Posted on 07/30/2004 2:49:23 PM PDT by swilhelm73
RE: KERRY, GWB, VIETNAM [John Derbyshire] Just one more from the tarpit. A reader in Houston urges me to correct my statement of yesterday: "We all know what happened when time came for George W. Bush to make his Vietnam decisions. His family, like 90 percent of well-connected elite families in America at that time, made a few phone calls & got him a stateside billet. This option was not open to most Americans."
Not so, says my reader: "The assertion that Dubya signed up for the Texas Air National Guard to avoid serving in Vietnam ... [is] simply untrue. It's untrue for the very simple -- objectively factual, easily verifiable -- reason that the TANG unit young Bush signed up for was indeed in hot combat in Southeast Asia's skies at the very moment he signed up for it, and Bush or anyone else joining that unit would reasonably have expected that its pilots would still be in hot combat over Southeast Asia as long as the war continued!
"As it turned out, that TANG unit was no longer in combat by the time Bush was trained to fly its planes. And so Bush didn't get shot at by his country's enemies. Rather, his unit intercepted and shadowed Russian aircraft (flying out of Cuba) that were routinely probing American airspace in the Gulf. World War III didn't break out, and no, Bush wasn't shot at by the Russians, and no, he can't now claim to have the combat experience that Kerry can claim. Yes, he'd be a more appealing candidate today if he could claim combat experience. He can't, and he's never tried to. But the explanation for that is not what you've claimed -- that is, that Bush used his connections to join a part of the armed forces which was guaranteed not to see combat."
"(Ironically, exactly the opposite thing happened to Senator Kerry. Joining the Navy, as he did, was unlikely to put him into hot combat, and indeed he saw none on the ship on which he served most of his time abroad. When he volunteered to join the Swift Boats, they weren't seeing hot combat either. It was only a change in their mission, after he'd volunteered for them, that resulted in his country's enemies shooting at him. And after four months and three bandaide wounds with the Swift Boats, he promptly got his ticket punched, collected his medals and his 8mm films of his dramatic re-enactments of his combat experiences, and headed back to a stateside post as an admiral's aid, and thence to an early discharge so he could run for Congress. The medals eventually went over a Capitol fence in a war protest; the 8mm footage will be onscreen at tonight's Democratic National Convention.)"
I hope this is correct. I can *absolutely guarantee*, though, from years of experience in this business, that within half an hour of this being posted I shall get some equally indignant, equally long, and equally self-assured e-mail from someone arguing an entirely different version of events. Since no-one is going to pay me to dig to the bottom of this, which would take weeks -- if it actually has a bottom, which after 35 years is by no means certain -- I present my reader's account as offered (though edited without prejudice), declare myself respectfully agnostic, and CLOSE THE SUBJECT. Posted at 07:51 AM
We can dredge up and analyze the history of the Viet Nam war until hell freezes over to determine what some young kids did or did not do in the 60's and 70's. Those answers will not tell us, however, which of these two are more qualified to lead the US for the next four years. GW Bush, while considered by many as the 'dim bulb in the pack', has reversed a recession that was handed to him, fought a war on terrorism that has not resulted in a repeat of 9/11, and seems to be a lot more believable than his opponent. John Kerry, on the other hand, seems to be a pathological liar who would appease any audience with his fibs and flip-flops................
I know a lot of guys who joined the NG and I don't think anyone had to pull any strings though they and their parents may have had more understanding about their chances of going to Vietnam than the regular Joe.
I heard tonight that President Bush's service records show he signed he did not want to go oversea's. Anyone else hear he had checked that box when he signed up?
I'm needing to find out how we can disprove this claim by the Dems. This is their newest assertion.
I just heard it tonight on Hannity and Colmes (I think it was Hannity and Colmes). 7/30/04
Anyone else hear this?
See my question in post 24. Thanks
BTTT!!!!!!!
Um, don't think that box ever existed. Those who joined the NG take them same oath as everyone else.
Thanks for the ping!
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