Guard commander's memos criticize Bush

[BuddyLee (Premo)]

Doesn't look like Vietnam should be an issue anymore. Both candidates have had 'urban legend' faults.

WASHINGTON — President Bush's commander in the Texas Air National Guard concluded that Bush was failing to meet standards for fighter pilots, but the commander felt pressure from superiors to "sugar coat" his judgments, according to newly disclosed documents.

The military service histories of Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry have become a central issue in the 2004 presidential race. An anti-Bush group, Texans for Truth, is to begin airing an ad on Monday in which a former lieutenant colonel in the Alabama Air National Guard says neither he nor his friends saw Bush in 1972, when the future president was supposed to be training with their unit. (Related story: Ad challenges Bush)

Ben Barnes, a former speaker of the Texas House and former lieutenant governor, told CBS that he was responsible for getting Bush into the Guard ahead of several hundred men on a waiting list. He said he now regrets the favors done for Bush and others from powerful families. Joining the National Guard was a way to avoid the draft, the primary source of troops for the Vietnam War.

Bush, who quit drinking in 1986, the year he turned 40, has said that he sometimes behaved irresponsibly when he was young. At a campaign news conference in 1999 he said, "I made mistakes 20 or 30 years ago, but I've learned from my mistakes."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politic...M_Exclude=Juno

God help us, these are our choices.

[SmallTown]

Yea, kind of funny you can't do a search on the 1992 election and NOT find a slam against clinton for being a draft dodger.

But now, suddenly, the Bush camp is saying vietnam stuff isn't important.

Interesting how (less) important things become when they are personal.

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by SmallTown

But now, suddenly, the Bush camp is saying vietnam stuff isn't important.

"Suddenly"? What have you been smoking? He's never said it was important. He's always been against bringing it up. The person who KEEPS -- BRINGING -- IT -- UP -- is Kerry.

At this point, I wouldn't care if Kerry won the whole damned war all by himself 30 years ago. What has he done in the last 30 years? I hardly think that four months in Vietnam should define whether or not a man is fit to be commander-in-chief.

That's a job Bush has had four years of showing that he's *quite* capable of handling, and very well. THAT is his best qualification for the position, that he's been DOING it for four years. It doesn't matter if he flew fighter jets or flew into outer space 30 years ago.

[SmallTown]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

"Suddenly"? What have you been smoking? He's never said it was important. He's always been against bringing it up. The person who KEEPS -- BRINGING -- IT -- UP -- is Kerry.

Suddenly in terms of the fact he is now being questioned about it. Up until the 2000 election, all we heard from the right was how unpatriotic clinton was for dodging the draft. Even on this board, mention clinton and someone brings up avoiding the war. Maybe had republicans said back in 1992 "This isn't important", people wouldn't look at the republican's today as being such hipocrites.

I don't really care if Bush faked a heart attack to avoid war, or if kerry wiped his ass with his medals. But I am tired of this political bull#### when people try to completely trash another candidate's integrity, then when the tables are turned come back with "It doesn't matter". Yet ANOTHER example of the first phrase in the republican dictionary "That's Different"

[Kyle (Premo)]

Originally Posted by SmallTown

... Interesting how (less) important things become when they are personal.

No less than the same folks who defended Clintons "Dodging" the draft by running to England, getting all worked up about someone serving in the Guard.

[Kyle (Premo)]

Originally Posted by SmallTown

... But I am tired of this political bull#### when people try to completely trash another candidate's integrity, then when the tables are turned come back with "It doesn't matter"...

Then tell the Democrats you dont' like it. They use it the most, are best at it... Hell they wrote the book.

[SamSpade]

Originally Posted by SmallTown

Suddenly in terms of the fact he is now being questioned about it. Up until the 2000 election, all we heard from the right was how unpatriotic clinton was for dodging the draft. Even on this board, mention clinton and someone brings up avoiding the war. Maybe had republicans said back in 1992 "This isn't important", people wouldn't look at the republican's today as being such hipocrites.

I thought "hypocritical" was when you b!tched and moaned and complained and got hysterical over someone doing something - and then subsequently do it yourself.

You know, like lose a cow over Kerry's Vietnam record being challenged, and IMMEDIATELY go to press and trash Bush's record. Where's the friggin' moral high ground there?

You're saying it's hypocritical to say "that's different". You're mistaken - it's denial. Hypocrisy is declaring something as **WRONG**, and then *immediately* doing it yourself.

So who's the hypocrite?

[SmallTown]

Originally Posted by SamSpade

You're saying it's hypocritical to say "that's different". You're mistaken - it's denial. Hypocrisy is declaring something as **WRONG**, and then *immediately* doing it yourself.

So who's the hypocrite?

With that definition, and looking at the 1992 campaign and the 2004 campaign, The republican's are the hypocrites for blasting clinton in 1992, when today's republican candidate did the same thing and we should look the other way. The dems are hypocrites for defending clinton like crazy in 1992, and then attacking bush in 2004.

However, if you are concerning with the "immediate" nature of hypocrisy, one could point to the many republicans blasting Kerry for his "war record", and ignoring Bush's "war record"

[SmallTown]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Then tell the Democrats you dont' like it. They use it the most, are best at it... Hell they wrote the book.

Example #2

[Kyle (Premo)]

Originally Posted by SmallTown

Example #2

#2