Fisking the AP

The mainstream media is in full melt-down mode over the forged memos targeting George W. Bush.

An excellent example of the furious spinning now needed to save the media’s credibility is this AP story.

The Posse must now unleash a six-gun fisking on Terence Hunt’s disingenuous piece of garbage

WASHINGTON (AP) - New documents unearthed in the midst of the presidential campaign fill in some blanks but raise other questions about the sometimes mysterious and spotty story of President Bush's military service during Vietnam when he won a coveted spot in the Texas Air National Guard and avoided the war.

“Mysterious?” “Spotty?”

Only to Democrats and their press-room shills.

Everyone else with a basic understanding of the way the reserve component functions sees the matter pretty clearly: faced with compulsory service, George W. Bush opted to become a fighter pilot in the Air National Guard – like thousands of other pilots.

The insinuation that all ANG pilots or members were draft-dodging cowards doesn’t fly and is increasingly pissing off veterans.

This is something the press simply doesn’t understand. By portraying the National Guard as a cushy alternative to REAL military service, the press is spitting in the face of every guardsman, retired or active – and their families.

Many people choose the Guard because they want to serve their country, believe military service is honorable, but have family or job commitments that would conflict with active duty.

This doesn’t mean they are cowards, it means they have entirely reasonable priorities.

What the press does not understand (and certainly the Kerry campaign has no clue, either) is that by smearing people who didn’t serve in front-line active-duty units as draft-dodging cowards, Kerry is alienating the electorate.

It is also sending a message that anyone who isn’t CURRENTLY on the front line is a shirker.

If the only moral act during a war as controversial as the one in Vietnam was to volunteer for the active military, what does that say about people who decline to serve in the Global War on Terror? They must be cowards.

So must all the veterans choosing to retire or not to reenlist.

Alas, we have digressed. Back to the fisking.

Reviving issues that have shadowed his political career, the documents show Bush ignored a direct order from a superior officer and lost his status as a Texas Air National Guard pilot more than three decades ago because he failed to meet military performance standards and undergo a required physical examination.

Yes, those issues have “shadowed” his career all right. They didn’t stop him from winning two terms as the governor of Texas and they won’t stop him for serving two terms as president.

Furthermore, the documents are fake. They don’t “show” anything, other than the gullibility of CBS News.

But the authenticity of the memos was questioned Thursday by the son of the late officer who reportedly wrote them. One of the writer's fellow officers and a document expert also said Thursday the documents appear to be forgeries.

Whoops! Notice how they put the accusation before the explanation that the proof is bogus? All part of the smear.

Still, the documents marked the second time in days the White House had to backtrack from assertions that all of Bush's records had been released. They also raised the specter that Bush sought favors from higher-ups and that the commander of the Texas Air National Guard wanted to "sugar coat" Bush's record after he was suspended from flying.

Um, the White House hasn’t had to “backtrack” because the documents are forged.

They don’t raise the specter of anything, because they are forgeries.

Are we clear on this, yet?

If the Posse forges a confession allegedly written in John Kerry’s hand that he raped 21 interns in his Senate office closet, they wouldn’t raise a specter of anything, because they would be lies.

Less than two months before the election, the documents turned the spotlight on Bush after weeks of political attacks questioning John Kerry's military service in Vietnam. Overshadowing issues such as jobs and the economy, that controversy raised doubts about Kerry and hurt him in the polls.

Yes, and they keep the spotlight on Vietnam. Yet another example of how the press is inadvertently hurting Kerry by trying to smear Bush on Vietnam.

Vietnam is not an issue Kerry should have brought up and the more it stays in the forefront, the more his support will erode.

Anti-war Democrats don’t want to hear how they should have served in Vietnam and how Vietnam combat veterans are uniquely qualified to serve in elective office. The base won’t turn out to vote for that.

Kerry, campaigning in Iowa, refused to talk Thursday about the new Bush documents. "That's for the White House to answer," he said in an Associated Press interview. Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said, "I think you absolutely are seeing a coordinated attack by John Kerry and his surrogates on the president."

Oh, so when the Swifties attacked Kerry, it was time for outrage, but when forged documents surface against Bush, Kerry courageously says “Not my problem.”

Kerry had yet another chance to take control of the debate. He should have stood up and vigorously denounced the forgeries, thereby regaining the moral high ground.

“This is way beyond the pale,” this Mirror Mirror Kerry should have said. “CBS News owes the president an apology. No veteran should be subjected to false smear attacks. I personally have witnesses this in the last few weeks and I roundly condemn this attempt to besmirch the president’s military service.”

With a remark like that, Vietnam disappears as an issue.

Alas, in our universe, Spock has no beard and Kerry has no brain. He and his surrogates are hoping to smear their way into the White House. It isn’t likely to work.

Kerry probably will denounce the forgeries, but only after there is little value in doing so.

Yet, it was the White House - not Kerry's campaign - that distributed four memos from 1972 and 1973 from Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, now deceased, who was the commander of the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron in Houston where Bush served.

Um, no, it wasn’t. Read the next sentence:

The White House obtained the memos from CBS News, which said it was convinced of their authenticity, and the White House did not question their accuracy. There was no explanation why the Pentagon was unable to find the documents on its own.

What the hell?! The White House is now responsible for fact-checking CBS News? If they had questioned their authenticity, would anyone have cared?

And the explanation as to why the Pentagon was unable to find the documents is simple: THEY WERE FORGERIES.

How stupid can this man be?

The key questions about Bush's service are whether or where he trained in late 1972 and early 1973, why he skipped the required medical exam, and whether he was investigated or punished for skipping the exam and six months' worth of training in 1972.

We know the answers: Bush fulfilled his commitments and got an early release.

It was a common practice. But the “Bush AWOL” attack line is all Kerry’s goons have, so they’re running with it.

It didn’t work in Texas, didn’t work in 1999, 2000, and it’s not working now.

This is beyond pathetic.

Bush has adamantly denied that any strings were pulled to get him into the guard. Yet, former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes, a Democrat who now supports Kerry, has stepped forward to say he helped Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the guard so they could avoid serving in Vietnam.

At this point, we have established the memos are at least in question. So note the lack of qualifying language. There is no “the memos allege” or “according to the disputed documents.”

Everything is presented as fact.

Bush completed basic training in August 1968, and by early 1970 was assigned as a pilot of F-102 interceptors in the 111th Squadron at Ellington Air Force Base. Killian, the squadron commander, ordered Bush in May 1972 to undergo his annual physical, according to the new memos.

Later in May, Killian said in his memo that he'd had conversations with Bush "of how Bush can get out of coming to drill from now through November" because Bush wanted to go to Alabama to work on a political campaign.

Killian wrote that they talked about Bush getting his flight physical and that Bush said he would do it in Alabama if he remained in flight status. But he said Bush said he "may not have the time." The memo said Bush was "talking to someone upstairs" about the Alabama transfer.
The same memo also made clear that Killian was concerned about the fact that the military had spent a substantial amount of money training Bush to fly.

"I advised him of our investment in him and his commitment," he wrote in the memo.
On Aug. 1, 1972, Killian ordered that Bush "be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to (United States Air Force/Texas Air National Guard) standards and failure to meet annual physical examination (flight) as ordered."

Killian said he wanted a formal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the flight suspension. No records have surfaced that one was ever conducted.

A year later, in August 1973, Killian wrote a memo that said SUBJECT: CYA.

He said that Walter B. Staudt, the Texas Air National Guard commander, was pressuring one of Bush's superiors who two years earlier had rated Bush an outstanding pilot. Killian said, "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job." Killian said that Staudt "is pushing to sugar coat" Bush's rating. "Bush wasn't here during rating period and I don't have any feedback from 187th in Alabama. I will not rate."

This latter part is key because it is trying to show that Staudt has now changed his mind. One thing Kerry’s people hate admitting is that George W. Bush, the man too stupid to breathe, flew supersonic jet fighters and was damn good at it. So these memos must also negate this story as well.

Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe said, "George W. Bush's cover story on his National Guard service is rapidly unraveling. ... George W. Bush needs to answer why he regularly misled the American people about his time in the Guard and who applied political pressure on his behalf to have his performance reviews 'sugarcoated'"

No, Terry, the credibility of the mainstream press is rapidly unraveling. They’re too busy acting as your megaphone to bother with basic research.

White House communications director Dan Bartlett said Bush did not take the physical because he was not going to be in a flying capacity in Alabama. "Those who are trying to read the mind of a person dead 20 years are stretching at best. The president at every turn did what he was told to do."

The White House is properly downplaying it. By not showing any outrage, they are letting the air out of the story.

Contrast this with Kerry’s alternating "BRING IT ON!!" and "STOP THE ATTACKS!!!" hysteria.

This is a media-driven story and it’s driving them off a cliff.

Comments

[FS]

It has been said elsewhere that Walter B. Staut the Texas Air National Guard commander said to be pressuring Bush's superior in the 1973 memo retired in 1972. This is a critical fact if true but I've not seen it widely mentioned.