On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 03:31:41 GMT, "Bud Keith" <budk101@comcast.net>
wrote:

>
>"Epimethius" <Epimethius@saturn.net> wrote in message
>news:mo5Na.32569$fG.16906@sccrnsc01...
>> Bush's Top 10 Lies, Exaggerations And 'Obsfucations'
>> About His Military Service
>> by Nancy Skinner
>> co-host of "Ski & Skinner" on WLS-AM Chicago
>
>
>This pair of clowns are such flagrant liars that they must command at least
>10 listeners.
>The fact of the matter is that Bush was honorably discharged from the
>National Guard thats the end of it everythbing else drdged up by liberals is
>just so much bull shit. If you really want to investigate a Presidents
>record try Clintons he started as a draft dodger and ended up as a felon
>pardoned by Jimmy Carter.
>>

You can't defend your little pet chimp, so you bring up the last
ELECTED president, Clinton. Pathetic, stupidly pathetic.










>> Governor Bush has made credibility the central issue of this campaign, and
>> makes almost daily references to the Vice President's alleged
>exaggerations
>> and lack of truthfulness. But on a subject that could not be more
>important
>> for his presidential candidacy, his own military service, the record shows
>> that George W. Bush has exaggerated and even lied about his service.
>> Governor Bush took a solemn oath during wartime to serve his country in
>the
>> Texas Air National Guard. He did not honor that oath He walked away.
>And
>> in this presidential campaign, he has made several misrepresentations
>about
>> his service. A number of newspaper reports and even more accounts on
>> Internet websites, based on Freedom Of Information Act requests of Bush's
>> official military record, have concluded that he completely missed at
>least
>> one year of service, and may not have shown up in person for his last
>year.
>> While those reports continue to be debated, the following statements by
>Bush
>> and his aides are directly contradicted by the current record.
>>
>> #1 Bush never showed up in Alabama Air National Guard when directly
>ordered
>> to do so, after requesting a transfer to work in Alabama.
>>
>> "I was there on a temporary assignment and fulfilled my weekends at one
>> period of time" Bush said during a campaign stop in Tuscaloosa, AL,
>> referring to his claim that he served in the Alabama National Guard.
>[Dallas
>> Morning News, 6/26/00]
>>
>> "He specifically recalls pulling duty in Alabama," spokesman Dan Bartlett
>> said of Bush. "He did his drills." Bartlett said the Republican governor
>> showed up "several" times while in Alabama, where he transferred from his
>> Houston Guard unit in 1972 to work for the unsuccessful Senate campaign of
>> Republican Winton Blount, a friend of Bush's father. [Washington Post
>> 6/25/00]
>>
>> The Truth
>>
>> Bush left Houston May 15, 1972 and went to work on a political campaign in
>> Alabama. His first request for a transfer on May 24 was denied because
>the
>> unit was inactive. His second request on September 5 to a different unit
>> was granted. He was issued a direct order to report on specific days to
>the
>> base, which he completely ignored. The order was issued on September 15
>to
>> report to then-Lieutenant Colonel William Turnipseed at Dannelly Air Force
>> base in Montgomery, AL, on the dates of "7-8 October 0730-1600, and 4-5
>> November 0730-1600" His orders, dated Sept. 15, 1972, said: "Lieutenant
>> Bush should report to Lt. Col. William Turnipseed, DCO, to perform
>> equivalent training." [Boston Globe 5/23/00]
>> http://www.cis.net/~coldfeet/doc11.gif
>>
>> · His Commanding Officer, William Turnipseed, says he did not show
>> up.
>>
>> "To my knowledge, he never showed up," Turnipseed said last month. [Boston
>> Globe 5/23/00] In interviews last week, Turnipseed and his administrative
>> officer at the time, Kenneth K. Lott, said they had no memory of Bush ever
>> reporting. ''Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do
>> not,'' Turnipseed said. ''I had been in Texas, done my flight training
>> there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have
>> remembered.'' Turnipseed also reports that the then-squadron operations
>> officer of the Alabama Guard also has no recollection of having seen
>> Bush.(The New Republic 10/16/2000)
>>
>> "Furthermore, a spokesman for the Alabama National Guard estimates there
>> were 600 to 700 members in the unit Bush was supposed to have served with
>in
>> 1972. But none of these men has ever come forward to say he remembers
>Bush,
>> and Bush has not named a single one of them."(The New Republic 10/16/2000)
>>
>> · There is no official National Guard record for George W. Bush's
>> service in Alabama.
>>
>> "His official discharge records do not include any service after May 15 of
>> 1972. Indeed, Bush's discharge papers list his service and duty station
>for
>> each of his first four years in the Air Guard. But there is no record of
>> training listed after May 1972, and no mention of any service in Alabama.
>On
>> that discharge form, Lloyd (Albert Lloyd Jr., a retired colonel who was
>the
>> Texas Air Guard's personnel director from 1969 to 1995 and was hired by
>the
>> Bush campaign to make sense of the governor's military records) said,
>> ''there should have been an entry for the period between May 1972 and May
>> 1973.'' Said Lloyd, ''It appeared he had a bad year. He might have lost
>> interest, since he knew he was getting out.'' [Boston Globe 5/23/00]
>>
>> · No one in the Alabama National Guard ever saw him.
>>
>> "A spokesman for the Alabama National Guard estimates there were 600 to
>700
>> members in the unit Bush was supposed to have served with in 1972. But
>none
>> of these men has ever come forward to say he remembers Bush, and Bush has
>> not named a single one of them." (The New Republic 10/16/2000)
>>
>> Even though members of the Alabama Air National Guard have offered $1000
>to
>> anyone who can remember serving with Bush, no one has come forward to
>> corroborate his service, with the exception of an old girlfriend who says
>> she remembers him saying he was going, but does not have any other
>evidence,
>> essentially making it her word against Bush's commanding officers' and a
>> lack of official documents as noted above.
>>
>> · Even the Bush campaign claims that he only showed up on a single
>> day in November and made up missed weekends, not contesting the fact that
>he
>> defied direct orders to appear on the dates stated above.
>>
>> "National Guard records provided by the Guard and by the Bush campaign
>> indicate he did serve on Nov. 29, 1972, after the election. These records
>> also show a gap in service from that time to the previous May. Mr. Bush
>says
>> he made up for the lost time in subsequent months, and guard records show
>he
>> received credit for having performed all the required service." [NYT
>> 7/22/00]
>>
>> The evidence to support Bush's service on November 29, 1972 is highly
>> suspect for the following reasons:
>>
>> - The document offered to dispute the claim by his
>> commanding officers in Alabama is a single torn document that does not
>have
>> Bush's name on it, is undated and unsigned. The document was "discovered"
>in
>> 1998 by the man Bush hired to investigate his record, Al Loyd, and added
>to
>> the official record. This late addition to the official record also raises
>> additional chain of command issues.
>>
>> - There are two different versions of the document.
>The
>> one 'discovered' by Mr. Loyd and given to George Magazine has handwritten
>> annotations. The other version came from Mr. Bush's official record
>through
>> a FOIA request by Martin Heldt. http://www.cis.net/~coldfeet/doc99.gif
>The
>> FOIA version did not have any annotations.
>>
>> - The document comes from the Texas National Guard
>> Archives according to the numbering in the right hand corner of the
>> document, even though duty reports were localized at the time, meaning his
>> service in Alabama would not have been recorded by the Texas Air National
>> Guard.
>>
>> #2 Bush didn't return to Ellington Air Force Base after his temporary
>> transfer as required.
>>
>> A Bush spokesman, Dan Bartlett, said after talking with the governor that
>> Bush recalls performing some duty in Alabama and ''recalls coming back to
>> Houston and doing [Guard] duty, though he does not recall if it was on a
>> consistent basis.''
>>
>> Noting that Bush, by that point, was no longer flying, Bartlett added,
>> ''It's possible his presence and role became secondary.'' [Boston Globe
>> 5/23/00]
>>
>> The Truth
>>
>> · According to his annual evaluation by his commanding officers,
>he
>> may have been in Houston but he was not at the base.
>>
>> "Cleared this base 15 May 1972" According to Lieutenant Colonel William
>> Harris Jr. and Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian in Bush's annual
>evaluation
>> , Ellis Air Force Base, Houston. The report makes clear that Bush had
>"not
>> been observed " at his Texas unit "during the period of this report" - May
>> 1972-April 1973." [Boston Globe 5/23/00]
>>
>> · Even his commanding officer, whom he called a "friend" did not
>> know where he was.
>>
>> "Asked about that declaration, campaign spokesman Bartlett said Bush told
>> him that since he was no longer flying, he was doing ''odds and ends''
>under
>> different supervisors whose names he could not recall. But retired colonel
>> Martin, the unit's former administrative officer, said he too thought Bush
>> had been in Alabama for that entire year. Harris and Killian, he said,
>would
>> have known if Bush returned to duty at Ellington. And Bush, in his
>> autobiography, identifies the late colonel Killian as a friend, making it
>> even more likely that Killian knew where Bush was." [Boston Globe 5/23/00]
>>
>> #3 He quit flying in Texas because his plane was replaced.
>>
>> In his autobiography, Mr. Bush explains that when he applied to
>> Harvard Business School in 1972, "I was almost finished with my commitment
>> in the Air National Guard, and was no longer flying because the F102 jet I
>> has trained in was being replaced by a different fighter."
>>
>> The Truth
>> · "His unit continued to fly the F-102 until 1974 [Boston Globe
>> 5/23/00] "If he had come back to Houston, I would have kept him flying the
>> 102 until he got out" said retired Major Bobby W. Hodges, "But I don't
>> remember him coming back at all"'.
>>
>> · "Lieutenant Bush, to be sure, had gone off flying status when he
>> went to Alabama. But had he returned to his unit in November 1972, there
>> would have been no barrier to him flying again, except passing a flight
>> physical. Although the F-102 was being phased out, his unit's records show
>> that Guard pilots logged thousands of hours in the F-102 in 1973."[Boston
>> Globe 5/23/00]
>>
>> · His commitment was through May of 1974. (An exaggeration?)
>>
>> #4 He wasn't flying in Alabama because they had different planes.
>>
>> On June 26th this report appeared in the Dallas Morning News.
>> "Campaigning Friday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Bush was asked about his 1972
>> service in that state. "I was there on a temporary assignment and
>fulfilled
>> my weekends at one period of time," he said. "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."
>>
>> The Truth
>> · He was no longer flying because he had been suspended in August
>of
>> 1972 for failure to "accomplish" a required medical exam. [Boston Globe,
>> 5/23/00] (Suspension document at
>http://www.cis.net/~coldfeet/grounded.gif)
>>
>> · Bush was suspended from flying on August 1, 1972, prior to his
>> request for the transfer to the187th at Montgomery Alabama, September 5,
>> 1972. Bush did not receive permission until September 15, which was close
>> to six weeks after his suspension from flying.
>>
>> · Another question is raised by the fact that he cannot remember
>> what he did for the Air National Guard in Alabama, despite the fact that
>28
>> years later he still remembers the specifics of his work there on the
>> campaign of William Blount as cited in a July 22, 2000 New York Times
>> article. "In an interview 28 years later, Mr. Bush remembered the numbers.
>> "We all teamed together and helped Red get about 36 percent of the vote,"
>he
>> said with a short laugh, "in spite of the fact that Nixon had gotten 72
>> percent of the vote. The ticket-splitting was phenomenal.""
>>
>> #5 Three different stories on why he was suspended.
>>
>> Story #1) "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 5/23/00].
>>
>> The Truth
>> · 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."
>>
>> Story #2) Then in June, campaign officials told the London Times 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," according
>to
>> campaign spokesman Don Bartlett.
>>
>> · Any suggestion that he had simply decided to "give up flying"
>prio
>> r to his suspension, with two years remaining on his commitment and nearly
>> one million dollars (in real terms) invested in his training is not
>> plausible. It is not up to an Air National Guard pilot to decide whether
>or
>> not he "intends" to fly.
>>
>> · "If he had come back to Houston, I would have kept him flying
>the
>> 102 until he got out" said retired Major Bobby W. Hodges [Boston Glove
>> 5/23/00]
>>
>> Story #3) In the same article, Bush campaign spokesman Dan Bartlett told
>the
>> newspaper that Bush was aware back then that he would be suspended for
>> missing his medical exam, but had no choice because he had applied for a
>> transfer from Houston to Alabama and his paperwork hadn't caught up with
>> him. "It was just a question of following the bureaucratic procedure of
>the
>> time," Bartlett said. "He knew the suspension would have to take place."
>>
>> · The exam was required to be completed in the three months
>> preceding his birthday, July 6, 1972. A three month window seems adequate
>to
>> avoid being suspended from flying.
>>
>> So which is it: his family physician, he didn't have to take the exam, or
>a
>> bureaucratic snafu?
>>
>> #6 Bush denied strings were pulled to get him in the Texas Air National
>> Guard.
>>
>> "I can just tell you, from my perspective, I never asked for, I don't
>> believe I received special treatment," Bush told reporters." [DMN 9/08/99]
>>
>> The Truth
>>
>> · "Former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes confirmed Monday that he recommended
>> Gov. George W. Bush for a slot in the Texas Air National Guard during the
>> height of the Vietnam War, at the request of a Bush family friend. Mr.
>> Barnes' account came in a written statement that was released after he
>> testified in a deposition stemming from a federal lawsuit.' [DMN 9/28/99]
>>
>> · "The statement by Mr. Barnes also confirmed that he met a year
>ago
>> with a top Bush adviser to discuss the Guard matter. As reported in The
>> News, Mr. Bush sent a note thanking Mr. Barnes for his help in rebutting
>> rumors that Mr. Bush's father helped his son find a Guard slot, the
>> statement confirmed." [DMN 9/08/99]
>>
>> · "Mr. Barnes was contacted by [Houston businessman] Sid Adger and
>> asked to recommend George W. Bush for a pilot position with the Air
>National
>> Guard," Mr. Barnes' statement said. "Barnes called Gen. [James] Rose and
>did
>> so." [DMN 9/28/00]
>>
>> "No Bush ever asked Sid Adger to help," the governor said.[DMN 9/28/00]
>>
>> · "A spokeswoman for former President George Bush confirmed the
>> elder Bush's friendship with Mr. Adger but said he was "almost positive"
>he
>> never talked to Mr. Adger - or anyone else - about getting his son into
>the
>> Guard. "He said he is fairly certain - I mean he doesn't remember
>everything
>> that happened in the 1960s - but he said he and Sid Adger never, ever
>talked
>> about George W. and the Texas Air National Guard," said Jean Becker, a
>> spokeswoman for the former president. "President Bush knew Sid Adger
>well,"
>> Ms. Becker said. "He loved him."' [DMN 9/08/99]
>>
>> · "When Bush was admitted into the Guard in 1968, 100,000 other
>men
>> were on waiting lists around the country, hoping to win admission to
>similar
>> units. The Guard was popular because those units were rarely sent to
>> Vietnam." [LAT 7/4/99]
>>
>> #7 Bush said the Texas Air National Guard was short on pilots.
>>
>> "They were looking for pilots, and I was honored to serve.", Governor Bush
>> told the Dallas Morning News. [DMN9/08/99]
>>
>> The Truth
>>
>> · "But Tom Hail, a historian for the Texas Air National Guard,
>said
>> that records do not show a pilot shortage in the Guard squadron at the
>time.
>> Hail, who reviewed the unit's personnel records for a special Guard museum
>> display on Gov. Bush's service, said Bush's unit had 27 pilots at the time
>> he began applying. While that number was two short of its authorized
>> strength, the unit had two other pilots who were in training and another
>> awaiting a transfer. There was no apparent need to fast-track applicants,
>he
>> said." [LAT 7/4/99]
>>
>>
>>
>> · "The Texas Air Guard had about 900 slots for pilots, air and
>> ground crew members, supervisors, technicians and support staff. Sgt.
>Donald
>> Dean Barnhart, who still serves in the Guard, said that he kept a waiting
>> list of about 150 applicants' names. He said it took up to a year and a
>half
>> for one name to move to the top of the list. "Quite a few gentlemen were
>> wanting to get in," he recalled. For Bush, there was no wait. He met with
>> commander Staudt in his Houston office and made his application--all
>before
>> his graduation in June." [LAT, 7/4/99]
>>
>>
>>
>> "Beckwith, Bush's spokesman, painted a different picture. He said that the
>> Guard needed pilots at the time and Bush was available. "A lot of people
>> weren't qualified" or willing to fly, he said, so special commissions were
>> offered to those willing to undergo the extra training required."
>>
>> [LAT 7/4/99]
>>
>>
>>
>> · "But Shoemake, who also served as a chief of personnel in the
>> Texas Guard from 1972 to 1980, remembers no pilot shortage. "We had so
>many
>> people coming in who were super-qualified," he said." [LAT 7/4/99]
>>
>>
>>
>> · "Records from his [Bush's] military file show that in January
>> 1968, after inquiring about Guard admission, Mr. Bush went to an Air Force
>> recruiting office near Yale, where he took and passed the test required by
>> the Air Force for pilot trainees. His score on the pilot aptitude section,
>> one of five on the test, was in the 25th percentile, the lowest allowed
>for
>> would-be fliers." [7/4/99]
>>
>> #8 There was no special deal when he received a direct appointment to
>second
>> lieutenant right after basic training, with no qualifications.
>> "Officials in Bush's presidential campaign denied last week that he was
>> treated differently from other recruits. "Our information is there was
>> absolutely no special deal," said spokesman David Beckwith." [LAT 7/4/99]
>>
>> "He [Commander Staudt] recommended Bush for a direct appointment--a
>special
>> process that would allow the young recruit to become a second lieutenant
>> right out of basic training without having to go through the rigors of
>> officer candidate school. The process also cleared the way for a slot in
>> pilot training school." [LAT, 7/4/99]
>>
>> The Truth
>> · "But Charles C. Shoemake, an Air Force veteran who later joined
>> the Texas Air National Guard, eventually retiring as a full colonel, said
>> that direct appointments were rare and hard to get, and required extensive
>> credentials. "I went from master sergeant to first lieutenant based on my
>> three years in college and 15 years as a noncommissioned officer. Then I
>got
>> considered for a direct appointment." Even then, he said, "I didn't know
>> whether I was going to get into pilot training."" [LAT 7/4/99]
>>
>> · "As for a direct commission for someone of Bush's limited
>> qualifications, Hail said, "I've never heard of that. Generally they did
>> that for doctors only, mostly because we needed extra flight surgeons.""
>> [LAT 7/4/99]
>>
>> #9 As evidence he wasn't dodging combat, Mr. Bush has pointed to his
>> efforts to try to volunteer for a program that rotated Guard pilots to
>> Vietnam, although he wasn't called. [DMN 7/4/99]
>>
>> The Truth
>> · "Mr. Bush's application for the Guard included a box to be
>checked
>> specifying whether he did or did not volunteer for overseas duty. His
>> includes a check mark in the box not wanting to volunteer for such an
>> assignment." [DMN 7/4/99]
>>
>> #10 In Bush's 1999 autobiography, A Charge to Keep, Mr. Bush says that
>> after completing flight training in June 1970, "I continued flying with
>my
>> unit for the next several years".
>>
>> The Truth
>> · "But 22 months after finishing his training, and with two years
>> left on his six-year commitment, Bush gave up flying - for good, it would
>> turn out". [Boston Globe, 5/23/00]
>>
>> Several Years or 22 months - an exaggeration? Perhaps, the bigger
>question
>> is why did he quit flying?
>>
>>
>

======================\º/============================

"It's been a fabulous year for Laura and me."
-- George W. Bush., three months after the World Trade Center towers went down.