The Disappearing Smirk...

[TruthIsAll]

And for his next act...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=14845

snip

But let's be tolerant. After all, things disappear. Didn't the president effectively disappear leaving the country in the hands of Rudy Guiliani for fully twelve hours immediately following the Word Trade Center collapse? Didn't the president's stock transaction records disappear from Harken Energy?5 Didn't the federal budget surplus disappear? Didn't Osama bin Laden disappear? Didn't Afghanistan disappear? Didn't Saddam Hussein disappear until the Kurds found him? Didn't the weapons of mass destruction disappear? Didn't 4 million American jobs disappear? Didn't your 2000 vote disappear? Things disappear.

Since Bush's affinity for the military uniform seems to be a recent and apparently acquired taste, all we know of Bush the Lesser's abbreviated military career is this: He'd been trained as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. Then he flew around Texas for awhile looking for Viet Cong, no doubt, then he requested a transfer to the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama (Alabama?). That transfer was approved by Bush's Texas superiors as well as his would-be Alabama Commander, Lt. Colonel Reese R. Bricken. But, it was rejected by the top brass. It's merely speculation of course, but perhaps that rejection occurred because the top brass knew (as I'm sure Dub'ya and his Texas ANG cronies did) that the dashing-sounding 9921st Squadron was in reality a post office with no pilots, and no planes. Not surprisingly, that's when things get foggy. Jet Jockey George disappears from the historical records and from the memory of his contemporaries. There is no record of his ever flying again. He does not show up to take his required flight physical (which included a drug and alcohol test) in August 1972 and is grounded in absentia. Separate orders show him being assigned to another Alabama unit, the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery. He never showed up there either, according to the man to whom he was ordered to report, his commander, General William Tunipseed (USAF Ret.). That was May, 1972. Seven months later, back at Ellington Air Force Base in Texas, his original squadron, Bush's two superior officers were unable to complete his annual evaluation covering the year from May 1, 1972 to April 30, 1973 because, "Lt. Bush has not been observed at this unit during the period of this report." Both superior officers are now dead. But the report lives on. Further, Ellington's top personnel officer at the time, retired Colonel Rufus G. Martin, said he had believed that First Lieutenant Bush completed his final year of service in Alabama. Doing what? Secretly delivering mail?

In fact, there is no record or memory of his ever doing anything Air Force like again in Texas or Alabama or anyplace else for an entire year, until 30 years to the day before his carrier stunt on the USS Abraham Lincoln. May 1, 1973 is when he showed up again, back in Texas. May Day 1973.

Dub'ya's military records for the period between 1 May 72 and 1 May 73 are either missing or are not available for "administrative reasons," which probably means they're missing. Further, his commanders in both the Ellington and Montgomery units do not remember ever so much as seeing Jet Jockey George during the entire time between May Day 1972, and May Day 1973. But, so be it. Nobody remembers, and maybe disappearing from duty is considered to be okay when your country is at war if your father is a congressman. I'll pretend to accept that.

more..

[calimary]

1. Aha! Somebody noticed that.

"Didn't the president effectively disappear leaving the country in the hands of Rudy Guiliani for fully twelve hours immediately following the Word Trade Center collapse?"

Yes, indeed. AWOL went AWOL THERE, too. Just a pattern of behavior that is rather long and undeniable by now. Nice consistent disappearing act. Here's hoping it continues, right up to and including this coming November.

[teach1st]

2. Didn't the Secret Service insist on this?

"Didn't the president effectively disappear leaving the country in the hands of Rudy Guiliani for fully twelve hours immediately following the Word Trade Center collapse?"

My memory is dim about this, but wasn't Bush's absence from Washington following his exit from Florida on 9/11 at the insistence of Secret Service?

[buycitgo]

4. sure; whatever you say

and didn't the SS also insist we invade Iraq?

[teach1st]

5. Sheesh!

I wasn't making a point. I was just asking for info.

[T Bone]

7. He could have told the the ss to FO but instead he high-tailed it out to

the heartland instead of throwing himself into the thick of the fight that day.

[TomNickell]

8. The SS could always be over-ruled....

He's the President.

If * had flown back to DC with a fighter escort, there wouldn't have been any real danger.

Air Force 1 must have the world's best communication equipment; Bush could have done a speech-to-the-Nation or a quick press conference in-flight. If he had the foggiest idea what to say, of course.

He looked really shaken up for about 3 or 4 days.

[Taeger]

3. He was AWOL

He was AWOL for a month before September 11. He had been warned about highjacking plans. John Ashcroft began flying PRIVATE charters exclusively.

He took the LONGEST vacation in presidential history under those circumstances.

The morning of 9/11, he was informed about events WELL before he left the hotel. He new that planes were off course. He new that a jet had slammed into the World Trade Center. Rather than "take charge" as people claim the president is wont to do, he went to read stories to grade school children.

After he was informed of the second strike, he still had ZERO sense of urgency. He finished the story rather than excusing himself and "protecting the country".

The man is an incompetent president!!!!!!

[Snappy]

6. Jobs

Dubya the Dunce couldn't have gotten a job at McDonald's or Burger King without political pull from his Daddy.

[OneBlueSky]

9. to be fair, now . . .

not a single Viet Cong infiltrated the great state of Texas while Bush was on patrol . . .