Dan Bartlett up to eyeballs in Nat. Guard lies.....Buzzflash and others

[buycitgo]

BuzzFlash Reader Contribution

August 13, 2004 CONTRIBUTOR ARCHIVES
Citizens for Honest Fighter Pilots Ask Bush To Get Honest

A BUZZFLASH READER CONTRIBUTION
by Evelyn Pringle

Over time, the Bush camp has given 3 different equally dishonest stories, about why he was suspended. First it was that he did not take the physical because his personal physician was in Houston. The Boston Globe put that lie to rest when it reported that "flight physicals can be administered only by certified Air Force flight surgeons, and some were assigned at the time to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, where Bush was living."

On another date, his people told the London Times that he didn't have to take an exam, "As he was not flying, there was no reason for him to take the flight physical exam."

Then spokesman, Dan Bartlett, told reporters that Bush knew that he would be suspended because his paperwork hadn't caught up with him. "It was just a question of following the bureaucratic procedure of the time," Bartlett said. "He knew the suspension would have to take place."

So which is it, (a) his family physician wasn't in Alabama, (b) he didn't have to take it because he wasn't flying; or (3) the suspension was caused by a bureaucratic mix-up of paperwork?

from this thread, thanks to xkenx.....no link to Buzzflash page
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=621627

You'll remember Walter Robinson also uncovered the fact that Bartlett also SAID that Bush did his makeup duty in Bostonp; while he was blowing bubbles in MBA classes, he was also blowing off Guard duty there, as well. Bartlett was recently forced to take back that statement regarding the Boston service, but you don't hear a WORD about that, only the BS about the provenance of the CBS memos.

I'll see if I can find the quote from Robinson about Bartlett, but there's SO much there about the physical.

More in a minute from Demotex's DU article on the flight physical, and why this is still the key ingredient in all this muddying of the waters over papers, forgeries, and what the canned Ham did/didn't do in Texas, Alabama, Boston, and Denver.


Lt. HamBush checking out his flight gear


Lt. HamBush checking into bunnypants before his last flight

[buycitgo]

1. from goldenoldie in another thread

All branchs of the military, and each military post, or Guard and Researve Unit that maintain the smallest aircraft have a required Flight Surgeon. The Flight Surgeon is considered the Primary Care physician of all those that are connected to flying status. The Flight Surgeon is specifically trained on health and requirements of those military personnel on a flight status/assignment.

The initial report coming from the Whitehouse on Georgie's failure to appear for a required flight physical was that his private physician in Houston was unavailable......as usual the media whores let it pass and nothing more has been said about this statement.

Having been assigned as a civilian who worked closely with Army Medical Personnel and with a joint effort of Air Force and Naval Medical Personnel, I am fully aware of what the function is of a Flight Surgeon. George refused orders when he failed to have his required Flight physical and should have been immediately reprimanded. This only proves that Georgie and daddy used connections.

[buycitgo]

2. from DemoTex's front page article at DU

What the spin-miesters are avoiding, however, is the beta-star in the Bush constellation of lies: Lt. Bush's "missed" flight physical and subsequent suspension from flying. It is not spin-able because Bush, unwisely and uncharacteristically, told an itsy-bitsy white lie about the flight physical that was so disingenuous and transparent that it has now become an egregious damn-lie. Bush flippantly explained that he did not comply with the requirement to get his flight physical because his personal physician was not available. Pants on fire!

Lt. Bush lost his qualification to fly the F-102 when he failed to take his flight physical in July of 1972 and was suspended from flying the next month, August 1972. This is the most salient point of Bush's short, and oh-so-sweet, service record. As a former military pilot and airline captain, I can only imagine the reasons for not taking a mandatory flight physical, and none of those reasons are pretty.

Why did Lt. Bush, apparently on his own, decide not to submit to a mandatory flight physical and incur a suspension from the flying that he told Tim Russert on Meet the Press (February 8, 2004) he "loved"? There is no record that Lt. Bush ever obtained the medical qualification required by regulations, nor is there any record of Bush ever flying a military sortie after his suspension in mid-1972.

The missed flight physical becomes the crux of Lt. Bush's problems with his guard service. Why would TANG want him back in the unit if he were not qualified to fly? Why would AANG take him, even into a non-flying billet, given that he had, de facto, disobeyed an order to take a flight physical? Submission to the annual flight physical, required of all pilots operating under the auspices and regulations of the air force (as was TANG), was not an option; it was a mandate. In July 1972, by skipping his flight physical, Lt. Bush also failed to comply with new USAF regulations concerning mandatory drug testing. USAF regulations are not bent or broken without serious consequences, for most people.

All other issues regarding Lt. George W. Bush's service record in the Air National Guard derive from the missed flight physical. Expect the self-proclaimed "war president," Mr. Bush, to get hammered on this in the months to come. Meanwhile, don't look for any RNC campaign ads on TV with Bush doing his vainglorious strut on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The aircraft carrier publicity stunt is now prime-time fodder for the Democrats.

[PurityOfEssence]

3. Don't ask him anything when he's on a moving train...

(That was his excuse for Junior's idiocy about an "unwinnable war".)

Junior sounds more and more like O.J. Simpson every day; he's got more stories than the Brothers Grimm. I'm sure he wasn't in Alabama because he was taking a nap while talking on a cell phone and hitting a few golf balls in the shower.

Boy, being a liar's bad enough, but being an incredibly bad liar is pathetic.

[buycitgo]

5. I know, and the most infuriating thing of all is that the fricking MEDIA

just swallows it whole, and begs for more, all the while doing Rove's bidding by putting these docs under a microscope

where were they four years ago, when they had the TORN corner document, the one without his NAME on it? when are they going to address that issue?

after we get out of Iraq in twenty five years?

[dogtag]

7. Please, please fill me in on the torn corner

document. I haven't heard of that one before. Thanks.

[buycitgo]

9. here you go.....love that google: Bush TANG torn corner

from Calpundit:
http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003189.html

THE TORN DOCUMENT....So what's the deal with the George Bush AWOL story? There are a million tedious details, but as near as I can tell, here's the nub of the whole thing.

Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 and in May 1972 asked for a transfer to Alabama because he wanted to work on a political campaign there. His transfer was approved and off to Alabama he went. The problem is that he doesn't seem to have actually performed any of his required guard duty either in Alabama or after he returned to Texas. He just blew it off. There are several bits of evidence for this:

*His chronological service record shows no duty between May 1972 and October 1973.

*Bush was supposedly in Alabama between May 1972 and November 1972, but the commanding officer of the Alabama unit says he doesn't remember Bush ever showing up. "Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not," he said. "I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered."


*In August 1972 Bush was suspended from flying because he never showed up for his required annual physical.

*Bush supposedly returned to Texas in November 1972, but the annual effectiveness report from his Texas unit that covers his entire period of service from May 1972 through May 1973 says "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of the report."


Case closed, right? Bush was AWOL. And for normal people at least, this would have been a serious problem, prompting an official investigation and a transfer to active duty, or possibly even a dishonorable discharge.

But wait. Although there are no records showing that he attended drills in Alabama, there is one piece of evidence demonstrating that Bush showed up for drills after he returned to Texas: the infamous "torn document." Here it is:



also this:
http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003193.html

[buycitgo]

4. now some ASS ASS ASS, Mark Hosenball on MSNBC

is taking apart the documents' veracity, all the while ignoring the story itself

it's almost as if Rove has planned it; the ONLY discussion I've seen lately is about the documents themselves--it's become a metastory

all the stuff about the physical, Bartlett's outright, overt LIES are being completely ignored

why even bother to ask why at this point

this Hosenball jerk just said to Norville that the fact that Bush's honesty/integrity numbers, which fell from 62-3 percent a week ago to 55 this week are GOOD NEWS for him! well, buttmuncher, what the hell does it mean if they drop seven or eight points a week for the rest of the campaign? wouldn't that leave him at about zero?

[grasswire]

6. BCG...

...Keith Olbermann basically laid out a "double agent" theory last night. Did you see it? Skinner has a fine thread going on the possibilities, too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x809521

[buycitgo]

8. yes, I did, and it dovetails with mine, except that he didn't

talk about the whitenoise the documents emit, covering up all the hellishness in Iraq, and the REAL problems facing them about the flat out LIES they've been telling about the physical, among other things

they seem to KNOW the media will follow any little trail sent out for them, as if Rove is Hansel and Pickles, now, is playing Gretel

they need very little excuse to follow the obviously bogus trail

check this exchange from Aaron Brownnose the other day, first between the John Kingwhore, then Walter Robinson, the only 'journalist' who's had any serious interest in the story, going back to the first election cycle:

KING: The Boston Globe" says its investigation found Mr. Bush did not keep that commitment but the White House cited documents released months ago that show Mr. Bush was reassigned in October, 1973 to inactive reserve status with a unit in Denver, Colorado and listed Harvard as his address.

DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The fact of the matter is that President Bush would not have been honorably discharged if he had not met his obligations......


.....We're joined now from Boston by Walter Robinson who is the head of the investigative reporting team at "The Boston Globe," the same unit, by the way, that did the first reporting on Senator Kerry's purple heart flap and today wrote an extensive look at the Bush National Guard service, good to have you with us.

The central charges here I think are fairly simple that the president back then all those years ago did not do what he agreed to do, what he signed contracts to do and that he was never punished for it, fair?

WALTER ROBINSON, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": I think that's a fair reading of the records. In 1968, he promised to do a certain number of days of service each year or face involuntary call to active duty and in 1973, as he was going off to Harvard, despite what the White House's person said, he did promise to find a unit in Boston and fulfill his obligation. His records were sent to Denver but he had that obligation in Boston and he didn't fulfill it.

BROWN: The White House says a couple things about the reporting that you and your colleagues at "The Globe" did. One is that you rely on the analysis of partisan Democrats, people associated with the Kerry campaign who reached these conclusions that the president failed to meet his responsibilities back then as a lieutenant. ROBINSON: Well, I think that misses the point. We have dealt with eight or ten retired military officers over the last several months, all of whom who have reached the same conclusion about these records.

What the White House failed to note is that one of the officers we quoted as agreeing with this conclusion is the same retired Texas lieutenant colonel who has been the White House consultant on these records.

BROWN: The White House in all of its response to this falls back on one fairly simple and I think to most people easy to understand conclusion which is at the end of the day whatever he did and I think they acknowledge there was a period where he didn't go to drills, they say he made them up, that he was honorably discharged. Therefore, he must have done what he agreed to do.

ROBINSON: I think that's partly true. He was honorably discharged from the Texas Guard by the very same officers who it is clear from these records and even clearer from the records that CBS obtained, this very same officer is who condoned his non attendance at drills for most of the last 17 months he was in the guard.

BROWN: Just to take it one sentence further. I gather what you mean by that is, look, they knew who he was and they gave him a pass?

ROBINSON: That's a fair conclusion from the documents.

BROWN: And the other thing the White House talked about today a lot was the timing of all this. They say the president pulled ahead in the polls. We're 55 days away from the election. I guess what they are saying is that you timed this piece to come out at a point where it would do the maximum damage or would change the subject just when things were going well for the White House.

ROBINSON: Well, that's just not true. It was last month when we went to Dan Bartlett trying to get answers to some questions and he delayed us and delayed us for three weeks.

In fact, when we first wrote about Bush's attendance problems four years ago, we reported it in May of 2000 and after that election people said, "Well why didn't you wait until the fall?" And our answer was simple. It's the same then as it was now. We report it and we put it in the paper when we get it in the same way that you do at CNN.

BROWN: Just one more tidbit before I lose you. Did the White House at one point tell you that the president did, in fact, do his service in the Boston area?

ROBINSON: No. Mr. Bartlett was quoted in a "Washington Post" series in 1999 as saying that Mr. Bush did reserve duty in the Boston area.

BROWN: And now they say, well we made a mistake about that?

ROBINSON: Mr. Bartlett said he misspoke.

BROWN: OK. I assume the piece is online at "The Boston Globe." People who didn't have a chance to look at it ought to take a look at it and they can judge for themselves. Nice piece of work by you and your team, thank you.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0409/08/asb.00.html

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10. isn't it about time to concentrate on the real story? the flight physical

and the string of lies Bartlett has told, and continues to keep telling?

why are the media ignoring this?

what's so important about the forged documents?

other than the fact that they'll lead to Rove? that trail, of course, will be ignored by the media

[buycitgo]

11. so...nobody thinks this is important?

did I forget to floss?