NYTimes: Kristof on Chimp's AWOL

[Sparkly]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/08/opinion/08kristof.html

He quotes witnesses who've come forward to say Chimp wasn't there, and ends with this:

The sheer volume of missing documents, and missing recollections, strongly suggests to me that Mr. Bush blew off his Guard obligations. It's not fair to say Mr. Bush deserted. My sense is that he (like some others at the time) neglected his National Guard obligations, did the bare minimum to avoid serious trouble and was finally let off by commanders who considered him a headache but felt it wasn't worth the hassle to punish him.

"The record clearly and convincingly proves he did not fulfill the obligations he incurred when he enlisted in the Air National Guard," writes Gerald Lechliter, a retired Army colonel who has made the most meticulous examination I've seen of Mr. Bush's records (I've posted the full 32-page analysis here). Mr. Lechliter adds that Mr. Bush received unauthorized or fraudulent payments that breached National Guard rules, according to the documents that the White House itself released.

Does this disqualify Mr. Bush from being commander in chief? No. But it should disqualify the Bush campaign from sliming the military service of a rival who still carries shrapnel from Vietnam in his thigh.

It's a little late for that, but I beg to differ on the rest of his conclusion, too. Whether or not you agree that "blowing it off" was no big deal, it seems to me that fraudulent documents, cover-ups, and years of lies about this issue SHOULD disqualify him from being commander in chief.

Here's the file he references:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/opinion/lechliter.pdf

[Catfight]

1. Bush has a history of blowing off important duties, like reading PDB. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

2. What it means is * qualifies as a LIAR!!!

Let the Chimp explain to the American citizenry why he lied to them over and over.

[MrBenchley]

3. He deserted but it's "not fair" to call him a deserter

because he was a pain in the ass as well?

Amazing, some of the crap pundits can come up with.....

[cthrumatrix]

10. he should not serve as our leader...that's the point

[MrBenchley]

11. Yeah, I know...he's a deserter

whether or not Kristof tries to spin it away....

[democraticinsurgent]

4. "Blew off obligations" does not equal AWOL or desertion? How???

More BS with words.

No different than if I say I "liberated" money from a bank instead of ROBBED it.

[enough]

5. In that case,

why don't we let the troops in Iraq blow it off if they feel like it.



What a double standard.

[Infomaniac]

6. Bush benefits once again from privilege derived from his social class

Bullhockey, it was too much trouble to punish him. I'm sure his commanders were well aware of his family's social position and that was the chief factor in deciding to just let him slip away without fulfulling his obligations. Bush did the bare minimum. What a surprise.

[yellowcanine]

7. Lying us into a war disqualifies Bush as President and CIC, not his

sorry national guard "service", imo.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. If it were only one or the other, but it is both.

If George Wrong were only a deserter or slacker, it would be one thing, but he piles lies about the war in Iraq on top of it. He is the misleader-in-chief. And he is petrified and scared of answering real questions that get him off script.

[shockingelk]

9. AWOL doesn't fire me up

Nobody denies the fact that Bush avoided service in Vietnam my protecting TX in the Champaign Corps.

That's all you need to know about it.

There's a lot more reasons to vote him out that all America can agree on - even if y anti-choice, no-tax, gay-hating, WMD-believing, righty-wingers

- he's a fiscal failure
- he has no idea how to shape and prod the economy
- he can't run an effective military campaign
- he values secrecy over transparency
- he's disrespectful to foreign leaders that don't kiss his ass
- he favors the uber-wealthy and corporate America over working people
- he thinks anything he can get away with is right
etc, etc, etc

[Guaranteed]

12. The cover-ups in particular.

I don't like fucking liars.

[Killarney]

13. Bush BLEW OFF his obligations to his country

Isn't that the opposite of patriotism?

[RobertDevereaux]

14. Lied to us in the Oval Office in his Russert interview...

...is that not an impeachable offense, to be added to the other hundred?

[wiggs]

15. Pattern of behavior

Put AWOL issue together with not showing up as an adult till age 40, being on vacation a record number of days, not reading PDBs, not doing homework on postwar Iraq, Dad gettting AWOL into TANG in the first place, Houston giving Bush sweet deal on baseball stadium, investors giving Bush businesses to run into ground....and you could easily paint a picture of taking the easy way out all the time and ignoring responsibilities.