He made it an issue, remember, with that "flyboy" Mission Accomplished stunt on the carrier. If he hadn't done that it might not be an issue.
The release of the documents came as a new Democratic group, Texas for Truth, said it would start running a television commercial this week questioning Mr. Bush's National Guard attendance. The commercial features Bob Mintz, a lieutenant colonel in the Alabama Air National Guard, who served at a Montgomery, Ala., base and says that he never saw Mr. Bush there, even though he was actively looking for him.
Will the Republicans and their shrill Ehrenburg propagandists report this?
No, they won't.
But we WILL tell families and friends, and this commercial will have an effect.
On Tuesday night, the White House put the blame on the Pentagon for the belated release of the newly unearthed documents.
Can anyone name one damned thing for which this regime has ever taken responsiblity?
The latest National Guard records do not place Mr. Bush in Alabama during the time in dispute. But they do show that Mr. Bush ranked 22nd out of class of 53 pilots when he finished his flight training at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia in 1969.
The Associated Press reported that the records also show that Mr. Bush's last flight was in April 1972, which would be consistent with previously released pay records showing that Mr. Bush had a lapse of Guard duty between April and October of that year.
Nicholas Kristof, who's generally moderate, brings this up, too...
...Bush claims that in the fall of 1972, he fulfilled his Air National Guard duties at a base in Alabama. But Bob Mintz was there - and he is sure Mr. Bush wasn't...
Mr. Bush signed up in May 1968 for a six-year commitment, justifying the $1 million investment in training him as a pilot. But after less than two years, Mr. Bush abruptly stopped flying, didn't show up for his physical and asked to transfer to Alabama. He never again flew a military plane.
Mr. Bush insists that after moving to Alabama in 1972, he served out his obligation at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Montgomery (although he says he doesn't remember what he did there). The only officer there who recalls Mr. Bush was produced by the White House - he remembers Mr. Bush vividly, but at times when even Mr. Bush acknowledges he wasn't there.
In contrast, Mr. Mintz is a compelling witness. Describing himself as "a very strong military man," he served in the military from 1959 to 1984. A commercial pilot, he is now a Democrat but was a Republican for most of his life, and he is not a Bush-hater. When I asked him whether the National Guard controversy raises questions about Mr. Bush's credibility, Mr. Mintz said only, "That's up to the American people to decide."
So Republican Party has nominated a candidate with the morals of a sewer rat, who, despite his alleged "conversion" cannot level with the American people about his previous failings, who cannot tell the truth about his personal life, nor...
about Iraq...
As American military deaths in Iraq operations surpassed the 1,000 mark, top Pentagon officials said Tuesday that insurgents controlled important parts of central Iraq and that it was unclear when American and Iraqi forces would be able to secure those areas. ...Their comments, which came after a two-day spike in violence in Iraq led to a surge in American military deaths, represented an acknowledgment that the Americans had failed to end an increasingly sophisticated insurgency in important Sunni-dominated areas and in certain Shiite enclaves. Fighting raged on Tuesday in Sadr City, in Baghdad, as Shiite militiamen loyal to Moktada al-Sadr ended a self-declared cease-fire. [Page A14.]
The officials' assessment also underscored the difficulty of pacifying Iraq in time for elections scheduled for January. The cities of greatest rebel control are Ramadi, Falluja, Baquba and Samarra, in the so-called Sunni triangle, west and north of Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein remains popular and many forces loyal to him have gathered strength.
There is increasing concern in the administration over plans for the election, with some officials saying that if significant parts of the Sunni areas cannot be secured by January, it may be impossible to hold a nationwide balloting that would be seen as legitimate. Putting off the elections, though, would infuriate Iraq's Shiite majority. The elections are for an assembly that is to write a new constitution next year. Mr. Rumsfeld warned that the violence would intensify as elections approached.
This is what reporters like Robert Fisk have been saying all along. Naturally these have been subject to all kinds of abuse by some righties, who just can't stomach the fact that they've been repeating lies spoon-fed to them by propagandists.
Mr. Rumsfeld said that Prime Minister Ayad Allawi recognized that his government could not continue to allow rebel control in crucial areas of the country, but that it would take time for him to determine how to proceed.
No kidding- as Fisk pointed out, Mr. Allawi doesn't exactly have a real army.
So, let's see:
1. Bush's "guard service" was a sham.
2. Iraq is a miserable failure
3. Bush covered up Saudi involvement in 9/11.
4. Record Medicare premium hikes. But, but they got those meaningless discount cards!
And we haven't even gotten to "My Pet Goat."
What a difference less than a week makes...
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