White House Caught in Cover Up

[TacticalPeek]

AMERICAblog.org
by John Aravosis

Thursday, September 09, 2004
WHITE HOUSE CAUGHT IN COVER UP
by John in DC - 9/9/2004 01:29:23 AM

Note this little paragraph buried in an AP story tonight:

"After the <60 Minutes> broadcast, the White House, without comment, released to the news media two of the memos , one ordering Bush to report for his physical exam and the other suspending him from flight status."

UPDATE: AP just updated the story, deleting that paragraph and now making the release of the new memos THE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF THE STORY. I think AP suddenly realized the significance of the memos, at least content-wise, though they still haven't commented on "where the heck did they suddenly come from". The new first paragraph:

The White House released memos Wednesday night saying that George W. Bush was suspended from flying fighter jets for failing to meet standards of the Texas Air National Guard.

Yeah, you better not have a comment until you talk to your lawyers because it looks like you just got caught in a conspiracy to withhold documents that you were legally bound to have already released under the Associated Press' earlier FOIA request.


more
http://americablog.blogspot.com/archives/2004_09_05_americablog_archive.html



(snagged at Eschaton)

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Good catch, TacticalPeak!

:toast: :thumbsup:

[DemWitch]

2. most excellent!

:thumbsup:

[DemBones DemBones]

3. So, do you think that George

went on to bed by 10 or is awake now?

[PurityOfEssence]

4. He's a liar and he thinks he's above the law

Americans don't like people who think they're better than everyone else; our snotty populism has deep cultural roots, and they nourish some primal desires that aren't all that good, but along with the traditional anti-intellectualism is a distaste for people who think they're privileged.

Obstruction.

Maybe this was why Schwarzenegger was gushing love for Nixon at the Hatefest: preparing us for the equivocating...

That CYA memo is a pip; that's the most acrid smoking gun I've ever smelled in politics.

[Moderator]

5. blogs are not appropriate source material

for LBN

[abburdlen]

6. To err is human

withholding evidence, that's where the problem is...

To be honest I don't begrudge Bush for not wanting to serve in Vietnam. Many didn't, he had connection and got out of it without having to run to Canada and embarrass his family (not that those who left rather than serving should be embarrassed) Was it cowardly? Yes. Was it right? No. Was it unheard of? No.

The 'sin' George made was pretending to be some sort of war hero and boasting about being proud of his record. If George had been a real man he would have fess up about his less than stellar National Guard career apologized to the those who did serve and the families of those who didn't make it back. Years ago he could have come out like a leader showing how he had learned from his own experience and fears trying now to make sure no one has to be it that position of having to fight in a war they don't believe in.

But the real mistake George makes is the lies he tells trying to hide is cowardness. The selective release of documents, smearing of critics, bold mis-statements and when questioned quiet retractions. As they say, it isn't the crime but the cover-up that gets you.
But it seems that par for the course for the current administration.

[AP]

7. The sin to me is that people like his father were making decisions about..

...the life and death of children...of other people's children, knowing that their decisions would never ever hurt them.

How in the world can we expect politicians to make reasonable decisions about policy when they themselves and their family members are never put in jeopardy or negatively impacted by their decisionis.

Running to Cananda had its consequences. Bush would have been more brave had he done something like that. Getting a TANG slot and then not even bothering to show up, and then getting elected president because you question the courage of people like McCain and the HONESTY(!!!!) of people like Al Gore? There are some major sins in that. MAJOR sins.

[abburdlen]

8. I agree that being a hypocrite

is part of the very core of Bush. The whole family it seems.
I also don't fault pappy from using his connection to keep his son from going. If he had courage he also would have spoken out against the war, but I don't think we should throw stones at cowards - we also don't need to elect them president-

My point is that his cowardness shouldn't be the issue. The lengths he goes to cover it up- that's the pattern I'm most concerned with.

[AP]

9. You can't be for war, but against having to suffer any consequence or

placing yourself in any jeopardy.

I think this core issue of which direction Republicans like to shift the benefits and the burdens of society is very key to this whole issue. They do this everywhere. They do it with the tax code. They do it with Enron and with energy privatization. They're doing it with Iraq (Halliburton gets the benefits, poor families of soldiers suffer the burdens).

Yeah, the cover-up is bad. But lets not forget what this says about how Republicans think. They weren't just doing what anyone would have done. Not everyone has as much control over US foreign policy as the Bush family. They were part of an aparatus that was pro-war, but anti-"having to suffer any of the consequences of their policies." Sound familiar? Yeah. They're still doing that today.

[Supersedeas]

10. But NOW the TV Media guys want to talk about the ISSUES

The media did a great job of vetting Bush's military record during the 2000 campaign didn't they...liberal media my tail feathers.

[Gin]

11. getting into the Guard is one thing.....doing a bad job is another...

he didn't appreciate what was "given" to him...he has never appreciated anything that was given to him...even the presidency.

Typical spoiled, ungrateful, rich kid.