TIME - How Well Did He Serve?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040223-590683,00.html

Bush said he reported for duty in Alabama, but even with the new documents, the evidence is thin. TIME looks at four key questions

George W. Bush has long had a habit of giving people nicknames—and perhaps that's because he picked up a few along the way himself. Like the one he earned in 1972, when he left his home in Houston to work on the long-shot Senate campaign of Winton M. (Red) Blount in Alabama. Bush, then 26, would often turn up at campaign headquarters in Montgomery around lunchtime, recount his late-night exploits and brag about his political connections, according to a Blount campaign worker. All that made him slow to win over the Alabama crowd, who began to complain that Bush was letting things slide. C. Murphy Archibald, a nephew of Blount's who worked on the campaign that fall, told TIME that Bush "was good at schmoozing the county chairs, but there wasn't a lot of follow-up." Archibald, now a trial attorney in North Carolina, remembers that a group of older Alabama socialites, who were volunteering their time, gave Bush a nickname because they thought he "looked good on the outside but was full of hot air." They called him the Texas Soufflé.

Skimming the surface and skipping over details may be business as usual for a happy-go-lucky 26-year-old, but it's a problem for a President during a winter of discontent. Whether Bush performed his National Guard duties while he was working on the Blount campaign—as well as during much of the year starting in May 1972—was raised in his past campaigns and always fluttered away quickly, an issue regarded as irrelevant after two decades or more. But it has become germane this time in a way it never was before because for the second time in as many months—first on prewar intelligence in Iraq and now on his military record—Bush is caught in a gap between what he has claimed and what he can prove. At the same time, he's gearing up for a fight with a probable Democratic nominee whose record as a Vietnam War hero helps buy him credibility to challenge Bush on his military resume. Bush insists he did his duty in Alabama, but the records—and many memories—don't confirm it. And these days, people are paying a lot closer attention to the President's words.

All week long, the White House tried to complete two contradictory missions: keep Bush's promise to Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press to release all his military records—and change the story line as quickly as possible. First came the Bush pay stubs, which showed he was paid for some work during his Alabama sojourn but didn't prove he did any work. Then came a page of a dental exam, proving that he had at least turned up at an air base to have his teeth checked. And finally, when those documents weren't having the proper impact, the White House released 400 pages of military records on a late Friday afternoon. Those documents didn't solve the puzzle either, but by then the White House hoped that at least no one could accuse the President of hiding anything. "We're going on the offensive on this," says a top official. "The problem with the Democrats is that they always overplay their hand."

It may be that Bush's military service has already passed into the custody of amateur oral historians—those who say he never turned up, and the lone veteran and the ex-girlfriend who say Bush reported for duty in Alabama. But if the stack of papers may someday intrigue his biographers—we learn that Bush had an appendectomy at age 10, that he took a semester of Japanese during his senior year at Yale, that his Air Force minders rated him "a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to"—they also leave many of the central mysteries of his service unsolved. Here are four:

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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-nybres143670574feb15,0,6023710.column?coll=ny-lipolitics-print

Bush Goal Was Dodging War

<snip>The hack flacks in the White House and the Pekinese of the press are fighting over whether Bush actually did go to the dentist and thus was on duty, or was he missing from a real drill?

His whereabouts have nothing to do with it. What matters only is that Bush was in the National Guard in Texas because he was dodging the war in Vietnam. In those days, if you were in the Guard, you were not called for Vietnam. Some people used college, or marriage, or Conscientious Objector or moving to Canada to evade. Bush used the Guard. Anybody trying that today is in great danger. The Guard units are being called up by the day. But Bush used the Guard when it gave safety. And now, shamelessly, preposterously, he sends people to get killed in Iraq. That he has no right to do so doesn't seem to enter his mind.

In Texas, George Bush might have even had a uniform on. But he was not in Vietnam. And now, today, he is a guy who ducked the war, dodged the war, reneged on any chance to go to war, and yet without even a hint of personal shame sends young people to die in a war that his record shows that he would duck.

What matters to all our senses is that he is a president who struts around as a war hero, who dodged Vietnam and most of the National Guard drills and who with less shame than anybody we have had maybe ever, sends your kids to a war that he ducked as if he was allowed to do it by birth.

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[GRClarkesq]

1. Not disputing your point

but several Air National Guard units did go to Vietnam.

[mobuto]

15. But no F102 squadrons

which was what our fearless President was flying. Both he and Lloyd Bentsen's son (Bentsen was the elder Bush's opponent in the 1970 Texas Senate race) were curiously sent to a squadron that had no chance of ever being sent into battle, and both received promotions on the same day. And somehow both were able to pass right through a very long waiting list.

Now I have no problem with people who served in the ANG during the war, but Bush has the audacity to dress up in a flight suit and call himself a "War President" and that's what bugs me. He's taking credit where none is due.

[saigon68]

49. The CHIMPANZEE is a COWARDLY DRAFT DODGER.

Every veteran I know from Viet-Nam, believes this.

This Chicken Hawk will be in trouble.

Where is his form 5????

NO ONE IN THE press ASKS THIS QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

edited:---- to supress the profanity

[nolabels]

50. Thanks mobuto, but one must also remember many were also regulars...

at one time. They retired and or went to NG to keep some of their skills and benefits intact or just still liked regular service but had families and needed more more money to support them.

Please don't disgrace the guard with the likes of *, they don't deserve it either

Then there were those enlisted straight into NG. Anybody remember going through basic training, I used to love them NG's. Some of the Drill Sergent's had real enjoyment giving a them dudes a few extra :kick:

[mobuto]

53. I'm not attacking the Guard

I have friends in the NG. Especially these days, NG service can be tough, dangerous and extremely important.

I'm not even attacking those people who went into the Guard only to avoid being drafted into the regular service.

I am attacking Bush for his hypocrisy - for doing his best to avoid ever seing war, and then pretending afterwards to be a warrior. Clinton also avoided being sent to Vietnam. To tell you the truth, if I had been of draft age then, I might have done the same. But neither Clinton nor I have ever dared to don a flight suit as Bush did, this man who calls himself a "War President."

[nolabels]

56. Thanks for clearing that up

Everytime I get a wiff of chickenhawk it riles me up. There should be no such thing. Why in the heck do people let others slide like that? That Iraq mess is a prime example and sure to get worse

"War and Fraud President" (appointed by biased Republican judges), * for short. That * makes me sick :puke:

If anyone is concerned about serving ones country wants a good reason for being or voting Democratic go here

http://www.awolbush.com/whoserved.html

[KansDem]

54. The media also helped (a great deal) with this charade...

Bush has the audacity to dress up in a flight suit and call himself a "War President"

I remember several times during this charade a "reporter" would comment that Bush was a "fighter pilot during the Vietnam War."

Now, what's wrong was this comment? Two things: 1) True, Bush was a pilot of a fighter jet, but he never used this machine for its intended purpose. This would be similar to me training in a race car and driving it around a track a few times when there was no race. I could still say, "I'm a race-car driver," or "I drive a race car!." You would infer something very different than what I'd actually done. 2) And this gulls me more. Bush was a pilot during the Vietnam War, but he was never in Vietnam ("during" vs. "in"). Crop dusters who pursued their trade in the 1960s and early 1970s were pits during the Vietnam War, they just weren't in it.

The media knew that what they said was technically true. They also knew that the comments implied something very different then what actually happened. And they chose not to clarify their comment lest it would lead to the truth.

[NNN0LHI]

16. True. But lets look at what Bush and Powell have said about it

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/163815p-143464c.html

<snip>"I'm saying to myself, 'What do I want to do?' I think I don't want to be an infantry guy as a private in Vietnam. What I do decide to want to do is learn to fly."


Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 1989


"I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes."


Dallas Morning News, Feb. 25, 1990


"I don't want to play like I was somebody out there marching when I wasn't. It was either Canada or the service. ... Somebody said the Guard was looking for pilots. All I know is, there weren't that many people trying to be pilots."


Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Nov. 29, 1998

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/13/nfcnn.09.html

<snip>MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: That controversy surrounding President Bush's military service during the Vietnam War has thrown the National Guard into the spotlight.
Our senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, takes a look at the Guard now and then.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the '60s and '70s, the National Guard was barely trained for riot control, much less jungle combat.

RET. COL. SAM GARDINER, U.S. AIR FORCE: They were the third echelon, they were the last to go. They weren't very ready.

MCINTYRE: Their drills looked good on film, but for many, service in the Guard was simply the best legal way to avoid the draft in Vietnam. In his autobiography, former joint chiefs chairman, Colin Powell, complained "I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well placed and so many professional athletes managed to wrangle slots in the Reserve and National Guard units."


more

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. Interesting that Powell has that point-of-view, particularly when his...

...major claim to Vietnam fame was being a divisional staff officer covering up for the My Lai massacre conducted by a unit in his division.

[kskiska]

24. My ex- had been in the National Guard, before Vietnam

and my father, who'd been a B-17 co-pilot in the war and spent over a year in a German POW camp, was scornful of my then-husband, calling the Guard the "Boy Scouts." Aside from 2 weeks active duty in Upstate NY, the most he was ever called upon to do was direct traffic during a flood.

[HuckleB]

17. That was long before Bush joined, however.

[oasis]

2. Chickenhawk Bunnypants has got some 'splaining to do.

[bamademo]

3. What I wish someone would point out is that Blount was a racist

He was running against Senator John Sparkman, a Democrat. Blount was trying to prevent busing which would have kept a lot of schools segregated.

[LeinesRed]

5. I know...

so much good stuff that was unreported in 2000.

[LeinesRed]

6. not "good" stuff....

hope you knew what I meant!

[fishnfla]

7. also they lost the election badly

ya know, if shrub wasn't such a slacker.....

[Karenina]

12. Wish fulfilled.

http://www.southerner.net/blog/awolbush.html

George W. Bush's Lost Year in 1972 Alabama
GWs Mug
By Glynn Wilson
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Feb. 2 (PS) — The result of an investigation into George W. Bush's lost year in 1972 reveals a cocky privileged son who used his family connections to avoid military service in Vietnam and spend seven months in Alabama partying. He clearly skipped out on National Guard duty and avoided a mandatory drug test, all while learning the politics of "dirty tricks," deception and coded racism in the land of George Wallace.

<snip>

Bush made the move to Alabama in May to work on Winton "Red" Blount's campaign for the U.S. Senate against Southern Democrat John Sparkman. The lessons of that year were not lost on Bush or his political adviser Karl Rove, who also cut his political teeth in 1972. Their path to electoral success is a lesson in itself about the state of American Democracy, an issue suitable for an H.L. Mencken-style analysis.

<snip>

One of Bush's duties as "campaign coordinator," according to his official title in the newspapers, was to stay in contact by phone with campaign managers in Alabama's 67 counties, and to handle the distribution of all campaign materials, Archibald says. That material included a pamphlet accusing Sparkman of being soft on the race issue. It also included a doctored tape from a radio debate distorting Sparkman's position on busing.

<snip>


The Birmingham News ran the transcript of the doctored radio tape on November 6, the day before the election, which made it appear Sparkman was in favor of busing black and white children miles across towns to "mix" the public schools. The literature of the campaign echoed the winning conservative Senate race of Ed Gurney in Florida, also dreamed up by Allison and company. Blount's campaign, awash in cash with twice the money of Sparkman's, paid for billboards across the state proclaiming: "A vote for Red Blount is a vote against forced busing . . . against coddling criminals . . . against welfare freeloaders."

[henslee]

4. I think the last line of Breslin's article sums it up.....

"What matters to all our senses is that he is a president who struts around as a war hero, who dodged Vietnam and most of the National Guard drills and who with less shame than anybody we have had maybe ever, sends your kids to a war that he ducked as if he was allowed to do it by birth"

[fishnfla]

8. the Texas Souffle-lol

where in the gosh-danged holy heck were these stories in 2000?

[enough]

18. PERFECT nickname for him!

Texas souffle!

Not only the hot air metaphor, but the inescapable image of something that gets puffed up easily but soon goes limp.

I love it, and WE didn't make it up.

[Lisa]

36. and also, it's rich and oily! (n/t)

...

[0007]

9. Who Me?

National Security prevents me from explaining the lies about my arrest
records, community service records, James R. Bath association documents, and abortion records
of Robin Lowman,

[flowomo]

10. Pay attention to this:

I believe, as many of you do, that the tide has turned against Bush (something I did not see happening two months ago) -- and by the tide, I mean the dispositions of sufficient numbers of voters to swing an election. But the one line from this article posting that strikes me as most critical is this:

"The problem with the Democrats is that they always overplay their hand."

This is an insight into Republican thinking that we must consider. You can push your own angry convictions about Bush, but the goal is to capture the votes of those who are not so angry, or even still inclined to re-elect him. In a phrase, "it's the election, stupid."

We now have more than enough ammunition to knock this guy out of office, but we have to use it effectively. Sometimes that means backing off the most extreme accusation in favor of one that merely raises a question. Voters who carry enough of those questions into the booth on election will vote against Bush. And that is all that matters.

If I might be so vain, this is a point I was trying to make in my most recent column, which is here if anyone is interested (please ignore the hash in the page; those &$0151; marks were supposed to be dashes, but they were screwed up in the cut-and-paste web makeup):

www.cumberlink.com/articles/2004/02/14/editorial/rich_lewis/lewis01.txt

[diplomats]

11. You know, that's exactly what Bush's pollster, Matthew Dowd,

said in an article I posted yesterday: that the Dems will "overplay their hand." I agree that we need to handle this just right. If the damage has been done, it's OK to let the story fade. It's not the issue itself that's important, but how it can undercut Bush's efforts to portray himself as Mr. Commander in Chief.

[0007]

13. The AWOL charge should be brought to an apex.

Any man or women that can't stand scrutiny isn't worth having
Why should the American people accept a man as president at face value?

But because of what it will uncover during the course of investigation, issues such as arrest
records, community service records, James R. Bath association documents, and abortion records
of Robin Lowman, I will be surprised if the truth will ever survive the scrutiny. Most Americans
will blindly receive this defective package called "Our President" - "Right or Wrong" I'm proud of
him - Will be the attitude of most folks. Mostly repukes.

flowomo forget it?

[alfredo]

42. It can be used as a launching pad to frame the debate. His cavalier

attitude toward his duties in the Guard mirrors his attitude toward the working poor, the environment, the sick and dying, and the veterans.

there are a lot of hooks in this National Guard Flap. I like the child of privilege arguments. It undermines his one of the guys facade.

[0007]

45. I agree alfredo!

[alfredo]

59. glad somebody does.

[Loco_moco]

14. Good point...

...those "angry Dems" always "overplay their hand".. that does seem to be the mantra of the right nowadays...

"He consistently confuses arrogance with decisiveness, and bullheadedness with leadership..." - that certainly hit the nail on the head...! Great writing and welcome to DU!

peace;
rob

[JPace]

19. "It has nothing to do with lying or bad intentions"

I disagree, it has everything to do with lying and
bad intentions....of course AWOL's poor judgment
counts too but I would not exclude his lying.

"but the goal is to capture the votes of those who
are not so angry"

Capture? I think as the average American starts
paying closer attention to AWOL's actions, both
past and present they will naturally evolve toward
wanting him out of office. It's not hard, all one
has to do pay attention to what is being said and
Democrats are busy saying a lot.

"The problem with the Democrats is that they always overplay their hand."

Sorry, but that is what Repugs do, Democrats have a
tradition of not fighting hard enough. But this time
we are wise to the tactics of Repugs and thankfully
Kerry and his team are too.....I don't think Dem's can
overplay their hand, but if they do I doubt if it
will be a death blow and the campaign will recover.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. Hard to overplay a hand that continues to work and work well...

...it's just like football, if you have a play that's working well, you continue to run it until the opposing team figures out how to stop it, then you go to something else.

IMHO, I don't think the NeoCons can stop this play...let's keep running it.

[Jade Fox]

23. I believe I understand your thinking, but

when the Democrats don't "overplay their hand" the Republicans move in
and have no problem overplaying their own. They bring on the Rove-style dirty
tricks and gutter politics, and it works.

In 2000 wasn't Gore advised to run a toned down
campaign, and what did that get us? While it is important to remember that
Gore didn't lose, the margin was small enough to allow the Republicans henchman
to make their moves. They count on us being "nice".

I don't know what the answer here is, but I'm delighted to see an article
about this in Time magazine.

[reprobate]

26. As a political strategy I might agree with you.

But at the same time don't forget the truth of this administration. They are, and always have been, empireists. Remember that the strategy for the iraq was was laid down several years ago, and is part of their attempt to economically dominate the world using military force when necessary.

I suggest you read the PNAC documents, if you haven't already. That explains just what we are facing.

If what you outlined in the article is intended as a purely political strategy, there is some validity in it. But please don't lose sight of the facts of the matter. We were lied to from the beginning. We were lied to about the purpose of the war. We were lied to on the facts of the saddam regime. We were lied to on the facts of the intelligence (most came from chalabi). We were lied to about who vetted the intelligence (OSP).

So while your suggestions do bear some attention, please don't lose the anger that is due for this bunch of treasonous bastards.

[Voltaire99]

33. Your advice, then, is more spinelessness?

The problem with your case, Rich, is that it has already been tried.

Last year the Democrats played it cautious, and the result was support for Bush's Iraq invasion. Before that, their caution bequeathed us the Patriot Act.

Ever wary of losing votes, the Democratic Party has spent the past quarter century playing the margins of quietude and go-alongism. Democratic congressional majorities greased the wheels of Reaganism. Next, a Democratic president gave us welfare "reform." And now, in the wake of support for the most ruinous domestic and foreign policies of our generation, you, like Cuomo, would counsel more caution -- because Republicans worriedly declare that we shouldn't "overplay (our) hand"?

I know you want to avoid mistakes, Rich. But if that is to be the measure of the party's courage, then it could just as easily lose. And, even worse, in the pyrrhic sense, there are ways to win that end up losing, too.

[flowomo]

37. It's a matter of style...

When you are trying to move voters across a line, from their side to yours, and you have a winning issue, you can do two things -- smash them in the face with it repeatedly, or try to squeeze it by their past commitments and beliefs and let it work inside their minds. From my experience, when you repeatedly smash people in the face, they grow to hate you worse than the truth you are trying to expose to them. It's not a matter of spinelessness, but of making a mature judgment about the best way to win support. Talking in this forum is one thing; talking on the street is another. My concern is not with those who already recognize Bush's failure, but with those who have not. It's a rhetorical challenge, not an issue challenge: how to say what you know to be true in a way that wins assent.

[Jade Fox]

47. Who's been "smashing people in the face"?

It seems that it's been so long since we had a press with spine that
any persistant questioning of those in power is now viewed as "mean" or
some other middle class no-no.

There is nothing wrong, and everything right, with pressing an
issue until a genuine response is received.

[Jade Fox]

38. If this story has been drug out too long...

it is because of the White House stone-walling, which baits the press,
even the current "Pekinese" press, into wonder what they are hiding.

[revcarol]

48. Kucinich got it right in the debate today:

what happened 30 years ago isn't nearly as important as WHAT BUSH IS DOING TO THE GUARD NOW.GET 'EM HOME.

Sneaky but effective. Dems just let the guard thing develop and then contrast it to NOW. That Kucinich is very politically astute. That way we aren't overplaying our hand.

[BigBigBear]

20. The AWOL issue is settled

as far as I'm concerned.

Bush released *all* of his service records. By omission they indicate he did nothing in Alabama, except collect a couple of paychecks and get his teeth fixed.

The issue is done - Bush says he did his duty there, the records disagree.

I agree wholeheartedly about not overplaying the point - it should simply be a background fact at this point, stipulated as if proof is no longer necessary...because it has been proven.

My understanding is that a book is coming out shortly that will restate this - it should get a lap or two on the political talk shows, the Dems should calmly assert it proves what they've been saying all along, and allow the fact to be absorbed into the body politic.

[gulliver]

32. Ding ding ding!!!

Your point is absolutely right. Thanks for posting it! It deserves its own thread in GD, IMO.

Some Dems should already be pointing out that the records show that Bush now conclusively can't prove he was there. We have all the records, don't we? They don't say he was there. As you say, "AWOL issue is settled."

[dArKeR]

25. Where's the witnesses saying they saw AWOL even fly a jet solo?

I can feel it in my bones!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

27. I agree with some of those on this thread

that unless some real new leads come out of it (community service, anyone?) that this story may have afforded about 80-90% as much mileage as we are likely to get out of it.

It's hit Time, and all the regular and cable networks.

The word is out, to all but the most closed minded, that shrub was able to duck out on fightin in VN due to his family, he appears not to have shown up for a significant chunk of his duty and "worked it out" to get out of another significant chunk early, and even the best case scenario (i.e. believing everything out of the administration mouth) shows him to have been entirely undisginguished.

That image, juxtaposed with Shrub Carrier Ops, the eagerness to send other mother's sons off to war is about what we could expect to get barring extra new info (i.e. community service working off a cocaine bust).

I've viewed this issue as an important and useful one for the Dems this year, but only extra useful ammunition. The primary issue is still Bush's record as president. As it should be. Every first term election is a referendum on the incumbent.

To me, there's none of these issues that can truly be overplayed, but there is the issue of what's useful to turning the marginally informed swing vote and when that potential has been maximized. The Repubs are the ones who definitely always overplay their hand with Newt, Lewinskygate etc. and we want to try not to repeat their mistakes.

"80 percent of success in life is just showing up."
-Woody Allen

[SpiralHawk]

58. "Community service" Oh, the irony. ROTFLOL

That the idea of "community service" should be associated with Bush in any way, and that it is now such a "hot button."

poor Scottie mcLellan. he can't handle the idea, or questions about, Bush's 'community service."

ROTFLOL

[abelenkpe]

28. bush was a no show

sorry if this is a duplicate but this article is the most damaging one I have read so far on the subject of Bush's AWOL issue:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0213-09.htm

While listening to DemocracyNow on KPFK Friday morning there was a speaker who mentioned that a potentially undoctored record of Bush's military record was on microfiche in St. Louis. I have not heard this information repeated anywhere else in the press, but I certainly hope that the press is pursuing these records.

[aquart]

29. Bush Sr was the "youngest Navy pilot" in World War II???

There were hundreds of young boys. My uncle wasn't allowed to be a pilot because he was too old. He was 23.

What was Bush's age?

[Nevernose]

Sixteen, claiming to be 18, IIRC

Then again, my memory ain't what it used to be...

I've never had the animpostiy against Bush Sr. that many have hear, if only for the fact that he wasn't into trickle-down economics. In fact, when running against Reagan in '80, he coined the phrase "Voodoo Economics" to describe Reagan's crack-headed economic philosophy.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[grasswire]

31. it's up to us to tweak the trails

There are excellent related and mysterious trails for reporters to follow now:

1. Why did Bush change his DL to expunge his record?

2. Why was his buddy James Bath grounded from flying at the same time as George?

3. Why was Bath's TX drivers license changed/expunged at the same time as George's?

4. What about PULL? How does that fit into the timeline?

5. Why does no news story mention the assignment to a Denver unit until 1974?

[Karenina]

34. Question W.

?
??

[number6]

35. YES !! "How Well Did He Serve?"

thats the question, and it won't go away !

[Karenina]

46. Errraaa...

seems not very well at all.
Anyone notice a pattern? Arbusto, Harken, wasn't the *boy kicked off the board of directors somewhere? Hmmm... Texas Rangers, never mind the poor fucked up state after he got finished with it... Hmmmm...

[fearnobush]

39. Bush Goal Was Dodging War

This was always the issue. Elitist AWOL - endorsed by those with influence, but non-the-less, no different then being a draft dodger. That is the credibility issue here, and unfortunately most Americans are unwilling to face up to these facts.

[mountainvue]

40. The Texas Souffle

line was priceless. I hope they don't mind if I borrow that from time to time.:)

[yellowcanine]

51. I am sure we will be seeing a lot more ot that one

Raises all kinds of possibilities for cool street theater - Dem activists dressed up as eggs to follow Bush around....
They could team up with the "Pants on Fire" folks. Win or lose, at least the fall campaign will be fun.(Just to be clear, I would rather have a dull campaign and a win)

[Malva Zebrina]

41. I'm sick of it

Did Bush volunteer to go to Vietnam and fight for his country's freedoms? No.

Did Bush try to get out of being drafted by jointing the TAMG, ahead of a whole lot of others on the waiting list? Yes

Did Bush think he was the elite member of the entire TANG even though he scored a low of the lowest score on the test for pilots? Yes

Did Bush fly "fighter planes" that were to become obsolete in the Vietnam war, and does he brag about his flying "fighter planes" to this very day, in full view of everyone involved in the Nascar race? Yes

Did Bush leave his duty and request an out in wartime in order to attend Harvard Business School--I mean that was really an important part of the war in Vietnam, right? and he left the guard ahead of time in order to get admitted to the school where he would get a gentleman's "C" for just showing up. Maybe he never showed up for the require time for that either, but no one has investigated that far back into his academic record.

Did Bush suddently stop flying the "fighter planes" a few years into his committment to the TANG? Yes

Why?

Did not take the physical and wanted to work on campaign for Blount and wanted to attend Harvard Business School and it was perfectly fine for this priveledged and protected stupid asshole of a drug sniffing, alcohol downing snit of a spoiled brat to do so

and now to claim that he "flew fighter planes" in front of the thousands that were attending the NASCAR race , and to declare that he liked "speed" because he flew "fighter planes"

Ladies and gentlemen--you who believe this less than intelligent, less than creative and less than moral presidunce who could not even win an election but had to steal it, have been skunked.

He is fraud and he is a lying murderous fraud, having killed thousands of innocent, poor innocent people. with lies to invade thier country


This is NOT acceptable. Lying to kill people with our huge bombs is NOT acceptable to any decent, moral and ethical human being.

[Karenina]

44. You just jogged my memory.

Some decades ago when I was a conservatory student in NYC, I hung out with a lot of "international" types. The Russians I met ("villians" of my childhood but FABULOUS musicians and wonderful souls) used to say things like, America will be brought down, NOT by "communists" but by their own "business schools." I didn't really understand them then. I DO NOW.

[OilemFirchen]

43. Sorry if a repost

"I served in the National Guard. I flew F-102 aircraft. I got an honorable discharge. I've heard this - I've heard this ever since I started running for office. I put in my time, proudly so."

- George W. Bush*

John Allen Muhammad, convicted last November for his participation in the D.C. sniper shootings, served in the Louisiana National Guard from 1978-1985, where he faced two summary courts-martial. In 1983, he was charged with striking an officer, stealing a tape measure, and going AWOL. Sentenced to seven days in the brig, he received an honorable discharge in 1985.

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=benson021204

Gosh. Wonder if there any other eerie parallels?

[NNN0LHI]

52. Nice catch n/t

[bushisanidiot]

55. The Texas Souffle! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

maybe he uses his stupid nicknames now to make up for the nicknames he was called for being such an obvious dipshit!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

[AngryAmish]

57. He is a coward.

Anyone who avoid their duty is below human status.

[NNN0LHI]

61. You are correct,, Sir

He was born with a sliver cokespoon in his nose.

Don

[aeon flux]

60. Not very

[NNN0LHI]

62. Better kick this one n/t

[JoFerret]

63. Lest we forget. Details from Alabama

http://www.al.com/news/independent/index.ssf?/base/columnists/1077146101315230.xml

The Texas Souffle

Many who encountered Bush during that Blount campaign remember him as an affable social drinker who acted younger than his 26 years. He also tended to show up late every day, around noon or one o'clock, at Winton "Red" Blount's campaign headquarters. There he would prop his boots on a desk and proceed to brag about how much he drank the night before.


Bush rented a house on Cloverdale Road. He would often be seen with beer in hand, maybe along with a shot of Jim Beam, a fist-full of peanuts or an Executive Burger at the Cloverdale Grill. It is also part of the conventional wisdom here that Bush also liked to sneak out behind the bar for a joint.


.... the president-to-be made something of an impression not only for his jeans and cowboy boots. They remember Bush's stories about how the New Haven, Connecticut police always let him go, when they stopped him "all the time" for driving drunk as a student at Yale - after he told them his name, of course


The Texas Souffle