Wednesday, May 28, 2008

High camp

In truth, I can't take the Obama/Auschwitz flap very seriously -- although part of me wants to record a mock-Olbermann Special Comment in tones of Keith-esque high dudgeon: "How DARE you, sir?"

In the spirit of giggles, I must discuss the latest development. The Sainted One's surrogates now say that Obama's uncle -- the one who helped to liberate Auschwitz, the one who later spent six months in an attic -- was really a Great Uncle who was with the 89th when they liberated Buchenwald. I know what you're asking: What is his name? What is his name? His name is Charlie Payne.

Problem number uno: The 89th did not liberate Buchenwald.

Problem number two-o: Charlie was in the Navy.

Did Barack Obama make up the whole thing? OMG! Get this to Keith!

How might a Kos or DU writer discuss this matter? Hm. Let me attempt a pastiche:

"I thought that the Senator had plumbed the depths of human atrocity before, but I never thought that any living human being could verbally soil himself to such a noxious degree. He literally cannot open his mouth without expectorating excrement on anyone unfortunate enough to stand nearby. Not only must he be stripped of his delegates, not only must he be kicked out of the Democratic party in disgrace, he must be driven from the North American continent and forced to wander the desert for the rest of his days with the word LIAR branded on his forehead. As he wanders, a task force of evil leprachauns will continually spit on him while jabbing him with plastic salad forks and reading unfunny jokes from Reader's Digest. This subhuman demon is a murderous MONSTER FROM HELL who obviously hopes to FALSIFY THE HISTORY OF THE WORST CRIME IN HISTORY -- and that makes him WORSE THAN HITLER HIMSELF!"

Did I capture the flavor? Now that I think about it, the average Kos writer really does sound like...

...well, like a crazy uncle in the attic.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

HAS OBAMA CONSORTED WITH YOU, CANNON?
IF NOT THEN HE CERTAINLY HASN'T PLUMBED THE DEPTHS OF HUMAN ATROCITY!

Anonymous said...

There is an 89th Infintry web site that says the great uncle was in that unit. Your link says Navy. Who knows?

Nunzia Rider said...

Hey Joe. Don't know if Charles (he prefers that to Charlie, according to his brother Jon) was in the Navy or the Army, but the 89th did liberate Ohrdruf, which was a subcamp of Buchenwald. In fact, the liberation of Ohrdruf took place several days before the liberation of the main Buchenwald camp and was the first concentration camp that American troops liberated. The scenes there were so horrid that Gen. Eisenhower wrote back to Marshall in Washington that Patton refused to enter one room where the naked bodies of about 40 men who died from starvation were found.

Now, Jon Payne didn't say whether his brother was serving with the 89th, but he did say he was in the Army and brought back photgraphs from concentration camps.

I don't blame you for not taking this very seriously. It annoyed the crap out of me yesterday when it came out (and you know I'm not a blind Bot). But it ticked me off to see my own news organization acting like the PR arm of the RNC over it.

Anonymous said...

Mebbe, mebbe not.

http://www.kshs.org/genealogists/military/wwiiveteransresults.php?page=364&branch=A

"I am confused. I thought the Great Uncle’s name was/is Ralph W. E.. Dunham, Jr., brother of Obama’s grandfather, Stanley A. Dunham. Ralph was inducted on May 28, 1942 in Kansas (record with the Kansas Historical Society WWII records as Ralph E Dunham Jr) and served with the 89th when they liberated Ohrdruf, a smaller camp that was part of Buchenwald.

"Charlie Payne is a new name to me since yesterday. What’d I miss?

(response)

"The reason Charlie E. Payne comes into play is that Burton who represents the Obama campaign said at Politico that the great uncle in question is from the grandmother side of the family tree. So that eliminates both the grandfather and his older brother who served in the army unless Burton got his facts wrong.

"RiehlWorld has tracked the records for the grandmother and she has a brother named Charles E. Payne, however Kansas records for WWII vets show no army record for that name but they do show a Navy record under that name. Few would disagree that the Navy was not likely involved in freeing the camps directly.

However one commentor at another site has found an army name match for Payne but the birth year is off by a few and it is from a DC database rather than the Kansas history.

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/a-query-to-the-89th-divisions-website

-----------------

A Charles *W* (not E.) Payne, born "about" 1924, was identified as Obama's maternal great-uncle in a genealogy at:

http://genealogy.about.com/od/aframertrees/p/obama_two.htm

[The given name "Charles" occurs several times in the same line, and Charles "T" possibly twice.]

http://genforum.genealogy.com/payne/messages/7018.html

"Barack Obama's Payne ancestry can be traced back only to Solomon (Salmon) Payne, born in NY, circa 1796. He married Elizabeth ???, also born in NY, circa 1806. They were married, possibly in Adams Co., IL, circa 1838.
"The family group was enumerated in Melrose Town, Adams Co., IL, in the 1850 Census, and included Salmon, Elizabeth, son Benjamin (age 11, born in IL), daughter Rebecca J. (age 5, born in IL), and Salmon's sister, Sarah (age 52, born in NY).
"Solomon Payne was enumerated in Quincy City, Adams Co., IL, in the 1840 Census. Solomon & Elizabeth (?) Payne were Barack Obama's maternal 4-great grandparents. His line of descent comes down through their son, Benjamin Payne (married Eliza Black), grandson, Charles T. Payne (married Della Wolfley), great grandson, Rolla Charles Payne (married Leona McCurry), 2-great granddaughter, Madelyn Lee Payne (married Stanley Armour Dunham), and 3-great granddaughter, Stanley Ann Dunham (married Barack Hussein Obama, 1st husband)."

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=craigsharrow&id=I670535

ID: I670535
Name: Charles Payne
Given Name: Charles [[middle name not given]]
Surname: Payne 1
Sex: M
Birth: Abt 1925 in Augusta, Butler County, Kansas - poss 1 2
Event: Anecdote
Note: ED 3, Sheet 3B, Line 81 of the Augusta, Butler Co, KS census shows [Charles] as 5 years old, single, living with parents Rolla and Leona, and siblings Madelyn and Arlene. 3
Change Date: 31 Jan 2008 at 11:45

Father: Rolla Charles Payne b: 23 Aug 1892 in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas
Mother: Leona Belle McCurry b: 4 May 1897 in Peru, Chautauqua County, Kansas

Sources:
Abbrev: ABO
Title: Ancestry of Barack Obama, Location: n/a, Url: http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html
Compiler: [EXPERT] William Addams Reitwiesner
Publication: wargs@wargs.com, retrieved 26 Oct 2007
Media: Internet Database (Rootsweb)
Abbrev: Dowling Family Tree
Title: Dowling Family Tree
Author: Timothy Michael Dowling
Publication: Jan 2008
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GED&db=tdowling&id=I65723
tdowling_53223@yahoo.com
Abbrev: FDCE
Title: Extracts from the US Federal Decennial Census, Record Type: compiled from multiple censuses, Household: see notes, Record Info: retrieved 27 Oct 07 from http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html*
Author: William Addams Reitwiesner
Publication: 1850-1930

*[US Census] 1930 Kansas, Butler Co., Augusta, ED 3, sheet 3B, line 81

PAYNE
Rolla C H M W 37 M 29 KS MO OH Oil company Bookkeeper

Leona W F W 32 M 24 KS MO AR
Madelyn D F W 7 S KS KS KS
Charles S M W [Age] 5 S KS KS KS
Arlene D F W 3 8/12 S KS KS KS


Maybe we should give the last word to the HOME PAGE of the 89th
(http://www.89infdivww2.org/index.htm) where THIS has been posted:

"Concerning the service of Mr. Charles Payne:

C.T. Payne was a soldier in the 89th Infantry Division. He served in the 355th Infantry Regiment, Company K. The 355th Infantry Regiment was the unit to liberate Ohrdruf. Mr. Payne was there."

gary said...

http://www.89infdivww2.org/

Anonymous said...

You'll love THIS.

"ANCESTRY OF BARACK OBAMA compiled by William Addams Reitwiesner"

http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html

"In 'Dreams from My Father,' on p. 63, Mr. Obama describes how, while a schoolboy, he told his classmates the story that his father was a prince, and his grandfather a king, of the Luo. Later, when as an adult, Mr. Obama learns the true story of his father's background (p. 394 et seq.), he finds no African royalty.

"Mr. Obama appears to be unaware of his descent(s) from European royalty ..."

((Citing one line of descent from William I, King of Scots, and another from Edward I, King of England))

Anonymous said...

Charles Thomas Payne, the great uncle of Obama, is the uncle who served in the Army in the 89th Infantry during WW II and suffered severe enough PTSD that, after coming back from the war he isolated himself at home for some time.

Charles recovered, attended college and to this day is a mentally vital, 83 year-old resident of Chicago.

This information was confirmed tonight by a member of the Payne family and is being posted to correct the mis-information that is swirling around the internet.

CORRECT info:
1. Charles' middle initial is "T" not "W";
2. he did have what is now termed PTSD; and
3. he was so traumatized by what he encountered during the war, that he in fact did isolate himself at home for a lengthy period of time.

J Straight

Anonymous said...

This is not an issue that particularly bothers me (although I enjoyed the faux outrage). But I am confused. The Kansas military records list the following Charles T. Payne:

Payne, Charles T. Enlisted 13 December 1942, Navy 3427439 Unregistered Kansas City, Wyandotte Co. (Board # 4)

http://www.kshs.org/genealogists/military/wwiiveteransresults.php?page=421&branch=N

(Sorry for the long cite) Looks like Navy to me...but maybe there's another Charles T. Payne...

djmm

gary said...

OK, this seems to be the final word on this story:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/may/28/right-soldier-wrong-camp/

Joseph Cannon said...

gary, I think the most important part of this whole "scandal" is that it gave us the perfect image to describe Obama's followers: The crazed uncle in the attic.

"First he said that it was the uncle! Then it was the grandfather! Then it was the great-uncle! First it was Auschwitz! Then it was Buchenwald! Who KNOWS where this pathway of bloody lies will lead next? Clearly, this man is a PSYCHOPATHIC KILLER on the order of POL POT or JOSEPH STALIN! God help the world if he gets his hands on the nuclear football! This vile, barf-a-riffic poseur should buried up to his neck in ice while Canadian sled-dogs URINATE on his lying face! Then cockroaches should be tossed into his open mouth! Then..."

Ah hell, I'm out of ammo. Maybe I should head over to DU. The real "crazy uncles" in that forum come up with shit that is far beyond my attempts at imitation.

Ren v Stimpy said...

POLYGAMIST DADDY SYNDROME

Obama's "death camp" confabulation is as reliable as a hookers penis praise. Nearly as laughable as the fabrications of Daddy Obama in the appropriately titled "Dreams From My Father". Daddy O was a bigamist wife beating drunk. None of which made it onto a single page. So how much of the distraught uncles PTDS fallacious crap are we supposed to sit through before we just get up and walk out?