http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0hiw8iXdMM

merciless, not "mercilous." You are welcome

I see nothing wrong with the president acknowledging one of our nation's heroes at the beginning of his speech. He was somber when he was addressing the shootings and what he said was appropriate. I think it is crass to try and turn this into something that it is not for no other purpose than to score political points. My son is at Fort Benning right now and my thoughts turned to him as soon as I heard about this. My heart goes out to the families of those who were killed or wounded in this needless act. Yosemite Sam, there is a time and place to discuss political differences and this is definitely not it.

Hate to say it....but I see nothing wrong with Obama's reaction to the shooting.

He was obviously adressing the event he was already attending for the first bit.

The beating Bush got on 9/11, however, remains insanely unjustified.

It might be wise for Obama to rehearse several of these type speeches and reactions

for if we continue down the path of appeasement with our most violent enemies there will

be plenty of events for Obama to tell us he is horrified.

Obama is the messiah thank the world for him.

Maybe the military should keep an eye on the Islamic nuts in the Army.

They will betray us for there Islamic brothers just like Barrack Hussein Obama.

Americans4Truth: Can you possibly come off as being more ignorant than the last sentence of your post??

Why aren't Italians more highly scrutinized? Given they are illiterate, garlic-eating, oily criminals who have no respect for the law, playing their accordions and singing opera late at night, keeping honest working Americans awake. And how about those Zoroastrians playing with fire?

- Teh Stupid! Oh, how it burns!

Acadian, of course there is nothing wrong with Obama giving a shout out to the man.. not quite as somber as I would have been, but the point of the post was not to attack Obama but rather to show the huge difference between the left and right.

The left savaged Bush for sitting quietly and listening to the children as if he had no idea what to do, when in fact the process of getting AF1 was already started and he was simply waiting for his chief of staff to come give him the word.

Obama reacted in a slightly odd way, but who knows how anyone will react to such a situation?

Gulliver: Thanks for the spelling correction.

Yosemite Sam, I thought it was wrong to criticize President Bush for his calm reaction to the 9/11 attacks and I still do. ( I suppose that you are referring to Moore's film.) But which side is going to recognize such criticism as pathetic and childish and not continue the cycle of stupidity? I am saving my respect for those who do.

Why did he (shooter) do it? There is no direct connection pointing to his muslim beliefs... It seems he was being deployed and was very upset and concerned... I am sure more will come out.

Acadian: You are an educator, you should be able to determine from my post that I am NOT criticizing Obama on this, but rather showing the difference in how things should be treated. One COULD criticize him, but they would have to go well beyond a reasonable limit to do that. I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

lonewolf, there are witness statements saying he shouted 'ALLAHU AKBAR' as he fired upon the crowd.

I think this qualifies as a case of "Sudden Jihad Syndrome" whereby the guy was basically a crazy nut who, having been entrenched in some radical Islamic theory, snapped and decided to go Jihad. A non-muslim crazy in the same situation would have just started shooting.

I have a few very peaceful Muslim friends who were shocked and dismayed at yet another nut using Islam as a basis for murdering innocents.

I was happy to see C.A.I.R. criticize the guy. Maybe we are turning a corner in the Islamic world where they can vilify those who behave like crazy people in the name of Islam?

If you were giving the president the benefit of the doubt, then why post this at all? I agree with lonewolf that we should wait until the accurate details come out. The shooter survived and will face a court martial, I think. Does anyone know if this will be tried under UCMJ? If it is, isn't the method of execution a firing squad?

Americans4Truth,

I'm not sure why I am even taking the time to reply. Somewhere there are people that will read your statement and because of it will equate all Americans as being just like you. Somewhere there are people that think because there are Christians that bomb/kill abortion doctors we need to keep an eye on all Christian nuts in the Army.

Your truth is blind, you are so over the line. I believe in free speech, but you are certainly one I would expel from this blog. Please, seek help.

I believe (as Yosemite_Sam himself has already stated) that he posted this blog simply to show the difference between how the reactions by both presidents were scrutinized quite differently. While reading I didn't pick up on any shots at Obama, merely stated differences.

All in all great blog, thanks for taking the time to post it. Sure fire example of how political parties twist situations to fit their purposes. I wouldn't be surprised to hear this pop up again in the next election except as you've pointed out, that card has already been played so I doubt anything more will come of it.

Just to clarify, Mr. Joseph Medicine Crow, while he did earn a Bronze Star for his service in WWII, is not a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation's highest honor for military service. According to Wikipedia, Mr. Medicine Crow is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the U.S.A.'s highest civilian honor), given by President Barack Obama on August 12, 2009. So, President Obama got his goofy shout out wrong, too.

And yes, had it been George Bush giving shout outs in the immediate aftermath of the worst base tragedy I can recall, he would have been savaged by the media (and rightly so). Whatever one chooses to say about President Bush, it is clear that he admired, respected, and appreciated the military and those who chose to defend the nation by serving in it.

This morning I saw Obama come out for a press statement and he was somber as he came to the podium. I thought "I have to give him credit for treating this moment as seriously as it is." I was thinking I would post that thought because I do not get a lot of positive thoughts about his actions.

Unfortunately, he gave about 4 minutes to the travesty in Fort Hood, then moved into the political realm to start talking about how he had just signed a big unemployment extension bill, and turned it into a political speech. At that point, I was again shouting at the TV and it was not nice things.

I was disgusted. We lost thirteen people yesterday to a terrorist on American soil and Obama could not just give those people respect, give their families some sympathy, and then leave the political stuff for another day.

Opportunity lost. A positive post would have been nice.

I read it as Y-S intended. To show the difference between the reactions to two Presidents faced with acts of terror. Of course, 9-11-2001 was much worse by any account.

Mike Gruber, very good post, your last paragraph unfortunately may be right, I hope it isn't but will not hold my breath.

Y-S, I firmly believe that C.A.I.R. is just doing some damage control since this will no doubt bring out public outrage, in the past they have had nothing but excuses. Obama will use any opportunity to pitch his agenda, he always does it and always will. He acts as he addresses things as a preamble to his real intent, in this case he gave lip service to the massacre and then went on to his agenda. Face time, it's all about face time with him.

LR: I was honestly disappointed.

Apples and Oranges.

"FORT HOOD, Texas – As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan(The 39-year-old Army psychiatrist), cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship — common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, dead. A counselor who needed to be counseled himself?" AP

Or was it politically motivated. He is in a coma and I don't believe we will ever know the complete truth. His ties to Islam make the situation very delicate to handle in our PC world.

It appears that our Prsident has not figured out how to handle this situation, hopefully he gets a full grasp on it as there will be more to come.

"A counselor who needed to be counseled himself?" Yes indeed. many of them break under the strain.

As much as I oppose capital punishment I think it is justice to hang the Major. SOB

How can you hang him without a jury trial? The system, if he lives, will send him to a funny farm and soon he will be allowed to walk around just like Hinckley.

"John Hinckley Jr. arrives at U.S. District Court in Washington in this Nov. 18, 2003 file photo. A federal judge has ordered expanded freedom for Hinckley, the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, continuing a process that's been years in the making. He has been living at St. Elizabeth's Hospital for more than two decades has gradually been granted more freedom to visit with family in recent years.

(Evan Vucci/AP Photo)The expanded release came over the objections of the Justice Department which argues that Hinckley remains mentally ill and continues to have inappropriate, counterproductive relationships with women. The government also expressed concern that Hinckley "maintains inappropriate thoughts of violence." abc news