If You Lay Down WIth Dogs, Expect To Get Fleas

First of all I didn't watch the debate on Friday night...so I didn't see this first hand. But I have heard of and have seen pictures of SEN Obama wearing this bracelet so I am somewhat familiar with what is being discussed.

From Mudville

A Tale of Two Bracelets
Greyhawk
I wish this wasn't a story - but it is.

Mrs. Jopek was an Obama supporter (at least in March of this year) and doesn’t want to sabotage the campaign, so she refused to give interviews. But I found an old radio interview with the father Brian Jopek (who served in Iraq and is now apparently serving at the Guantanamo base):
BRIAN JOPEK: Whatever is decided, we need to make sure that it benefits the American servicemen, and also the Iraqis.
* * *
We don’t wanna go back in there in ten years, at a greater cost and more lives.

I sure hope that, whoever is elected, Democrat or Republican, that they look at the big picture and don’t just pull up stakes — or “pop smoke” as we say in the military, because of the political atmosphere.”

Regarding Barack Obama: According to the father, Tracy Jopek wrote to the Senator: “She had asked him not to wear the bracelet.”
The parents are reportedly divorced now. I don't think either wants the spotlight. Nothing I've seen refutes the senator's assertion that “She asked me ‘can you please make sure that another mother is not going through what I’m going through'".

All of this is lamentable. But it should also be a lesson to you. If you don't want to be used for political gain don't send something to a politician that can be manipulated for votes. They are all about getting elected and if it suits their cause they will most likely use it. Sure there are some good guys out there (the POTUS has visited wounded troops and families of the fallen non-stop and has never made a media event of it), but to expect that anything would be between you and the candidate (especially when it can be USED for VOTES)is naive to the extreme.

Express your opinion, send your favorite candidate whatever you'd like but don't be too surprised when the KIA bracelet you sent ends up being used as a prop. It's what these people do.