Bush Guard Commander Recants AWOL Charge

NewsMax.com ^ | Feb. 6, 2004 | Carl Limbacher

[Carl/NewsMax]

The ex-military man who first launched charges during the 2000 presidential campaign that President Bush had gone AWOL from the National Guard has recanted his story.

The account from Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, who told the Boston Globe four years ago that Bush never showed for Guard drills with his Alabama unit, had become the centerpiece of Democratic attacks on the White House in recent days.

"Had [Bush] reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not," Gen. Turnipseed told the Globe in May 2000. "I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered."

But on Wednesday Gen. Turnipseed reversed course, telling NBC News, "I don't know if [Bush] showed up, I don't know if he didn't. I don't remember how often I was even at the base."

Still, the same day after the retired general had withdrawn the allegation, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe was citing Turnipseed's earlier, erroneous account in a bid to keep AWOL charges against Bush afloat.

"The commander this week reiterated the entire time [Bush] was supposed to show up in the Alabama National Guard he wasn't there," McAuliffe told CNN's "Inside Politics" on Wednesday. "He said he made it up later, but you don't have that option. When you're supposed to serve our country, you're supposed to be there."

In fact, McAuliffe was wrong on the latter point as well, since Guard regulations expressly allow for make-up drills, according to no less an authority than Gen. Turnipseed himself.

In July 2000, the New York Times reported, "Colonel Turnipseed, who retired as a general, said in an interview that regulations allowed Guard members to miss duty as long as it was made up within the same quarter."

Asked if Chairman McAuliffe was prepared to apologize to the White House for misstating Gen. Turnipseed's position on the Bush AWOL allegation, a spokesman for the DNC told NewsMax, "I don't know. We'll get back to you."

[CyberAnt]

Washington Times really took Terry to task over this AWOL stuff .. saying some think tank group, Annenberg (?) had investigated this in 2000 and had totally negated any truth to the charge.

Of course, when did the truth stop Terry or Hillary.

[MizSterious]

"I don't know if [Bush] showed up, I don't know if he didn't. I don't remember how often I was even at the base."

Well, now. He doesn't recall how often he was even at the base.

[The G Man]

Thank you! I'll be here all week!

[alloysteel]

Just because the logic of being "AWOL" has become unraveled, does not mean that the Democrats won't keep repeating it.

Trying to overcome Democrat assertions by showing, over and over, that their statements are based on erroneous information, is like trying to shovel out the ocean.

That is just part of the landscape.

Ah, but ask them what THEIR program is, and they cannot come up with anything positive. The best they can do sounds a lot like "Me, too."

[commish]

These are the flailings of a dying entity.

The Dems are reduced to scooping up whatever mud they can find and flinging it all over hoping something sticks.

They can tout all the polls they want, these are not the actions of a campaign that is leading -- these are the desperate actions of a group that knows they are going down to defeat and are doing anything they can to stop that from happening.

Everyone needs to prepare themselves, this is going to just get louder, shriller, meaner and uglier.

[Samwise]

Kerry

AWOL in the War on Terror

[Callahan]

How friggin' lame is this AWOL stuff? Didn't we go over this four years ago? The Rats are sooo proud that they finally have a candidate who's not totally despised by the U.S. military.

[mystery-ak]

This is the rat's MO...drop these *bombshells* for several days...wen proven false, no apology or retraction...damage done and move on to the next *bombshell*...drip by drip character assassination.

[CyberAnt]

Plus the people at the Blount campaign said Bush was flying with the Alabama Guard. When you put those together, a logical person would say that Turnipseed is the person who doesn't know .. not that Bush wasn't there.

[AnAmericanMother]

Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed . . . the four fairies attendant on . . .

Bottom.

[Arrowhead1952]

So why is only NewsMax reporting this?

The alphabet networks are probably working overtime trying to find a way to spin this to make Bush look bad.

[George W. Bush]

Turnipseed? Turnipseed?

They gotta be kidding.

At any rate, I'd be more interested in finding out who removed Bush's Guard records from the military archives. But we know the Klintons liked to 'appropriate' files. Like the 900+ FBI files they had.

[GreenLanternCorps]

My Dad is a retired Colonel (USAF). he became a Colonel IIRC in 1972 and retired in 1982. He's in his early 70's.

[CyberAnt]

I agree .. but the goal of keeping Bush from using the carrier landing in his ads .. is now not an option. I think Bush could be feisty enough to use it just because he knows it gets their goat!

[hoosiermama]

Don't know the answer to that question, but the answer to the question in my tag line is ZERO!

LAZY? NO work Ethic? Mooches off his wives? A real chump.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The lie has been told. They will keep telling it no matter what. The truth is irrelevant to the Bush haters.

If they don't like his politics, that is one thing. I am not happy with him and I voted for him. But to just flat out lie is beyond despicable.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

And the balloon deflates...

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[doggieboy]

That's a good place for him don't you think? Causes less damage for the country when he's not in Congress.

[dighton]

In From Here To Eternity, the stockade 'giants' are Hanson and Turnipseed.

[hoosiermama]

We need to send the paragraph, page number of the National Guard manual/rules which allows people to make up their time to the alphabet networks.....They need it in writing. Anyone have a copy or know where we can get a copy?