MUST READ from Salon.com: "Bush in the National Guard: A primer"

[milkyway]

Just posted at Salon.com by Eric Boehlert, this is an absolutely devastating 3-page summary of bush's service record (or lack of it).

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<snip>
What is also already known is that in the spring of 1972, with 770 days left of required duty, Bush unilaterally decided that he was done fulfilling his military obligation. Also in the spring of 1972, Bush refused to take a physical and quickly cleared out of his Guard base in Houston, heading off to work on the Senate campaign of Winton "Red" Blount in Alabama. Referring to that period, one of Bush's Guard flying buddies remarked to USA Today in 2002, "It was an irrational time in his life."

It may have been an irrational time for him, but Bush managed to focus intently on not serving in the Guard in any significant capacity again. His public records paint a portrait of a Guardsman who, with the cooperation of his Texas Air National Guard superiors, simply flouted regulation after regulation, indifferent to his signed obligation to serve.

<snip>
Yet looking at the already available public records, they raise as many questions as they answer about Bush and his surrogates' accounts of his service -- because from his Alabama transfer to his missed physical to his substitute service to his "inactive status" to his honorable discharge, it was as if Air Force and Guard regulations simply did not apply to Lt. Bush. He seemed to become a ghostlike figure, doing -- or not doing -- whatever he pleased, unsupervised and unrated by his commanders. One serious question is whether some of Bush's superiors may have played an active role in hiding Bush's shoddy record -- pressured perhaps by powerful politicians -- by crediting him with crucial makeup training days that appear dubious in nature.

<snip>
• Bush flew for the last time on April 16, 1972. Upon entering the Guard, Bush agreed to fly for 60 months. After his training was complete, he owed 53 months of flying.

But he flew for only 22 of those 53 months.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/20/bush_guard_records/index.html
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Boehlert then has an amazing bulleted list of over thirty items regarding bush's service and the record of it, and the author's response.

It is beyond belief that AWOL bush is hardly being damaged by his record, yet Kerry--a guy who risked his life in Viet Nam and returned with five medals--is the one losing ground in the polls because of it. It's as if from a surrealist comedy and it would be hilarious if it wasn't so frighteningly true. I find it hard to believe how far and how fast our nation has fallen when the manufactured swift boat b.s.--with zero evidence--results in a media takedown of Kerry, and yet bush is able to get away with being a deserter despite all the evidence that backs up the charge. Are the majority of the American people really this gullible?

[PartyPooper]

1. Yawn.

Amerika doesn't care.

[opihimoimoi]

2. Where have you been man, Samoa?? The American People are suckers for BS

They suck up to the Pub Brainwashing like Iraqis line up for jobs...even risking death & injury. We Americans will sell our belongings, our houses and land, sell the dog too and run away to Jonestown, to Texas, to Oregon, to anywhere the sell is... We would buy shit if someone told us to.

Gullible? Stupid? Ignorant/Fearful?? Yup, all of the above....

[barb162]

3. yes, to your question

the biased GOP owned media is playing the Bush tune and they are so awfully tired of all this Bush AWOL stuff. They were never tired of the Swiftie stuff that went on for weeks. And if it proves true the majority of the American voting public is this gullible, then we do in fact deserve Bush another 4 yrs. and the destruction of this country.

[mhollis]

4. It's not about the 1970s

OK, so Shrub went AWOL and Kerry "manufactured" his medals so that he would not have to serve for the full year. Both are half-truths. The only outright lie told recently here is that Shrub stated that, had his guard unit been called up, he would have gone to Vietnam.

Of course, everyone who was alive then knew that the National Guard was the place where rich and well-connected people sent their sons so that they could fulfill their service in the days of the draft with a guarantee that they would not see any combat.

But I digress.

This election is not about the 1970s. Every time you concentrate on Shrub's record or Kerry's record from back then you ignore the present and the present is what's important.

Shrub is putting former corporate lobbyists into positions where they oversee those they used to serve. He has caused the EPA to drop suits aimed at making our air cleaner. He has sold the land in our National Parks to logging and mining interests for pennies on the dollar. He has run up a huge national deficit that will deny the American public Social Security when he was the beneficiaty of a budgt surplus that might have been instrumental in helping pay for the shortfall.

Kerry is not gaining any traction against Shrub. He is not talking about how he is going to solve the Social Security issue. He has offered no specifics on how he will pay for an increased Medicare benefit. He has never said that he intends to get rid of the "Marriage Penalty" for the middle classes and I have heard nothing on exactly what income level he intends to tax (and at what rates) to pay for his programs.

These are the considerations that need to be foremost. Calling Kerry a flip-flopper and Shrub a liar is character attack, not defining the differences between the two. And it is Karl Rove's strategy to make this entire campaign into one of character attack because Shrub cannot run on his record.

[knowbody0]

6. awol

no matter how you say it a liar and a thief is a liar and a thief. not good for any resume

[mreh]

7. You miss the point. Shrub shouldn't be allowed to run on his

character - he should be run out of town on a rail.

The true issues will never be considered by the media - Kerry has campaigned on them, but the media doesn't care.

MAYBE, just maybe, with Dan Rather's and CBS's need to defend their reputation, the lack of character of the weed that would be king will become an issue and the people will see that the only thing he deserves is the label desserter and traitor.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. It's about personal strength of character and...

...FratBoy has been proven to have none.

It boils down to who you want to be a position to have to order our sons and daughters into harm's way, IF NECESSARY...someone who has been there and done that, or someone that was a deserter and has lied about it for all these years?

Hell, FratBoy lies just about every single time he opens his mouth...and he CERTAINLY lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq. That is factual information and goes FAR beyond a simple "character attack" as you've noted in your post.

[Emillereid]

16. Totally agree!

The only way Kerry is going to gain traction is to speak up and LEAD on the issues -- he has to clearly and unambiguously distinguish his positions from those of Bushit. No more "mealy mouth, please everyone positions"-- he must tell the truth on every issue. He should start with Iraq because it is the great moral issue of our time -- and if he can't find the right side of that divide, he'll never win.

'Undecided voter strategists" take note: I am tangentially involved with the anti-war movement and I have met numerous anti-war young people who are so turned off Kerry's 'muddled' positions on Iraq that they've decided not to vote at all. Short-sighted and stupid, yes -- but there you have it. While Kerry's of chasing some phantom 'middle of the road' voter, he's losing votes that could and should be his if he'd only throw them a bone now and again. I have noticed that Kerry does seem to be getting a little clearer about Iraq -- but unfortunately his statement that he too would have gone to war even knowing that Iraq had no WMDs is a hard one to forget. Even though I try to argue with these young people that Kerry is better than Bush, they all suffer the sweet, innocent idealism of youth -- and don't like to be taken for granted.

[mth44sc]

5. Not ONE

ther isn't a single damn thing that w has done right since he stole the office of pResident. That is the message. Pass the word.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. kick

[ignatius 2]

9. The thing is what Bush did in the 70's is relevant because it was ILLEGAL!

In fact, desertion in war time is punishable by death. He broke the law..why does nobody talk about that? He should still be rotting in a Gitmo prison or be 40 feet under,,he deserted his military duty in war..PERIOD!!!

[milkyway]

10. morning kick.

[iam]

11. This is conservative America...

Nothing matters but money and status. All that crap about Democracy and equal rights, all bullshit. "Send us your teeming masses..." all crap. "This land is your Land..." a relic of a bygone era when neighbor helped neighbor, when this really was a govt by, for and of the people.

[GoldenOldie]

12. This is relavant to this election

Bush not only went AWOL but after 30-days it is considered an act of treason. This Commander-in-thief is now ordering men and women of the National Guard Units into an unjust war and even illegally extending their duty time in Iraq and in his spare time cutting their benefits. He threatens if they do not re-enlist after they have completed their tour of duty in Iraq,that they will be subject to transfer to another Unit that will be immediately scheduled to deploy to Iraq.

This coward and failure of a man is now in the powerful position to commit men and women to something that he himself would not do. He committed a treasonous act during Vietnam and because of family connections received an honorable discharge??? It is offensive to those that have loved ones in the ME or who are required to obey this cowards orders. This man when he entered the ANG he took an Oath. He defiled that Oath much like he defiled the Oath that he took during his inauguration......and he placed his hand on the bible when he did it. So much for his christianity.

Over a 1,000 dead, thousands more wounded and horribly maimed both physically and mentally and approximately 145,000 Iraqi/Afghanistan civilians dead and maimed.

[Bandit]

14. But didn't Kerry talk about war crimes?????

:shrug: Apparently no one cares how much of a slacker Bush* is and was. Rush tells them to vote republican and by golly that is what they will do. No thought process needed because the "Truth Machine" told them it was so.

[Octafish]

15. The coward Bush was AWOL.

Gee. It's odd how the story about the Coward from Crawford turned into Dan Rather the Liberal.

FUCK YOU, BUSH!