I have an alternate theory why no Alabama NG pilots are supporting Bush

[Vickers]

OK, it seems pretty obvious that he just never showed up. Can't PAY somebody to speak up for him (or at least nobody credible), and there are no pictures of him there (as a veteran, I know that GIs take pictures of EVERYTHING), etc.

But I got to thinking: what if he DID show up, pulled his duty, fulfilled his Guard obligations...why WOULDN'T other Alabama NG pilots come forth.

And I figured it out: they are in the same boat as Bush.

- pulled strings to get in the guard

- probably have been lying for 30 years or more about their actual service to their friends and colleagues

- probably have their share of DUIs and drug convictions (and Dishonorable Discharges), but didn't have a Congressman daddy to scrub the records

They won't come out in support of Bush because it would open up THEIR lies to scrutiny, and they don't have the resources that Bush has had to tidy up their past.

Whatcha think?

[blm]

1. Plenty of Alabama guardsmen have come out and said they never SAW Bush.

And Bush's sponsors in Alabama, Jimmy Allison and his wife never saw Bush in uniform. He wasn't there.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. you may have a point

but I think he NEVER SHOWED, which is ten times as bad

[Maddy McCall]

3. Or, it could be as simple as Bush just never showed up.

I don't think it is some mass CYA thing. Remember, we are talking about Alabama--surely one Republican Bush supporter would chime in had he ever seen Bush.

[readmylips]

4. That is exactly what it is...all in the same boat...

and they are all children of well connected politicians, repigs and democrats. If we can find out what those kids of those politicians are doing today, we can pull in into the mud too.

[Maple]

5. Makes sense

I think there's a lot of that going on.

[Philostopher]

6. Well, I think ...

that if anybody were willing to come across and confirm that the Dim Son did do his time in Alabama, somebody (*cough*Rove*cough*) would offer to clean up those nasty little errors in their records. I very much doubt that if anybody contacted them and offered to come forth and say, on the record, the Bush* legitimately fulfilled his Guard duty, the offer to expunge all negative information from their records wouldn't be made. After all, they did a bang-up job of expunging Georgie Boy's records, didn't they?

I don't know -- money can soothe a lot of emotional pain over having your 'youthful indiscretions' revealed, too. If they couldn't expunge, don't you think there's enough money in Perry's bankroll to pay somebody to speak out who has some legitimacy, if they could find anybody?

I don't think there is anybody, or they'd have paid them enough one way or another, by now, to prance around behind a microphone and say Bush* did his time.

[Spazito]

7. If that were the only outstanding question about bush's military...

service, that being no one will step up and say they saw him, your premise could very well be a possibility but his logs, documents released by the WH and the memos raise many more questions than simply who saw him.

There are glaring discrepancies regarding pay, medical test, etc. that cannot be answered by someone simply stepping up and verifying he was there.

[ret5hd]

8. A quick question...

i know, i know, this has probably been answered a dozen or more times, but:

is it possible to get a roster of people who SHOULD have served with w and track 'em down and ask 'em? Or are those records secret?

[depakid]

9. They also might be scared that if they told the truth

about Bush's behavior in those days, they'd end up ruined or "silenced." If you don't have something nice to say....

[Dzimbowicz]

10. I would like to know if

there is a statute of limitations for someone who is (has gone) AWOL?

[Senior citizen]

12. I don't think so

I've read stories of people who were AWOL turning themselves in or getting caught many, many years later and still facing penalties.

But the "honorable discharge" makes a difference in this case, since the records show the chimp as honorably discharged instead of as still AWOL, which appears to be closer to the reality of the situation. My guess is that he was AWOL for so long, and so unable or unwilling to report for duty, that the "honorable discharge" had to be pushed through to keep him from being listed as a fugitive.

[SoCalDemocrat]

11. I had the same thoughts

Bush doesn't want those guys coming out for him because their records would expose him. He must of had a few party buddies in the guard at the time, before the mandatory drug testing started that is.

[lanparty]

13. James Baath ...

... is his "band of brother". He has no more than that.

The funny thing is that Baath went AWOL at the same time Bush did. Go figure?????

[bobbyboucher]

14. Two pilots said he was DEFINETELY not there.

They heard he was coming and wanted another guy to "pal" around with and were looking for him, but he never showed. They went on record in the Memphis paper, but of course it never got any attention.

I have read it twice and once it was linked on the DU.

[Disturbed]

15. James Baath

later financed GW Bush Oil Co, also refused to take that physical. Did he recieve an Honorable Discharge, as well?

[Karenina]

16. Where IS that guy???

Anyhoo???