Posted on 02/22/2004 8:12:49 AM PST by Hon
Retired general: Enough on Bush
William R. Turnipseed, who has been at the center of the Bush military service case, did not donate to Edwards, and he says Alzheimer's remark was a joke
02/22/04
By EDDIE CURRAN Staff Reporter
MONTGOMERY -- Four years ago, a reporter from the Boston Globe called retired Brig. Gen. William R. Turnipseed to ask whether he remembered George W. Bush reporting for duty with the Air National Guard unit in Montgomery then commanded by Turnipseed.
He responded: "Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not. I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered."
As Turnipseed's daughter now explains, "All he did was answer a question."
But in the past three weeks, as scrutiny of Bush's Guard service leaped into the national political debate as never before, the groundbreaking Globe piece -- and to a great extent, Turnipseed's remarks -- has served as the jumping off point for the latest wave of national reporters seeking answers.
As Fox News' Brit Hume put it, Turnipseed was the "linchpin witness" for making the case that President Bush failed to report for duty during the now super-scrutinized seven or eight months in 1972 and 1973.
Note that Hume said "was." That's largely because, in the past two weeks, Turnipseed's credibility, even to some extent, his reputation, have come under fire.
Conservative columnist William F. Buckley Jr. snickered in his nationally syndicated column that Turnipseed had "a name Charles Dickens would have lost sleep for not having invented."
In Washington, D.C., officials with the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign were telling reporters that Turnipseed gave $500 to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.
On Feb. 5, the Salon online magazine reported that Bush-Cheney spokesman Terry Holt, citing the Turnipseed-to-Edwards donation, questioned whether the motives behind Turnipseed's comments about Bush's service were "pure" or part of a "political attack."
That donation, as the Mobile Register was able to confirm on Thursday, was actually given to the Edwards campaign by Will Turnipseed, a 34-year-old waiter at Wynlakes Country Club in Montgomery.
But the primary failing of the former general, according to widespread reports, is that he has Alzheimer's disease -- a progressive neurological disorder that impairs memory -- and can't even remember if he was commanding the Montgomery-based 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group some 31 years ago, when Bush either did or did not report for duty.
Last Monday, Turnipseed's daughter, Tracy T. Roberts of Spanish Fort, was in her car listening to Rush Limbaugh, when the conservative announcer told her and his millions of other radio listeners something she didn't know.
"When he said that General Turnipseed had reported that he had Alzheimer's, I laughed," said Roberts, a member of Leadership Baldwin County 2003.
"I told my husband, 'Daddy has really thrown them a bone.' I knew it had to be a joke."
Turnipseed -- while expressing dismay over reports that he, a Bush supporter, had given money to Edwards -- admitted making what he called "a crack" about Alzheimer's to a reporter from Georgia.
The reporter had called and questioned him about statements by John Calhoun, a former member of the 187th, stating that Bush frequently reported for duty but spent most of his time in Calhoun's office, doing things such as studying flight training manuals.
Turnipseed told the reporter that he respected Calhoun and didn't believe that Calhoun would lie. Then Turnipseed said -- in a comment since cited in media reports throughout the country -- that he didn't remember if he was serving in the National Guard at the base in Montgomery during the time period in question.
He was quoted as saying, "I was only trying to tell the truth. I'm beginning to find out my memory is not any good anymore. I'm 75 years old and getting Alzheimer's."
After that, the media inquiries stopped on a dime, he noted last week with a chuckle. "I wish I had thought of that in 2000, so I wouldn't be the focal point of this thing," Turnipseed said from his Montgomery home. "I have been trying to get away from being the focal point on this thing for a long time and without success."
But the comment touched off a flurry of inquiries from his old friends, expressing concern about the news of his decline.
"At church, people were telling my wife that they were so worried about me," Turnipseed said.
For the record, Turnipseed was -- and has not forgotten that he was -- the lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group during the period when Bush either did or did not report for duty.
Turnipseed served at Dannelly Air National Guard base in Montgomery full-time from 1961 to 1984, the last seven years as base commander.
Bush, who served with distinction as an air National Guard pilot while in Texas, had sought the temporary transfer to Alabama so he could work on the campaign of Winton Blount, who was running for U.S. Senate.
While Turnipseed well knew the source of the Alzheimer's reports -- himself -- the $500 donation to Edwards bugged him. The New York Times reporter who first asked him about the donation told him where to go on the Internet to see a record of it.
Sure enough, Federal Election Commission records show that Will Turnipseed from Montgomery donated $500 to Edwards last June 16.
The report did not include Turnipseed's occupation or place of employment, and his address was a post office box in a ZIP code different than Brig. Gen. Turnipseed's.
"I voted for Bush, I voted for his dad, and I'm going to vote for him again, and the Bush folks don't know that," Turnipseed said with frustration in his voice.
It irritates him that "it got widespread that I gave $500 to the John Edwards campaign," he said.
Turnipseed called his cousin, William George Turnipseed -- the only other Will or W. Turnipseed in the Montgomery area listed in the phone book.
"He said no, not him. I tried to find this Will Turnipseed, but I couldn't. It dawned on me: Why not write him a letter and say we had the same namesake and would he give me a call or send me an e-mail?"
Turnipseed said he mailed the letter Wednesday.
The Register offered to try to locate Will Turnipseed, and the retired general was all for it. Using various databases and court records, the newspaper found that a Sirwill A. Turnipseed, who goes by "Will," lives in Montgomery, though he did not have a listed telephone number.
A garnishment action on an overdue small loan reflected that Turnipseed worked at Wynlakes. A call was made to the club, asking for Turnipseed, and a woman said he worked in the dining room and was working that night.
A Montgomery man who is a member of the club agreed to take a Register reporter to the club for dinner, and upon arriving, asked the manager if he could see Will Turnipseed.
Turnipseed came over, sat down and listened to the explanation of why he'd been summoned. When it came to the donation, he smiled, saying that, yes, he'd given the money.
Turnipseed -- who said his father, William, saddled him with the unusual first name Sirwill, causing him to be the butt of jokes in school and later, the military -- stated that he was asked to donate by a local lawyer, Lee Hamilton.
The lawyer told Turnipseed that Greg Calhoun, a businessman in Montgomery, was hosting a fund-raiser for Edwards, the waiter reported. Turnipseed, it turns out, couldn't attend the fund-raiser, but he sent a check, and later received a thank-you card with a picture of Edwards' family, he said.
He decided to give, he said, because he's a Democrat, and his wife has been high on Edwards.
On the side, Turnipseed runs a small specialty products business, selling pens, T-shirts and other goods. Hamilton is a good client who also sends him business.
Hamilton, donor records show, donated the maximum $2,000 to Edwards last year, and has contributed to the campaigns of other Democrats.
Will Turnipseed said he had received the other Turnipseed's letter that day -- Thursday -- and was sort of confused to hear from someone just because they shared the same name.
"That answers the question for me," he said.
He said he was sorry that their similarity in names caused problems for the older Turnipseed, and said he planned to call him.
"I'm glad to have that confirmed," the retired general said Friday, when told about the meeting with the man.
"I'm surprised, in a way, since I wouldn't think a waiter would have that kind of money."
While he sticks to his story about not recalling Bush serving in Montgomery, the retired general now says it's possible that the young future president could have reported for duty, and Turnipseed just wouldn't have known.
He wasn't political, certainly not at the time, and the name George W. Bush wouldn't have meant a thing to him, he said.
"If he'd been an Alabama senator's son or a pro football player or maybe Huey Long's son, but the son of the United Nations representative?
"I'm confident I didn't know who Bush senior was in 1972," Turnipseed said.
Bush's father, former President George Bush, had been a congressman, but was the United States ambassador to the U.N. during the period his son was assigned to Montgomery.
Turnipseed said it's ironic that he's been painted by some as anti-Bush. When he learned of such suggestions, he contacted his state senator and asked if he'd get word to the Bush campaign and the national Republican Party that he supports them.
"I don't want them to apologize, but just to admit they were wrong, and they haven't done that and that sort of disappoints me a little," Turnipseed said.
"I'm going to have to forgive him (Bush) for that," he said, chuckling. "I just could not vote for Kerry."
Friday afternoon, the Register contacted the Bush-Cheney'04 campaign and informed it of the true identity of the Edwards donor. Reed Dickens, a Southeast region spokesman, called back with a short response.
Said Dickens, "The statement was inaccurate, and we regret it."
You're kidding, right? There's been an abundance of documentary proof. The democrats/media have chosen to ignore it, along with ignoring the several witnesses who have come forward to state they remember GWB serving in Alabama.
Lawyer Hamilton probably did it. I suspect that the reporter knew this as well. That's most likely why he put the following in the article:
Hamilton, donor records show, donated the maximum $2,000 to Edwards last year, and has contributed to the campaigns of other Democrats.
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