Black Box Report

So, last week, Barack Obama was giving a speech in New Mexico, and committed the heinous crime of misstating a bit of his family history. He claimed his great-uncle helped liberate the concentration camp at Auschwitz at the end of WWII. That was incorrect, as Republicans and the Crack Conservative Blogger Brigade pointed out with much tsk-tsking and questioning of Obama's fitness for office.

The truth of the matter was that Obama's great-uncle actually helped liberate Buchenwald, a Nazi slave labor camp, and not Auschwitz. And while some resorted to (im)moral equivocation between the two, most conservatives realizing this was not their "Tuzla" moment for Obama, dropped it and the case was closed.

....or was it???

No, to all our amusement, it was not:

Steve Gilbert of Sweetness & Light did some digging and discovered a website dedicated to preserving the history of the 89th Infantry Division of World War II, the division in which Obama’s great uncle served and helped liberate the Ohrdruf satellite of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Seeking to get to the bottom of a mystery that had been solved hours earlier, Gilbert dutifully fired off an email to the site’s owners, Ray and Mark Kitchell, thus setting up the greatest b**ch slap in history:

—– Original Message —–
From: Steve Gilbert
To: markkitchell@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 6:14 AM
Subject: Any Record Of Charles W Payne?

Mr. Kitchell,

As you may have heard by now, Barack Obama has claimed that his great uncle Charlie Payne was a member of the 89th Div that liberated Buchenwald.

According to records his full name is either Charles W Payne or Charles T Payne (most likely the former), and he was born in 1924 — and he is still alive today.

He most likely was from Kansas at the time of enlistment.

Do you have any record of this gentleman?

Thank you,

Steve Gilbert
sweetness-light.com

PS - If you go to my website, you will see that I was probably the first to note the error in Mr. Obama’s first claims about his “uncle.”

And now, the coup de grace:

The reply was quick and to the point:

Please crawl back under the rock you came out from.
Good day

Raymond Kitchell, veteran 89th Inf Div

Watch it all in its slow-motion-train-wreck glory here.

Brings a tear to your eye....