More Flies For The Ointment

[Nbadan]

DU Exclusive: Is that W. misunderestimating his service in the U.S. Airforce on a piece of old campaign literature?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/images/homepage/bush_air_force_detail.jpg

http://www.democraticunderground.com/images/homepage/bush_air_force_medium.jpg

[Nbadan]

Bush lost that congressional race, but twenty-one years later, the AP questioned him about the ad. The news outlet had a good reason to do so. Bush had never served in the Air Force. He had only been in the Air National Guard. But when AP asked Bush if he had been justified in claiming service in the Air Force, Bush, then the governor of Texas and a presidential candidate, said, "I think so, yes. I was in the Air Force for over 600 days." Karen Hughes, his spokeswoman, maintained that when Bush attended flight school for the Air National Guard from 1968 to 1969 he was considered to be on active duty for the Air Force and that several times afterward he had been placed on alert, which also qualified as active duty for the Air Force. All told, she said, Bush had logged 607 days of training and alerts. "As an officer ," she told the AP, "he was serving on active duty in the Air Force."

But this explanation was wrong. Says who? The Air Force. As the Associated Press reported,

The Air Force says that Air National Guard members are considered 'guardsmen on active duty' while receiving pilot training. They are not, however, counted as members of the overall active-duty Air Force.

Anyone in the Air National Guard is always considered a guardsmen and not a member of the active-duty Air Force, according to an Air Force spokeswoman in the Pentagon. A National Guard member may be called to active duty for pilot training or another temporary assignment and receive active-duty pay at the time, but they remain Guard members.

The Nation (http://TheNation)

doh?

[Nbadan]

http://www.bartcop.com/wwn-best-ever.gif

[Yonivore]

I bet you subscribe Nbadanallah.

[Spurminator]

But this explanation was wrong. Says who? The Air Force. As the Associated Press reported,

The Air Force says that Air National Guard members are considered 'guardsmen on active duty' while receiving pilot training. They are not, however, counted as members of the overall active-duty Air Force.

It amazes me that the same people who don't think that lying under oath about a sexual encounter is any big deal believe that this is worth discussing.

[Yonivore]

Frankly, I don't see the big deal with this campaign literature.

I mean, Kerry is claiming to be a Vietnam Hero, isn't he?

[Tommy Duncan]

REALITY (AP) - The Democratic Party died today....

[Yonivore]

Photographic evidence -- verified as authentic by Dan Rather's handwriting expert:
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040912/capt.ny12609121824.gore_unleashed_ny126.jpg

[Yonivore]

You know, it just occurred to me...I wonder if that man has had his cholesterol checked lately.

Seriously, that's a man about to flake a piece of plaque or blow a hose somewhere in his head.

[Yonivore]

Ooops! Looks like he was in the Air Force.


http://www.drudgereport.com/bush.pdf (http://www.drudgereport.com/bush.pdf)

I know, it's a forgery, right?

[xrayzebra]

Can someone explain to me what the point of this
argument is? Come Novemeber it will all be settled by
the voters........hehehehehehehe......Jane Fonda Kerry
will be wondering when the A-1 sauce is. As he crosses
his hands on his chest, like Terry, and gives his little
prayer sign to his supporters.....hehehehehhe.....
:elephant :elephant :elephant :elephant :elephant :elephant

[Yonivore]

There is no point, we're just having fun with the morons.

[DeSPURado]

I love that the only rebuttal you guys have is turning into "is there any point to this."

[Tommy Duncan]

That's a natural reaction to 30 year old claims about a sitting president which have been brought up four years ago as well as earlier this year. You have no idea how humorous your paranoid nattering about Bush's national guard service looks.

[Yonivore]

"I love that the only rebuttal you guys have is turning into 'is there any point to this.'"
DeSPURate, I just linked you to a .pdf of a document that shows a 120 day committment to ACTIVE DUTY AIR FORCE. One that doesn't appear to have been created with Microsoft Word 2002 too!

I still don't think there's any point to this though. Well, other than showing how utterly failed is the Demoncratic campaign.

[Nbadan]

Looks like by posting the PDF file on his site (http://www.drudgereport.com/bush.pdf), Drudge has unwhittingly confirmed that W. fell short on his service commitment...


A 1968 document from the president's military file, posted on the Internet, merely reminds us of how far short he fell in fulfilling his service commitments.

By Eric Boehlert

Attempting to bolster President Bush as he continues to stonewall questions about his Texas Air National Guard service, Internet gossip Matt Drudge posted a 1968 document from Bush's military personnel file Monday afternoon that purports to buttress a long-ago claim by Bush that he served not only in the Texas Air National Guard but in the Air Force as well. Although this "exclusive" Drudge posting is a trivial sidebar to the larger story of Bush's absence from two years of military service, the document itself -- presumably provided to Drudge by a Republican operative -- turns out to be an incriminating piece of evidence against Bush's case.

The Air Force claim arose in 1978, when Bush ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives from west Texas. During the campaign he produced literature in which he said he had served in the Air Force as well as the Texas Air National Guard. Pressed by the Associated Press about the claim two decades later in 1999, Bush's spokeswoman, handler and biographer, Karen Hughes, insisted the assertion was accurate. Her explanation: As part of his 1968 training to become a Guard pilot, Bush served 120 days of active duty; therefore he served in the Air Force.

(snip)

Like the White House aides who in February released a portion of Bush's military payroll records under media pressure without fully understanding the incriminating evidence embedded in their military coding -- information that has come back to haunt Bush -- Drudge, by posting Bush's 1968 signed statement, merely reminds people how far short of fulfilling his military requirement the president fell.

For example, in his 1968 statement, Bush pledged to maintain "satisfactory participation" with his Guard unit, which meant fulfilling "satisfactory performance of assigned duties at 48 scheduled inactive duty training period days and 15 days filed training annually." Failure to do so meant being transferred to active duty, and the possibility of being sent to Vietnam. But in both 1972 and 1973, Bush failed to meet that participation standard.

more…

Salon (http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/14/bush_service/index.html)

Looks like the allegations made by the Dan Rather documents are right.

[Yonivore]

He actually fulfilled his duty. At the time, guardsmen were required to accumulate a minimum of 50 points to meet their yearly obligation.

May '68 - May '69: 253 points.
May '69 - May '70: 340 points.
May '70 - May '71: 137 points.
May '70 - May '72: 112 points.
May '72 - May '73: 56 points. (<< The period everyone's whining about)
May '73 - May '74: 56 points. (<< Actually, he had accumulated the requisite 50 points by the end of July 1973 and asked for an early discharge which he was granted).


Bush’s National Guard years (http://www.hillnews.com/york/090904.aspx)


What do you really know about George W. Bush’s time in the Air National Guard?

That he didn’t show up for duty in Alabama? That he missed a physical? That his daddy got him in?

News coverage of the president’s years in the Guard has tended to focus on one brief portion of that time — to the exclusion of virtually everything else. So just for the record, here, in full, is what Bush did:

The future president joined the Guard in May 1968. Almost immediately, he began an extended period of training. Six weeks of basic training. Fifty-three weeks of flight training. Twenty-one weeks of fighter-interceptor training.

That was 80 weeks to begin with, and there were other training periods thrown in as well. It was full-time work. By the time it was over, Bush had served nearly two years.

Not two years of weekends. Two years.

After training, Bush kept flying, racking up hundreds of hours in F-102 jets. As he did, he accumulated points toward his National Guard service requirements. At the time, guardsmen were required to accumulate a minimum of 50 points to meet their yearly obligation.

According to records released earlier this year, [Which haven't been questioned by anyone that I'm aware. - Y.], Bush earned 253 points in his first year, May 1968 to May 1969 (since he joined in May 1968, his service thereafter was measured on a May-to-May basis).

Bush earned 340 points in 1969-1970. He earned 137 points in 1970-1971. And he earned 112 points in 1971-1972. The numbers indicate that in his first four years, Bush not only showed up, he showed up a lot. Did you know that?

That brings the story to May 1972 — the time that has been the focus of so many news reports — when Bush “deserted” (according to anti-Bush filmmaker Michael Moore) or went “AWOL” (according to Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee).

Bush asked for permission to go to Alabama to work on a Senate campaign. His superior officers said OK. Requests like that weren’t unusual, says retired Col. William Campenni, who flew with Bush in 1970 and 1971.

“In 1972, there was an enormous glut of pilots,” Campenni says. “The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Air Force was putting pilots in desk jobs. In ’72 or ’73, if you were a pilot, active or Guard, and you had an obligation and wanted to get out, no problem. In fact, you were helping them solve their problem.”

So Bush stopped flying. From May 1972 to May 1973, he earned just 56 points — not much, but enough to meet his requirement. [It's entirely possible, according to Guardsmen I've talked to and heard in the media and other forums, that Bush performed Guard duties on an ad hoc basis and that the duties may not have had anything to do with flying. It's kind of the old, "not seeing the forest for the trees." The Demoncrats are hunting under the wrong rocks, that's all. And the President owes them no explanation as he has an honorable discharge and the papers to prove it. -Y.]

Then, in 1973, as Bush made plans to leave the Guard and go to Harvard Business School, he again started showing up frequently.

In June and July of 1973, he accumulated 56 points, enough to meet the minimum requirement for the 1973-1974 year.

Then, at his request, he was given permission to go. Bush received an honorable discharge after serving five years, four months and five days of his original six-year commitment. By that time, however, he had accumulated enough points in each year to cover six years of service.

During his service, Bush received high marks as a pilot.

A 1970 evaluation said Bush “clearly stands out as a top notch fighter interceptor pilot” and was “a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to for leadership.”

A 1971 evaluation called Bush “an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot” who “continually flies intercept missions with the unit to increase his proficiency even further.” And a 1972 evaluation called Bush “an exceptional fighter interceptor pilot and officer.”

Now, it is only natural that news reports questioning Bush’s service — in The Boston Globe and The New York Times, on CBS and in other outlets — would come out now. Democrats are spitting mad over attacks on John Kerry’s record by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

And, as it is with Kerry, it’s reasonable to look at a candidate’s entire record, including his military service — or lack of it. Voters are perfectly able to decide whether it’s important or not in November.

The Kerry camp blames Bush for the Swift boat veterans’ attack, but anyone who has spent much time talking to the Swifties gets the sense that they are doing it entirely for their own reasons.

And it should be noted in passing that Kerry has personally questioned Bush’s service, while Bush has not personally questioned Kerry’s.

In April — before the Swift boat veterans had said a word — Kerry said Bush “has yet to explain to America whether or not, and tell the truth, about whether he showed up for duty.” Earlier, Kerry said, “Just because you get an honorable discharge does not, in fact, answer that question.”

Now, after the Swift boat episode, the spotlight has returned to Bush.

That’s fine. We should know as much as we can.

And perhaps someday Kerry will release more of his military records as well.