Plenty of monetary rewards have been put up, but nobody has been found who can substantiate where Bush was during all those months when he was supposedly on duty.
All a person has to do is come forward, any day now, to say that they served with George W. Bush. But nobody is willing or able to do so.
What happened during all those months, when Bush was not able to pass his medical exam?? Pilots, at least patriotic ones, do everything possible to maintain their flight-readiness. Pilots who are sick do their best to fake their health, their eyesight, etc. so that they can stay on the flight rosters. How on earth was it that, in the midst of the Cold War, Bush thought he should be the lone exception?
But no, Bush, with not a single minute of combat duty to his name, not a single medal for valor or for wounds received, apparently decided to slip off. Considering that he was going AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard, it seems a bit asinine – he couldn’t even do the very minimum necessary to comply with the demands of the sort of National Guard duty that went only to the rich and well-connected.
The way Democrats see it, turnabout is fair play. Clinton was roasted over the coals for dodging the draft and lying about it. Bush has done the same. Why shouldn’t Bush get the same treatment as Clinton did? Fair’s fair.
Uh, Bush has been raked over the coals, so to speak.
I’m not defending Bush in this thread. I’m asking why Kerry’s war record should be closed. If Kerry is going to tell us that he is a war hero (he has film to prove it ), then why should his war record be off-limits?
Fred – Those who were on his boat, who were saved by him, who saw him in action did like him. However, there are some very interesting comments against Kerry that are completely unsubstantiatable – the “Smearboats Vets” are likely digging themselves into a lot of trouble. Probably just an attempt to distract voters from the lack of national service received from the young George W. Bush, ace chickenhawk.
Tigerman – Bush claims to be our “war president” but all he seems to be is a puffed-up chickenhawk, good for creating fake wars and sending National Guard kids to die in them. Seems like he will be able to count on going down in history as the guy who ensured that the National Guard is not the sort of rich, well-connected kids’ safe zone it was when he was in the Texas Air National Guard.
Did George W. Bush even earn a “good conduct” medal or do they somehow avoid giving those to AWOL pilots who refuses to take the sort of physical exam that might show what sort of drugs he probably was taking in those days. For all his “moral clarity”, has Bush ever once answered the drug questions clearly?
Republicans were able to come up with false witnesses to say things about Kerry’s service, but they can’t even get anybody to claim that Bush was there for that year in Alabama… seems pretty fishy.
Is it true that John Kerry nominated himself repeatedly for Purple Hearts? I hear that practice is now banned in the armed forces? Is it true though MFGR?
In response, I don’t know what Kerry might have done or what may have been common in the Vietnam-era military. He was awarded the purple hearts, and the only witnesses the Republicans have come up with have been discredited. However, I do guess that Bush had no opportunity to earn any purple hearts because he specifically asked not to be sent, because he went AWOL, because he didn’t take the medical exams required to be able to continue flying, etc…
Unlike Kerry, Bush has actually gone to the trouble of putting a flight suit on recently in a cheap publicity stunt. When was the last time Kerry was seen prancing about on the deck of a aircraft carrier wearing a fake military uniform?
Tigerman – interestingly, Lincoln did serve in a militia briefly. However, unlike Bush, there are no recorded instances of Lincoln dressing up in a fake military uniform and prancing about on the deck of a ship.
Do you have any photos of Roosevelt doing that?? Sometimes he wore a Navy-issue cloak to stay warm while traveling, but wasn’t playing dress-up. Of course, during World War II, if there was a “Mission Accomplished” banner hanging anywhere, you could bet that we’d actually accomplished something.
He does not claim to be a war hero… others see him this way
Also if you want to you can have a look at Bush’s records…
CAUTION: you are entering a left winged Bush bashing site… hope you can handle it awolbush.com/kerry-vs-bush.asp
Oh, nonsense, TNT. My uncle never discussed his service in WWII; I think he mentioned it in my company just two or three times in the thirty-five years that our lifespans crossed. I found out about six months before he died of cancer, some 60 years after WWII ended, that he was one of the men who stormed onto Utah Beach during D-Day, and that he was one of something like three men from his unit who lived through the experience.
Kerry mentions his Vietnam service in every damn speech, and hypes his three purple hearts and his Swift boat adventures about half of those times. You don’t call that “claim[ing] to be a hero”?
Tigerman, for Bush it’s not an issue?? Kerry never dressed up in a sailor outfit during the past couple of years… Bush puts on a flyboy costume and prances about the deck of an aircraft carrier, and you think it’s not an issue? He’s got a big campaign poster in the background “Mission Accomplished”, he had to land on the aircraft carrier in a combat jet wearing a flight suit despite the aircraft carrier being within helicopter distance, and you think he’s not making a direct reference back to the last time he was supposed to be wearing a flight suit??
Unless, you think that Bush is trying to make up his Air National Guard service one day at a time…
You cannot, in fairness, campaign on an issue and then claim nobody has the right to question that issue.
Bush made an issue by claiming the war was over. For most of us, it is not. That is the issue, not his military service and like his father’s pledge “Read my lips, no new taxes,” Bush has been grilled for his early prediction of victory. Fair enough.
Mission Accomplished…
If the definition of mission was the removal of Saddam from power then the mission was accomplished.
So was that the primary reason to invade Iraq? to remove Saddam?
Was finding WMDs and programs or the stabilization of Iraq post Saddam, secondary?
Did Bush as Commander in Chief make a big mistake in putting all effort to remove Saddam with little foresight or time given to the result of this?
Was it a little stupid to think that when you go without the support of the others and invade a country, you may end up in trouble?
OK so he did this, and countries should now help in Iraq… but Bush doing this in the first place to fix a problem that did not exist ( WMDs or WMD programs), with risky intelligence that changed in one year from Iraq is contained to Iraq is a threat; points to a BIG mistake on his part. A big mistake he never acknowledged or accepted.
Does that not point to either incompetency or stupidity?
), then why should his war record be off-limits?
