Here it is: George W. Bush's missing year (Salon hot of the press)

[hlthe2b]

as promised by Atrios earlier today.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/02/allison/index.html

The widow of a Bush family confidant says her husband gave the future president an Alabama Senate campaign job as a favor to his worried father. Did they see him do any National Guard service? "Good lord, no."

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Mary Jacoby


Before there was Karl Rove, Lee Atwater or even James Baker, the Bush family's political guru was a gregarious newspaper owner and campaign consultant from Midland, Texas, named Jimmy Allison. In the spring of 1972, George H.W. Bush phoned his friend and asked a favor: Could Allison find a place on the Senate campaign he was managing in Alabama for his troublesome eldest son, the 25-year-old George W. Bush?
--snip--
"The impression I had was that Georgie was raising a lot of hell in Houston, getting in trouble and embarrassing the family, and they just really wanted to get him out of Houston and under Jimmy's wing," Allison's widow, Linda, told me. "And Jimmy said, 'Sure.' He was so loyal."

Linda Allison's story, never before published, contradicts the Bush campaign's assertion that George W. Bush transferred from the Texas Air National Guard to the Alabama National Guard in 1972 because he received an irresistible offer to gain high-level experience on the campaign of Bush family friend Winton "Red" Blount. In fact, according to what Allison says her late husband told her, the younger Bush had become a political liability for his father, who was then the United States ambassador to the United Nations, and the family wanted him out of Texas. "I think they wanted someone they trusted to keep an eye on him," Linda Allison said.

more

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/02/allison/index.html

more

[lolly]

1. Good Piece

Will anyone else bother to pick it up?

Blows a huge hole in the saintly Barbara Bush image.

[LiberalVoice]

2. This better be on the front page of every fucking news paper tomorrow!

[wurzel]

3. Great story but. It has to get on mainstream media to do any good.

Otherwise it will just die like everything else.

[ezekiel333]

6. Then spread the word.

Start emailing, writing, and phoning.

[hang a left]

4. Please post this in LBN also.

If you don't I might ask your permission to do so.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. I'm finally sending Salon some money

I have long loved that site but now.....they absolutely ROCK!!!!

[NYCGirl]

13. I've subscribed to Salon for a couple of years. It's worth EVERY PENNY!

NT

[GaryL]

7. Beautiful read.

To all the naysayers, the shit-storm cometh.

[Nickster]

8. To hijack a quote from our venerable leader

Bring it on Biyach!:evilgrin:

[WoodyD]

9. Whoa . .

That's pretty damned devastating and of a piece with everything I've read about Dubya at that age -- the smirking air of rich-boy entitlement. Now let's see if it gets any major media play, or if it gets buried like everything else negative -- or I should say accurate -- about this spoiled, moronic jerk.

[bringbackfdr]

10. It better be in newspapers and magazines

Because our good friends who call themselves TV journalists will, of course, not even mention it.

[Myrina]

11. dupe

Also in GD:04

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=716715&mesg_id=716715

[Awsi Dooger]

12. I emailed the Salon link to Countdown

Maybe Olbermann will help get this in the mainstream press

[NMDemDist2]

14. kick n/t

[Merlin]

15. Good story. So shrubby loved dirty tricks back then, too.

"The Blount Senate campaign he ran against the Democrat, Sparkman, in 1972 was notable for a dirty racial trick: The Blount side edited a transcript of a radio interview Sparkman had given to make it appear he supported busing, a poison position at that time in the South. When Sparkman found an unedited script and exposed the trick, the Blount campaign was finished. But it was an early introduction for Bush to the kinds of tricks that later Republican strategists associated with the Bush political machine, from Lee Atwater to Karl Rove, would use against Democrats, often to victorious effect. "

[DemoTex]

16. Lookit! I finally signed up for Salon.com tonight. What a fiasco.

I used my Amex Platinum Card number, picked an appropriate user name and password, and still could not get on. I tried to contact Salon.com, but since I didn't exist they didn't respond. I called AMEX and cancelled the deal. Ironically, I have been blocked from "day-pass" access for at least two months. WTF, OVER?

[djg21]

17. I gave up!

I had a membership, but didn't regularly visit, and it expired. So I thought I'd try a day pass. I've bent sent to a Poweels.com add at least a dozen times, and still haven't been able to view the article or get into the premium sites.

Now, I'm so frustrated that I'll likely never shop at powells or resubsribe to Salon. It's just not that important. I'll read about it here.

Thanks everytne!

[DemoTex]

20. It is a business problem with Salon.

It is no-win, because they care not a whit. Fuck Salon and the media-ho they are pushing. Never again will I as much as get a fucking "day-pass."

[djg21]

22. Tell you what!

I'm certainly not rushing to patronize that bookstore whose ads I had to view repatedly so that I could not see the article on Salon, and like I said, I'll wait until it's posted here or somewhere else.

[SidDithers]

23. Published in the Guardian....

link here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/salon/0,14779,1295936,00.html

Sid

[hlthe2b]

21. Don't give up.... (and PM me if you want me to email you the article)

I had a similar thing happen a couple of years ago, but their customer service was pretty responsive in getting it working for me. I think i got it worked out via email,, though.

Let me know if you want the article.

[Chichiri]

18. Sam Seder just quoted this on AAR! (n/t)

[joanne]

19. I'd love to see this on the front page of the Washington Post

Am I dreaming