There is about to be an onslaught by the Democrats targeting Bush's Texas Air National Guard Service during Vietnam. The old accusations will be dredged up again and a flurry of activity is planned. It started with this editorial by the "art critic" of the NY Times, Frank Rich (too bad its not Frank Smart) claiming that Bush is the real sissie for only training to be a fighter pilot. It will continue with the Today Show airing an interview with Kitty Kelley, author of such memorable works as The Royals--not sold in the U.K. for obvious reasons; and Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography who will talk about her new book on Bush, which will of course reveal all his alcohol use and (gasp) his and Laura's (!) alleged use (alleged by his ex-sister-in-law apparently) of cocaine and other substances. Then tomorrow sometime a new group, called "Texans for Truth" (or maybe it is "Texans for Kerry" --I'm not sure) will air an ad about Bush dredging up the old AWOL/deserter accusations (I don't have a link yet). WOW! I simply cannot wait to inhale it all.
If you would like the antidote to all this poison, this article should do it. It simply re-states all the facts AGAIN (how many times do we have to go through this???), and points out some things that the National News Media continues to want to ignore--like how the Air National Guard works and how that is different from the regular military. for example.
And, while we are on the subject: it is now 38 days and counting since John Kerry has faced a single reporter to answer questions about his military service in Vietnam and the inconsistencies in his Cambodia story; questions about his self-inflicted wounds and purple hearts and all that jazz. Clearly the Media has tried desperately to ignore all of this and can only be grateful that Kerry is deflecting attention by going on the attack (Hey! Its OK if Kerry does it, right?)
2 comments:
Just to add here, there is a front-page story in the Wednesday (9-8-04) Boston Globe today on this, trying to make something out of a couple new documents. The barrage has begun.
The media's been trying to ignore how the attendence system in the Reserves and ANG works. When I was doing attendence recording for two Reserve squadrons, what I had to keep track of was whether someone signed in or not, and if not whether there was paperwork to cover the absence. A person could reschedule up to 90 days either direction of a Reserve weekend, leaving a potential 180 day period where someone wasn't even on the base. And, there were guys I didn't see from year to year who were on alternate drill weekends, TDY during drill weekends, or what have you.
But then, those details aren't important. What's important is that nobody remembers whether some Lt 30+ years back showed up some weekends which may or may not have been regular drill weekends, or alternate drill weekends (which have much lower attendance) - when there was basically NOTHING unique or unusual about him.
I'd be hard pressed to identify folks I saw once a month for a year, ten years ago. That Bush isn't remembered doesn't surprise me in the least. Now, if he started tap-dancing on the Commander's desk, that'd be a different matter. But he kept a low profile, so there'd be nothing to remember him by.
J.
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