Bush: "Had my unit been called-up, I would have gone."

[krkaufman]

Holy hypocrites, Batman...! Just saw a preview of a Matt Lauer interview w/ Boosh (to be aired Monday morning on 'Today'), where Boosh claims relative heroism ("more heroic") in flying fighter jets in Texas... AND claims that he would have gone to Vietnam had his unit been called-up.

LAUER: "You think you both served on the same level of heroism?"

BOOSH: "That's... no, I don't... I think his going to Vietnam was.. was.. more heroic than my flying fighter jets. He was in harm's way; I wasn't. uh.. On the other hand.. uh.. uh.. I served my country. Had my unit been called-up, I would have gone."

Is the Boosh Campaign trying to bait Democrats? How could he be more disingenous? He *didn't* fly fighter jets (he was grounded for failure to follow procedure), explicitly marked his TANG application as not volunteering for overseas duty, and likely wouldn't have gone overseas with his unit (had they, chuckle, been called-up) because he'd lost flying status -- and, oh yeah, wasn't anywhere to be found!

[blondeatlast]

1. Invisible in two states only--Texas and Alabama.

Except when he was dancing naked and drunken on barstools.

[PaDUer]

45. Well, since he STILL owes the military time..

let him get his ass to Iraq, and take along his buddies with him since they didn't serve either..

Might be a good idea to contact the military and let them know he's available and said he'd go if he was called..let them call him or get the same treatment NOW as anyone else who goes awol..

[KC21304]

2. What in the hell would he have done ? His pilot's license had

been suspended. He was no more flying fighter jets for the last two years then I was.


I think he has given the media the opening they needed. Now he has spoken about his " war record" so they can ask him anything, right ? He is the one who brought it up as they say.

[krkaufman]

20. Yes, and Matt Lauer totally dropped it.

Lauer *SHOULD* have immediately followed-up with questions of exactly what good Bush could have done in Vietnam, given that he had lost his flying status -- and (at best) was working on a political campaign instead of remaining prepared for duty.

[dennis4868]

30. Yep....

Lauer drops it but agressively questions Michael Moore to no end.....good job media whore!

Go to hell....blood is on your hands too.

[rocktivity]

3. Translation:

"Pretty pretty pleeeezeee Mr Kerry don't do any commercials about my military record pretty pretty pleeeeezeeee with sugar on top...I can't say anything bad about the smear-boaters 'cuz if I do they'll show that I helped create them and I'll get into real big trouble because that's illegal pleeeeeeezeeee Mister Kerry be good I'll be your friend pleeeezeeeeee"

:headbang:
rocknation

[chelsea0011]

4. What a SH**HEAD. The guard, as everyone knows.

wasn't for the most part being called for duty. Bush thinks he is a war hero.

[krkaufman]

22. Wow, you've opened my eyes on something...

Bush's excessive use of National Guard units in his current war in Iraq makes his past service in the Texas Air National Guard *seem* more bold -- to those less apt to note a difference. (Though I think the abuse of NG forces is more related to Donald Rumsfeld's arrogance, than this Rovian angle.)

[RobinA]

38. It's Probably More Related

to the lack of a draft. The times they have a'changed since Vietnam. The whole POINT of trying to get into a Guard unit was that they didn't go overseas in those days.

[whistle]

5. CeeeeHrist, Bush was called up to go to Alabama....

....and he failed to show. What is he talking about? He really expects thinking Americans are going to believe that he ever would have put his ass on the line in Vietnam? What a jerk!

[Kierkegaard]

6. Exactly. How would he have known?

He wasn't with his unit after becoming a deserter, so who would have tracked him down to let him know he was scheduled to ship out?

[dogman]

7. This doesn't rate a follow-up?

It's not like he got a Purple Heart or other awards to be questioned. It's not just Faux that sucks.

[noahmijo]

8. That's why he left what was it 8 months early to go to Harvard

Honestly I have more respect for an all out draft dodger who admits he did everything he could to get out of war and doesn't attempt to come off like Joe "I know all about war" Badass than I do for a guy who joins knowing full well he is completely safe from ever even going near enemy territory and then wants to come off as some of sort of heroic war president and make himself appear to be braver and bigger than George Washington.

[Cha]

12. Definetly have more respect for Clinton..

or any of the other millions of guys who tried to stay out of Viet Nam.

[noahmijo]

19. He was incredibly tough on terrorism despite what neo-cons say

and he did it without even taking on a macho attitude. Now because I'm not an Oxford Scholar I probably would've said harsher words during my speeches against terrorism, but Clinton didn't have to he just acted and that's what counts not tough words and attitude. ACTION.

[Cha]

9. If they could have fucking found

him! You lyin' scumbag...where are the men who were with you in the Guard?

And matt lauer should have his head examined!

[krkaufman]

23. Lauer's a plastic puss, exemplifying the worst of today's "journalism" n/t

[napi21]

10. Yea, I saw that too. Had to laugh.

I guess he couldn't say much else, but I remember the 60's & 70's. Most of my friends were drafted. I had one relative who got into the NG. His dad owned a store, was in the Rotary Club, and some decent connections to the State legislators. He never went to 'Nam, and never expected to go either!

I also remember sooing on one of shrubs released records that there was a question about Vietnam service and 2 boxes. HE CHECKED NO!

[xray s]

11. Yeah he would have gone alright...

...he would have gone right in his pants. Then he would have called up daddy for some "help".

[olddem43]

13. The way I would put it is: He hid out from the war in the

National Guard, and then hid out from the Guard itself.

[kcwayne]

14. Bullshit, he would have transferred to another unit that was not going

Just like he pulled strings to transfer to Alabama.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

15. But don't you love how

he's having to answer questions about Kerry's service and how honorable it was and how proud he should be and don't you love how he is being asked to COMPARE the two levels of service?

It is bringing attention to HIS service record, and guys, there really wasn't any attention on it before this swift boat stuff. Not out in the mainstream. And I don't know if anyone's noticed, but I've caught several news stories just in the past few days about bush's service record.

They should have known if you start smearing on Kerry's service record, bush's will have to come out, too. And that is one thing they did NOT want, I am sure of that.

[krkaufman]

25. Eh, anything that keeps us from talking about....

... Iraq, Afghanistan, the stagnant economy, failure of the tax cuts, shifting tax burden, growing poverty and decreasing medical coverage, the millions of children being left behind, etc.... is a plus for Boosh.

[lapfog_1]

16. That is another misleading Bushism

He knows damn good and well that HIS unit in the TANG was not
going to be called up EVER. Especially for duty in 'nam.

[bowens43]

17. Bush KNEW that he wouldn't be called up.

His unit was for the elite and the politically powerful. There was absolutely no Chance that he would be called up and he knew it.

[Sparkly]

18. PIGS would have been flying through Vietnam before that Chimp

And he KNEW it. :eyes:

[watercolors]

21. if I remember right

he put an X in box that said he did not want to go to vietnam. Lying again!!

[Keirsey]

26. Dubya quote 1994

I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Not was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes.

[PurityOfEssence]

24. Then why'd he check the "no" box about going overseas?

There's documentary evidence of this: he deliberately opted out of going overseas. If he's going to bring up his willingness to heed the call, he needs to point out that he expressly avoided going to Vietnam.

[AirAmFan]

28. Exactly! This visual evidence of *'s cowardice needs to get

maximum exposure, NOW!

Go to http://www.npr.org/programs/wesat/features/2004/feb/bushfiles/applic2.html

Look at the third set of check boxes, under "Area Assignment Preferences". It says

'( )I DO (x)DO NOT volunteer for overseas'

Notice also the "Flying Status Agreement (Officers Only)" section, immediately preceding the "Area Preferences" section. It says,

"If I am selected for recall in a non-flying capacity, I hereby voluntarily request permanent suspension from flying status ( )YES (x)NO".

In other words, Dubya did not simply want to get out of being drafted and sent to Vietnam. He INSISTED that hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars had to be spent teaching him to fly 'like Daddy', even though he REFUSED to be sent overseas.

See also http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x600026

[klook]

27. The Elite Champagne Unit of the Texas Air National Guard

Proudly serving in every armed overseas conflict since its inception!

[AirAmFan]

32. This WP link (no reg req'd) talks about some very incriminating photos

of * with his Guard benefactors. I've never seen them, but someone might be able to track down. From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/bush072899.htm :

"In addition to Bush and Bentsen, many socially or politically prominent young men were admitted to the Air Guard, according to former officials; they included the son of then-Sen. John Tower and at least seven members of the Dallas Cowboys. ... One address for those seeking help getting in was Ben Barnes, ... then the speaker of the Texas House and a protege of Gov. John B. Connally. A top aide to Barnes, Nick Kralj, simultaneously served as aide to the head of the Texas Air National Guard, the late Brig. Gen. James M. Rose.

An anonymous letter addressed to a U.S. attorney in Texas, produced in a discovery proceeding for an ongoing lawsuit, charged that Barnes assisted Bush in getting into the Guard. The suit was brought by the former director of the Texas Lottery Commission, who believes Barnes, now a lobbyist, may have played a role in his dismissal. In a deposition for the suit, Kralj confirmed that he would get calls from Barnes or his chief of staff, Robert Spelling, "saying so-and-so is interested in getting in the Guard." Kralj said he would then forward the names to Gen. Rose."

[snyder]

29. Move On Should Base An Ad Around That Quote

[Supersedeas]

31. Lauer email addy, anyone? (eom)

[Gloria]

33. This is the same type of answer he gave when questioned about

the treatment at TX prisons when he was governor...He had already received reports about what was going on and complaints from the prison people in Missouri (prisoners from MO were sent to TX)...and then a video tape emerges and he says: "If I had known about the video tape I would have taken....harsher....action." (sic)

Pure Bullshit!! Always and excuse or wiggle out from this creep....

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

34. Only 6,140 National Guard WERE called up

according to the statistics at the link below. That's 6,140 Guardsmen serving in Vietnam compared to more than 2.5 million total military that served within the borders of South Vietnam. Of those 6,140 Guardsmen, 101 died in combat. The chances of George Bush ever getting called up were minimal at best. Not only did he get grounded from flying, but I believe that the particular jet he was flying when he did fly was not considered useful in Vietnam.

http://www.eiis.net/cmart/vietwarstats.html

[NewJeffCT]

43. Great stat - Bill Maher uses it all the time

I've heard Bill Maher use that stat all the time. Bush had a snowball's chance in hell of going to Vietnam.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

35. Had Halle Berry Asked Me To Sleep With Her I Probably Would

nt

[demwing]

36. that nails it...

oh yeah...that nails it.

[imax2268]

37. How can he say that...

First of all he clearly marked the form to not go overseas...
Second...he was flying jets that would have never been called up in the first place...
Third...he didn't show up for a physical...and didn't show up for a year...had his flying status revoked...etc...etc...

BushCO...you are so full of shit it's not even funny...it's easy to say that you would have gone "after the fact" moron...!Just remember this asshole...many many good men died over there while you were having frat parties...you disgust me and you are going to be voted out...!

[AP]

39. Had ANY NG unit been called up, Bush wouldn't have been in NG.

He would have found some other way to keep his ass out of harm's way.

[name not needed]

40. He would have gone

crying to daddy in Kennebunkport

[mr_hat]

41. As if. The F-102 he trained on had an extremely limited role >

in that conflict in the first place. It was an interceptor, after all -- designed to counter long-range Soviet bombers.

The single(?) frontline AF unit that flew the F-102 in Vietnam was withdrawn in '69, IIRC; about the same time * first started training on it.

"If" his unit had been called? If pigs with wings had been called...

http://www.seanet.com/~johnco/bush102.htm

[rullery]

42. Bush had to defend Houston from the Viet Cong bombers!

Let us not be too harsh on the President. Some one had to fly planes over Houston to defend it against the sneaky Viet Cong, and Bush was proud to protect the city. What? You say the Viet Cong didn't have any bombers? Well - see how sneaky they were!

[George_Bonanza]

44. Probably kicking and screaming