"Sen. Barack Obama's campaign staff and the Pentagon are putting forth different versions of what happened before Obama cancelled a planned Friday morning visit to the Ramstein air base in Germany.

The Obama campaign has suggested the Pentagon interfered with its decision to visit U.S. troops at the Ramstein and Landstuhl U.S. military bases in Germany -- something the Pentagon denied Friday."

"We made it clear to him that campaign staff and press would not be permitted to accompany him," Morrell said of Obama.  "We relayed those ground rules. They made a choice based upon the information we relayed to them.  It was their choice. We had nothing to do with it."

MSNBC 1:02 PM ET

ANDREA MITCHELL: “Spin from both sides: the Pentagon would have told you that these are rules that everyone follows. That he was welcomed, he could have gone if he had gone with just a senate aide, but that no campaign aides could go with him. Privately, some people are suggesting that one of the issues was a general – Scott Gration -- who travels with him who's a campaign aide and retired air force general and that the general was told that he could not use his privilege as a retired member of the military to accompany Senator Obama because he is now joined the political campaign. … So that may have been one of the stumbling blocks. … The Obama people certainly feel resentful. They had a planned event. They were planning to leave the press corps on the tarmac and go in themselves, and that they feel the pentagon made it difficult and reminded them of the rules, about which they didn't need to be reminded having just come from a similar visit in Iraq.  But whatever the result, they feel that they have been treated badly by the Pentagon, and that is certainly creating some bad blood.”

Chesty’s retirement ceremony took place at the end of a practice session to prepare for the sunset parade, which the Marines hold every Friday evening for tourists and spectators at 8:45 p.m. During the ceremony Chesty XII was replaced as the USMC mascot by another English Bulldog, Chesty XIII. (All the Chesty mascots are named after the famed Marine, Chesty Puller.)

It was a lot of fun to watch and of course, spend the morning with all those good-looking Marines. Special thanks to Gunnery Sergeant Will Price for inviting me. And, check out his book Devil Dog Diary!

Here are some of my pics:

The "new" Chesty and the "old" Chesty

Waiting for the ceremony on the parade grounds at 8th and I.

Petting the Chesties!

GARRETT: he was scheduled to visit a medical center near ramstein air base. they decided not to do it because it would be viewed as a political act. the pentagon said today both at the podium and in a letter that they never told the obama campaign would be inappropriate. all they said is that there are strict rules about a senator visiting a military base. only still photographer could follow him, but that would be the only media coverage allowed. maybe that had something to do with the ultimate decision not to go. but the cut is making it clear that they did not discourage obama from making the trip, the gist of by some of the restrictions -- they just advised him of restrictions, should he make it.

"I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."

But I also know how much I love America."

"Much of the rest of the speech fed the illusion that we could solve our problems if only people mystically come together. We should help Israelis and Palestinians unite. We should unite to prevent genocide in Darfur. We should unite so the Iranians won’t develop nukes. Or as Obama put it: 'The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.'

... Obama has benefited from a week of good images. But substantively, optimism without reality isn’t eloquence. It’s just Disney."

"Two top aides to the presumptive Republican nominee said the decision is likely to be announced after Obama returns from Europe on Sunday and before the Beijing Olympics begin Aug. 8."

The controversy surrounding the legitimacy of media coverage of Obama’s current foreign tour is among the latest questionable situations in which the Illinois senator has found himself. In the August issue of Townhall Magazine, managing editor Katie Favazza outlines Obama’s questionable connections and motives in her expos?, “Barack’s Old-Style Chicago Politics." Favazza’s piece connects Obama and the corrupt Chicago Machine in ways voters need to know before casting their ballot this November.

For more on the suspicious ways of the presumptive Democratic nominee, check out Favazza’s feature article in Townhall by subscribing here. Subscribe today and receive a free copy of Over a Barrel by Raymond J. Learsy with your 12 issues!

In his sermon to the Germans, Barack Obama presents himself both as Barack the Baptist and the Obamessiah. Nevertheless, Americans naturally root for for the underdog to prevail. For pride to take a fall. Don't we instinctively seek to puncture the grandiose pretensions of a blowhard? It seems to me that this is the question that Obama's speech elicits.

And one more question. I wonder if Americans will appreciate Obama's deprecation of the United States on foreign soil for his own self-aggrandizing purposes. Surely one does not need to be a conservative Republican to recoil from this display.