July 23, 2004
THE TIMINGGATE SCANDAL GROWS:
Pentagon Releases Bush's Guard Records (AP, 7/23/04)
The Pentagon on Friday released payroll records from President Bush's 1972 service in the Alabama National Guard, saying its earlier contention the records were destroyed was an "inadvertent oversight."
If they're exculpatory prepare for complaints about the timing of the release so close to the Democratic convention. If they're damning the complaint will be that it was a Friday afternoon document dump. One way or the other there's a conspiracy angle.
MORE:
Bush Records Show No Flight Service During July-September '72 (Bloomberg, 7/23/04)
George W. Bush didn't accumulate any flying hours between July 1972 and September 1972 when he was serving in the Alabama National Guard, according to payroll records released today by the Defense Department.
Hard to see how this advances the ball any, particularly when he'd been suspended from flying in August 1972. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 23, 2004 5:52 PM
So what happened to the conspiracy that got rid of them? Does this mean there are several different GOP conspiracies out there of varying levels of competence? You'd think that Bushitler would have figured out by now that you only need the best one, and have sent the others to the gulag.
And what kind of secret conspiracy is it whose actions plainly obvious to the likes of Micheal Moore, the Democratic Undergrounders and the MoversOn?
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at July 23, 2004 7:28 PMFmr. FBI HRT official Chris Whitcomb, has a novel,
where one character, a prominent high tech tycoon;
is actually a company asset. Such speculation re
the incumbent, has been raised by sources as different as Stuart Buck and Mad Cow News
To OJ's point - Rich Lowry had an article at NRO a few days ago called Bush Can't Win. He went through examples like Iraq, the Economy, etc where no matter how it turns out Bush gets blamed. Unfortunately it sounded true.
Posted by: AWW at July 23, 2004 11:02 PMThis reminds me of waving a flashlight on a wall for the cat. It keeps the cat distracted and busy so he can't rip up the carpet, and leaves you alone.
Nobody but folks like Kevin Drum gives two hoots about Dubya's NG records. 1972 was, like, 30 years ago. THIRTY YEARS!!! They can (and hopefully will) spend oodles of time & effort expounding over all this stuff. Meanwhile, to everybody who hasn't drunk the kool-aid, the magic words that settle the issue once and for all is: Honorable Discharge.
Posted by: ray at July 24, 2004 12:46 AMNot to mention, it's perfectly legitimate behavior to skip drill with the Reserves and Nat'l Guard, (with permission), and make up the time later. It's still practiced today.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at July 24, 2004 4:56 AMRay - the Kerry campaign still seems intent on "Vietnam War Hero" as Kerry's main qualification to be president. Therefore they will continue to try to contrast to Bush's record during that time. I also think they want to scare Bush off from focusing on Kerry's anti-war activities with the threat of focusing on Bush's NG service. I gree most people don't care about 30 yrs ago but the hatred of Bush on the left seems to know no bounds.
Posted by: AWW at July 24, 2004 3:46 PM