AWOL

I watched the 60 Minutes show with ex-Lt. Gov. Barnes' trying to cleanse his soul by admitting he got George Jr. into the TAG ahead of a waiting list of young men, some of whom died in Viet Nam, perhaps in George's stead. The show also produced some documents from the private file of George's then commander (since dead) that contradicted the public statements he made on George's behalf. The public ones being glowing. The private ones being complaints. It was really kind of lame.

Josh Marshall comments:

A bunch of folks have written in to ask what I thought of Dan Rather's piece on the Bush Guard story. All I can think to say is, that's what's called getting rolled by the White House.

Supposedly CBS is going to put these memos themselves up on their website later this evening. Will they ask the White House for permission?

I doubt if it will raise much trouble for the Bushies. They've managed to boondoggle half of America for over a quarter century. Easy prey.

Anyway, here's some of what's in the online and email news about it....

From The Daily Mislead:

As a new examination of documents by the Boston Globe shows, "Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation." Twice during his Guard service - first when he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School - Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a punitive call-up to active duty. But "he didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show."

And I believe the White House not too long ago managed to find some records they said were "accidentally" destroyed. Lo and behold, they've found some more.

The newly released records do not include any from five categories of documents Bush's commanders had been required to keep in response to the gaps in Bush's training in 1972 and 1973. For example, National Guard commanders were required to perform an investigation whenever any pilot skipped a medical exam and forward the results up the Air Force chain of command. No such documents have surfaced.

  CNN article

According to The AP, the newly released documents show no record of Bush performing his duty in Alabama between April and October of 1972. And they show that he missed a crucial "24-hour active alert mission to safeguard against surprise attack" in the southern United States.

White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett insists the president fulfilled his duty.

"I'm not surprised that during a campaign, and particularly at a time that President Bush has gone ahead in the polls, that all of sudden the Democrats are coming out of the woodwork to recycle old charges, old claims that President Bush didn't meet his obligation. The bottom line is that President Bush met his obligation," Bartlett said.

The young Lt. Bush never joined a Massachusetts unit.

... And in a conference call with reporters today, Mintz, the president's accuser in the new ad, admits he may simply not have seen Bush on base. "Is it possible he was there? I didn't see him, but, yes, it is possible."

Also today, a member of that same Alabama unit told ABC News he did see Bush on the base "five or six times."

Former Alabama Air National Guardsman James "Bill" Calhoun said, "I have no doubt in my mind that it was George W. Bush, that he made his drills. He was very professional. He came in uniform. He signed in. He was very low-key."

  ABC article

Yeah, that sounds like the George Bush everybody talks about in his younger days. Professional and low-key.

Check it all out on my webpage here.



Pat Oliphant