyes were needed” and that ”a new approach was probably in our best interest.”



So while McChrystal served in senior positions under Bush, he was specifically tapped by Obama to run the war in Afghanistan. To the extent he’s a “problem,” it seems clear to us that he’s Obama’s problem, not Bush’s.

Damn facts!

Source: Politifact.com

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