Bush and I were Lieutenants (Fellow Pilot Comes to Bush's Defense)

The Washington Times Letters to the Editor ^ | 2-11-4 | Col. William Campenni (ret.)

[537 Votes]

George Bush and I were lieutenants and pilots in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS), Texas Air National Guard (ANG) from 1970 to 1971.

Which isn't the period under question. This is like arguing the Japanese fleet had nothing to do with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, because it was in port on December 7, 1938.

[Petronski]

Read the whole article, then rest your mouth, then read it again.

[CyberAnt]

"this PROVES these guys have nothing - no platform whatsoever - to offer the American people"

That needed to be repeated!!

And .. like Colmes said last night on Hannity & Colmes, "well the republicans started it with the flight suit". What a bunch of whining children. This is the second person I have heard say that the attack on Bush is because of the flight suit. Pitiful.

[CyberAnt]

Maybe that accounts for the fact Kerry will not discuss it any more.

[CyberAnt]

Rush was telling today that the dems had a 10% turnout for the primary (not sure which state), and then a lady called in and said that of the over 1800 registered voters, only 69 showed up to vote.

Then Rush played some audio of the CNN people gushing over the Kerry wins .. with only 10% of the dems voting. It was very funny.

[CyberAnt]

I heard he was only in Vietnam 4 months. I don't know how long he was in the military totally.

[DouglasKC]

bump this to the top....FOX news should have this guy on...

[BoxerDawgs]

I just sent it to Rush!

[CyberAnt]

What were Fox news folks doing on C-SPAN??

[NonValueAdded]

I think you are parsing this a little too tight. Reservists in the 70's could have joined in the 60's on the Johnson / McNamara watch and if anyone was going to call out the reserves, it was them. By the time Nixon took office, it was clear he was going to end things one way or the other and escalation wasn't going to come from the guard but rather from active duty. The "safe refuge" designation did indeed come from Johnson's administration.

And flying high-performance interceptors is not a safe tour of duty.

[AnimalLover]

Ping

[tgslTakoma]

Just in case you all haven't heard the latest Breaking News, White House Releases '73 Bush Dental Exam. It's not a joke, folks.

[GOPJ]

bump

[GOPJ]

BINGO:

"It shows, sadly, that the Democrats believe their core supporters hate President Bush so much they don't care about the truth of accusations that impugn his character," Mr. Brown said in a piece that ran yesterday in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

[AmericanVictory]

agree

[CyberAnt]

"a year not just 4 months"

And your proof is ..??

[Ronin]

Whoa!

GREAT READ!!!

Ping and Bump forever!

[Bellflower]

Anyone know how to ping Rush or Hannity?

Everyone let's email both of them with this post. We have. If they get enough emails with this post they may very well pay attention. Let's roll!!!

You can e-mail Rush at: rush@eibnet.com

You can contact Sean by going to http://www.hannity.com/story.php?content=/contact

[Bellflower]

ping

[visualops]

CyberAnt: Kerry's 4 month tour was his second tour. He did 6 months prior, but didn't see combat then I don't believe.
I wouldn't have wanted to be in Vietnam for an hour, let alone months. How long he was there is irrelevant. You do everyone in the armed forces a disservice by quibbling over that.

Some pointed out that the original letter in the Observer, and the one in the Washington Times are different, and months apart. The reason is, the first letter to the Observer was written in response to another letter to the editor (by a one Tom Hutchins).

Now, here's some fun reading, from the original letters to the editor of the Observer:

In response to Campenni:


To the editor:
William Campenni, in his letter in The Observer on May 23, states "While our wonderful freedoms, won and protected by the military that liberals (a.k.a. Democrats) ... abhor ..."
Well, I am proudly a lifelong liberal, a Democrat, a veteran of World War II (while I served my outfit was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation and nine Campaign Stars). How dare this "weekend warrior" who took refuge in the Texas Air National Guard, who was never in a war zone, charge me in public with abhoring the military in which I enlisted and served with honor for three years?
I don't really care what kind of spin Mr. Campenni puts on President Bush's controversial military career, but he ought not to go after real patriots and shame himself by so blatantly showing his right-wing Republican zealotry.
Edgar A. Glick


Accused 'Weekend Warrior' Defends Record
To the editor:
I am most grateful to Mr. Edgar A. Glick, the liberal Democrat from Reston (a triple redundancy!), and others, for extending my 15 minutes of fame by replying to my letter on George Bush's military service (The Observer May 30 "Writer Should Not Attack Patriots).
Although I do not know Mr. Glick, he sure seems to have the lowdown on me, by saying "How dare this 'weekend warrior' (me) who took refuge in the Air National Guard, [and] who was never in a war zone ..."
I guess this means I will have to return my Vietnam Service ribbon, my Air Medal, my Expeditionary medals for service in two combat theaters, all earned while "taking refuge" in the Air National Guard.
Where should I send them, Mr. Glick?
Having established himself as the "real patriot" and using his criteria, it follows that lifelong liberal Democrat Mr. Glick most certainly must have voted for combat veterans George Bush Sr. and Robert Dole rather than Oxford refuge-taker and military-loather Bill Clinton, no?
I find it humorous and entertaining that Glick and others responding to my letter cannot stick to the issue and the facts, and turn to typical liberal tactics of ad-hominem attacks, presumption of the moral high ground, and Jayson Blair-like news fictions to support their unsupportable positions.
It is also time for The Observer to close out this subject, and move on to more important local topics, otherwise, the Glicks, Hutchins, et al., will start questioning why liberal Democrat leader Tom Daschle only served three years of a mandatory Air Force tour of four years in the middle of the Vietnam war, and never left a safe and cushy desk job on a stateside SAC base where the greatest danger was a broken glass at the Officers Club.
William Campenni