Three more US Marines died in Iraq today. For what?
The neo-con wet dream of a Three Stooges Reich. There
are 46 days to go until the national referendum on the
CHARACTER, COMPETENCY and CREDIBILITY of the _resident
and the VICE _resident...Truth is a river. It flows
forward. It does not turn back on itself. And as
Heraclitus said, "you cannot step into the same river
twice." The deep fix is unraveling in the onrushing of
this river...The truth of this presidential campaign
is flowing toward an Electoral Uprising at the Ballot
Box...Here are NINE important news stories that should
dominate the air waves and headlines above the fold,
but won't, because the US regimestream news media is a
full partner in a Triad of shared special interest
(oil, weapons, media, pharmaceuticals, tobacco,
etc.)with the Bush Cabal and
its-wholly-owned-subsidiary-formerly-known-as-the-Republican-Party...
Please read them and share them with others. Please vote and
encourage others to vote. And, please, remember that
the US regimestream news media, with its shameless
pollsters and craven propapunditgandists, does not
want to inform you about this campaign, it wants to
DISinform you about it...
Mary Dalrymple, Associated Press: Democratic Sen. John
Kerry on Friday accused the Bush administration of
hiding a plan to mobilize more National Guard and
Reserve troops after the election while glossing over
a worsening conflict in Iraq.
"He won't tell us what congressional leaders are now
saying, that this administration is planning yet
another substantial call-up of reservists and Guard
units immediately after the election," Kerry said.
"Hide it from people through the election, then make
the move."
While Bush has been campaigning as the best candidate
to deter terrorists and protect the nation, his
presidential rival portrayed him as out of touch with
a serious and dangerous situation in Iraq.
"With all due respect to the president, has he turned
on the evening news lately? Does he read the
newspapers?" Kerry said. "Does he really know what's
happening? Is he talking about the same war that the
rest of us are talking about?"
Daily Kos: It is pathetic and unacceptable for a
"non-partisan" polling firm to be produce the outlying
poll in favor of Bush in fourteen of its last sixteen
polls. The odds of this happening at random are around
one in 14,000. Considering those odds, the far more
likely explanation for all these outliers is that
Gallup's polling methodology is inherently structured
in favor of Bush. Whether or not it is intentional, I
do not know. However, I do know that Gallup's polls
are connected to the largest news outlets in America
of any poll, both in terms of print (USA Today is the
largest circulation newspaper in the country) and
cable news (CNN has more viewers than Fox, they just
watch for shorter periods of time). I also know that
sensational headlines sell. I further know that
Gallup's chairman is a Republican donor.
Democratic National Committee: Democratic National
Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe formally
launched Operation Fortunate Son today unveiling a new
DNC video which will be on the DNC website and will be
shown in battleground states. McAuliffe also announced
that veterans would be taking part in more than 30
Operation Fortunate Son events in 21 states this week
calling on George W. Bush to answer specific questions
about his National Guard service.
As George W. Bush continues to rely heavily on the men
and women serving in the Armed Forces today, thanks to
his failed foreign policies, he has no business lying
to them about fulfilling his own duty," said
McAuliffe. "It is time for this 'fortunate son' to
come clean with the American people."
The Operation Fortunate Son video traces Bush’s lies
about his service during Vietnam and focuses on the
importance of Bush, as President, telling the truth to
the American people now.
USA Today: A federal judge has ordered the Pentagon to
find and make public by next week any unreleased files
about President Bush's Vietnam-era Air National Guard
service to resolve a Freedom of Information Act
lawsuit filed by The Associated Press.
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. handed down the
order late Wednesday in New York. The AP lawsuit
already has led to the disclosure of previously
unreleased flight logs from Bush's days piloting
F-102A fighters and other jets.
Associated Press/CNN: A business school professor who
taught George W. Bush at Harvard University in the
early 1970s says the future president told him that
family friends had pulled strings to get him into the
Texas Air National Guard.
Yoshi Tsurumi, in his first on-camera interview on the
subject, told CNN that Bush confided in him during an
after-class hallway conversation during the 1973-74
school year.
"He admitted to me that to avoid the Vietnam draft, he
had his dad -- he said 'Dad's friends' -- skip him
through the long waiting list to get him into the
Texas National Guard," Tsurumi said. "He thought that
was a smart thing to do."
"What I couldn't stand -- and I told him -- he was all
for the U.S. to continue with the Vietnam War. That
means he was all for other people, Americans, to keep
on fighting and dying."
Russ Baker, The Nation: Growing evidence suggests that
George W. Bush abruptly left his Texas Air National
Guard unit in 1972 for substantive reasons pertaining
to his inability to continue piloting a fighter jet.
A months-long investigation, which includes
examination of hundreds of government-released
documents, interviews with former Guard members and
officials, military experts and Bush associates,
points toward the conclusion that Bush's personal
behavior was causing alarm among his superior officers
and would ultimately lead to his fleeing the state to
avoid a physical exam he might have had difficulty
passing. His failure to complete a physical exam
became the official reason for his subsequent
suspension from flying status.
David Brock, Media Matters: The media's fixation on
the controversy over the authenticity of memos exposed
by CBS's 60 Minutes has enabled conservative members
of the media to discount the serious questions
regarding President George W. Bush's National Guard
service. The media's focus on the memos has enabled
conservatives to dodge questions raised by the strong
evidence indicating that strings were pulled on Bush's
behalf in the National Guard; that he did not meet his
service obligations; and, most importantly, that he
has repeatedly lied about his service. As recently as
February 8, Bush told NBC Meet the Press host Tim
Russert: "I did my duty."
JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press: Billionaire
philanthropist George Soros has asked the House ethics
committee to investigate House Speaker Dennis Hastert
over comments suggesting that Soros could be receiving
money from illegal drug groups.
"This kind of insinuation — that a private United
States citizen was in league with drug cartels and may
be receiving funds derived from criminal activity —
has no place in public discourse," Soros wrote Tuesday
to the chair and top Democrat on the panel, Reps. Joel
Hefley, R-Col., and Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va.
Agence France Press: Writer Kitty Kelley has accused
the White House of putting pressure on her and the US
media over the new biography on the family of
President George W. Bush.
"The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty",
which alleges that Bush took cocaine at Camp David
when his father was president, became an instant
best-seller after its publication this week. But it
has been strongly condemned by the presidency.
Kelley said she interviewed 988 people for the book.
"If it's in the book, it's corroborated," she said.
"There is a lot I left out the book."
Kelley said Sharon Bush's publicist has "corroborated
everything".
"But I am not really surprised that she is backing off
because this is a very powerful family. Sharon said
over that lunch that she was afraid of the Bushes."
Kelley went on: "I really do think they are the most
powerful in America, the most powerful family in the
world."
She denied she had a political agenda explaining that
the book was started in 2000. "I personally come from
a large Republican family. My father voted for both
Bushes."
Support Our Troops, Save the US Constitution,
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Restore Fiscal Responsibility in the White House,
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Election,
Save the Environment, Break the Corporatist
Stranglehold on the US Mainstream News Media, Cleanse
the White House of the Chicken Hawk Coup and Its
War-Profiteering Cronies, Show Up for Democracy in
2004: Defeat the Triad, Defeat Bush (again!)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=3&u=/ap/20040917/ap_on_el_pr/kerry
Kerry Accuses Bush of Hiding Troops Plan
1 hour, 49 minutes ago
By MARY DALRYMPLE, Associated Press Writer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Democratic Sen. John Kerry (news -
web sites) on Friday accused the Bush administration
of hiding a plan to mobilize more National Guard and
Reserve troops after the election while glossing over
a worsening conflict in Iraq (news - web sites).
"He won't tell us what congressional leaders are now
saying, that this administration is planning yet
another substantial call-up of reservists and Guard
units immediately after the election," Kerry said.
"Hide it from people through the election, then make
the move."
The Bush campaign called the allegation of a secret
plan "completely irresponsible ... false and
ridiculous." The Pentagon (news - web sites) said
troop replacements would include some from National
Guard and Reserve units and those expected to be sent
to Iraq had been notified.
While Bush has been campaigning as the best candidate
to deter terrorists and protect the nation, his
presidential rival portrayed him as out of touch with
a serious and dangerous situation in Iraq.
"With all due respect to the president, has he turned
on the evening news lately? Does he read the
newspapers?" Kerry said. "Does he really know what's
happening? Is he talking about the same war that the
rest of us are talking about?"
Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) of
Pennsylvania, top Democrat on the House Appropriations
Defense Subcommittee and a former Marine who served in
Vietnam, said he had learned through conversations
with Pentagon officials that beginning in November,
"the Bush administration plans to call up large
numbers of the military Guard and Reserves, to include
plans that they previously had put off to call up the
Individual Ready Reserve."
Other Democrats joined Kerry in a chorus trying to
drown out Bush's message on Iraq.
"It's clear that this administration didn't know what
it was getting into, or else they grossly
misrepresented the facts to the American people," said
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. "In
either case, staying the course is not an option."
Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) of
Massachusetts, campaigning for Kerry in Pennsylvania,
said that in spite of bleak national intelligence
estimates on Iraq, Bush still "goes out
misrepresenting and distorting the progress that's
being made over there."
Kerry said the president was avoiding hard truths
about casualties, new insurgencies and troop
shortages. "He won't tell us that, day by day, we're
running out of soldiers and that we're now resorted to
a backdoor draft of our reservists and our National
Guard."
The Bush campaign denied the assertion about secret
plans.
"John Kerry's conspiracy theory of a secret troop
deployment is completely irresponsible," said
spokesman Steve Schmidt. "John Kerry didn't launch
this attack when he spoke to the National Guard
because he knows they know it is false and
ridiculous."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said of Kerry:
"He's struggling to explain his incoherent positions
on Iraq. He's engaging in baseless attacks."
At the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Chris Rodney said, "There is
no force increase that is expected."
The Army is on target to rotate into Iraq the same
number of soldiers who will be leaving over the next
six months, and all National Guard and Reserve units
that are expected to be mobilized for the next
rotation have been notified, the spokesman said.
Kerry's campaign also intensified its criticism of
Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) and
defense contractor Halliburton, the company Cheney
used to lead, as an aspect of the administration's
management of the war.
"Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton, has profited
from the mess in Iraq at the expense of American
troops and taxpayers," Kerry said.
In a new television ad, which went on the air Friday
in Oregon and other battleground states, the Democrat
suggests that Cheney has conflicts of interest
stemming from money he received from Halliburton under
a deferred compensation agreement.
The ad also contends that Halliburton wasted taxpayer
money, in contracts awarded without competitive
bidding, that could have been better used at home.
Several investigations have found evidence of
overcharging or raised questions about the company's
performance.
The Bush-Cheney campaign denied any conflicts of
interest existed for Cheney, saying that deferred
compensation agreements aren't uncommon and that the
vice president has no influence on contracts awarded
to his former employer.
A new radio ad running in New Hampshire and Florida
says "the Saudi royal family appreciates the support"
when Americans fill up their tanks at gas stations.
"Who does the royal family support? George W. Bush and
Dick Cheney."
Copyright © 2004 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. The information contained in the AP News
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed without the prior written authority of
The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2004 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/17/04339/5885
DailyKos: The level of Gallup's polling corruption
over the past three months is staggering and needs to
be exposed.
Gallup, even without their new poll, is without
question the top outlying polling organization in this
election. Since they began doing state polls on the
2004 campaign, one twelve occasions Gallup has had a
poll in the field for at least one day when at least
one other non-partisan polling firm has had a poll in
the field. On eleven of those twelve occasions,
Gallup's results where the most pro-Bush of the other
non-partisan operations. On the other occasion, Gallup
was actually the pro-Kerry outlier: (source)
(* = three way trial heat):
Diaries :: Chris Bowers's diary ::
Florida, 7/19-7/22
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 50 46 7/22
M-D* 48 46 7/21
Zogby* 48.5 48.4 7/23
IA 46 46 7/20
LAT 45 45 7/21
R2000 44 49 7/19
Florida, 8/20-8/22
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup* 48 46 8/22
Zogby* 49.0 49.6 8/21
Minnesota, 9/11-9/14
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 48 46 9/14
M-D 46 45 9/14
Star 41 50 9/13
Missouri, 9/3-9/6
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 55 41 9/6
Rasm 48 42 9/3
Zogby* 48.5 48.9 9/3
North Carolina, 7/9-7/11
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 54 39 7/11
R2000 49 44 7/10-4
Ohio, 9/4-7
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 52 43 9/7
SUSA 50 47 9/8
Ohio, 8/13-9/15
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 45 47 8/15
Cincy 46 48 8/11-7
Ohio, 7/19-7/22
Bush Kerry Date
CD 47 44 7/23
Zogby 48.1 46.8 7/23
ARG 45 47 7/22
Gallup 45 51 7/22
Pennsylvania, 9/4-9/7
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 48 47 9/7
Rasm 46 48 9/6-8
SUSA 47 49 9/7-9
Pennsylvania, 8/23-8/26
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 48 47 8/26
Rasm 45 49 8/26
Washington, 9/3-9/6
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup* 44 52 9/6
Zogby* 44.2 52.7 9/3
Wisconsin, 9/9-9/12
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 52 44 9/12
Rasm 49 47 9/12No other polling outfit, not even
Zogby or Strategic Vision, is even close to being in
favor of one candidate in state polls as frequently as
Gallup has favored Bush during this election. Even the
one time Gallup favored Kerry, it was still an
outlier.
Looking at national polls, one finds almost exactly
the same story. Since late July, Gallup has, save
once, been the outlying poll. Here's how the last four
Gallup national polls stack up against other
non-partisan polls taken during the same time period
(source):
National, 7/30-8/1
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 51 47 8/1
ARG 46 49 8/1
Rasm 45 48 8/2
CBS 43 49 8/1
News 44 52 7/30
National, 8/23-9/25
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 50 47 8/25
LAT 49 46 8/24
Rasm 46 46 8/24-6
Time 46 46 8/24-6
Fox 44 45 8/25
National, 9/3-9/5
Bush Kerry Date
News 54 43 9/3
Gallup 52 45 9/5
Rasm 47.6 46.5 9/5
National, 9/13-9/15
Bush Kerry Date
Gallup 54 40 9/15
Rasm 49.3 44.7 9/15
Econ 47 46 9/15
Pew 46 46 9/14
Harris 47 48 9/13
This last one is the most profound outlier of any
national poll this year, leaving Newsweek and Time in
the dust (maybe that is what they were trying to
accomplish). Then again, maybe they aren't leaving
Time in the dust, since CNN and Time are affiliated
news organizations and frequently do joint polls.
It is pathetic and unacceptable for a "non-partisan"
polling firm to be produce the outlying poll in favor
of Bush in fourteen of its last sixteen polls. The
odds of this happening at random are around one in
14,000. Considering those odds, the far more likely
explanation for all these outliers is that Gallup's
polling methodology is inherently structured in favor
of Bush. Whether or not it is intentional, I do not
know. However, I do know that Gallup's polls are
connected to the largest news outlets in America of
any poll, both in terms of print (USA Today is the
largest circulation newspaper in the country) and
cable news (CNN has more viewers than Fox, they just
watch for shorter periods of time). I also know that
sensational headlines sell. I further know that
Gallup's chairman is a Republican donor.
This is a shameful state for the oldest and most
respected polling organiztion in the country. Shame on
you Gallup. Let USA Today know that Gallup always
favors Bush by large margins, and that we have the
numbrs to prove it.
http://www.democrats.org/news/200409140004.html
Sep 14, 2004
DNC Unveils New Video at Launch of Operation:
Fortunate Son
OFS Includes More Than 30 Events in 21 States
Washington, DC - Democratic National Committee (DNC)
Chairman Terry McAuliffe formally launched Operation
Fortunate Son today unveiling a new DNC video which
will be on the DNC website and will be shown in
battleground states. McAuliffe also announced that
veterans would be taking part in more than 30
Operation Fortunate Son events in 21 states this week
calling on George W. Bush to answer specific questions
about his National Guard service.
As George W. Bush continues to rely heavily on the men
and women serving in the Armed Forces today, thanks to
his failed foreign policies, he has no business lying
to them about fulfilling his own duty," said
McAuliffe. "It is time for this 'fortunate son' to
come clean with the American people."
The Operation Fortunate Son video traces Bush’s lies
about his service during Vietnam and focuses on the
importance of Bush, as President, telling the truth to
the American people now.
Video Script:
Vietnam.
A generation forced to make difficult choices.
Some chose war. Others chose different paths.
It's hard, thirty years later, to pass judgment on
those choices.
But we do expect our leaders to be honest with us
about them.
George W. Bush: "I George Walker Bush do solemnly
swear."
Has George Bush?
The President said he never used any influence to get
into the National Guard.
Debate Moderator: "You are confident that no influence
was exercised on your behalf."
George W. Bush: "I am, yeah."
But former Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes gave sworn
testimony that he pulled strings at the behest of a
Bush family friend.
Ben Barnes: "I recommended a lot of people for the
National Guard during the Vietnam era, as Speaker of
the House and as Lt. Governor."
Dan Rather: "And you recommended George W. Bush."
Ben Barnes: "Yes I did."
Dan Rather: "And you said you did this for others.
What would be called preferential treatment for
President Bush. Would you describe it as that?"
Ben Barnes: "I would describe it as preferential
treatment."
Just before losing his student deferment, George Bush
was accepted in the National Guard.
George Bush leapfrogged a long waiting list.
This son of privilege. This fortunate son.
More than 150 young men were waiting to get in the
Guard when George Bush was inducted. Their families
didn't have any special influence.
Just months ago, George Bush sat in the Oval Office
and said he fulfilled his duty in the Guard.
Tim Russert: "You would allow pay stubs, tax records,
anything that shows that you were serving during that
time?"
George W. Bush: "I'm just telling you, I did my duty."
But Guard records show he didn't take required
physical.
He was grounded.
And for 6-months in 1972 he failed to perform any
Guard service, as required. His supervisor wrote that
Bush "had not been observed at this unit."
Where was he? And why did he miss his physical?
This son of privilege. This fortunate son.
Today tens of thousands of brave Guardsmen and women
from across America serve with distinction in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
They don't miss physicals. They didn't pull strings.
They are living up to their commitment.
It's time for George Bush to come clean and answer the
questions about his service.
Because it may be hard to sit in judgment on choices
made at a confusing time. But there's nothing
confusing about telling the truth.
OFS Events
At Operation Fortunate Son events veterans will call
on President Bush to answer five specific questions
about his military service:
Q: Why did George Bush say "I did my duty" when he
missed months of duty in 1972, 73 and 74?
Q: How did George Bush avoid getting called into
active service for missing months of duty in 1972, 73,
74?
Q: Why did George Bush say he received "no special
treatment" when Ben Barnes says he pulled strings to
secure a Guard slot for him?
Q: Who asked Bush family friend Sidney Adger to get
Bush a slot in the Guard immediately after Bush
graduated and at the height of the Vietnam War?
Q: When will George Bush produce any credible witness
who can attest to his service in the Alabama Air
National Guard?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-09-16-bush-memos_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA
Judge orders government to find, release all Bush
military records
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the
Pentagon to find and make public by next week any
unreleased files about President Bush's Vietnam-era
Air National Guard service to resolve a Freedom of
Information Act lawsuit filed by The Associated Press.
U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. handed down the
order late Wednesday in New York. The AP lawsuit
already has led to the disclosure of previously
unreleased flight logs from Bush's days piloting
F-102A fighters and other jets.
Pentagon officials told Baer they plan to have their
search complete by Monday. Baer ordered the Pentagon
to hand over the records to the AP by Sept. 24 and
provide a written statement by Sept. 29 detailing the
search for more records.
"We're hopeful the Department of Defense will provide
a full accounting of the steps it has taken, as the
judge ordered, so the public can have some assurance
that there are no documents being withheld," said AP
lawyer David Schulz.
White House officials have said Bush ordered the
Pentagon earlier this year to conduct a thorough
search for the president's records, and officials
allowed reporters to review everything that was
gathered back in February.
Through a series of requests under the federal open
records law and a subsequent suit, the AP uncovered
the flight logs, which were not part of the records
the White House released earlier this year.
Both Bush's and John Kerry's service records in
Vietnam have become a major issue in the presidential
race. New records that have surfaced in recent weeks
have raised more questions. (Related story:
Authenticity of Bush records criticized)
Bush's critics say Bush got preferential treatment as
the son of a congressman and U.N. ambassador. Critics
also question why Bush skipped a required medical
examination in 1972 and failed to show up for drills
during a six-month period that year.
Bush has repeatedly said he fulfilled all of his Air
National Guard obligations.
The future president joined the Texas Air National
Guard in 1968, when he graduated from Yale. He spent
more than a year on active duty learning how to fly
and then mostly flew in the one-seat F-102A fighters
until April 1972.
The pilot logs show a shift to flights in two-seat
trainer jets in March 1972, shortly before Bush quit
flying. Former Air National Guard officials say that
could have been because F-102A jets were not available
for Bush to fly or because of other reasons, such as
concerns about Bush's flight performance.
Bush skipped his required yearly medical exam in 1972
in the months after he stopped flying in April. Bush
has said he moved to Alabama to work on the
unsuccessful Senate campaign of a family friend.
Bush never showed up for Guard service between late
April and mid-October 1972. He won approval to train
with an Alabama Air National Guard unit during
September, October and November 1972, but more than a
dozen members of the unit at that time say they never
saw him there.
The only direct record of Bush appearing at the
Alabama unit's base is a January 1973 dental exam
performed at that base. Bush's Texas commanders wrote
in May 1973 they never saw him between May 1972 and
April 1973, a time when his pay records show he
trained on 14 days.
Although military regulations allowed commanders to
order two years of active duty for guardsmen who
missed more than three straight months of drills, that
never happened to Bush. Commanders had leeway at the
time to allow guardsmen to make up for missed drills.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/13/bush.professor/
Professor says Bush revealed National Guard favoritism
>From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
Monday, September 13, 2004 Posted: 6:53 PM EDT (2253
GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A business school professor who
taught George W. Bush at Harvard University in the
early 1970s says the future president told him that
family friends had pulled strings to get him into the
Texas Air National Guard.
Yoshi Tsurumi, in his first on-camera interview on the
subject, told CNN that Bush confided in him during an
after-class hallway conversation during the 1973-74
school year.
"He admitted to me that to avoid the Vietnam draft, he
had his dad -- he said 'Dad's friends' -- skip him
through the long waiting list to get him into the
Texas National Guard," Tsurumi said. "He thought that
was a smart thing to do."
While the campaign has not responded directly to
Tsurumi's allegations, White House Communications
Director Dan Bartlett said last week, "Every time
President Bush gets near another election, all the
innuendo and rumors about President Bush's service in
the National Guard come to the forefront."
Bush has said in the past that neither he nor his
father sought special treatment for him. "Any
allegation that my dad asked for special favors is
simply not true," he said in 1999.
Tsurumi said Vietnam was a top topic among the 85
students in his class, when he was a visiting
associate professor at Harvard from 1972 to 1976. He
now teaches at Baruch College in New York.
"What I couldn't stand -- and I told him -- he was all
for the U.S. to continue with the Vietnam War. That
means he was all for other people, Americans, to keep
on fighting and dying."
Tsurumi got to know Bush when the future president
took his "Economics EAM" (Environmental Analysis for
Management), a required two-semester class from the
fall of 1973 to the spring of 1974, Bush's first year
at Harvard's business school.
Bush had transferred to Air National Guard reserve
status before he enrolled in the MBA program. He had
enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard in May 1968
and trained to fly fighter jets until he was suspended
from flying status in August 1972 for failing to
submit to an annual physical, according to Bush's
military records released earlier this year.
Tsurumi said he remembers Bush because every teacher
remembers their best and worst students, and Bush was
in the latter group.
"Lazy. He didn't come to my class prepared," Tsurumi
said. "He did very badly."
Tsurumi concedes that he disapproves of Bush's
politics. He wrote a letter to the editor of his
hometown newspaper, the Scarsdale Inquirer, that
derided the president's claims to "compassionate
conservatism."
"Somehow I found him totally devoid of compassion,
social responsibility, and good study discipline,"
Tsurumi said. "What I remember most about him was all
the kind of flippant statements that he made inside of
classroom as well as outside."
Tsurumi says he is not working for any Democratic
group for the Kerry campaign. "The only activity I do
is to vote for him," Tsurumi said.
But Tsurumi has been speaking out against Bush by
giving newspaper and radio interviews.
The professor's comments come as a former Texas
politician, former state House Speaker and Lieutenant
Governor Ben Barnes, has said it was he got Bush into
the Guard.
Barnes, a Democrat supporting John Kerry, says he
called the head of the Texas unit in 1968, at the
request of a Bush family friend. Bush's father was
then a U.S congressman.
CNN's Jonathan Wald and Jennifer Icklan contributed to
this story.
This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040927&s=baker
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why Bush Left Texas
by RUSS BAKER
[posted online on September 14, 2004]
Growing evidence suggests that George W. Bush abruptly
left his Texas Air National Guard unit in 1972 for
substantive reasons pertaining to his inability to
continue piloting a fighter jet.
A months-long investigation, which includes
examination of hundreds of government-released
documents, interviews with former Guard members and
officials, military experts and Bush associates,
points toward the conclusion that Bush's personal
behavior was causing alarm among his superior officers
and would ultimately lead to his fleeing the state to
avoid a physical exam he might have had difficulty
passing. His failure to complete a physical exam
became the official reason for his subsequent
suspension from flying status.
This central issue, whether Bush did or did not
complete his duty--and if not, why--has in recent days
been obscured by a raging sideshow: a debate over the
accuracy of documents aired on CBS's 60 Minutes. Last
week CBS News reported on newly unearthed memos
purportedly prepared by Bush's now-deceased commanding
officer. In those documents, the officer, Lieut. Col.
Jerry Killian, appeared to be establishing for the
record events occurring at the time Bush abruptly left
his Texas Air National Guard unit in May 1972. Among
these: that Bush had failed to meet unspecified Guard
standards and refused a direct order to take a
physical exam, and that pressure was being applied on
Killian and his superiors to whitewash whatever
troubling circumstances Bush was in.
Questions have been raised about the authenticity of
those memos, but the criticism of them appears at this
time speculative and inconclusive, while their
substance is consistent with a growing body of
documentation and analysis.
If it is demonstrated that profound behavioral
problems marred Bush's wartime performance and even
cut short his service, it could seriously challenge
Bush's essential appeal as a military steward and
guardian of societal values. It could also explain the
incomplete, contradictory and shifting explanations
provided by the Bush camp for the President's striking
invisibility from the military during the final two
years of his six-year military obligation. And it
would explain the savagery and rapidity of the attack
on the CBS documents.
In 1972 Bush's unit activities underwent a change that
could point to a degradation of his ability to fly a
fighter jet. Last week, in response to a lawsuit, the
White House released to the Associated Press Bush's
flight logs, which show that he abruptly shifted his
emphasis in February and March 1972 from his assigned
F-102A fighter jet to a two-seat T-33 training jet,
from which he had graduated several years earlier, and
was put back onto a flight simulator. The logs also
show that on two occasions he required multiple
attempts to land a one-seat fighter and a fighter
simulator. This after Bush had already logged more
than 200 hours in the one-seat F-102A.
Military experts say that his new, apparently
downgraded and accompanied training mode, which
included Bush's sometimes moving into the co-pilot's
seat, can, in theory, be explained a variety of ways.
He could, for example, have been training for a new
position that might involve carrying student pilots.
But the reality is that Bush himself has never
mentioned this chapter in his life, nor has he
provided a credible explanation. In addition, Bush's
highly detailed Officer Effectiveness Reports make no
mention of this rather dramatic change.
A White House spokesman explained to AP that the heavy
training in this more elementary capacity came at a
time when Bush was trying to generate more hours in
anticipation of a six-month leave to work on a
political campaign. But, in fact, this scenario is
implausible. For one thing, Guard regulations did not
permit him to log additional hours in that manner as a
substitute for missing six months of duty later on. As
significantly, there is no sign that Bush even
considered going to work on that campaign until
shortly before he departed--nor that campaign
officials had any inkling at all that Bush might join
them in several months' time.
Bush told his commanding officers that he was going to
Alabama for an opportunity with a political campaign.
(His Texas Air National Guard supervisors--presumably
relying on what Bush told them--would write in a
report the following year, "A civilian occupation made
it necessary for him to move to Montgomery, Alabama.")
But the timing of Bush's decision to leave and his
departure--about the same time that he failed to take
a mandatory annual physical exam--indicate that the
two may have been related.
Campaign staff members say they knew nothing of Bush's
interest in participating until days before he arrived
in Montgomery. Indeed, not one of numerous Bush
friends from those days even recalls Bush talking
about going to Alabama at any point before he took
off.
Bush's behavior in Alabama suggests that he viewed
Alabama not as an important career opportunity but as
a kind of necessary evil.
Although his role in the campaign has been represented
as substantial (in some newspaper accounts, he has
been described as the assistant campaign manager),
numerous campaign staffers say Bush's role was
negligible, low level and that he routinely arrived at
the campaign offices in the afternoon hours, bragging
of drinking feats from the night before.
According to friends of his, he kept his Houston
apartment during this period and, based on their
recollections, may have been coming back into town
repeatedly during the time he was supposedly working
full-time on the Alabama campaign. Absences from the
campaign have been explained as due to his
responsibilities to travel to the further reaches of
Alabama, but several staffers told me that organizing
those counties was not Bush's de facto responsibility.
Even more significantly, in a July interview, Linda
Allison, the widow of Jimmy Allison, the Alabama
campaign manager and a close friend of Bush's father,
revealed to me for the first time that Bush had come
to Alabama not because the job had appeal or because
his presence was required but because he needed to get
out of Texas. "Well, you have to know Georgie,"
Allison said. "He really was a totally irresponsible
person. Big George [George H.W. Bush] called Jimmy,
and said, he's killing us in Houston, take him down
there and let him work on that campaign.... The tenor
of that was, Georgie is in and out of trouble seven
days a week down here, and would you take him up there
with you."
Allison said that the younger Bush's drinking problem
was apparent. She also said that her husband, a
circumspect man who did not gossip and held his cards
closely, indicated to her that some use of drugs was
involved. "I had the impression that he knew that
Georgie was using pot, certainly, and perhaps
cocaine," she said.
Now-prominent, established Texas figures in the
military, arts, business and political worlds, some of
them Republicans and Bush supporters, talk about
Bush's alleged use of marijuana and cocaine based on
what they say they have heard from trusted friends.
One middle-aged woman whose general veracity could be
confirmed told me that she met Bush in 1968 at
Hemisfair 68, a fair in San Antonio, at which he tried
to pick her up and offered her a white powder he was
inhaling. She was then a teenager; Bush would have
just graduated from Yale and have been starting the
National Guard then. "He was getting really aggressive
with me," she said. "I told him I'd call a policeman,
and he laughed, and asked who would believe me."
(Although cocaine was not a widespread phenomenon
until the 1970s, US authorities were struggling more
than a decade earlier to stanch the flow from Latin
America; in 1967 border seizures amounted to
twenty-six pounds.)
Bush himself has publicly admitted to being somewhat
wild in his younger years, without offering any
details. He has not explicitly denied charges of drug
use; generally he has hedged. He has said that he
could have passed the same security screening his
father underwent upon his inauguration in 1989, which
certifies no illegal drug use during the fifteen
preceding years. In other words, George W. Bush seemed
to be saying that if he had used drugs, that was
before 1974 or during the period in which he left his
Guard unit.
The family that rented Bush a house in Montgomery,
Alabama, during that period told me that Bush did
extensive, inexplicable damage to their property,
including smashing a chandelier, and that they
unsuccessfully billed him twice for the damage--which
amounted to approximately $900, a considerable sum in
1972. Two unconnected close friends and acquaintances
of a well-known Montgomery socialite, now deceased,
told me that the socialite in question told them that
he and Bush had been partying that evening at the
Montgomery Country Club, combining drinking with use
of illicit drugs, and that Bush, complaining about the
brightness, had climbed on a table and smashed the
chandelier when the duo stopped at his home briefly so
Bush could change clothes before they headed out
again.
It is notable that in 1972, the military was in the
process of introducing widespread drug testing as part
of the annual physical exams that pilots would
undergo.
For years, military buffs and retired officers have
speculated about the real reasons that Bush left his
unit two years before his flying obligation was up.
Bush and his staff have muddied the issue by not
providing a clear, comprehensive and consistent
explanation of his departure from the unit. And,
peculiarly, the President has not made himself
available to describe in detail what did take place at
that time. Instead, the White House has adopted a
policy of offering obscure explanations by officials
who clearly do not know the specifics of what went on,
and the periodic release of large numbers of confusing
or inconclusive documents--particularly at the start
of weekends and holiday periods, when attention is
elsewhere.
In addition, the Bush camp has offered over the past
few years a shifting panoply of explanations that
subsequently failed to pass muster. One was that Bush
had stopped flying his F-102A jet because it was being
phased out (the plane continued to be used for at
least another year). Another explanation was that he
failed to take his physical exam in 1972 because his
family doctor was unavailable. (Guard regulations
require that physicals be conducted by doctors on the
base, and would have been easily arranged either on a
base in Texas or, after he left the state, in
Alabama.)
One of the difficulties in getting to the truth about
what really took place during this period is the
frequently expressed fear of retribution from the Bush
organization. Many sources refuse to speak on the
record, or even to have their knowledge communicated
publicly in any way. One source who did publicly
evince doubts about Bush's activities in 1972 was Dean
Roome, who flew formations often with Bush and was his
roommate for a time. "You wonder if you know who
George Bush is," Roome told USA Today in a
little-appreciated interview back in 2002. "I think he
digressed after awhile," he said. "In the first half,
he was gung-ho. Where George failed was to fulfill his
obligation as a pilot. It was an irrational time in
his life." Yet in subsequent years, Roome has revised
his comments to a firm insistence that nothing out of
the ordinary took place at that time, and after one
interview he e-mailed me material raising questions
about John Kerry's military career. Roome, who
operates a curio shop in a Texas hamlet, told me that
Bush aides, including communications adviser Karen
Hughes, and even the President himself stay in touch
with him.
Several Bush associates from that period say that the
Bush camp has argued strenuously about the importance
of sources backing the President up on his military
service, citing patriotism, personal loyalty and even
the claim that he lacks friends in Washington and must
count on those from early in his life.
In 1971 Bush took his annual physical exam in May.
It's reasonable to conclude that he would also take
his 1972 physical in the same month. Yet according to
official Guard documents, Bush "cleared the base" on
May 15 without doing so. Fellow Guard members
uniformly agree that Bush should and could have easily
taken the exam with unit doctors at Ellington Air
Force Base before leaving town. (It is interesting to
note that if the Killian memos released by CBS do hold
up, one of them, dated May 4, 1972, orders Bush to
report for his physical by May 14--one day before he
took off.)
Bush has indicated that he departed from Ellington Air
Force Base and his Guard unit because he had been
offered an important employment opportunity with a
political campaign in Alabama. The overwhelming
evidence suggests, however, that the Alabama campaign
was a convenient excuse for Bush to rapidly exit stage
left from a Guard unit that found him and his behavior
a growing problem. If that's not the case, now would
be an excellent time for a President famed for his
superlative memory to sit down and explain what really
happened in that period.
http://mediamatters.org/items/printable/200409170001
Back to this story | Home
Media's memo obsession has enabled conservatives to
distract from Bush's lies about service
The media's fixation on the controversy over the
authenticity of memos exposed by CBS's 60 Minutes has
enabled conservative members of the media to discount
the serious questions regarding President George W.
Bush's National Guard service. The media's focus on
the memos has enabled conservatives to dodge questions
raised by the strong evidence indicating that strings
were pulled on Bush's behalf in the National Guard;
that he did not meet his service obligations; and,
most importantly, that he has repeatedly lied about
his service. As recently as February 8, Bush told NBC
Meet the Press host Tim Russert: "I did my duty."
CLAIM: Service questions are meaningless if the
documents are forged
On the September 15 edition of FOX News Channel's
Special Report with Brit Hume, FOX News Channel
contributor and Roll Call executive editor Morton M.
Kondracke claimed that the "net effect" of the memo
controversy is that "the draft story" (allegations
that Bush avoided the draft by getting into the
National Guard with the help of family connections) is
"falling apart":
KONDRACKE: I mean, look, the net effect of this [memo
controversy] is that attempts to use this to hammer
George [W.] Bush, the draft story, are falling apart.
You know? It's still faithful, loyal Democrats, you
know, will believe this to the last ditch. But you
know, this assertion, at least, is falling apart.
On the September 14 edition of FOX News Channel's
Hannity & Colmes, co-host Alan Colmes attempted to ask
L. Brent Bozell III, president of the conservative
Media Research Center, substantive questions regarding
whether Bush "got special consideration" to "get in"
to the Guard. Bozell used the memo controversy to
dismiss those questions:
COLMES: Whether he [Bush] was there -- let me just ask
the question. Whether he [Bush] was there or not,
whether he got special consideration to get in. Rather
than dealing with those questions we're dealing with
whether these memos are real and what the typeset is.
BOZELL: And what I'm saying, Alan, is that it's the --
it's the height of journalistic irresponsibility to
bring up those issues when they're based on fraudulent
documents.
But as Media Matters for America has noted, former
Texas Speaker of the House Ben Barnes swore under oath
that he helped Bush get into the Guard, and Bush's
Harvard Business School professor Yoshi Tsurumi said
Bush "admitted to me that to avoid the Vietnam draft,
he had his dad -- he said 'dad's friends' -- skip him
through the long waiting list to get into the Texas
National Guard." Neither statement has anything to do
with the CBS documents.
On the September 15 edition of FOX News Channel's The
O'Reilly Factor, guest Tony Snow (a conservative radio
host) falsely claimed that the disputed memos are the
only evidence proving Bush skipped a physical in July
1972 and thereby violated Guard regulations:
SNOW: And now, it [CBS News] also has the fuller
problem of if the documents are forgeries, how do you
make the claim that the story itself was true? After
all, the story itself hinges upon what? Somebody
finding out whether the president showed up for a
physical.
In other words, you have to prove that he wasn't
there. Well, that's almost impossible to do. The
doctor is not around. So there's CBS left grasping at
straws.
In fact, a separate, unchallenged document states
clearly that Bush was suspended from flying because he
missed his physical.
On the September 14 edition of his radio show, FOX
News Channel host Bill O'Reilly agreed with co-host
E.D. Hill that if CBS admits the disputed memos are
forged, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Web
page highlighting Bush's false statements about his
Guard service will be discredited. But only one small
section of the page, which is based primarily on CBS's
original story, relies on the disputed memos.
>From the September 14 edition of The Radio Factor with
Bill O'Reilly:
HILL: But if they say that [the documents are fake],
and the DNC's website is basing their entire "Bush
lied" page [a September 9 "Headlines" page bore this
headline] --
O'REILLY: On fabricated documents --
HILL: On the CBS report --
O'REILLY: Right. There you go. See, it's all over.
They lost. "They" being the DNC or whoever tried to
push this phony stuff on CBS. They lost. Bush wins
again. He wins.
[...]
HILL: Yeah, the DNC makes it -- hurts itself --
O'REILLY: Right. Right.
HILL: -- by repeating that stuff.
On the September 15 edition of Hannity & Colmes,
co-host Sean Hannity repeatedly interrupted guest Carl
Bernstein, the former Washington Post investigative
journalist who first broke the Watergate story, in an
attempt to stop him from addressing the substantive
questions relating to Bush's Guard service record:
BERNSTEIN: [W]e're looking -- I think we're looking at
a side show here. I don't think this [whether or not
the documents are forged] is the real issue. It's --
the real issue is the war record of these two
candidates.
HANNITY: I don't want to talk about that.
[crosstalk]
HANNITY: We're going to get into that.
BERNSTEIN: This is about journalism. Let me finish.
HANNITY: But wait a minute. Wait, wait.
BERNSTEIN: I would like to finish.
HANNITY: Hang on a second. I'm not having you here to
talk politics.
CLAIM: Bush's honorable discharge means something
FOX News Channel hosts E.D. Hill, Brian Kilmeade, and
Sean Hannity, NPR national political correspondent and
FOX News contributor Mara Liasson, and WABC radio host
and Landmark Legal Foundation president Mark Levin
joined others in the media (as MMFA has documented
here, here and here) both in repeating the irrelevant
Bush-Cheney '04 talking point that Bush's honorable
discharge means he fulfilled his obligation to the
Guard and in dismissing serious questions about his
service.
>From the September 15 edition of FOX News Channel's
FOX & Friends, during a discussion of the $50,000
reward being offered by anti-Bush group Texans for
Truth for original information proving whether Bush
performed his duties in the Air National Guard between
May 1972 and May 1973 in Alabama:
HILL: Wouldn't you just have to show his [Bush's]
honorable discharge papers [to affirm Bush's service]?
KILMEADE: You would think so.
>From the September 14 edition of FOX News Channel's
Special Report with Brit Hume:
LIASSON: [I]f the Bush campaign says the bottom line
is he was honorably discharged, the official record
[of his honorable discharge] should be the final
statement on this.
>From the September 13 edition of Hannity & Colmes:
HANNITY: We know he [Bush] served honorably. He served
all these hours that he had put in the aircraft
itself. We know that. It's documented. He has his
honorable discharge. You see these attacks against the
president. You see that they've gone to this Colonel
Killian [alleged author of the CBS documents]. Now, we
had Colonel Killian's son on the program Friday night,
and he dismisses this as absolutely outrageous and
wrong and inaccurate, and it was not his father. His
father thought highly of him. What do you think is
going on here?
>From the September 13 Mark Levin Show:
LEVIN: The bottom line is George [W.] Bush served all
the hours he was required to serve in order to receive
his honorable discharge -- all of them. CBS lied. Dan
Rather lied. They lied today. They were too anxious to
assassinate Bush's reputation. They were deceived by
pro-[Senator John] Kerry people and others. And
they've destroyed whatever reputation that they have
left.
Evidence that Bush lied is being ignored
Meanwhile, evidence indicating that Bush has
misrepresented his record in the Guard has largely
been ignored:
BUSH CLAIM: "I did my duty" in the National Guard.
During an interview with host Tim Russert on the
February 8 edition of Meet the Press, Bush stated, "I
served in the National Guard. I flew F-102 aircraft. I
got an honorable discharge. ... I -- I put in my time,
proudly so." Later in the interview, Bush reiterated
the claim: "I'm just telling you, I did my duty.
EVIDENCE: Media reports found Bush didn't fulfill
obligation to the Guard.
As Media Matters for America has documented, according
to a September 20 U.S. News & World Report article,
Bush didn't fulfill the "military service obligation"
that he signed. Even using White House methodology, he
still didn't attend enough drills to meet
requirements. Bush also failed to comply with time
limits on making up missed drills. The U.S. News
article reported: "[D]uring the final two years of his
obligation, Bush did not comply with Air Force
regulations that impose a time limit on making up
missed drills." In addition, Bush never made up five
months of missed drills. According to the U.S. News
article, Bush "apparently never made up five months of
drills he missed in 1972, contrary to assertions by
the administration." According to a September 8
article in The Boston Globe, Bush twice signed
documents pledging to meet requirements and twice
violated that oath. Finally, on September 16,
Salon.com's Eric Boehlert reported that a "newly
surfaced document (pdf) from President Bush's military
file" from 1968 shows that Bush agreed to serve for
five years as a pilot after he completed his Guard
pilot training. But since Bush stopped flying at least
two and a half years before this five-year commitment
would have ended, as Boehlert noted, the document
"offers more proof that Bush failed to fulfill his
military obligations."
BUSH CLAIM: I flew planes in the Guard for "several
years."
On page 34 of his 1999 campaign autobiography, A
Charge to Keep (penned by Karen Hughes), Bush claimed
that, after learning to fly the F-102 fighter jet, "I
continued flying with my unit for the next several
years," as Joe Conason noted in a February 2 New York
Observer column.
EVIDENCE: Bush flew planes for 22 months.
As Conason pointed out, "[I]n May 1972, only 22 months
after he completed pilot training, he [Bush] stopped
flying," according to the facts established by Boston
Globe reporter Walter Robinson in May 2000. Twenty-two
months, not even two years, hardly constitutes the
"several years" that Bush claimed.
BUSH CLAIM: The Guard "just had an opening for a pilot
and I was there at the right time"
On September 15, journalist and blogger Joshua Micah
Marshall noted that Bush was asked by James Moore
during a 1994 Texas gubernatorial campaign debate
against Ann Richards, "How did you get into the Guard
so easily? One hundred thousand guys our age were on
the waiting list, and you say you walked in and signed
up to become a pilot. Did your congressman father
exercise any influence on your behalf?" Bush
responded, "Not that I know of, Jim. I certainly
didn't ask for any. And I'm sure my father didn't
either. They just had an opening for a pilot and I was
there at the right time."
EVIDENCE: Others say Bush got preferential treatment.
As MMFA previously documented, former Texas Speaker of
the House Ben Barnes swore under oath that he helped
Bush get into the Air National Guard. According to The
Boston Globe: "Ben Barnes, who was speaker of the
Texas House of Representatives in 1968, said in a
deposition in 2000 that he placed a call to get young
Bush a coveted slot in the Guard at the request of a
Bush family friend."
In addition, as MMFA also noted, Bush's Harvard
Business School professor Yoshi Tsurumi said Bush
admitted his father's friends got him into the Guard.
A September 13 CNN.com article reported that Tsurumi
said that Bush told him that family friends had pulled
strings to get him into the Texas Air National Guard:
"He [Bush] admitted to me that to avoid the Vietnam
draft, he had his dad -- he said 'Dad's friends' --
skip him through the long waiting list to get him into
the Texas National Guard." The videotaped interview
has been largely absent from CNN's cable broadcasts,
as Media Matters for America has also noted.
— N.C.
Posted to the web on Thursday September 16, 2004 at
8:09 PM EST
Copyright © 2004 Media Matters for America. All rights
reserved.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=ap/soros_hastert
Soros Asks House to Probe Hastert Remarks
Wed Sep 15, 7:28 PM ET Add Politics - U. S. Congress
to My Yahoo!
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Billionaire philanthropist George Soros
has asked the House ethics committee to investigate
House Speaker Dennis Hastert over comments suggesting
that Soros could be receiving money from illegal drug
groups.
Reuters Photo
"This kind of insinuation — that a private United
States citizen was in league with drug cartels and may
be receiving funds derived from criminal activity —
has no place in public discourse," Soros wrote Tuesday
to the chair and top Democrat on the panel, Reps. Joel
Hefley, R-Col., and Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va.
During an Aug. 29 interview on "Fox News Sunday,"
Hastert, R-Ill., questioned the source of the
73-year-old financier's wealth: "I don't know where
George Soros gets his money. I don't know where — if
it comes from overseas or from drug groups or where it
comes from." He made similar comments in an Aug. 23
radio interview.
Soros said Hastert has since said he was
misunderstood, that he was talking about groups to
which Soros — a supporter of legalizing marijuana —
gives money.
But "the indisputable fact is that he alleged that I
might be receiving 'drug money' from 'drug groups,'"
Soros said.
Hastert's office had no immediate comment on the
ethics complaint. The Committee on Standards of
Official Conduct, under its rules, normally accepts
complaints only from House members or from outsiders
when members certify that the complaints merit review.
Soros has earned the enmity of Republicans because of
his generous contributions to liberal activist groups
campaigning to defeat President Bush (news - web
sites).
After Hastert made his comments, 11 House Democrats
led by Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record) of
Massachusetts, wrote Soros inviting him to speak on
Capitol Hill.
"We have been particularly troubled by the McCarthyite
attacks that have been made on you by some American
politicians, including colleagues of ours, who have
gone far beyond the reasonable bounds of civil
discourse in their efforts to discredit you," they
wrote.
Soros, a native of communist Hungary, arrived in the
United States in 1956 and made his fortune through the
Soros Fund Management, a private, international
investment firm. He has given away billions to various
causes, including groups promoting democracy in
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=3&u=/ap/20040916/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1542&e=8&u=/afp/20040917/en_afp/us_vote_bush_book_kelley_040917194015
Bush author says White House applying pressure over
book
Fri Sep 17, 3:40 PM ET Add Entertainment - AFP to My
Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Writer Kitty Kelley has accused the
White House of putting pressure on her and the US
media over the new biography on the family of
President George W. Bush (news - web sites)
"The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty",
which alleges that Bush took cocaine at Camp David
when his father was president, became an instant
best-seller after its publication this week. But it
has been strongly condemned by the presidency.
"I have had the pressure of the White House," Kelley,
a veteran of biographical polemics, told a conference
in Washington late Thursday linked to the release of
her book.
"It was published on Tuesday, it was under embargo
until that time, so there were no copies available.
Days before publication, the White House issued a
formal statement saying that the book was garbage and
nobody should read it," Kelley declared.
Kelley also said the White House had called the
president of NBC News to urge the network not to
invite her to talk about the new book.
"Larry King did not extend an invitation. I have done
his show for every book that I have ever written," she
said of the star CNN talk show host.
The 733-page tome is heavy with Kelley's trademark mix
of scandal and sexual innuendo, and paints a deeply
unflattering portrait of the Bush dynasty that has
been condemned by the White House as a politically
motivated smear job ahead of the November 2
presidential election.
Kelley said she interviewed 988 people for the book.
"If it's in the book, it's corroborated," she said.
"There is a lot I left out the book."
Among those quoted are Sharon Bush -- an ex-wife of
one of the president's brothers, Neil Bush -- who was
said to have confirmed the cocaine incident. Sharon
Bush has since denied this however.
"I met Sharon Bush at a little restaurant. It was a
four-hour lunch and Sharon Bush talked about
everything," Kelley said.
"She talked about her father-in-law's infidelity, she
talked about the mistresses of George H. W. Bush, she
talked about her tormented relationship with the Bush
family.
"I said: 'Sharon, have you ever heard about George W.
doing drugs at Camp David when his father was
president? And she said: 'Yes, many times'.
Kelley said Sharon Bush's publicist has "corroborated
everything".
"But I am not really surprised that she is backing off
because this is a very powerful family. Sharon said
over that lunch that she was afraid of the Bushes."
Kelley went on: "I really do think they are the most
powerful in America, the most powerful family in the
world."
She denied she had a political agenda explaining that
the book was started in 2000. "I personally come from
a large Republican family. My father voted for both
Bushes."
Posted by richard at September 17, 2004 08:09 PM