Bush Visiting Louisiana Army Base After Controversy Over His Military Record (No AP Bias Here)

AP Breaking ^ | Feb 17, 2004 | Scott Lindlaw

[Lance Romance]

Bush Visiting Louisiana Army Base After Controversy Over His Military Record

By Scott Lindlaw Associated Press Writer
Published: Feb 17, 2004

FORT POLK, La. (AP) - Feb 17, 2004

Bush was giving a speech to thank troops - full-time soldiers and National Guard members - for their service and sacrifice, White House aides said. Twelve soldiers assigned to Fort Polk. La., have died in Iraq, including two soldiers killed by a roadside bomb while on mounted patrol last week, according to Paula Schlag, a base spokeswoman.

Bush was to meet privately with the relatives of fallen soldiers, then have lunch with Guard members.

White House officials said Bush was reaching out to Guard members here because nearly 40 percent of the troops heading to Iraq in the next rotation will be Guardsmen.

In the address, Bush planned to remind troops about the stakes in the war on terrorism and in Iraq.

Fort Polk is home to a regiment due to return soon from a year of service in Iraq. The 4,000-strong 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, in Iraq for nearly a year, is to return sometime in March or April.

Others training here are headed to Iraq in coming weeks.

Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Floyd said Bush's visit provided a welcome morale boost. "It's more important in a time of war," he said.

The deaths of soldiers assigned to Fort Polk has hit hard here, he said. "We're all one big family," Floyd said. At the same time, many Americans have paid too little attention to soldiers killed in Iraq, he said. "Our priorities are out of whack - Janet Jackson creates more of a ripple than soldiers dying in Iraq," Floyd said.

Chief Warrant Officer Robert Shaffer said he hoped the Iraq mission was worth the cost. More than 530 U.S. troops have died there.

"You pray about it, you believe you're making the right decision, and history will determine that at some later date," Shaffer said.

The president's visit was bound to serve as a reminder of a story that consumed the White House last week: Bush's record of service in the Texas Air National Guard in the early 1970s.

At issue is whether he showed up for service in Alabama after receiving permission to serve there temporarily in 1972-1973. Bush says he recalls serving there, but there is scant documentation proving it.

Late Friday, the White House released hundreds of pages of documents it said comprised Bush's entire military record, but the records offered no definitive answers.

Most soldiers interviewed here declined to offer their opinions on the president's service.

One Army soldier, who declined to give his name, said that what mattered most was that Bush had served in the military.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry has kept silent on the flap in recent days, but he used Bush's trip to Louisiana to criticize the president's treatment of the military.

"With Kerry, veterans will have a veteran in the White House who fights to make sure they get the benefits they deserve," the Massachusetts senator said.

Kerry said Bush's policies had threatened to undermine troops' pay, health care and battlefield protection.

"John Kerry will keep America's promise to those who served their country bravely," he said.

The 198,000-acre base here houses the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center for training exercises with the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.

[Lance Romance]

Bush was giving a speech to thank troops - full-time soldiers and National Guard members - for their service and sacrifice, White House aides said. Twelve soldiers assigned to Fort Polk. La., have died in Iraq, including two soldiers killed by a roadside bomb while on mounted patrol last week, according to Paula Schlag, a base spokeswoman.

Nope, no AP bias here. Just move along.

[Lance Romance]

Damn, selected the wrong quote.

[Lance Romance]

Damn, selected the wrong quote.

[Sender]

Just incredible...they just had to fit AWOL and dead GIs in there somewhere.

I'm still waiting for AP and Reuters to do the same things to the Dems.

How about "Kerry Stumps Wisconsin After Bimbo Eruption" or "Clark Optimistic Despite Integrity Issues"?

[Lance Romance]

I accidentally cut out the first paragraph. Here it is.

After trying to quell stories about his Vietnam-era military record, President Bush sought Tuesday to put the controversy behind him by meeting with members of the National Guard.

[CajunConservative]

Well, I am watching the speech right now and Dubya is b*tch slapping John Effin Kerry real good.

[11th Earl of Mar]

Can you imagine the headline:

Clinton Visits Women's Shelter After Controversy Over Rape Allegation

You are right. It never would have happened.

[anniegetyourgun]

Good to hear.

[Pikamax]

Instapundit nailed the writer


http://www.instapundit.com/archives/014195.php



THE ASSOCIATED PRESS'S SCOTT LINDLAW is at it again. After the NASCAR debacle, which the Columbia Journalism Review blog called a "cheap shot" and a "stretch," you'd think he'd have more sense than to go out of his way to fill a purported news story with gratuitous Bush-bashing. Obviously, he doesn't.

Does AP?

UPDATE: Ah, look who Lindlaw is hanging with: "Veteran journalists Helen Thomas and Daniel Schorr join Associated Press reporter Scott Lindlaw in a lively discussion on how covering the White House has changed over the years." Um, it's gotten worse? Meanwhile Dave Hill emails:


Bush has been visiting military bases (including NG bases) for some time. That's one of the duties of a president in wartime.

Now, suddenly, it's become de rigeur to remind everyone of the Bush AWOL meme every time he interacts with the NG, reframing the visit as trying to "move beyond" the story (as opposed to simply continuing an already-established pattern).

"The president's visit is bound to serve as a reminder of a story that consumed the White House last week ...." Well, yes, it's *bound to* if you keep *reminding us* of it.


This is unusually transparent partisanship, even by the not-very-demanding standards of Big Media in an election year. The good news is that it is transparent.

But hey, maybe Lindlaw will do a story on Kerry: "There were women in the room where Kerry spoke, something bound to serve as a reminder of a story that consumed the Kerry campaign last week. . . ."

At any rate, Lindlaw's coverage goes beyond the sort of institutional bias that The Note pointed out last week. This is just campaigning against Bush, in the guise of reporting.

[Angelwood]

"With Kerry, veterans will have a veteran in the White House who fights to make sure they get the benefits they deserve," the Massachusetts senator said.

So, Kerry will fight for veterans' benefits but he consistently votes against the funding and equipment that they need to do their job and fight the war on terror!

[international american]

BUMP!

[Lokibob]

President Bush has 6 years of honorable service in the military. 3 years of National Guard service and 3 years as Commander-in-Chief. How much more honorable service do they want?

[TADSLOS]

The president's visit was bound to serve as a reminder of a story that consumed the White House last week

This should read:

"The liberal media is bound and determined to serve up lies and innuendo that is fed by their consumed hatred of the President".

Another cheap shot at the CINC while he visits the troops. Guaranteed not to go unnoticed. Keep it up 'Rats. You make it so easy.

[anniegetyourgun]

Sure did.....campaigning against Bush disquised as reporting, to be sure.

[GigaDittos]

Where does it say AWOL?

[smiley]

At last!!!! Something positive about Bush and what Bush is doing....number one issue in Bush's favor is that President Bush is a genuine person, charming and is very, very easy to relate to. Kerry is an aloof, elitist/snob and very stand offish with the "common" people......

Bush should and will wipe the floor with Kerry!

[aculeus]

From Columbia School of Journalism Review:

http://www.cjr.org/blog/archives/cat_cheap_shot.asp#000150


Cheap Shot
That’s a Stretch, Scott

As Instapundit points out this morning, Scott Lindlaw of the Associated Press tries really, really hard to link Bush's appearance at the Daytona 500 Sunday back to the story about his National Guard service.

Writes Lindlaw:

With his wife, Laura, trailing him, Bush walked the pit, mingling with drivers, shaking hands with fans. He peered into car No. 16, sponsored by the National Guard, and if the car reminded him of the tempest swirling around his own service in the Texas Air National Guard, he didn't show it.

Scott also looks back, with this non sequitur: "The president got a much warmer reception than Bill Clinton did when he visited a NASCAR race as a candidate in September 1992, when the question of his lack of Vietnam-era military service was dogging Clinton."

Evidently if you send Lindlaw to a NASCAR race, instead of journalism you get armchair psychoanalysis and a history lesson. We can't wait to see how he covers the NCAA tournament.

--B.K.

[TADSLOS]

How much more honorable service do they want?

You have to know what honorable means before you can see it. The lib media can't because they have no moral or ethical frame of reference to base it on. Besides, they don't give a hoot about Bush's honorable service, they just want him gone.

[cake_crumb]

LOL...no sense reading past THAT headline. So has the witness who witnessed Bush serving at the base in Alabama produced a witness who witnessed HIM witnessing Bush at the base? And the really BURNING question on EVERYONE's mind is...

....drum roll please....

WAS the president IN FACT at the dentist when his TEETH WERE??

When something rolls into the realm of the ludicrous....just go along with it.

[GigaDittos]

In other news.... PRESIDENT BUSH IS REPORT AWOL FROM THE WHITE HOUSE WHILE VISITING NATIONAL GUARD UNITS