Part 2: Dan, You Partisan Slut
Dan will never admit that these are forgeries, and he beleives that proof of forgery lies on the viewer rather than CBS having the burden of proof of authenticity
So, for Dan's sake, let's assume that these memos are real. Dan has some Big Questions that he wants answered and he's too lazy to do the work himself, so I'll give him a hand.
Here are the Big Questions he asked last night on the CBS news, and here are the easily available answers:
Rather Lead In: There were attacks today on the CBS News "60 Minutes" report this week raising new questions about President Bush's Vietnam-era time in the Texas Air National Guard. The questions raised by our report include:
--Did a wealthy Texas oilman-friend of the Bush family use his influence with the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives .. to get George W. Bush a coveted slot in the National Guard .. keeping him out of the draft and any probable service IN Vietnam?
Answer: Ben Barnes, Democratic partisan and Kerry fundraiser, has made these claims many times over the years, and his story has not been consisitent. Under Oath, he had to admit that neither George W. Bush or George H.W. Bush asked him to do them any favors. He says it was a Bush friend who asked him to make a call. The person he supposedly called has denied that anyone did any favors to get Bush into the Guard. Ben Barnes daughter has disputed his accounts almost to the point of calling him a liar.
--Did Lieutenant Bush refuse a direct order from his commanding officer?
Answer: Ignoring the fact that there are no official documents reprimanding Bush for refusing a direct order, if we assume that the May 4 memo ordering Bush to get a physical by May 14 is legit, then we also have to assume that the May 19 memo is legit. In it, Killian acknowledges that he and Bush have discussed the physical and that Bush will take his physical in Alabama IF he continues his flight status. There is nothing in this memo about Bush disobeying a direct order, not is there in any other document official or unofficial. While the May 19 memo shows that Killian may be a little concerned about the investment that they have made in training Bush, Bush did serve 5+ years of a 6 year (not a lifetime of indentured servitude) commitment.
--Was Lieutenant. Bush suspended for failure to perform up to standards?
He was not suspended from the Guard, if that's what Dan meant to imply. He was suspended from flying status for missing his physical. He had obviously discussed dropping his flying status with Killian as evidenced in the first sentence of paragraph 2 of the May 19 memo. There were no negative performance evaluations in the official documents. The official May 1972 review was a glowing review with nothing negative to say, including praise of the fact that Bush was working on a political campaign and was a good representative of the Guard in the business community. The official May 1973 review just states that they could not review him because he had been off the base for the time period doing equivalent duty in Alabama. Despite the wording of the August 1, 1972 memo stating: On this date I ordered that 1st Lt Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to USAF/TexANG standards and failure to meet annual physical examination (flight) as ordered, there is nothing in the records to indicate that Bush did anything other than miss a physical, which was common for pilots who were not planning to continue flying. If Dan Rather has proof, it's up to him to produce it, rather than ask silly questions.
--Did Lieutenant Bush ever take a physical he was required and ordered to take? If not, why not?
Obviously he did not take the physical, and Bush has never said that he took the physical. His flight status was dropped due to missing the physical, so this is not a point of dispute. The May 19 memo does help to show that Bush had discussed dropping his flight status with his supervisor and that his supervisor was ok (if not exactly jumping for joy) about it.
--And did Lieutenant Bush, in fact, complete his commitment to the Guard?
He got an honorable discharge. That should be proof enough, but if you think he didn't it would be good to produce some evidence instead of just asking questions. Since you have no evidence, I can only imagine that you will bring up the disingenuous info from the Boston Globe story last week about Bush not completing his duty to seek alternate training after moving to Boston to go to Harvard Business School. Of course, you'd have to ignore the fact that he did not need to seek alternate training becuase he had asked for and was granted an early release from the Guard 6 months early (which is exactly the same thing John Kerry did in getting out 6 months early). Here is is request for discharge and recommendation for approval in September, 1973. Why would he report elsewhere after being discharged?
These questions grew out of new witnesses and new evidence -- including documents written by Lieutenant Bush's squadron commander.
Answer: Doesn't look like any new evidence to me Dan. Perhaps we would have new evidence if you John Kerry would fill out the Form 180 to release all his military records, as Bush did.