NOTE to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mekong Delta): Bravo.
Your counter-offensive has been a stunning success.
Ignore the propunditgandist hand-wringing about how
you "waited too long" before responding, they will
second-guess and denigrate everything you do. And they
are wrong. Your timing was impeccable. It will be a week tomorrow since
you took up the counter-offensive in Boston, speaking
to the International Firefighters Association. You
said you were going to turn your boat into the fire,
and you did. And they are on the run. The "SBVT" slime
balls bailed from a scheduled "rally" in Gainesville,
Fraudida (see yesterday's LNS) and, according to the
Dallas Morning News, the Bush cabal financier who
floated the "SBVT" character assasination squad is
bailing from a GOP fund-raiser with DeLay, Rove and
others scheduled for next week in NYC and for which he
was listed as a co-host. Indeed, he is not even going
to attend the Hate and Fear Fest...BUT, John, do not
hold back, do not ease off, PRESS THE ATTACK...FINISH
THEM...It will be a week tomorrow since you said that
if the increasingly unhinged and incredibly shrinking
_resident wanted a debate on your Vietnam records,
"bring it on." Well, assume that his answer is yes. He
has not directly and specifically repudiated the
"SBVT" attack ad, as you, and Sen. John Edwards
(D-NC) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called for him to do, nor has he demanded that it be pulled, as you all called on him to do. Indeed, they have released a follow-up attack ad...OK...Someone has to stand up at a lecturn (or
better yet a pulpit) in a formerly red state with your
military record in one hand and the increasingly
unhinged and incredibly shrinking _resident's military
record in the other -- maybe your miltary adviser,
Wesley Clark D-NATO) -- and ask the US Electorate
itself to decide who has the CHARACTER to lead this
country and the world. But don't stop there! Someone
else (maybe your tar heel lawyer, John Edwards) should
stand stand up at a lecturn (or better yet a pulpit) in a
formerly red state and hold up the 9/11 Commission
Report and point out how many weeks have gone by since
it was issued, and remind the US Electorate that you
embraced its recommendations fully and called for
immediate action but that the Bush abomination has
hemmed and hawed and stalled and changed the subject
and confused the issues...Well, whoever it is that
stands there with that dog-eared, heavily marked-up
copy of the 9/11 Commission Report (and again, we
suggest Edwards) should open it to some of the many
pages that underscore the INCOMPETENCE of the
increasingly unhinged and incredibly shrinking
_resident's "national security team" and demand
answers and action...But don't stop there! Someone
should stand stand up at a lecturn (or better yet a
pulpit) in a formerly red state, and we suggest that
you should do it yourself, and hold up sample news
paper headlines from the ramp-up to the invasion and
occupation of Iraq in one hand, and sample newspaper
headlines of what has happened since in the other
hand, and DEMAND a Day of political Reckoning for the
Bush abomination's utter loss of CREDIBILITY...950+ US
soldiers have died in this foolish, ill-conceived,
mismananged and unnecessary military
adventure...Plame, Chalabi, Abu Ghraib, David Kay,
Halliburton...Let it rip, John...CREDIBILITY,
CHARACTER, COMPETENCE...Let it rip...Yes, the central
issue in this national referendum is SECURITY:
National Security, Economic Security and Environmental
Security. Are the American people safer today than
they were four years ago? They know the answer is
"No!" But they want to hear it from you, and from your
"national security team." That's what they need, John,
that's what they crave...They will not fail you, they
will fall in behind you...
Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY: At a time when
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has come
under fire from a group of retired naval officers who
say he lied about his combat record in Vietnam,
questions about President Bush's 1968-73 stint in the
Texas Air National Guard remain unresolved:
Some of the documents about President Bush's
military service documents still have not been made
public.
• Why did Bush, described by some of his fellow
officers as a talented and enthusiastic pilot, stop
flying fighter jets in the spring of 1972 and fail to
take an annual physical exam required of all pilots?
• What explains the apparent gap in the president's
Guard service in 1972-73, a period when commanders in
Texas and Alabama say they never saw him report for
duty and records show no pay to Bush when he was
supposed to be on duty in Alabama?
• Did Bush receive preferential treatment in getting
into the Guard and securing a coveted pilot slot
despite poor qualifying scores and arrests, but no
convictions, for stealing a Christmas wreath and
rowdiness at a football game during his college years?
The White House has released hundreds of pages of
records, but the files released so far haven't
answered those questions. Since the documents were
released in February, at least a half-dozen news
organizations, including USA TODAY, have filed new
requests for Bush's military records under the Freedom
of Information Act.
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Show Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-08-23-bush-service_x.htm
Questions about Bush's Guard service unanswered
By Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — At a time when Democratic presidential
candidate John Kerry has come under fire from a group
of retired naval officers who say he lied about his
combat record in Vietnam, questions about President
Bush's 1968-73 stint in the Texas Air National Guard
remain unresolved:
Some of the documents about President Bush's
military service documents still have not been made
public.
• Why did Bush, described by some of his fellow
officers as a talented and enthusiastic pilot, stop
flying fighter jets in the spring of 1972 and fail to
take an annual physical exam required of all pilots?
• What explains the apparent gap in the president's
Guard service in 1972-73, a period when commanders in
Texas and Alabama say they never saw him report for
duty and records show no pay to Bush when he was
supposed to be on duty in Alabama?
• Did Bush receive preferential treatment in getting
into the Guard and securing a coveted pilot slot
despite poor qualifying scores and arrests, but no
convictions, for stealing a Christmas wreath and
rowdiness at a football game during his college years?
The White House has released hundreds of pages of
records, but the files released so far haven't
answered those questions. Since the documents were
released in February, at least a half-dozen news
organizations, including USA TODAY, have filed new
requests for Bush's military records under the Freedom
of Information Act.
In an e-mail to USA TODAY last week, presidential
spokesman Dan Bartlett said: "The president has
authorized the release of his records and we are
complying with all requests. Some are taking longer
than others, but all will be addressed."
Past military service and qualifications to be
commander in chief have become a central theme in the
2004 presidential campaign.
Questions about Bush's record predate the current
campaign. The apparent gap in his Guard service first
surfaced before the 2000 election, when The Boston
Globe reported that Texas Guard commanders were unable
to account for Bush's whereabouts from May 1972 to
April 1973.
Bush has not said what he did in the Guard during that
period. Aside from a statement by a former Alabama Air
Guard officer who said he saw Bush report for duty
there in the fall of 1972, the only evidence he was at
Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Alabama was a
record of a dental exam on Jan. 6, 1973, at the base.
Bush said in a TV interview in February that he would
make all his military records available. That month,
the White House released more than 400 pages of Bush
military records, including some duplicates, and said
the documents were a complete catalog of his personnel
files.
But some documents still have not been made public.
The White House did not release Bush's medical records
from his Guard files but allowed a group of reporters
who cover the White House to review them for 20
minutes. They found nothing unusual. Kerry released
some of his military records earlier this year. He has
also declined to release his complete medical records
but showed them to reporters as Bush did.
Since February, the White House has banned all Guard
and military commanders outside the Pentagon from
commenting on Bush's records or service. Requests for
information must go to the Pentagon's Freedom of
Information Act office.
The Pentagon last week responded to a 4-month-old
request from USA TODAY for additional records from
Bush's files by sending another copy of documents that
were released by the White House in February. The
documents do not address the unexplained year in
Bush's Guard service or his decision to stop flying.
The Associated Press filed a lawsuit this summer
requesting copies of Bush's military records stored in
a Texas archive on microfilm. It sought information
that might explain why Bush did not take his flight
physical and whether he showed up for duty in Alabama
in the fall of 1972, AP spokesman John Stokes said.