Bush Fell Short On Duty At Guard (The Boston Globe Story)

[VolcanoJen]

Here it is... the story the Asshat with a Big Red Siren refers to on his front page... just web-published.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/08/bush_fell_short_on_duty_at_guard/

Excerpt:

But Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation, a Globe reexamination of the records shows: 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.

He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show. The 1973 document has been overlooked in news media accounts. The 1968 document has received scant notice.

On July 30, 1973, shortly before he moved from Houston to Cambridge, Bush signed a document that declared, ''It is my responsibility to locate and be assigned to another Reserve forces unit or mobilization augmentation position. If I fail to do so, I am subject to involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months. . . " Under Guard regulations, Bush had 60 days to locate a new unit.

But Bush never signed up with a Boston-area unit. In 1999, Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett told the Washington Post that Bush finished his six-year commitment at a Boston area Air Force Reserve unit after he left Houston. Not so, Bartlett now concedes. ''I must have misspoke," Bartlett, who is now the White House communications director, said in a recent interview.

More... Boston Globe

Additional DU-LBN Threads on the emerging "Bush AWOL" story:

AP: Lawsuit Gets Bush Guard Papers Out - by Nambe

NYT: Pentagon Releases Bush's Long-Sought Military Records - by kskiska

[TriMetFan]

1. How can this man be called The Commander in Chief?

[jumpstart33]

47. Bush knew that Bartlett was lying and never corrected the record?

That makes him a double liar. That makes his mom and dad liars too. All the people who knew the truth in this administration and didn't set the record straight are liars. Swiftboaters (for Kerry)...man your battle stations! We have a war to win!!!

[Longhorn]

60. Welcome to DU!

Good point! One can only imagine how many dozens, if not hundreds, of people have known about these lies all along and did not speak up.

[donkeyotay]

78. Welcome and good point

"All the people who knew the truth in this administration and didn't set the record straight are liars."

So are the republicans who have enabled this crime-wave silent because they're scared or because the gop cause is so noble the means justify the ends?

[Zorra]

107. Yep. Bu$h is a pathological liar. Please kick this thread!

The freepers are trying to shift focus away from the very real fact that Bu$h is an AWOL DESERTER by blowing some fairly irrelevant memos all out of proportion.

The point is that Bu$h really is an AWOL DESERTER as proven by records released by the Pentagon, not some minor relatively unimportant memos.

The point is that Bu$h has been repeatedly and consciencely lying to the American people about his National Guard service because he knows he is a DESERTER.

This is beyond dispute.

[Wapsie B]

2. And soon Dan Bartlett

will either be found floating face down in the river, dead in a hotel room, or be in a plane crash.

[donkeyotay]

80. Ha! So is that what fox means by the "cost of freedom?" (nt)

[dave29]

3. "No One Wanted To Hold Him Accountable"

Wow. Thats the best line. Thats the line of our campaign.

[TahitiNut]

12. It's the "Pass The Buck" pResidency.

Whether it's "a few bad apples" or "an independent group," these cowardly fascist bastards just keep on collecting the profits and pass on the costs to the weakest people they can target.

[rkc3]

90. I thought he was the Responsibility President.

I guess that only applies to making others responsible for their actions - that's why we're getting rid of trial lawyers, health insurance, basic education, and so on.

If you want to get an education - it's your responsbility to go out and get it (forget that local schools are mostly underfunded).
If you want protection from faulty products - tough shit, buy better made toys.
If you want health insurance - get a better job, you lazy prick.

[girl gone mad]

22. That's the story of his life..

isn't it?

[milkyway]

24. He's still not accountable. His campaign slogan should be "Don't Blame Me"

9/11? Don't Blame Me. Astronomical Deficit? Don't Blame Me. No Jobs? Don't Blame Me. Iraq's a Disaster? Don't Blame Me.

I feel confident the voters will finally hold him accountable in November.

[aquart]

34. Elect Bush Because Everything Was Out of His Control.

[AspenRose]

83. "It's Clinton's penis' fault!" (tm for the GOP)

eom

[EST]

41. They had a one-hour special on GHW Bush yesterday,

And it got to be pretty funny. Every time that criminal fluffed some event in his career, invariably, his response was to try to put the blame anywhere else and only accept it himself when he ran out of options. This was by his own accounting! The rotten apples don't fall far from the tree.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

67. Excellent! JK should say this in his speeches, and finish by asking "you,

the voter, to hold him accountable in November!"

Daddy Likes!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

[City Lights]

4. And just last week or so, chimpy declared John Kerry

"more heroic" than himself. How noble. Bite me, chimpy.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. This isn't even the worst of it !

The bastard is trapped this time.

[napi21]

Does that mean he can be put on active duty ststus NOW???

Or maybe criminal confinement because he breached his signed agreement?

Is there a statute of limitations to abandonment of your military commitment? I don't know, but it will be interesting conversation.

[ChickMagic]

59. I may be mistaken

But I think they just locked a guy up from deserting WWII. They just found him recently. I heard that on some news show a few weeks ago.

[rkc3]

91. I hear a similar story about a Vietnam deserter found in Australia.

[Randers]

75. It would be justice to put him on the front lines

or put him in Guantanemo and throw away the key.

[napi21]

100. Problem with sending him to Iraq is others would have to protect

HIM! I sure wouldn't want him to have MY back!!!

I'm sure this will never happen, but it would be an interesting threat and conversation to have, huh?

[tigervalentine]

111. Since he didn't meet his commitment to serve in a Reserve unit

he needs to make amends. I suggest he serve two years in an Iraqi hotspot. All will be forgiven.

[Zomby Woof]

6. The NYT report

Saw a thread in GD... the NYT reports that a WH spokesperson says that this is the Pentagon's fault, because they didn't carry out the president's orders on pulling the records properly (what? like shred them first?)...

It's THE PENTAGON'S FAULT, got it??

I swear I could not invent that level of unmitigated audacity. :nuke:

[RamboLiberal]

7. Fantastic - so did he not only show up in Alabama

now he's caught red-handed never having signed up in Boston. Do we have a slam-dunk?

Rove is getting caught being too clever. So far September looks like it's going to be AWOL's bad month!

[Bozita]

8. Huge story puts more meat on AWOL skeleton

And the Kitty Kelley book comes out next week.

Time for "duck and cover."

[watchingwatcher99]

44. word is that 60 MINUTES story will be even bigger

so says raw story: http://rawstory.com

man, it took the globe long enough didn't it? paul and raw had this stuff AGGGEEEES ago.

[enki23]

9. bush knew he never did that service

he's lying, by omission and/or comission. period. about this, and many, many other things, obviously. but this time, there's no plausible deniability at all. not even *vaguely* plausible.

so, i'm sure it will be ignored completely by the lapdog press, come... say, thursday?

[speedoo]

10. Wonder how the coward is sleeping tonight.

One thing's for sure... Rove and his other spinmeisters are logging some major overtime trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.

[2Design]

11. Can we arrest him? Day after kerry wins the election, arrest him

and send him to the front lines to fulfill his duites

<snip>If I fail to do so, I am subject to involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months.</snip>

The government is trying to go after that guy in Japan....the precedence is being set.....

Bush needs to finish out his time, in Iraq

[JerseygirlCT]

53. Works for me. nt

[phatkatt]

66. Oh, too sweet. Send him to the quagmire of his own making!

Time to fulfill that duty, shrubbie!

[Kal Belgarion]

13. And they say Kerry didn't earn his medals?

Dubya didn't even earn his discharge!

[donkeyotay]

81. Good point Kal: "Dubya didn't even earn his discharge!" (nt)

[Pirate Smile]

14. I hope people are reviewing every statement he has made

regarding his "service". Catching him in a direct lie last Spring or while he was running in 2000 regarding his NG time would be VERY helpful in shutting down the "its ancient history" arguments I'm sure we will be hearing.

[bagnana]

19. 'I'm proud of my service."

How's about that line? What service? You mean the one you skipped out on, twice? Incredible.

[fearnobush]

15. Anyone getting tired of the new word for Bullshit: "Misspoke"

Not so, Bartlett now concedes. ''I must have misspoke," Bartlett, who is now the White House communications director, said in a recent interview.

[crickets]

29. Translation: "I lied."

"Oops! And now you caught me. Shoo!" Sickening. If the media had bothered to do the proper research in the first place, this issue would have been blown wide open long ago... as in before the 2000 election. :eyes:

[Judi Lynn]

35. It's not as if thousands and thousands of Americans weren't discussing

it during the 2000 Presidential campaign, even on message boards, all across the country.

Perhaps most of us have known about this since reading information Martin Heldt started sharing which he located so long ago, as well as what the Boston Herald reporters had found.

How the _{Bush beasts} were able to suppress it this long is a crime in itself.

[crickets]

38. Oh, it's been talked about

I remember too. But the media kept letting it drop and letting it drop to the point the story has never gained long term legs in the general population. I've turned to my dad (a Navy veteran of WWII and Korea) more than once in the last couple of weeks and tried to discuss it in light of the false Swiftboat ads and gotten nowhere with him. I've tried to gently ask him why he would listen to people smear the volunteer (my Dad volunteered both times) with lies and give the deserter a pass but it doesn't seem to make any difference. It's frustrating.

[Spinzonner]

31. How about a new word: Mistruthed

[Algomas]

33. When Bush lies..

it is called "somewhat disingenuous". When others lie, it is called lying.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

68. "Misspoke" = "I liked like a mofo" n/t

[donkeyotay]

82. Why Scarlet, I don't recall misspeaking...

Republicans "don't recall" and misspeak.

Democrats lie and flip-flop.

It's the new world order.

[Rose Siding]

16. Some of this is new information, isn't it?

Is this the same Weaver that has cropped up in AWOL articles before? I've only heard Weaver defending Bush but look:

snip>
Lechliter said the records push him to conclude that Bush had little interest in fulfilling his obligation, and his superiors preferred to look the other way. Others agree. ''It appears that no one wanted to hold him accountable," said retired Major General Paul A. Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's director of the Air National Guard.
-----------

Anyway, "new"ly released docs sure eat into the "oh that's been vetted" song and dance.

[Catshrink]

17. The little fucker either forgets or the records get "lost"

what a crock.

[lanparty]

18. He also said he intended to pursue a career in aviation ...

... that didn't pan out either.

The only documented pilot time that Bush has is almost stalling a Cessna on takeoff while joyriding with the PULL people.

[fearnobush]

20. ''It appears that no one wanted to hold him accountable," (Even today)

Lechliter said the records push him to conclude that Bush had little interest in fulfilling his obligation, and his superiors preferred to look the other way. Others agree. ''It appears that no one wanted to hold him accountable," said retired Major General Paul A. Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's director of the Air National Guard.

[SiouxJ]

64. that should be the title of his biography

"No One Wanted to Hold Him Accountable"

[The_Casual_Observer]

21. So after daddy buys him a ticket out of Vietnam ( 60 min tomorrow)

The pathetic little goof can't see his way clear to actually playing the game like everybody else. The bastard should fry for this.

[halfastro]

42. Don't get your hopes up on the 60 Mins. story

As a Texan, I'm familiar with Ben Barnes background. He's 100% sleaze (fraud and corruption). This will certainly be brought up to discredit him.

[Aries]

43. That's just part of the story

according to Josh Marshall:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_09_05.php#003443

....The big news won't be how Bush got into the Guard but how he blew off his duties once he got there. Again, new documents -- stuff that is clear and straightforward and apparently puts beyond any debate or doubt that the now-President blew off the duties that he said, as recently as this year, that he fulfilled.....

[Longhorn]

63. But wouldn't a sleaze and a fraud be just the kind of person

to do such a thing in the first place? Sounds like it's right in character, to me.

[Bridget Burke]

65. I'm a Texan too--welcome to DU.

Ben Barnes is far from simon pure--he is, after all, a Texas politician. However, I'd not consider him 100% sleaze.

"This will certainly be brought up to discredit him." You just did it. However, I don't think you'll be successful.

[bobbyboucher]

89. Good effort............not.

Any comment on Bush getting preferential treatment, that he was neither entitled to nor qualified for? Or just weak-assed compaints about the messenger?

Nice contribution.

[Bozita]

According to law, ain't he a deserter today?

No time limit on desertion. Doesn't that place Bush back under the UCMJ?

Might I suggest Fallujah?

[crickets]

30. Uniform Code of Military Justice

There is no statute of limitations on court martial for desertion during war time. It's a capital offense.

See:
From The Uniform Code of Military Justice

10 USC 843 (no statute of limitations for desertion/AWOL during wartime)

10 USC 882-893, 907,921 (crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, solicitation, desertion, AWOL, missing movement, failure to obey regulation, false official statements, larceny)

10 USC 937 (UCMJ articles explained)

http://www.glcq.com/source_documents.htm

I'm not big on the death penalty at all, but I find it mind boggling that officers in the military would gloss over something this serious.

edited to add: Sorry, I know I'm preaching to the choir on this one, but it just seems so unbelievable that no one would want to hold him accountable for desertion. For desertion -- even with Bush's family connections, it's just unreal.

[Leilani]

23. Wow, this story is dynamite...

What will be done with it?

Hopefully, hopefully, the press will report this fully.

If not, the Dems need to hold a press conference & present this material. I hope something is being planned.

[demoman123]

32. No it isn't. It's a dud. Nobody will give a damn.

Dubya is teflon. But everything sticks to Kerry. Why is this?

[aquart]

36. Do you only listen to CNN?

Honey, the nation knows this boy is a liar. Did you pay attention to Zogby? Georgie's bounce was only TWO POINTS. That's the lowest for a sitting president since they started polling. And it's already evaporated.

Do you know anyone who did NOT vote for him last time who IS voting for him this time? We found one a couple of weeks ago. Do you know any?

He's alienated former staunch pals. Teflon? The man's covered with post its. Everything is sticking to him.

[demoman123]

37. No, but America does (or Fox or ABC or CBS or other TV News Sources)

And they package Bush very attractively, editing out his malapropisms and speech aphasia and presenting the moments when he looks like he has some fire and enthusiasm. Kerry NEVER looks that way. Not even if you watch him on CSPAN for half an hour. He looks LIMP. It is these perceived differences in personality that will influence the non-ideological and non-issue oriented swing voters.

The Kerry team is worried right now. And they are right to worry.

[stevedeshazer]

25. Boy Howdy

You know that feeling when the roller coaster you've just strapped in to reaches the top of that first big drop?

Woo-hoo!

[SKKY]

26. So I heard Bush spend most of his time in Alabama...

...working on a campaign for one of his fathers friends in Texas. Well, I got an idea that perhaps my command would support me if I wanted to take, say a year off (full pay of course) and work for the Kerry campaign full time. You know, since I may be considering a career in politics when I retire. You can imagine what the response was.

[donkeyotay]

102. Of course you can leave! Major combat is over.

from the link:

"Even retired Lieutenant Colonel Albert C. Lloyd Jr., a former Texas Air National Guard personnel chief who vouched for Bush at the White House's request in February, agreed that Bush walked away from his obligation to join a reserve unit in the Boston area when he moved to Cambridge in September 1973. By not joining a unit in Massachusetts, Lloyd said in an interview last month, Bush ''took a chance that he could be called up for active duty. But the war was winding down, and he probably knew that the Air Force was not enforcing the penalty."

But Lloyd said that singling out Bush for criticism is unfair. ''There were hundreds of guys like him who did the same thing," he said.
---------------end snip

Good news! Frat Boy declared “major hostilities” over months ago, so I don’t think anyone will mind/notice if you all take a walk.

I heard Paula Zahn ask Robinson, "Do you think President Bush received special treatment???" Da, do you think. No Paula, as you and Colonel Lloyd make clear ANYONE CAN LEAVE A WAR EARLY. Even the reservists in Iraq.

[milkyway]

27. Thanks Swifties! You've provided cover for the media to look at bush's

military record. After getting weeks of free media coverage for your bullshit about Kerry's record, the media can now finally take a real hard look at bush's record. When the wingers go nuts, the media can say it's only fair. Great job, making the debate between a war hero and a deserter!

[alfredo]

28. He's a fucking deserter.

and he is sending our kids to die in his war.

Vote him out.

[Zorra]

39. Yes, this is the truth. Here is the irrefutable proof.

DESERTER
THE STORY OF GEORGE W. BUSH AFTER HE QUIT THE TEXAS AIR NATIONAL GUARD

http://www.glcq.com/bush_at_arpc1.htm

[Career Prole]

40. I hope against hope they take this coward's "honorable" discharge away

quite publicly. If not I urge all National Guard members who are so inclined to walk out...right now...wherever you are.
The precedent has been set by none other than your commander-in-chief.

[Judi Lynn]

45. He's in a hell of a jam, if they can prove it, isn't he?

So many people will be swept in as "enablers" to this seriously sick, high-handed abuse of U.S. military law.

Our own media practically threw roses all along his way to Al Gore's White House, also. They are surely responsible for their own neglect of duty.

[JoFerret]

46. Meticulous examination of the record

at NYTimes website by Nicholas Kristoff. He has an article on the OpEd and the record on line.

[alarcojon]

73. Gotta love the shitboaters

They gave Kristof (and hopefully many others) some spine.

To focus on more important issues, I've steered clear until now of how Mr. Bush evaded service in Vietnam. But if Bush supporters attack John Kerry for his conduct after he volunteered for one of the most dangerous duties in Vietnam, it's only fair to scrutinize Mr. Bush's behavior

[Sydnie]

48. Yahoo article on this just up too

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040908/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_national_guard&cid=544&ncid=716

The newly released records show Bush, a lieutenant in the Texas Air National Guard, ranked No. 22 in a class of 53 pilots when he finished his flight training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia in 1969.


Over the next three years, he logged 326.4 hours as a pilot and an additional 9.9 hours as a co-pilot, mostly in the F-102A jet used to intercept enemy aircraft. Of the 278 hours he flew in the interceptor, about 77 hours were in the TF-102A, the two-seat trainer version of the one-seat fighter jet.


The records show his last flight was in April 1972, which is consistent with pay records indicating Bush had a lapse of duty between April and October of that year. Bush has said he had permission to go to Alabama in 1972 to work on an unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign. Bush skipped a required medical exam that cost him his pilot's status in August of that year.


Bush's 2000 campaign suggested the future president skipped his medical exam in part because the F-102A was nearly obsolete. Records show Bush's Texas unit flew the F-102A until 1974 and used the jets as part of an air defense drill during 1972.

[Judi Lynn]

49. So this article names more papers which should have been available....

So interesting!

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.

[luaneryder]

56. That line "skipped his medical exam

in part because the F-102A was nearly obsolete," is so fucking bogus! It wasn't his call to skip the medical exam for that reason, it would have been a Command decision. So what are the other parts that make up for his reasons to blow off the physical?

[TahitiNut]

62. The crystal-ball-gazing cokehead ... "nearly"??

And the war in Vietnam was "nearly" over, too? His ability to foresee the future was a God-given authority to disobey a written order?

What's particularly revealing in this apologetic is the implicit acceptance that Junior consciously disobeyed a written order! His minions aren't claiming he was ignorant of the order. His minions aren't arguing he didn't disobey it. His minions are arguing he had a 'good' (prescient) reason for disobedience. This is an admission of guilt. Fry the f*cker.

[chuckhoward]

50. They knew this was coming...

... and that's why the WH has been adamant in denying (I know they're lying) that they had anything to do with the Swifties. That's why * recently characterized Senator Kerry's service as "more heroic" than his own. They must have known what was coming. It wouldn't surprise me if Rove said, "let's get it out now, rather than on the eve of the election." It's going to be fun to watch them squirm and lie.

[Malva Zebrina]

51. It is just another incredible facet to this whole debacle of Bush's

presidency.

Beginning with the action of the SC

Here is a man with no sense of conscience, full of the concept of entitlement, never thinking he must earn anything but can manipulate everything to make it look as if he is not a lying crook, from a family, from his father, mother , brothers and their children,that does the same and apparently takes it for granted that they can screw anyone they want and get away with it.

Here is this cowardly "entitled" prick, standing before the world, lying and trying to cover up and scrub military records that are not honorable or favorable to him, dressing up in a military uniform and strutting around in it,something no president has ever done, calling himself a "war president" and lying his way into one of the most horrendous slaughters where he dropped tons of bombs on innocent men, womenn and children, killing ten thousand of them

Now, he is responsible for more than one thousand of our soldiers dead--the poor bastards--and for nothing and it still goes on.

While he was a deserter , flaunted the rules of the military in order to get out of service during wartime, and then lied about it.

and nothing to be said about it -- free pass for a deserter and liar? Lame excuses for a coward all dressed up like a bonofide soldier?

[JerseygirlCT]

52. Anyone else expecting a big terra warning sometime today? nt

[Kinkistyle]

72. OH NO! RAISE THE ORANGE ALERT!!!

This Just in! There has been a dramatic increase followed by a decrease, and then another increase in chatter. At the moment we have no specific details however we are being told that somewhere, some terrorist group tied to Al Qaeda is planning a massive terrorist attacks at undisclosed locations to possibly disrupt the elections.

[yellowcanine]

54. ''I must have misspoke" Bartlett. Heh. Where is "inoperative statement"

Ron Ziegler when you need him?

[yellowcanine]

55. At the very least - this ought to knock the remaining leg out from under

the swifties - their guy didn't even fulfill his safe national guard requirements, let alone volunteer for a war zone.

[Catfight]

57. The 'misspoke' card is all used up! Now it's time for the truth. n/t

[LeftHander]

58. And this punk ass is sending Guardsmen to fight his war....

That just burns me to no end....

Yesterday Kenosha sent 80 memebers of the Wisconsin National Gaurd to Iraq...many are not young men either. They have families, children and jobs in the community...now punk ass frat boy who couldn't even finish a cushy assignment flying jets protecting the skies of Texas from the red horde is sending them to War. A war he started because his personal "he tried to kill my Daddy" bullshit.

[UTUSN]

61. GMA Sluffed This Story Off in 15 Seconds

at the end of its 3 minutes "news reporting". Nothing to see. Move along.

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/09/08/bush_fell_short_on_duty_at_guard/

Bush fell short on duty at Guard
Records show pledges unmet

By The Globe Spotlight Team | September 8, 2004

.... He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show. The 1973 document has been overlooked in news media accounts. The 1968 document has received scant notice.

********UNQUOTE*******

[nagbacalan]

69. Will 60 Minuters even air the story?

[Bridget Burke]

71. I saw an ad for it this morning on KHOU--CBS in Houston

It mentioned Ben Barnes.

[RobertDevereaux]

70. FRONT PAGE in this morning's Denver Post...

SWEET!

[dalfollo]

74. Please post this poll

not enough posts to add my own please post for others to participate in: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5908834/site/newsweek/

this is a poll on MSNBC asking several questions about the impact of the RNC convention.

[Keirsey]

76. Press Briefing by Scott McClellan 2/04

The guy got a lot more questions on Dubya's TANG service than he expected.

Way too long to post here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040210-3.html

[Fridays Child]

96. At 3:25, in the briefing, McClellan says that B*sh was dishonorably...

...discharged. Trés Freudian.

[Randers]

77. 36% said SBV ads accurate

"From what you've seen or heard, do you think the TV ads sponsored by a veterans' group questioning John Kerry's military service record are generally accurate, or are misleading or distorted? *

35014 web responses"


-------

Seems like even if you were pro-Bush* you would know it was all a bunch of hooey.

[alarcojon]

79. 36% sounds an awful lot like Bush's base

the ones who would vote for him come hell or high water.

[donco6]

92. Yes, saw it too.

Wow - very damning, IMO.

[RedEarth]

84. Great Rueters also picked it up....

[AspenRose]

85. So Cry me a River

"Even retired Lieutenant Colonel Albert C. Lloyd Jr., a former Texas Air National Guard personnel chief who vouched for Bush at the White House's request in February, agreed that Bush walked away from his obligation to join a reserve unit in the Boston area when he moved to Cambridge in September 1973. By not joining a unit in Massachusetts, Lloyd said in an interview last month, Bush ''took a chance that he could be called up for active duty. But the war was winding down, and he probably knew that the Air Force was not enforcing the penalty."

But Lloyd said that singling out Bush for criticism is unfair. ''There were hundreds of guys like him who did the same thing," he said."

How many of those hundreds are the PRESIDENT and preened themselves to be a wartime president? Cry me a freaking river.


:nuke:

[Fridays Child]

87. You beat me to it! I was going to say...

Hey, Lloyd! Hundreds of guys didn't put our brave soldiers in harm's way for oil and then tell the opposing fighters to 'bring it on.' Hundreds of guys didn't strut accross a carrier deck saying 'mission accomplished.' Hundreds of guys didn't propose gutting mandatory and discretionary funding for vets and active duty military personnel. And hundreds of guys aren't asking to be the president of the United States based on their ability to wage war.

:mad:

[wiggs]

86. WARNING: DIVERSION

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this goes to an aspect of AWOL that is less damaging than being GONE FOR A YEAR in Alabama.

Doesn't look so bad if, once Bush was released to attend Harvard after serving for 5 years already, he didn't meet subsequent training commitments. He forgot. Someone told him he didn't have to. The Guard obviously didn't care, since they gave him an honorable discharge anyway, right? It is an easy issue to sidestep or diminish.

This is not so bad that voters will be outraged en masse. On the other hand, being gone for a year is bad and nobody in the media is talking about this yet. Why have they jumped all over this aspect of AWOL when The AWOL Project has shown more serious misconduct?

The same thing happened to Sibel Edmonds. A few weeks ago she got some air time about how badly the FBI translation department was managed. This is important, but much less interesting and important than the content of what she had translated -- who was involved perhaps in 9/11. The 9/11 aspect got no play.

This WH admission and media focus is just letting off a little steam from the pressure cooker. Hopefully the whole thing will still blow.

[liberalcanuck]

88. They're talking about it now on CNN! n/t

[stanwyck]

97. and what does FAUX have to say?

and talk radio? crickets.

[Supersedeas]

98. Bartlett must have mispoke? Must have done that or....lied

Ah, the sound of crickets from FOX

[UpInArms]

93. Kerry Bled, Bush Fled

Kerry Bled

Bush Fled

[cthrumatrix]

95. oooh...a great bumper sticker!

[emald]

94. My country is sick and GW is the disease

This unelected fraud is a deserter. It can't be laid off to partisan lies; the papers speak for themselves. I was fence sitting before this but now am completely for anybody but Bu$h. In fact this man should be in jail for desertion. Where is the law?

[mahina]

108. Welcome!

Yep, this a sad indictment. But good for you for being willing to see W for what he is.
Fortunes have been spent fabricating negative impressions of Kerry- if you are just off the fence I hope you make sure to check out the kerry website, johnkerry.com, particularly the debunker page. Other good sites for anti-spin are mediamatters.org and factcheck.org. Factcheck.org is nonpartisan.
Aloha~

[wrate]

99. "He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show"

What a shocker! I would've never guessed this could be true of *.

[Nambe]

101. Can a deserter charge be made on a Guard member?

Or just an order to active service.

[0007]

103. An interesting question. But does it indeed matter at this point?

junior has been busted and caught in a lie. So now the whole nation knows the truth, that junior is liar. They've tried to hide his records, and lied about his records.

We'll get more closure tonight on CBS when Ben Barnes tell all.

And this will lead us to the next step of why junior didn't upgrade his training by refusing a medical examination to keep his flying status.

Who was the judge that expunged his cocaine arrest record?

[Zorra]

104. Great article. Bu$h=AWOL DESERTER.

[Zorra]

105. Kick for freepers

[yellowcanine]

106. But those Pentagon documents are obviously forgeries! Typed in

a font which wasn't available until WORD 2000 came out!

[Zorra]

109. Kick

[struggle4progress]

110. and again

:kick: