Aaron Brown to have the AWOL story on this hour...

[Catshrink]

or so he said in his intro.... he said "we've dealt with it before and we'll deal with it again."

[pfitz59]

1. Since when has the media "dealt with it"?

By flushing down the toilet in 2000?

[Jacobin]

2. Oh yeah, they "dealt" with it alright

"Is this just slimey political dirty tricks, or is this treasonable speech. For the answer, tune in at 9:00"

[Sagan]

3. oh, yeah, I remember how he dealt with it before...

"This is Aaron Brown reporting. Allegations of dereliction of duty dog Governor Bush this week as he campaigns for the Presidency. In our special report, we'll cover why these allegations prove Vice President Gore is a liar who wears earth tones."

[grasswire]

4. he said just last night...

...that he didn't want to get into it, and that he would let the candidates sort it out. Heh.

[LibDemAlways]

5. Aaron Brown often outsmirks the chimp.

He is one smarmy SOB. His method of "dealing with " AWOL will be to infer that those who dare to question the chimp's military service have an ulterior motive or a screw loose.

[proud patriot]

6. Aaron Brown owes DUers an apology

:mad:

[Catshrink]

19. Fill me in.... I don't remember this

Did he say something nasty about us? What's the story?

edited because my keyboard crapped out. Had to reboot the computer! Dang...

[proud patriot]

24. He dissed us through a coraspondance

with Will Pitt . A bunch of DUers starting emailing Aaron
afterwards . He owes us an apology cause we were right
Scott Ritter was right , Will Pitt was right and Aaron
was wrong .

[Catshrink]

25. Wow. Puts him in league with Rush.

[buycitgo]

28. I remember that....he thinks of himself as a real journalist

LOVES the praise; can't STAND to be criticized

ALWAYS remember he REFUSED to weekend anchor the shuttle catastrophe a year ago, cause he didn't have a SUIT with him.

WHY? he was out of town, playing in a GOLF tournament!

pulled a major hissy fit.

THAT's the kind of journalist HE is.

sounds like a real, potential dan rather/GHWB moment waiting for him, hey?

he's vomita

hope somebody sends you this thread, ABB

Anybody But Brown?

Butt Brown

Brown Butt?

[Catshrink]

7. He said after this commercial break....

We'll see what he says.

[buycitgo]

8. just in time...thanks

grasswire....pretty cool to see marty here, huh?

I drive through Clinton on my way to my sister's

[buycitgo]

9. Brown says blah blah blah about AWOL in 2000....

"but there is something about now that seems different"

OH YEAH??????

you mean like, maybe, it's not being COMPLETELY IGNORED now?????

[buycitgo]

10. james webb on alone!

former secretary of navy under reagan, viet vet


AND, I think he BOXED Ollie North!

says Vietnam MATTERS!

[CatWoman]

13. and he said the WH excuse that *'s records were lost

is absolutely ludicrous.

[Stephanie]

11. Marty's here? Start a thread for him, let's have a Q&A with the expert!

AWOL AWOL AWOL

LIES LIES LIES

The tide is turning.

[buycitgo]

14. there is a thread...didn't know how to respond to it....next page here

grasswire started it

Webb is GIVING it to Bush!

wants to know about the missing records!

Brown is calling them KIDS!

he is so disgusting; it's obvious he's apologizing for *

[Stephanie]

12. What are they saying?

n/t

[Catshrink]

15. That it's a valid issue!

That his daddy got him into the TANG and that he transferred to Alabama where there is "some question about his attendance." He also said that the WH has put out some confusing information saying some records have been lost. Having been in charge of the Guard... these records are essential for pay and points and it would be highly unusual for the records to be missing.

Interesting...

[Stephanie]

16. Suggest he interview Bill Burkett

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bill Burkett:

May 28, 2002
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Pausing to Reflect After Memorial Day: Were George W. Bush's National Guard Records Scrubbed? Bill Burkett Should Know. The Nation Deserves the Truth.

(See http://199.96.2.183/contributors/2002/05/24_supreme.html to understand the context of this letter to BuzzFlash.com from Bill Burkett. It is also recommended that you read these two important postings from the Democrats.com archives: http://www.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=171 and
http://www.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=154)

Additional BuzzFlash Note: Major General Daniel James was head of the Texas National Guard at the time of the alleged scrubbing of George W. Bush's National Guard records. He was appointed by George W. Bush to be commander of the nation's Air National Guard -- and was confirmed by the Senate last week.

A Letter to BuzzFlash.com from Bill Burkett, formerly of the Texas National Guard:

In regards to the BuzzFlash contibutor piece, "SUPREME IRONY" (http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/05/24_Supreme.html)

This BuzzFlash reader gets it closer to right than anyone has since 1998 when I broke the Bush AWOL story as a whistleblower.

I hope that more information will be coming soon as a few journalists are now asking questions that should have been asked in 1998.

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/2002/05/28_Scrubbed.html

* * *

Also from the Veterans for Peace website:

What do you say?
By Bill Burkett
Online Journal Contributing Writer

March 19, 2003—I've sat in total grief for the past three years, watching the institutions of America being spent as if they were lottery winnings.

I don't want to say it, "But I told you so."

In January of 1998 and what seems like a full lifetime ago, I was stricken by a deadly case of meningoencephalitis. I was returning from a short duty trip to Panama as a team chief to inspect the hand over of Ft. Clayton to the Panamanians. I had been 'loaned' from the senior staff and state planning officer of the Texas National Guard to the Department of the Army for a series of these special projects after angering George W. Bush by refusing to falsify readiness information and reports; confronting a fraudulent funding scheme which kept 'ghost' soldiers on the books for additional funding, and refusing to alter official personnel records .

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/what_do_you_say_032203.htm

Who is Bill Burkett?

Lt. Col. Bill Burkett completed 28 years of decorated service and was medically retired from the US Army National Guard in 1998 after suffering meningoencephalitis on return from an assignment in Panama. From 1995 until his illness, Burkett served as State Plans Officer for the Texas Army National Guard and Governor George W. Bush. After refusing to follow direct orders involving falsifying readiness reports, Burkett sought "whistleblower" status for reports involving anti-Semitic activity; personnel fraud; readiness fraud and the alteration of the personal military file of Governor George W. Bush. Lt. Col. Burkett is currently the plaintiff in his appeal to the US Supreme Court in the case of Burkett v. Goodwin, Taliaferro, Meador, et al, in regard to the retaliation against him following breaking the Bush records issue. Lt. Col Burkett served as a War Plans Officer during Operation Desert Storm and functioned as a senior trainer in conducting simulations exercises for deploying troops.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Catshrink]

18. They don't have the cajones to have Burkett on.

[buycitgo]

23. OOPS! they asked the WRONG GUY about missing records!

quoted from tape:

and I QUOTE..."I can tell you, having spent THREE YEARS as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, IN CHARGE of the Guard Reserve Programs, that it would be very unusual to lose these records." quote

more coming

[Stephanie]

26. Woo hooo! Who is this guy? Let's get him on every show!

He should be on Russert this Sunday right after Smirky.

[buycitgo]

27. more on moron records

continuing on from above:

"they are important for monitoring,uh, PAY; for the credit that you get for drill, that goes against (sic), to, uh, satisfactory performance in the guard, so there are lots of questions out there."

then talks about how many of those who served then have kids in military now, and view the current war as UNNECESSARY.

now, aaron buts in with this:

well, let me ask the question this way (SO unctuous, squirmy body language): whatever they did back then, they were a little bit more, but not much more than KIDS.....(skipping more smarm here about their ages).....what does that tell us, really, about who they are today, and how they would deal with the issues of today?

Webb: good question....who is the least dangerous in terms of the situation that we're in right now. I say that because there's an enoromous amoun of concern about what the Bush admin has done in terms of the Iraq war, and I personally would have never even have thought that large numbers of Viet Vets would be moving toward Kerry because of the anger toward him from before, but you're seeing this happen now largely because of concern over the management of the Iraq war.

before he said that, he went into some detail of the anger Kerry generated among vets when he spoke out.....got the impression he doesn't care for Kerry.

but he clearly doensn't go for Bush, either

[TacticalPeek]

39. I think the Webb segment was excellent, and moves the ball.

The WH has only come up with indignant non-denial denials. Their case is pretty much about not remembering, no records, and an 'honorable' discharge.

Webb, with the authority of former asst SecDef, is telling us that there ARE records. "Very unusual to lose" is really saying they are not lost. All that paper gets pushed around in duplicate and triplicate, and the Morning Reports and Monthly Rosters, etc. go up the chain, and then are stored FOREVER.

Plus, he said this MATTERS.

[buycitgo]

17. they're dancing around it somewhat; pussyfooting

waste of time, as usual

NOT one mention of media's abrogation of responsibility

couldn't follow it too well...reading this, typing at same time.

taped it...will check that

over already

[buycitgo]

20. here, transcribed from tape

Brown: thirty years ago; is it fair game?

Webb: I think it's not only fair game, but I think there are considerations at play that could illuminate larger issues of credibility; could really make this kinda NASTY(his emphasis)

[Catshrink]

21. Nice!

Kerry's a real war hero, not the phony baloney Top Gun.... Bring it on!

[Stephanie]

22. YES! - "could illuminate larger issues of credibility"

Exactly!

BUSH LIES

over, and over, and over

about everything, large or small

[stanwyck]

29. I'm just not getting this

As I posted on another thread. I have my German ancestors' military records from the 19th century. My father has his WWII military records. My son, an active duty Marine, has very detailed records. But Bush...."serving" at a time thirty years after my father, has no evidence of his service. We're to believe the military...the Military!...didn't keep records. Right. Does being a Republican require having your brain removed? Seriously. How amazingly bereft do you have to be to believe this?

[Stephanie]

30. Check out BOSSHOG's thread - DU Vets have all THEIR records

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1081070&mesg_id=1081070&page=">A Question for my Fellow Veterans

[Karenina]

41. And the *dauphin is scheduled

to tape some obscenity with slobbering Tim. Hmmmm, just imagine if
a couple THOUSAND Vets, accompanied by any and/or all of the Democratic candidates, senators, congresscritters (to insure the cops don't start pushing folks around unnecessarily), everybody's got photocopies of their military records, signs, mock coffins, buttons and bumper stickers, all gather in the closest "free speech zone" to the TV studio with whistles, bullhorns drums, chanting in unison, "Dubya, Dubya, Dubya, WHERE WERE YOU IN 72?" Oh yeah, and don't forget the sea of flags.

You think the *corp media would cover it?

[buycitgo]

32. Webb said specifically that for the records to be missing

would be UNUSUAL, ahem

funny how often that happens with Bush, isn't it?

and now DOLE is making the excuse on Jon Stewart that nasty dems are dissing the national guard

Stewart craftily corrects him:

but I think people are upset cause he MISSED serving in the NatGuard!!!!

just remember what a COMPLETE scumbag Dole is

read Senator for Sale, by a former staffer

totally corrupt

check out what he did to Lawrence Walsh during/after Iran/Contra, especially right before/after the pardons

[stanwyck]

33. Once again

thank you, Jon Stewart. Dole implying Dems sneer at Guard service. And Jon correcting him...it's the NOT serving...nice try, Bob. And, again, the "he made it up on weekends"....Really? How does that work? Can my son leave 15 months before his 4-yr. Marine service and "make it up on the weekends?" And what about those soldiers in Iraq? Coming home early to start weekend commutes? This is crazy talk.

[buycitgo]

31. brown performing susan stamberg moment here

next question...he's preening, elbows on desk chin in hand, snake dancing with arms, hands, as he oozes out this pretentious/PORtentous gem of a self-centered-I-am-the-story-with-such-grandiose-questions:

"DO you think.....LONG PAUSE, heh.......you know, some day our kids are going to be sitting around talking about this, that this, that this will NEVER go away, or is there SOMEthing abooouuuut the moment that we're in, this kind of ODD moment we're in, where THIS MAY BE THE MOMENT where we really do as a country come to terms with Vietnam?"

huh? am I missing something here?

and you MUST see the performance of the above question....transcript will NOT do it justice...worthy of the most saccharine blither of Baba Wawa or Dianne Sawyer.....PURE treacle


and WTF does this have to do with coming to terms with Viet fricking NAM????

Webb kind of blathers a bit, but then ends with this "strategic" point, as he calls it, saying that, "since Kerry's record is already out......that it's natural for Kerry campaign to strategically to go AFTER (his emph) what GWB did, because their guy's stuff is already out there."

WHAT, exactly, did GWB DO, Mr. Webb? you SAID what Kerry did (making vets and others MAD because of his VVAW stances, rapprochement with NVN), but you didn't say ANYthing about what Bush did, aside from having missing records.

pretty obvious where his biases lie, to a certain extent, but give him credit for at least airing the idea that something STINKS, even if he was very oblique in the way he put it.

it's simply amazing, that like the reFUSAL to admint the POSSIBILITY that dumbo is lying his ass off about Iraq/WMD/911......well, EVERYthing, they creep about on little kitty paws about the possibility that he SHIRKED his fricking DUTY during a time of war.

How much more obvious does it have to BE??????

[HootieMcBoob]

34. Bush is full of shite

My family can prove that a great great whatever grandfather of mine served at Valley "fucking" Forge because we have a letter he wrote trying to get his freakin' pension for serving in the Revolutionary War for crying out loud.

If we can prove that, from over 200 years ago, (and my family are far removed from being rich or privileged they just happened to have immigrated from Ireland at the wrong time I guess) George "fucking" Bush should be able to get ahold of his Guard records. Gimme a break already.
:puke:

[buycitgo]

35. from #2 site on george bush awol google.....41K hits

http://www.lies.com/blog/archives/001460.html

I love this little pic

[kskiska]

36. Excellent Salon article tonight on Bush*s Missing Year

http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/02/05/national_guard/index.html

It's posted in Editorials, too.

(snip)

"His records have clearly been cleaned up," says author James Moore, whose upcoming book, "Bush's War for Re-election," will examine the issue of Bush's military service in great detail. Moore says as far back as 1994, when Bush first ran for governor of Texas, his political aides "began contacting commanders and roommates and people who would spin and cover up his Guard record. And when my book comes out, people will be on the record testifying to that fact: witnesses who helped clean up Bush's military file."

[buycitgo]

37. very very interesting

but......

how in the WORLD are they going to be able to spin away the simple facts that he refused to take a flight physical for the most ungodly lame reason they could possibly think of

AND that he never, EVER flew again?

going to cook up something about secret missions for some unknown intel agency?

[bagnana]

38. Bush dishonored the National Guard

He jumped over other more worthy candidates' heads to get in, and then didn't show up. He showed contempt for his unit and his commanders. He left his unit to train and possibly fight without him. Bush dishonored the National Guard! Keep saying it, because the Repub. spin (and the only spin they apparently have), is that the dems are "denigrating" the National Guard. Bush dishonored the National Guard.

[stanwyck]

40. Very important point

The spin will be that Dems hate the military by tarnishing Bush. Yet it was Bush's contempt for a rich boy having to follow all the rules written for those "other people". Bush is a spoiled brat who has never had to do his homework or earn his living. Rules don't apply. He doesn't deserve to be our leader.