Terry McAuliffe just told Wolf: Bush went AWOL!

[TruthIsAll]

Yes! Right now on CNN! Bush never showed up for his TANG. Now it's out there. And the Repub Gillespie was flummoxed. You could see him squirm.

Gillespie is burying his head in the stand. Claiming this is just a ploy because the Dems have nothing else to talk about... blah,blah,blah.

We have the proof. We have the documents. We have the witnesses.
We have the TRUTH.

We have won.

[never cry wolf]

1. Where, when???

On the tube this morning?? What did he say exactly??

[nostamj]

5. minutes ago on Late Edition (CNN)

I heard it too. can't give you an exact quote. but, basically, * didn't show up............ for two years.

[Bluzmann57]

2. So what did Wolf do?

Did he quickly move on to another subject?

[caledesi]

9. He posed the question in such a way that he was trying to make

it look ourageous and irresponsible....trying make Terry look like a fool. Terry didn't bite. Said Bush* was campaigning for Poppy and no where to be found from 1972-73. Wolf then switched to Gillespie, who didn't know what to say. I mean he had NO answer for where Bush* was.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

21. He tried to get McAuliffe, who had lots of facts to report, to keep quiet

Kennedy was equally superb on the show, using Wolfie's loaded questions against the GOP, refusing to behave like a "robot" (clapping for Bush) for a applause-line policy (invading Iraq) that is fundamentally misguided.

[RebelOne]

3. But of course, we are going to hear "What about Clinton?"

[HootieMcBoob]

6. Clinton isn't the president and he never ever was accused of going AWOL

They can try and of course they will but it won't work.

[OneTwentyoNine]

22. Clinton? He was called a pot smoking draft dodger for 9 years...

Let em throw that little tidbit back in those Repigs faces. Fact is Clinton went to college just like Chimpboy,Cheney,and a few MILLION others did. No one back then wanted to die in VN,so they can try the Clinton spin but it won't work.

David

[mlawson]

33. Yep. Big difference between avoiding the draft, and going AWOL.

During combat that is punishable by death. Whole lot worse than 'draft dodging'.

[loudsue]

4. When/where, TIA??

Is it official???

:kick:

[bluedog]

7. Gillespie spinning...

Gillespie trying to spin...


said * had honorable discharge.....faces was red as he**....said Democrats are doing this because they have nothing else to run on.....

[HootieMcBoob]

8. LOL

Democrats aren't doing this. In fact every candidate has said that this isn't the issue and that they weren't interested in talking about it. LOL These guys are squirming and I love it :)

:toast:

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

23. Wolfie thought he could bring the entire Dem campaign to an end by

getting McAuliffe to say, "Yes, I agree with Michael, Bush is a deserter."

McAuliffe stayed away from the labels and stuck with the facts. Very very smart.

Then Wolfie had to slink back to the camera with the poll results he'd promised...as to whether the media (i.e. Wolfie) was making too big a deal of the Dean "speech," which Wolfie just got done spending half an hour on!

89% said YES, shut the f*ck up!

Wolfie ended the show right quick and slithered off. It was beautiful!

[Wapsie B]

10. The story's still out there.

Peter Jennings opened a can of worms.

[salinen]

11. Gillespie

is a major league ass licker.

[Toots]

13. Correction Michael Moore opened a can of worms

or should I say Whoop-Ass and Jenmnings just reported on it.

[Leilani]

14. And Clark defended Moore

& is now taking the hits, unlike the other Dems.

[proud patriot]

12. Good for Terry

does this show repeat at all ?

[Leilani]

15. No, it doesn't

They may have a transcript

They won't cover it on the news.

[Cleita]

16. They put up the transcripts later.

Whether they put the whole exchange up or not is a different matter.

[Robb]

17. Terry McAuliffe has been abducted by aliens

...who, upon finding the anal probe was malfunctioning, installed a spine instead? :shrug:

This should be good! :toast:

[Tactical Progressive]

18. Unfortunately here's how it works

Bush's service record is only of interest to the media when it can be used as a club to show how horrid Democrats are in unfairly and inaccurately questioning their noble Commander in Chief. It will be regurgitated in some form or another in every political discussion right into election night 2004. It will be a standard arrow against Democrats in every media whore's quiver.

If Bush's failed service record becomes an actual liability for Bush, it will be escorted quickly to the door of all political discussion. I guarantee that Russert and Matthews' interest in it will be a fleeting attempt to diminish its importance after which they will have been satisfied that they 'aired both sides of the story', thereby fulfilling their journalistic duty for all time.

Regular Democrats should bring it up every chance they get when they go on these shows, because if it pulls against Bush, there won't be anybody in the media mentioning it on their own dime.

[buycitgo]

25. excellent, chris......nail/head

that's what they've done already. I've talked with/emailed Jim Warren on just this subject, and that was exactly his response, going so far as to say the press covered AWOL almost as extensively as they did Clinton/draft dodging, even going so far as to tell me (from his ivory tower) to lexis/nexis it.

Begala referred to that in 2000, citing a something like 13 THOUSAND to fifty disparity between coverages.

the point is, that whenever the media bring it up (and I'll be VERY surprised if they do it in any other way than you describe....so far, the three times they HAVE, they've couched it just as you've said), dems should have soundbitey facts to present (uh....talking points?), then invite whatever pug to simply have dumbo PROVE to everyone where he was in 72; exPLAIN why he missed his physical (other than lying about his own doctor wasn't available); or most obviuous of all.....RELEASE his fricking military records, like EVERY OTHER candidate has!

should be very simple

if this stuff is already posted

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

26. W/513 US dead, 900 projected dead by election day

if Wolfie et al wants to make an issue of Bush's military record and provide the dems an opportunity to do what the media refuses to do--report the facts on that yellow-bellied draft-dodging coward's military record--then he should, by all means, proceed.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Gillespie can always deprive us of our desperate weapon, "AWOL Bush"

by coming forward with the information which puts everyone's perception of _Bush's AWOL to rest.

He's the man to do it. He oughta shut us up! "Bring 'em on!"

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

20. "Dems have nothing else to talk about"

Wolfie asked the question, McAuliffe didn't, which shows how the GOP media and GOP RNC play pass the puck against the DNC.

McAuliffe kept their own issue alive, by "stating the facts" cavalierly. Well done! Wolfie panicked and tried to shut him up, but McAuliffe kept on "promoting" the Chimpster's sorted military record.

[OneTwentyoNine]

24. What?!?!?! Terry "tutu"McAuliffe????? WOW!! eom

[buckeye1]

27. kick

thought so terry

[TruthIsAll]

28. I remember about a year ago, when someone on CNN

tried to bring up Bush going AWOL..and Wolf changed the subject real quick.

He actually said, in a panic: "No. We can't talk about this", or words to that effect. He stifled the issue. It was transparent: Rove probably instructed CNN/Fox not to go there.

Now Wolf, of all people, brings it up again. I think he expected tu-tu Terry to quickly distance himself from the allegation. But Terry fooled him. He agreed with Moore that Bush was at least AWOL, if not a deserter. And Gillespie was mortified. He started to shake his head. He couldn't belioeve that Wolf actually asked the question.

Maybe the establishment is giving signals to the Dems to open up on this. First Jennings. Now Wolf. Is Dan next?

B
U
S
H

W
E
N
T


A
W
O
L


Good. Keep it up.

[Judi Lynn]

29. Ha! I heard Wolf do that. How s-l-i-m-e-y. Also no surprise, right? n/t

[CatWoman]

30. TRANSCRIPT'S UP!!

BLITZER: Terry McAuliffe, when Wesley Clark was on that stage with Michael Moore, one of his campaign supporters, and Moore called President Bush a deserter and General Clark refused to distance himself from that comment right away, was that a huge blunder? You don't believe that President Bush was a deserter, do you?

MCAULIFFE: Well, Wolf, in order to to be a deserter, you have to actually show up.

Let's just deal with the facts. As you know, when President Bush got out of college in 1968, it was at the height of the draft. It's well known that the president, former president, used some of his influence to get George Bush into the Texas National Guard.

He then wanted to go to Alabama and work on a Senate campaign. So he went to Alabama for a year while he was in the National Guard, and he never showed up.

I mean, I would call it AWOL. You call it whatever you want. But the issue is the president did not show up for the year he was in Alabama, when he was supposed to show up for the National Guard.

BLITZER: All right.

MCAULIFFE: And I think that's what Mr. Moore was trying to say. GILLESPIE: Wolf...

BLITZER: Hold on one second. I'm going to let you respond.

But I want to make sure I heard you right. Are you saying you don't dispute what Michael Moore was saying, branding the president of the United States as having been a deserter?

MCAULIFFE: He never should have called him a deserter. There are other issues that you can say -- AWOL, just didn't show up for duty. But he shouldn't have called him a deserter. Let's get out of this discourse in American politics. Let's just deal with the facts.

BLITZER: All right.

MCAULIFFE: The facts are that George Bush didn't show up when he was supposed to in the National Guard, and that's just the fact.

But I wouldn't call him a deserter, nor should anybody call the president a deserter.

GILLESPIE: Well, Wolf, I'm glad to hear Terry acknowledge that what Michael Moore said was reprehensible. But Terry's wrong that the president was AWOL in the National Guard. That is not accurate. The president served honorably in the National Guard.

This is one of the -- the Democrats throw these charges out there. They're just completely inaccurate, and it's unfortunate that they stoop to this kind of politics.

But we're going to hear more of these kind of attacks against the president, personal attacks, because they don't want to talk about their policies because their policies are wrong for America. Raising taxes, reducing our national security expenditures and making us weaker when it comes to winning the war against terror are the wrong policies for America. That's the bottom line, and that's why President Bush is going to be successful in November.

BLITZER: Ted Gillespie and Terry McAuliffe, we'll leave it right there. But we'll have both of you back. I understand both of you will be here in New Hampshire on Tuesday. You'll probably be on one of our shows here on CNN. Thanks very much for joining us.

MCAULIFFE: Thanks, Wolf.

GILLESPIE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, one of the senior leaders of the Democratic Party and a lightning rod for Republican criticism: Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. I'll speak with him live about the president's State of the Union address this week and much more, and why he supports John Kerry for the presidency.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0401/25/le.00.html

[Stephanie]

31. So Gillespie gets to put words in McAuliffe's mouth and then they end it?

McAuliffe never said it was reprehensible. This is apparently what they are after. They want to nip the AWOL stuff in the bud right now, way before the campaign, by getting everone on record that the accusation is "reprehensible." They ridicule what they can't refute. Next they will say that Bush/AWOL is a "conspiracy theory."

[demgrrrll]

32. That's what I thought too when I read the transcript. No"time" for Terry M

to respond. Convenient. This issue must really scare them.