McCain's Petraeus Problem

Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report at 2:01 PM on May 30, 2008.

Following up on an earlier item, John McCain’s decision to use a photo of Gen. David Petraeus, in uniform, without his permission, in a fundraising appeal is starting to generate some attention.



Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reminded those in uniform this week to steer clear of the political arena during the election season. “The U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times and in all ways,” Mullen said.


The McCain campaign responded this afternoon that using the picture of a general without his permission in a fundraising letter is entirely consistent with Mullen’s directive.

McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers says using the image of Petraeus is not at all contrary to the spirit of Mullen’s directive. “We’re not suggesting General Petraeus has endorsed anyone in this race. I’m sure you’ll find (attached is one example) that Senator Obama has used pictures of himself with troops in the course of this campaign.”

Now, you can go ahead and look at the image the McCain campaign referred to on Barack Obama’s website and judge for yourself whether it’s in anyway similar to the image McCain used of Petraeus. I think any fair look at this shows how extremely different they are — Obama is shown shaking hands with an anonymous soldier, whose face we can barely see in the picture, while McCain uses Petraeus’ image in a fundraising appeal. The prior is a small picture of a senator meeting a serviceman. The letter is an appeal for cash with McCain tying himself to the head of U.S. operations in Iraq.


The McCain campaign said, “We’re not suggesting General Petraeus has endorsed anyone in this race.” No, they’re just suggesting Gen. Petraeus is a campaign prop that should be used — without his permission — to get Republican donors to pony up some checks.

The Obama campaign hosted a conference call this morning (which I sat in on) with Sen. John Kerry, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, and Obama spokesperson Josh Earnest, with a straightforward message — just a few days after Adm. Mullen said he didn’t want to see troops caught up in partisan politics, the McCain campaign “jumped in with both feet.”


Earnest, in particular, emphasized that it wasn’t just using the picture of Petraeus without his permission that was offensive, but also the fact that McCain would use the picture for fundraising that was disrespectful.


John Kerry’s office issued a statement around the same time as the call:

“It’s deeply disappointing that Sen. McCain is using a picture of General Petraeus in uniform to raise money and launch negative attacks. Just last week Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen spoke out of conviction that our men and women in uniform should be left out of politics, not invoked for partisan purposes. The truth is, our troops and the American people deserve better than political stunts and spin about troop levels, they deserve a real and honest debate about how to change a policy that isn’t making us safer. There will be a clear choice this November between four more years of George Bush’s Iraq policy with Sen. McCain, or ending this war, getting out of Iraq responsibly, and strengthening our security with Barack Obama as President.”

Also, I spoke with someone this morning who reminded me of the specific regulations in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) which, among other things, prohibit active members of the Armed Forces from participating in “partisan political fundraising activities” or helping candidates “solicit or otherwise engage in fundraising activities in Federal offices or facilities, including military reservations, for any political cause or candidate.”


Now, in this case, it seems obvious that Petraeus didn’t violate the UCMJ himself, because McCain did this without checking with Petraeus first. It’s important, though, that Petraeus let McCain know this is entirely unacceptable, and it’s incumbent on McCain to apologize and pull the fundraising appeal.


Unauthorized use of a general’s picture in an email solicitation is a cheap and tawdry move for anyone, better yet a presidential candidate.

Tagged as: mccain, petraeus