Some light shed on Bush Guard service

[seemslikeadream]

Houston Chronicle

Hundreds of files released; Dems say questions remain
By Michael Hedges

Washington -- Seeking to stop the political battering over hes 1970s Air National Guard duty, President Bush released hundreds of pages of records Friday that filled in some of the blanks about his service and left others open.

The documents provided no obvious explanation for why Bush neglected to take a physical examination in 1972, resulting in loss of his status as a pilot.

But the documents released Friday indicated Bush's transfer to the Alabama squadron wasn't approved until September 1972, months after Bush's presence as recalled by Calhoun.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2402551

[karnac]

1. There will always be doubts

About his last year in the guard.

The point of releasing those documents is to *shed light* on the *rest* of his service record. What he is trying to do is overwhem the media with the fact that he had a fairly decent record over most of his time in the guard. so they can give him a pass on the last few months.

It won't work.

[JPace]

3. "There will always be doubt"

I agree, the damage is done. Most people did
not really know about AWOL's military record.
Many did not know the National Guard used to
be a place for rich kids to hide from Viet Nam.
They also did not know that AWOL was mostly
missing the last year and that he received so
many privileges such as easy transfers and early
discharge, much less all the questionable missing
records. He just does not look as solid or truthful
as he once did, especially for a war time pResident
who flaunts that status as much as possible.

The damage is done and it will take a toll on
his elect ability.

[grasswire]

2. ??

"White House communications director Dan Bartlett said one of the reasons for releasing the records was to counter "innuendo" that Bush was hiding a medical problem."

I don't think that's the problem at all. I never heard anyone insinuate that Bush was hiding a medical problem. This is chaff.

Unless by "medical problem" they mean substance abuse.

[Peachhead22]

4. And I think...

On edit: This is the sentence that I'm referring to:

"But the documents released Friday indicated Bush's transfer to the Alabama squadron wasn't approved until September 1972, months after Bush's presence as recalled by Calhoun."


That's the major point we should be keying on.

1) Not that he joined the NG to avoid 'Nam--many people did. It's no major disgrace in most minds.

2) Not that he slipped through the cracks and got an Honorable Discharge even though he slacked quite a bit--that wasn't all that unusual for the NG in that era.

3) Not that he didn't take a flight physical and subsequently was grounded--Gen. Bernie Mccafree was on CNN (or was is MSNBC) saying that wasn't all that unusual, especially if someone was being reassigned to a non-flying unit.

4) Maybe not even that he jumped ahead of some people because of his daddy--some people less partisan than us might think "Oh well, Vietnam was a disaster, he only used what advantages that were available to him". (Not that I think this way)

5) Not that he had a record when entering the NG--Rove can just say "He's a different person now, they were 'youthful indiscretions".

But no matter what, when you're assigned to a base, in the NG or regular military, you DO NOT move out of state (i.e abandon your post), then call your C.O. after the fact and "ask" for a transfer. That kind of fait accompli is called desertion, and that he got away with it, even in that lax era, and got an "Honorable Discharge" is much harder to explain away.

[seemslikeadream]

5. Squeeze him as silly as any freshly sliced wedge of lime

Now, needless to say, if we were still operating under the rules that prevailed in the mid-1990s, James Carville would have been appointed Independent Counsel in the late summer of 2002 to investigate Halliburton. He'd have had the Intel shenanigans, the Plame matter and the Niger documents added to his brief since then. A cowed AG would have given him the Guard matter around the middle of last week. And in a couple of days some FBI agents would be showing up on Calhoun's doorstep ready to squeeze him as silly as any freshly sliced wedge of lime in close proximity to a bottle of Corona.

Lucky for him Dems don't play so rough.

www.talkingpointsmemo.com

[kskiska]

6. Helen Thomas, bless her, has been sniffing around

and toying with Scottie about the crux of the matter. Scottie knows that the press knows, and it's become a game to get the evidence. If *'s cocaine bust were to be made public, it'd be curtains for Smirk.

Q: Did the President ever have to take time off from Guard duty to do community service?

Scott McClellan: To do community service? I haven't looked into everything he did 30 years ago, Helen. Obviously, there is different community service he has performed in the past, including going back to that time period --

Q: Can you find out if he actually had --

Scott McClellan: Helen, I don't think we remember every single activity he was involved in 30 years ago.

Q: No, this isn't an activity. Was he forced to do community service at any time while he was on --

Scott McClellan: What's your interest in that question? I'm sorry, I just --

Q: Lots of rumors. I'm just trying to clear up something.

Scott McClellan: Rumors about what?

Q: Pardon?

Scott McClellan: Rumors about what?

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