Convicted? No. I especially like how all the facts from the Globe and other stories are ignored as if they didn't matter and the only thing that bears attention is whether he was formally charged. Here are some issues that need to addressed: 1. "Bush himself, in his 1999 autobiography, ''A Charge to Keep,'' recounts the thrills of his pilot training, which he completed in June 1970. ''I continued flying with my unit for the next several years,'' the governor wrote." [from the Boston Globe story]. In fact he was suspended from flying on August 1st, 1972. 2. Campaign officials claimed that Bush did not technically need to take his flight physical. "As he was not flying, there was no reason for him to take the flight physical exam," campaign spokesman Don Bartlett told the London Times in June [according to an article by Robert Rogers] . In fact the reason he did not fly after 1972 was because he was suspended for missing the physical. 3. "Bush's campaign aides have said he did not take the physical because he was in Alabama and his personal physician was in Houston." [Boston Globe article]. In fact as the Boston Globe goes on to state - "...flight physicals can be administered only by certified Air Force flight surgeons, and some were assigned at the time to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, where Bush was living." 4. Bush responding to a question about his 1972 service stated: "I was there on temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one period of time. I made up some missed weekends. I can't remember what I did, but I wasn't flying because they didn't have the same airplanes. I fulfilled my obligations"[from the Dallas Morning News] . In fact, according to the Boston Globe, records show that in 1973 thousands of hours were logged on the airplane in question at Bush’s unit. "If [Bush] had come back to Houston, I would have kept him flying the 102 until he got out," said [Major General] Hodges, a Bush admirer. "But I don't recall him coming back at all." On October 6, 1972, F-102s of the 111th Fighter-Intercept Squadron resumed alert duty at Ellington AFB (Fortunate Son, page 387.) 5."I was proud of my service. Had my unit been called up, I would have gone overseas." (from CNN article 7/4/99.) Well, except if it was after August of 1972, when he was no longer flying since he was suspended and neither the Texas nor Alabama National Guard had any idea where he was. Any defenders of Bush need to reacquaint themselves with the facts, starting here... http://web.archive.org/web/20000619121358/http://www.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/One_year_gap_in_Bush_s_Guard_duty+.shtml and here... http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A59151-2000Jun25¬Found=true A response to the facts would be appreciated, but I know that's impossible because even the Bush campaign/administration has not been able to responded to the facts.
October 30, 1992... ___________ Upbeat Bush Steps Up Rhetoric By Ann Devroy The Washington Post WARREN, Mich. Pumped up by the polls and the moment, President Bush raced across Michigan Thursday in rhetorical overdrive, attacking the "way-out, far-out" Democratic ticket on everything from northern spotted owls to his opponent's draft record. Bush, during his 12th campaign trip to this vital state, was introduced at three stops in Detroit suburbs by Michigan Gov. John M. Engler, who called the contest here "dead-even," the Democratic campaign "dead in the water" and the Bush campaign "hot." And hot Bush was. At a midday GOP rally at Macomb Community College, the president unleashed a rhetorical fusillade on Bill Clinton and running mate Sen. Albert Gore Jr., attacking their fitness for office, their character and charging, "My dog Millie knows more about foreign policy than these two bozos." In particular, Bush targeted Gore, whom he now calls "Ozone Man," or just plain "Ozone." "You know why I call him Ozone Man?" Bush said. "This guy is so far out in the environmental extreme, we'll be up to our neck in owls and outta work for every American. He is way out, far out, man." While many of his aides were still waking up, Bush started his morning with an hour of television interviews, chortling about how Clinton had been "measuring the Oval Office for drapes" but that now the race had tightened. Bush, who dismissed pollsters as "nutty" just last week when they showed him at least 10 or 12 points behind the Democrat, liked them more Thursday when polls showed a far narrower lead for Clinton. In a morning speech to the Chamber of Commerce, a more subdued Bush portrayed Clinton as a typical Democrat who would raise taxes, increase spending, and return the nation to the high-inflation, high-unemployment era of Jimmy Carter. But even there, Bush slipped into his now-familiar garbled syntax in which he forgets his audience may be hearing a particular line for the first time and fails to tell it the beginning of a story. Or the end. Or the context. Noting he had criticized the news media for being unfair, he told those in the crowd they should not take their anger out on journalists. "Save your wrath for those faithless Republicans and faithless Democrats who wrote me off about two months ago, because we're going to show that rathole we are going to win this election." At a later rally, Bush straightened out the rathole reference, citing President Harry S. Truman's complaint that the pundits who predicted he would lose in 1948 "don't know how to pound sand in a rathole." Those writing him off, Bush said, are like those 1948 pundits. Bush and his aides, who practiced for months in dismissing what the president calls "gloom-and-doom" polls, had the tricky task here Thursday of arguing the president was finally on the move, without mentioning the forbidden "Big Mo." In 1980, Bush won his first presidential caucus in Iowa and tried running as the candidate with "Big Mo," big momentum. He was soundly defeated because, many suggested, he based his candidacy on momentum not issues. "We don't do Big Mo," said campaign political director Mary Matalin. "we do C.O., cautious optimism." Their optimism is based on public and private polls that show a single digit race -- they say a six point difference -- and an electoral breakdown that while not good, at least makes a win remotely possible if the closing trend continues. The whole Bush campaign, including the warm up speakers, were charged up Thursday. At the Warren event, Democratic state Sen. Gilbert J. Dinello churned the crowd into a frenzy by calling Clinton a draft-dodger, a liar and a man who "wails, whines and wimps out." Actor Bruce Willis shouted into the microphone that Clinton was not qualified to be president. "I'm pissed off," Willis shouted, to hear the Democrat say he is qualified. At a later rally, this one at the Gerald Ford Library in Grand Rapids, Willis introduced the former president with the same complaints in language rare for a political rally. Bush, too, hit on what he said were Clinton's lack of qualifications for the Oval Office because of "waffling" on issues. "You can't be president if you try to be all things to all people," Bush said, complaining Clinton had "if, ands and buts" to explain his positions on every issue. "You cannot have a lot of buts in the Oval Office," Bush screamed, his voice growing hoarse. Bush aides maintain that the tightening of the polls reflects an electorate uneasy about Clinton's character, and they are doing all they can to keep the dialogue these few remaining days on character, rather than on the economy. "Here is my appeal," he said. "Barbara and I both have tried to uphold the public trust. And character. Bill Clinton -- Bruce Willis mentioned this, Bruce Willis said that, I mean, Clinton said that it is not the character of the president but the character of the presidency. Wrong. They're locked in. They are interlocked."
The Globe also said: "Those who trained and flew with Bush . . . said he was among the best pilots in the 111th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron. In the 22-month period between the end of his flight training and his move to Alabama, Bush logged numerous hours of duty, well above the minimum requirements for so-called 'weekend warriors.'" Bush also voluntairily joined a milittary unit part of which was at that very moment involved in combat in Vietnam. Also, it is illegal under UCMJ to disparage the President, whether the disparaging remark is true or false. i guess now that Clark is retired, the UCMJ no longer applies, but it does speak to his character to observe how quickly he jesttisoned 30 years experience to run for president. lastly, to contenance a lie is to repeat the lie. Thus, by his own words, Clark Lied!!!!
the above opinion expresses solely the point of view of the author, who is capable of independent thought and analysis.
Here are some examples of Kerry's recent campaign mailings, belieing his stated desire not to go "negative" don't mean to pick on Kerry, just found this interesting.
What possible relevance does whether or not he was a good pilot have to do with the issue of whether or not he was AWOL or deserting in 1972? Did RimRocker attack his piloting skills?
interesting blog psoting on whether use of the internet has actually hurt Howard Dean. Complete post here: http://www.corante.com/many/archives/2004/01/26/is_social_software_bad_for_the_dean_campaign.php Excerpts: -- "Dean did poorly because not enough people voted for him, and the usual explanations -- potential voters changed their minds because of his character or whatever -- seem inadequate to explain the Iowa results. What I wonder is whether Dean has accidentally created a movement (where what counts is believing) instead of a campaign (where what counts is voting.)... ...participation in online communities often provides a sense of satisfaction that actually dampens a willingness to interact with the real world. When you're communing with like-minded souls, you feel like you're accomplishing something by arguing out the smallest details of your perfect future world, while the imperfect and actual world takes no notice, as is its custom. There are many reasons for this, but the main one seems to be that the pleasures of life online are precisely the way they provide a respite from the vagaries of the real world. Both the way the online environment flattens interaction and the way everything gets arranged for the convenience of the user makes the threshold between talking about changing the world and changing the world even steeper than usual. 'Would you vote for Howard Dean?' and 'Will you vote for Howard Dean?' are two different questions...
the point of the "voluntarily joined" bit is he'd hardly put himself at risk of going to Vietnam if he was afraid of combat, as the AWOL story suggests. Not saying he wanted to go, and certainly his service pales beside that of Clark or Kerry, but it's a whole sight better than Clinton's. But keep repeating the lie, and let's see who Vets vote for in November: Clark/Kerry or Bush? Incidentally, where's the left's outrage over Clark's belittling of Kerry's war record, quoted in the Peggy Noonan article above, among many other places?
There's no outrage because there was no belittling. Mark Kleiman says it well... ___________ Did Clark insult the junior officers? John F. Kerry and Wesley K. Clark were both war heroes as junior officers in Vietnam. Clark, gravely wounded in a firefight, stayed on his feet and rallied his troops to fight off the enemy. Kerry, commanding a small fleet of gunboats on the Mekong River, organized a daring and successful counterattack on ambushers who were firing on his vessels from the shore, and then personally ran after and shot one of the ambushers. Each was awarded the Silver Star. Each had other moments of heroism: Kerry won a Bronze Star in Vietnam for rescuing a comrade at risk to himself, and Clark in Kosovo climbed 1000 feet down a dangerous hillside to try to rescue the occupants of a car that had run off the road. After the Vietnam War, Kerry left the military, founded the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and entered electoral politics. Clark stayed in the Army, formed part of the cadre of young Vietnam-veteran officers who rebuilt that institution into the fighting machine that won the Gulf War, rose to the rank of full (four-star) General, served as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, and led a successful war. That's the background for the latest tempest in a teapot. Here's the New York Times's account of what what seems to me a totally unexceptional and unobjectionable exchange, published under the inflammatory and factually incorrect headline Clark Takes Aim at New Rival: During an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live" as the Iowa results rolled in, former Senator Bob Dole said to General Clark that he thought the success of Mr. Kerry, also a decorated Vietnam War veteran, might have turned the general into a colonel. "Well I don't agree," General Clark said. "Senator, with all due respect, he's a lieutenant and I'm a general. You've got to get your facts right." Asked later about the exchange, General Clark acknowledged Senator Kerry's military background. But, he added: "Nobody in the race has got the kind of background I've got. I've negotiated peace agreements. I've led a major alliance in war. It's one thing to be a hero as a junior officer. He's done that and I respect him for that. He's been a good senator. But I've had the military leadership at the top as well as at the bottom." Well, right. Kerry was a hero, which establishes his personal physical courage and his patriotism, but doesn't make him an expert on the military or on national security affairs. Clark was a hero, which establishes his personal physical courage and his patriotism, and then rose to be a four-star general, which does make him an expert on the military and on national security affairs. Kerry has an edge in political experience, which Clark wouldn't deny; Clark has the advantage in military experience, which no one in his right mind could deny. Later, in New Hampshire, Clark said the following: “I stayed with the military all the way through,” Clark told reporters after rallying volunteers at his headquarters. “I stayed with the United States Army through Vietnam. I was company commander there. I fought and I was hit by four rounds.” “I’m only saying I stayed with the United States armed forces. I’m proud I did. Lots of us did,” said Clark, answering a question about his and Kerry’s military service. A spokesman for the Kerry campaign tried to pretend that Clark somehow denigrated Kerry's heroism. “We didn’t expect General Clark would question John Kerry’s courage and commitment to country given his record under fire." Well, I'm glad they didn't expect it, because it didn't happen. Clark said, without being prompted, that Kerry was a hero, and acknowledged his service in the Senate. (To be fair, it's entirely possible that the reporter, playing "Let's you and him fight," somewhat misquoted Clark in asking the Kerry people to comment.) Note that the Union-Leader, like the Times, has a headline that implies that Clark went after Kerry, when the text of the article makes it clear that the "contrast" was set up entirely in the reporter's mind, and by the reporter's own question.
isn't it more likely that Kerry's people just watched the exchange on CNN and came to their own conclusions?
interesting numbers on how conservatives view lieberman, using the american conservative union's own numbers: Lieberman: 20 percent Kerry: 20 percent (!) Gephardt: 8 percent Edwards: 30 percent Chaffee: 53 percent McCain: 78 percent and here are their environmental numbers from the league of conservation voters: Lieberman: 88 percent Kerry: 92 percent Gephardt: 91 percent Edwards: 68 percent Chaffee: 68 percent McCain: 36 percent check dailykos for the article.
All I know is that Clark released his military records and posted them on his website here... http://clark04.com/records/documents/ and that Kerry's made public his records, as did Dole and GHWB. IIRC, even Quayle released some of his guard docs. The only recent candidate to serve in the military in any capacity that has not released records and documents is George W. Bush. Every document that is now in the public realm has been found through the press with no help from Bush or his people, though they do seem to have some connection to "found" docs that cast GWB in a favorable light. If this is really important to you and you really want to refute Moore and others, then write to the White House and ask them to release all the Bush docs. That should put a definite end to the whole affair right?
does clark mention how he paid his way through west point, as he commented yesterday? forgetting of course, that west point is a full ride scholarship? "And there's one more thing I can say about myself unlike all the rest of the people in this race. I did grow up poor. My father died when I was not quite four. We had $424. My mother moved us to Arkansas. We moved in with her parents in a rented house. She was a secretary in a bank. And I was brought up to know the difference between what I want and what I need. I didn't go to Yale. My parents couldn't have afforded to send me there. I went to West Point. I paid my own way through college. I worked my way through. I worked for this country. And I'm running for this race--in this race--because I want to help Americans like me." perhaps he just hasn't had time to study the issue?
For the record, I can't figure out why the Repubs are pushing the Clark/Moore thing so hard. It only leads to more news about Bush's service. I guess they are trying to do anything they can to knock Clark and Kerry out early so they don't have to face it later. ___________ CARLSON: It's great John Kerry and Wesley Clark are war heroes. It would be even greater if they stopped boasting about that every hour and joined the rest of us in present day reality. BEGALA: I think it matters a lot. It was clearly - Vietnam was a seminal experience in both John Kerry and Wes Clark's lives. As you say, good for them, they served with great distinction, and I think to talk about how it affected them is great. I'd like to know how Bush was so affected by being AWOL from the National Guard. That clearly had a big effect on him.
Come on Basso. You get a scholarship, but there are obligations that go with that that demand more of a cadet then most part-time jobs students find themselves in. You conveniently forgot to continue the bolding to the next sentence... I worked for this country. Keep trying.
well, peter jennings is the one who really made an issue out of it, and we all know what a conservative he is.
