I watched the Press Briefing by Scott McClellan on 2/10 when he released records on the National Guard service. The damned press just wouldn't accept it. Here are some nauseating excepts from the press briefing. All of these are questions from the reporters. There's a link to the transcript at the bottom.
"..why did he not fulfill the medical requirements to remain on active flight duty status?"
"Where was he in December of '72, February and March of '73?"
"Has the White House been able to find, like Senator Kerry, "a band of brothers" or others who can testify about the President's service?"
"So isn't that odd that nobody -- you can't produce anyone to corroborate what these records purport to show?"
"To corroborate these records, will the President do two things -- one, will he authorize the relevant defense agency in Colorado to release actual pay stubs for the President? And if those don't exist, will the President file a form, as he can do at the IRS, to at least look for a '72 or '73 tax return that would corroborate what you claim are payroll summaries that he actually got paid for this duty?"
"But he didn't want to go to Vietnam."
"But, again, -- I know you're going to bat this down, but there are people who --"
"And the fact that some of his officers don't recall ever seeing him, are you suggesting that they just don't remember after 30 years?"
"You keep saying the word, "serve." Define 'serve.'"
"I'm not interested in what he recalls. I'm interested in whether these documents specifically show that he was in Alabama and served on the days during the latter part of 1972 -- "
"But just because he's paid doesn't mean that he served and worked there, does it?........Come on."
"Scott, we all know people who tomorrow may not show up for work and will be paid. And their payrolls will show they were paid."
"We can't see facts. We can't see -- these facts are very messed up, they're blurred."
"You keep saying this is a shame, and you're talking partisan politics, but don't you think the American public, as well, particularly the U.S. military, who has been tested right now with the fact that they went to war on faulty intelligence, possibly, and now finding out that their Commander-in-Chief possibly tried to avoid going to the Vietnam War -- don't you think that the American public is owed a little bit more than photo copies that we can't see things of? Don't you think the military is owed a little bit more than just, "he served"?"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040210-3.htmlThey are despicable....acting like a bunch of snapping, snarling alligators. There is no requirement to have regular briefings. Perhaps it's time to drain the swamp and hold pressers with 20 minutes notice whenever they feel like it.