Reply #32: Everyone read the above link: AWOL LIVES!!!! [View All]

[NewYorkerfromMass]

".... Robinson said the timing and atmosphere in the 2000 campaign was different from today and may have played a part in the lack of follow-up to his story at the time. "Bush was running to replace a president who had taken steps to actively avoid -- and some would say evade -- military service," he pointed out. "Whatever Bush's sin was, he wasn't the first president to shirk his military duty, Clinton was."

The Globe writer, himself a Vietnam War veteran, also said the fact that his story ran in May of that year, at a time when Bush had the nomination pretty well sewn up and the political conventions just months away, might have made it easier to avoid. "I don't know if the editors (at other papers) even saw the story in 2000, or if they understood it," Robinson said. "Bush's people fogged it over a bit and they are very good at that."

Robinson would not say if the Globe planned to revisit the story, but said he believed it should be looked at again during this election cycle. "If any paper has a responsibility to remind people what was reported in 2000, we should," he said.

Baron also declined to say if a follow-up would occur. "We don't discuss our coverage in advance," he said.