I hope Democrats keep hammering away at their vicious BUSH AWOL slur. Stories like this make for great campaign material. Some quotes that will not be repeated inthe NY Times:
As a wingman, Bush tucked in closely and flew smoothly, he says.
“He was one of my favorite people to ride formation with, because he was smooth. He was a very competent pilot,” Roome said. “You sort of bet your life on each other in some of those formation missions, and to me it was always a pleasure to fly with George. He was good.”
and…
“Lieutenant Bush is an outstanding young pilot and officer and is a credit to his unit,” Lt. Col. Bobby Hodges wrote on May 27, 1971. “This officer is rated in the upper 10 percent of his contemporaries.”
Another, written by Maj. William Harris on May 26, 1972, was just as glowing: “Lieutenant Bush is an exceptional fighter interceptor pilot and officer.”
Liles, a rock-ribbed Republican who voted for Bush and plans to vote for him again, wonders why previous Bush campaigns didn’t trumpet his exemplary flying record.
“I was surprised when he ran for president that his flying record didn’t come out,” he said, “because it was pretty good.”
and…
“He was one of the few officers out there who would let you walk along beside him. Most officers, you’d have to walk five feet behind them out on the flight line,” Liles said. “But Bush wasn’t like that. He was probably the nicest guy out there.”
Even if Bush did get in because of his name, he sure didn’t ask for an easy, safe assignment, points out a childhood friend who served in an administrative capacity at the same unit. Flying the F-102, a one-seater jet, was no cakewalk. In fact, it was downright dangerous.
“I was glad to serve, but I just carried a clipboard around; and I tell you, George had a much riskier occupation there in the Guard than I did,” said David Perry, who played junior-high school football with Bush at a private academy in Houston.
I guess the Democrats are just completely trying to write off the veteran vote.
Mike
Yes, those are some nice anecdotes about George W Bush flying in the National Guard — before he got grounded for failing to show up for a required physical, took 16-year-old Marvin drunk driving, and crashed into garbage cans, challenging his congressman father in the street mano a mano…
You’ve got to be real vicious to question whether such a president would bury the truth about taking credit for drills he never showed up for while staving off criticism he painted a war of choice as a war of necessity.
Norbizness
That’s an unusual concluding sentence, to say the least
vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=1576
“The president ignored veterans in the State of the Union Address and with today’s release of his 2005 budget, it is further evident that veterans are no longer a priority with this administration,” said the leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S.”
Jon H
I guess the article just goes to show how much Bush pissed away when he decided to skip his flight physical and work in Alabama, instead of seeking to be retrained on a newer plane so he could continue using his mad jet-fu.
Ricky Vandal
Kerry is dead on arrival on the Vietnam front. The intern might be out, but the sword of Hanoi Jane is getting bigger and bigger over Kerry’s head. Read this blog and newspaper articles about veterans callling Kerry a traitor.
hughhewitt.com/
It also has a link to transcripts of what Kerry told the senate commission about “raping, murdering” American soldiers in Vietnam in the early 70’s.
I think Kerry by now curses the day he ridiculed Bush about his service record.
Rick
Why shouldn’t the Democrats prop up this chestnut like El Cid’s corpse-on-a-horse? It serves to distract from the really interesting stories I’ve heard that are going around about John Kerry’s bestiality problem, and the DNC’s subservience to Wahabbism.
I mean, I’ve *heard* this, and Kerry and the Dems haven’t cleared the matter up, questions remain, etc.
Cordially…
Andrew J. Lazarus
I don’t think there’s any question that GWB performed this beginning part of his Guard service, and some people say very well.
That hardly explains what happened later, why he just walked away. Working on a losing Senate campaign couldnt have been that much fun. My guess is it has something to do with bottles. (And the funny thing is, America is pretty forgiving of repentant alcohol absuers. I was looking forward to a Bush-Dean race for just that reason, among others.)
John Cole
Andrew-
The records show that he performed both ends of his service admirably. Why do you continue to debate this?
Rick
John,
Cargo-cult, I’m thinking:
“But this long history of learning how to not fool ourselves–of having utter scientific integrity–is, I’m sorry to say, something that we haven’t specifically included in any particular course that I know of. We just hope you’ve caught on by osmosis
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself–and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that.”
physics.brocku.ca/etc/cargo_cult_science.html
Cordially…
CadillaqJaq
In my humble opinion, the incessant blathering about GWB’s faults, etc., is nothing but a lame attempt, though vocal, by those who would like to drag him down to the same disgusting level of his predecessor… it ain’t gonna happen.
Kimmitt
“The records show that he performed both ends of his service admirably. Why do you continue to debate this?”
Despite the Bush Administration’s relentless efforts to prove otherwise, saying don’t make it so.
MonkeyPants
My god, what a bunch of idiotic reationary leftists.
You’ve LOST, you stupid trolls.
Give it up, it’s getting boring.
Peter
Those progress reports are bunk. Superiors hype them to match the appointment that has been made so as to not embarrass anyone. That’s just the way it was done – especially in Texas.
Slartibartfast
Despite the Bush Administration’s relentless efforts to prove otherwise, saying don’t make it so.
Saying it ain’t so don’t make it not so, either. So far, the burden-of-proof side has come up woefully short of…anything at all.
James R. Ba'ath
sugarinthegourd.com/redacted.html
Andrew J. Lazarus
Calpundit has a good summary including the remaining lacunae and contradictions in the record.
Justin Ogren
I’m sorry, fuck it! His records were
cleaned while he was in the service his lt. colonel seen it.
Justin Ogren
I’m sorry but that ‘good summary’ is a little propagandish in the way it’s prepared.
tturner
Citing Cal Pundit right now won’t really do much to bolster any argument that Bush was AWOL. I’m not the only former reader of his to notice he’s lost his grip. His blind adherance to “Bush was AWOL….I don’t care what the facts say” meme has opened my eyes.
Slartibartfast
I hope you’ll excuse me if I don’t go to Calpundit for anything resembling honesty regarding this issue. He’s been corrected a large number of times on this issue, yet still persists in asserting there’s something wrong here, absent evidence.
I’ve got no beef with Drum otherwise. He’s just cried wolf about seventeen times too many WRT the whole Bush-AWOL non-story.
wallster
Bush ducked Vietnam by joining the national guard. This much is crystal clear.
He then may have shirked his duty in the National Guard after transferring to Alabama. Perhaps he didn’t, and everyone who was there just happened to not remember him.
I’m voting against Bush for other reasons, and military service is only a small point in my decision of whom to vote for. It is tragic, however, that a man who joined the NG to avoid combat sent hundreds of soldiers to their death in an unnecessary war. Veterans are going to remember that clearly come November, especially if he’s running against a decorated war hero who volunteered for service.
Ricky
Wallster,
Bob Dole appreciated your vote over legitimate Vietnam dodger Bill Clinton, who supported (and still does) the war in Iraq.
addison
Bush “ducked” Vietnam by joining a National Guard unit that was sending pilots into war…
He even “ducked” Vietnam by volunteering to go to Vietnam but was turned down due to too few flight hours…
He “ducked” Vietnam by flying a dangerous plane (this is universally agreed upon) where he could have just joined the Coast Guard and been in relative safety…
He “ducked” so well that he flew a dangerous plane for four years in a unit shipping men to Vietnam while the “decorated war hero” was there for four months…
And let us obtain clarity on the “decorated war hero”, John Kerry. He received his Silver Star for shooting an unarmed and wounded (shot by a .50 gun) Vietnamese soldier–a man he should have taken prisoner.
I get the feeling that had Bush gone to Vietnam and stayed for two months and come back he would be chastised for lack of staying power.
Slartibartfast
“I’m voting against Bush for other reasons…”
Tell us something we don’t already know.
“Veterans are going to remember that clearly come November, especially if he’s running against a decorated war hero who volunteered for service.”
Yes, they will. But not, I think, in the way you say. Find more than a tiny percentage of veterans who oppose this war, and I’ll say you’ve got a case. Until then, please stop making baseless assertions.
Dean
Slarti:
Don’t you realize yet that the Left loves the troops, and the military loves them?
That’s why every poll of the active military conclusively shows that they don’t want this war. And the word from the troops is that they don’t want to be there. Why, fragging incidents are rife.
And the draftees, they’re writing books like “The New Soldier,” and decorated heroes are testifying before Congress on the atrocities that are being conducted regularly and with full knowledge of the higher brass.
And there was no better moment than when Adrian Kronauer was talking about President Nixon, just last week on Armed Forces Radio, and his loss of credibility….