Posted on 09/08/2004 7:37:17 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
'Texans for Truth' is getting its turn at bat today, just in time for the 60 Minutet II interview with Former Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes tonight.
'Texans for Truth' is an arm of Drive Democracy, an Austin based group that got its initial funding from the liberal group Moveon.Org.
The Moveon PAC and Moveon Voter Fund have spent about $7 million since March 1 on anti Bush TV ads.
Drive Democracy is run by Glenn Smith who managed the unsuccessful 2002 Texas gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Tony Sanchez.
Smith is a former managing director at the consulting firm Public Strategies, which employs former Texas Governor Ann Richards.
'Texans for Truth plans to spend $100,000 to $200,000 to run the ad for a week in closely contested states that are home to large numbers of families of US troops killed in Iraq.
Such states include Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Oregon and Arizona.
The Bush campagin is crying foul. 'The president served honorably in the National Guard, fulfilled his duties and was honorably discharged,' campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Probably a play off of Swiftboat Veterans for Truth isn't it?
Just wondered if Pat Green was on that list of musicians.
related:
'Bush and I were lieutenants'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1075896/posts
Posted on 02/11/2004 6:20:44 AM PST by Petronski
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040210-082910-8424r.htm
I can't believe that Susan Estrich who is always bemoaning these negative ads as the reason people hate politics is out there suggesting that the Dems bring up the fact that Bush is an alcoholic and what happens if he falls off the wagon? Desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose.
Besides this comparison of being fit to serve is nonsense. Bush has been serving as CIC for 3 1/2 years and people know him. The dems are acting as if he is an unknown quantity and that simply isn't the case.
I love Pat Green. I think he has been Neutral. He is a Texas Tech grad, and his wife is from West Texas. I do not know where he stands, but that is what I wish I could say about all of these people. Why couldn't they have just SHUT UP AND SANG!
This tactic is not only stupid, it is breathtakingly inept!! As long as the debate rages on about military service, Kerry loses.......BIG TIME !!!
Besides, this country voted for a certified and admitted draft dodger, not once, but TWICE!! He name was Slick Willie Clinton.
Remember him???
I really like Pat too and have been to lots of his shows. He reaches a lot of the college crowd. Makes me feel old..
They cant even rip off the swifties properly..
Any idea when the Swifties will be coming out with a new ad?
bump
I don't get why these ppl are speaking out about Bush's service. It makes no sense...ppl are acting like he hasn't been IN OFFICE for the last four years!!
This timeline was taken from an anti-Bush website. I selected it because it is mostly accurate. The problem is the partial truths and the implications.
My comments are in ALL CAPS and is based on research and my own experiences and knowledge.
1.) May 28, 1968: Bush enlists as an Airman Basic in the 147th Fighter-Interceptor Group, Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, Texas, and is selected to attend pilot training.
My comments:
THERE HAS BEEN TALK THAT BUSH WAS PUSHED TO THE TOP OF THE LIST BECAUSE OF HIS FATHER'S POLITICAL INFLUENCE. The truth is:
BUSH WAS SELECTED BECAUSE VERY FEW AIR NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS WERE WILLING TO SIGN UP FOR 2 YEARS OF ACTIVE DUTY (PILOT TRAINING) FOLLOWED BY 4 YEARS IN THE GUARD, FOR A SIX YEAR TOTAL.
2.) July 12, 1968: A three-member board of officers decides that Bush should get a direct commission as a second lieutenant after completing airman's basic training.
My comments: THIS WAS ROUTINE BECAUSE UNDERGRADUATE PILOT TRAINING (UPT) WAS ONLY AVAILABLE TO COMMISSIONED OFFICERS. THERE WAS NO AVIATION CADET PROGRAM AT THAT TIME, NOR IS THERE ONE TODAY.
3.) July 14 to August 25, 1968: Bush attends six weeks of basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
4.) September 4, 1968: Bush is commissioned a second lieutenant and takes an 8-week leave to work on a Senate campaign in Florida.
My comments:
ACTUALLY, HE WAS WAITING FOR HIS (UPT) CLASS TO BEGIN. THE LEAVE WAS UNPAID.
5.) November 25, 1968 to November 28, 1969: Bush attends and graduates from from flight school at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. (UTP Course #P-V4A-A Moody AFB, Ga. 53 weeks November 1969)
6,) January 1, 1970: 147th changes from doing Alert to training F-102 pilots.
7.) December 1969 to June 27, 1970: Bush trains full-time to be an F-102 pilot at Ellington Air Force Base.
My comments:
NOTE THAT IT TAKES SIX MONTHS TO QUALIFY ON THE F-102A AS WITH ANY OF THE 100 SERIES FIGHTERS. THEY ARE VERY DIFFICULT, UNSTABLE AND DANGEROUS TO FLY.
8.) February 1970: Bush attends Preint Pilot Training (T-33 ANG112501 FIVE WEEKS)
9.) July 1970 to April 16, 1972: Bush, as a certified fighter pilot, attends frequent drills and alerts at Ellington Computer records show his last Flight Physical as May 1971. Which also shows him as CR MEM ON FS (crew member on flight service) not PILOT.
My comments:
"CR MEM ON FS" ACTUALLY MEANS CREW MEMBER ON FLIGHT STATUS. IN THE "USAF", ALL FLIGHT-RATED PERSONNEL ARE REFERRED TO AS "CREW MEMBERS" WITH NO DESIGNATION "PILOT, NAVIGATOR, ETC.) THE IMPORTANT DESIGNATOR IS WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE ON FLIGHT STATUS.
10.) May 24, 1972: Bush, who has moved to Alabama to work on a US Senate race, gets permission to serve with a Reserve Unit in Alabama. But headquarters decided Bush must serve with a more active unit.
My comments:
IT MUST BE NOTED THAT THE RESERVE AND THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD ARE TWO DISTINCT ORGANIZATIONS AND DESPISE EACH OTHER. IT'S NOT SURPRISING THAT THE "ANG" WOULD NOT APPROVE THE TRANSFER OF AN OFFICER TO THE RESERVE.
11.) September 5, 1972: Bush is granted permission to do his Guard duty at the 187th Tactical Recon Group in Montgomery. But Bush's records shows no evidence he did the duty, and the unit commander says he never showed up.
My comments:
SEE THE RECENTLY RELEASED BUSH PAY RECORDS. THE UNIT COMMANDER, GENERAL TURNIPSEED, NOW SAYS HE (TURNIPSEED) WAS PROBABLY NOT ON THE BASE AT THAT TIME.
12.) November 1972 to April 30, 1973: Bush returns to Houston, but apparently not to his Air Force unit.
13.) May 2, 1973: The two lieutenant colonels in charge of Bush's unit in Houston cannot rate him for the prior 12 months, saying he has not been at the unit in that period.
My comments:
THEY DIDN'T SAY "HE HAS NOT BEEN AT THE UNIT IN THAT PERIOD" THEY SAID HE HAD NOT BEEN "OBSERVED" BY THEM. THE WORD "OBSERVED" IN AN OFFICER EVALUATION HAS A SPECIFIC MEANING. IT MEANS THAT THE EVALUATING OFFICER PERSONALLY OBSERVED THE OFFICER IN THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS DUTIES. THIS IS NOT SURPRISING SINCE BUSH WAS NOT IN TEXAS UNTIL NOVEMBER AND DID NOT ATTEND DRILLS IN TEXAS UNTIL APRIL 1973.
IT SHOULD BE NOTED (TERRY McAULIFFE, PAY ATTENTION) THAT THE "ANG" DOES NOT NECESSARILY REQUIRE WEEKLY ATTENDANCE, IT REQUIRES A CERTAIN NUMBER OF DAYS PER YEAR.
LT. CO. SCOTT GORSKE, A MILITARY FELLOW AT THE CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN WASHINGTON SAID "NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS ARE NOT NECESSARILY REQUIRED TO ATTEND A DRILL EACH MONTH, BUT RATHER TO TRAIN A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME OVER A 12 -MONTH PERIOD. THIS IS WHY BUSH COULD HAVE MET HIS YEARLY SERVICE REQUIREMENTS EVEN IF THERE WERE SOME MONTHS IN WHICH HE DID NOT ATTEND A DRILL."
14.) May to July 1973: Bush, after special orders are issued for him to report for duty, logs 36 days of duty.
My comments:
ALL 'USAF' ORDERS NAMING PERSONNEL ARE CALLED "SPECIAL ORDERS". THE 36 DAYS ACTIVE DUTY BROUGHT HIM UP TO 5 DAYS MORE THAN THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE YEAR.
15.) July 30, 1973: His last day in uniform, according to his records.
16) October 1, 1973: A month after Bush starts at Harvard Business School, he is formally discharged from the Texas Air National Guard -- eight months before his six-year term expires.
My comments:
THIS WAS VERY NORMAL AT THAT TIME. THE WAR WAS WINDING DOWN AND GEORGE BUSH'S ONLY "AFSC" (AIR FORCE SPECIALTY CODE) WAS AS A 'FIGHTER-INTERCEPTOR PILOT". HE WAS QUALIFIED ONLY ON THE F-102A. LARGE-SCALE RETIREMENT OF THE F-102A FROM THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BEGAN IN LATE 1969 AND CONTINUED THROUGHOUT THE 1970s. IN OCTOBER 1973, HE HAD EIGHT MONTHS REMAINING ON HIS ENLISTMENT. THE TEXAS AIR NATIONAL GUARD WAS PHASING OUT THE F-102A AND CONVERTING TO ANOTHER AIRCRAFT. THEY HAD MANY MORE F-102A PILOTS THAN THEY NEEDED AND IT MADE NO SENSE TO SHIP BUSH OFF FOR SIX MONTHS OF TRANSITION TRAINING WHEN HE HAD ONLY EIGHT MONTHS TO GO.
MY PERSONAL COMMENTS.
George Bush could have joined the ANG to avoid the draft. However, that really doesn't make a lot of sense inasmuch as he was a Yale graduate. The odds of a draftee with a degree from Yale ending up as a grunt in Vietnam were virtually nonexistent. He would have been offered OCS (with a four year commitment) or, if he wanted to serve no more than his two years, he would have been a company clerk or some other administrative job. Even the Army is that smart. Assuming he wanted to join the Air National Guard (ANG) so he could be a part-time patriot and live at home, why didn't he just sign up for four years and get it over with?
He opted for pilot training which involved a six year commitment! Think about that. Would you sign up for six years when you could get by in two years with and administrative job? Maybe, just maybe, he wanted to be a fighter pilot like his father was in World War II. Novel concept, wasn't it?
Next, the F-102 was the first supersonic all-weather fighter-interceptor. It was a beast to fly. The regular Air Force passed them on to the ANG as quickly as they could. Any pilot who willingly strapped that thing on his ass and took off gets a tip of my hat. There weren't very many people in Vietman doing anything more hazardous!
Now, about the ANG, at the time period in question, the ANG was charged with the air defense of the continental USA. The Soviet bear was still our major adversary and the ANG was the barrier to Soviet bombers. The ANG were not just weekend warriors boring holes in the sky for fun. They were flying air defense alerts.
Finally, why didn't Bush volunteer for Vietnam service? There is anecdotal evidence that he did, which may or man not be true. The real answer is that it would have done him no good. Bush was rated only as a "fighter-interceptor pilot" and qualified only on the F-102. The USAF, in Vietnam, had no, repeat, no need for fighter-interceptor pilots and had no F-102s in the theater. He was useful where he was flying air defense missions in the USA. Those of us who are veterans can all agree that we rarely, if ever, had a choice of where we would be based or what we would be doing.
Case Closed!
Bill Eikner
Finally, the Kerrys, Moores and McAuliffes are casting a terrible slander on those who served in the Guard, then and now. My Guard career parallels Lt. Bush's, except that I stayed on for 33 years. As a guardsman, I even got to serve in two campaigns. In the Cold War, the air defense of the United States was borne primarily by the Air National Guard, by such people as Lt. Bush and me and a lot of others. Six of those with whom I served in those years never made their 30th birthdays because they died in crashes flying air-defense missions.
While most of America was sleeping and Mr. Kerry was playing antiwar games with Hanoi Jane Fonda, we were answering 3 a.m. scrambles for who knows what inbound threat over the Canadian subarctic, the cold North Atlantic and the shark-filled Gulf of Mexico. We were the pathfinders in showing that the Guard and Reserves could become reliable members of the first team in the total force, so proudly evidenced today in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It didn't happen by accident. It happened because back at the nadir of Guard fortunes in the early '70s, a lot of volunteer guardsman showed they were ready and able to accept the responsibilities of soldier and citizen — then and now. Lt. Bush was a kid whose congressman father encouraged him to serve in the Air National Guard. We served proudly in the Guard. Would that Mr. Kerry encourage his children and the children of his colleague senators and congressmen to serve now in the Guard.
In the fighter-pilot world, we have a phrase we use when things are starting to get out of hand and it's time to stop and reset before disaster strikes. We say, "Knock it off." So, Mr. Kerry and your friends who want to slander the Guard: Knock it off.
COL. WILLIAM CAMPENNI (retired) U.S. Air Force/Air National Guard Herndon, Va.5
I heard the ad on O'Reilly. TALK ABOUT WEAK!!!!! Compared to the Swiftvet Ads, this is about as powerful as a baby's burp. W should just yawn and ignore it.
LOL! It is gonna take A LOT more than that ad. One bubba saying what he "didn't" see? PUHLEEZE!!!! The Swiftvet Ads were powerful because (1) it was new information and (2) there were MANY men making the charges. I'll admit I was a tad worried when I heard Moveon was going to try this. But, after hearing the ad, I just have to LAUGH!
Consider a few things:
1) Republican presidential candidiates are held to a higher standard and hence, receive a far greater level of scrutiny than the democratic candidate.
2) MSM is going to spin and slant this in order to get ratings and hurt Bush.
3) The Swift Boat Vets didn't get a fair shake in the MSM and with so many people too lazy to do their own investigation, they have their doubters.
The fact that people were willing to vote for Kerry without knowing much about his record should tell you something.
Never underestimate the ignorance of the average voters.
As soon as Hannity can process the footage of Kerry at the Vietcong Paris Peace talks!
i cant find anything that says texan musicians are behind this ad. do you have proof or are you speculating? i would love for it to be true.
I'm not worried. The Swiftvet Ads are powerful, regardless of what the dominant media does. The NG stuff is old news. There is nothing there that hasn't been covered a thousand different times. The worst thing Bush could do is even respond to the silly ad. Let the Swiftvets do their thing. Their intent is to get the word out about Kerry -- not serve as a counter-punch to the NG attacks.
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