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September 13, 2004 Democrats ignore "first law of holes"... ... when you're in one quit digging. Fresh off the Kerry Vietnam quagmire and the CBS memo debacle, the DNC, figuring the third time must be a charm, has decided to further push the Bush AWOL meme in fresh attacks. Per Drudge: Faster than a CBS eye can blink, dogged Dems are set to take to the airwaves anew hoping to keep questions about President Bush's National Guard duty in play, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. Hey Bill, have a Big Mac and shut up. Instead of heeding Clinton's advice to pick an issue or two and stick with it and stay on message, the DNC, and one presumes, the Kerry campaign, have decided that they have to do to Bush's service what the Swift Boat Vets did to Kerry's. Unfortunately they are missing two very key points. 1) This is old news. Regardless of the truth of the matter, those that believe Bush received preferential treatment to get in the guard to avoid Vietnam and then went "AWOL" already believe that. Those that don't aren't going to be convinced, especially by the lame stuff the DNC and CBS is running out there. 2) Unlike Kerry, the electorate has 4 years of George W Bush as president to judge which makes his service 30 years ago irrelevant. Kerry, on the other hand, can't point to any leadership of consequence over the last 30 years and thus has chosen to run on his record of 30+ years ago. The DNC just doesn't understand this point. As Pat Caudell said, and I paraphrase "if they stay in Vietnam, they're dead". Caudell is a well known Democrat consultant. Bush "wasn't in the Airforce?" My guess is, and I don't have the time to dig it up, but other bloggers will, that when he went to flight school he was federalized and put under Air Force orders for those two years. Most likely it was a requirement. That would certainly qualify for having served "in the Air Force". Additionally ANG assets are considered to be reserve assets of, you guessed it, the Air Force. So if you're flying Air Force assigned air defense missions as an interceptor pilot, even as a part of the TANG, you are probably all right if you claim to have served in the Air Force. Any claim to the contrary might be seen as silly and stupid. But then we're talking about the DNC here. Apparently Terry McAulliff and the Kerry Campaign feel Caudell and Clinton are full of beans. I happen to think they're dead on. Watch the poll numbers for confirmation. |
This is the Captain of the Titanic standing on the bridge demanding a further turn to starboard as he watches the bow settle beneath the waves.
To blatantly disregard the advice of the only democrat to win the White House in 25 years, is just plain stupid.
Posted by: EddieP at September 13, 2004 12:07 PM
I'd love to see Scott McClellan answer the new TANG charges with verbatim quotes from the last Bush campaign in 2000. It would devastatingly make the point that Kerry is a pre-9/11 candidate.
Posted by: pdq332 at September 13, 2004 12:25 PM
That's "Pat Caddell".
Posted by: Another Pat at September 13, 2004 12:32 PM
It may or may not have been the case that Bush was 'federalized' but, either way, that looks about as significant as the previous flap over refering to his time on the rugby team as being on the 'varsity' (i.e., not even a little bit significant). The desperation is impossible to ignore.
Sadly, when they get blown out in November, they will almost assuredly conclude (as they did in 2002) that it was because they didn;t attack Bush hard enough and make enough of an effort to distinguish themselves from him (to the left). And so, the much-needed shakeup of the party leadership and its return to seriousness on the issues will be delayed even further.
Posted by: Dodd at September 13, 2004 12:58 PM
Dodd makes an excellent point, which explains why they are more shrill (if that's possible) this year than in 2000. The true believers just can't get through their Metro heads that the majority of the country rejects not their social policies, on which we are actually more united than ever, but their actions, which underscore their belief that lying is okay in support of a just cause.
PS - Dan Rather says "I volunteered for the Marines." without noting that he was sent home without graduating from boot camp for physical reasons. If Rather served in the Marines, Bush was the Chief of Staff of the Air Force!
Posted by: Dacotti at September 13, 2004 01:33 PM
Maybe if the voters punish Bush for this he won't win that House seat.
Oh, wait, he didn't. But 8 years later he quit drinking.
Not only is this an effort to spin a semantic issue, but it's old stuff.
Posted by: Crank at September 13, 2004 03:08 PM
Well, the DNC sure can't read a document.
Look at his record from the discharge package
On the top of page 8. It says:
Report of Separation and record of Service in the Air National Guard of Texas
and as a Reserve of the Air Force
He was in the both air national guard and the air force reserves.
Well you could argue that Air force reserves != air force, but ....
This is such a lame attack. My god, can't anyone do decent research. First the obviously lame memos and now this. They must want to lose.
Posted by: capt joe at September 13, 2004 08:22 PM
The Air National Guard was and is today a Ready Reserve branch of the United States Air Force (USAF). Members of the Air National Guard in 1968-1974 wore a blue ribbon with white lettering sewn onto their fatigue uniforms stating "U.S. Air Force. Members of the Air National Guard were subject to U.S. Air Force regulations.
Furthermore, Kerry's campaign Website claims he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, but the Website deceptively omits the fact that he enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve, a Ready Reserve component of the U.S. Navy, which is no different than Bush's enlistment in the U.S. Air Force Ready Reserve of the the Texas Air National Guard.
Both candidates volunteered for a total active service commitment of 6 years. Bush volunteered for about two years of active duty FOR TRAINING (ACDUTRA) to be followed by four years of Active Reserve duty and seven years of inactive reserve obligation. Kerry volunteered for three years of active duty FOR TRAINING (ACDUTRA), two years of active reserve duty, one year of Standby Reserve duty, and seven years of inactive reserve obligation.
Kerry was born 3 years earlier than Bush, so he was old enough to qualify for a combat assignment in Vietnam, which he then abandoned prematurely to engage in illegal political activities with representatives of an enemy government at war while still a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy.
Bush was born 3 years after Kerry, so he was not old enough to complete flight training and log the 500 hours in the F-102A fighter-interceptor required to qualify for a combat assignment in Vietnam, before the F-102 sorties in Vietnam were discontinued in 1969-1971 during the withdrawal of American forces by 1972-1973. No matter which branch of service Bush volunteered to serve in as a fighter pilot, he was never going to receive a combat assignment in Vietnam, becasue he wasn't old enough to log the number of flgiht hours in his aircraft to qualify for such a combat assignment before the air forces were withdrawn from Vietnam.
Posted by: D. Patterson at September 15, 2004 12:57 PM
You're missing the point. The point is that if you're defending Bush, you're not attacking Kerry. They know that if they keep throwing out stupid stuff about Bush, people will spend so much time debunking it that they won't attack Kerry. This is a nonissue and they know it. But they'd much rather focus on this nonissue than on Kerry.
I have been begging people for the last week to forget this crap and get back to work telling people what a huge mistake Kerry would be. But people refuse to think.
As the man who wrote this article said, the entire issue is moot -- those that believe Bush is a slacker are already convinced; those who think otherwise don't care what Kerry says.
SO WHY THE HELL ARE WE LETTING KERRY SET THE AGENDA BY TALKING ABOUT THIS??????
Are we so damned stupid that we will let Kerry decide what to talk about? Come on people. Get with the program. Every minute that we talk about this is a minute Kerry doesn't have to answer questions about himself. That's what he wants.
So it's time to get your heads out of your Kerrys and get back on message.
Posted by: Corbett at September 19, 2004 10:32 PM