"The interesting part is that they could be true."
You've got to be kidding me. This is practically Rather's response.
"Running an election in Alabama is not wartime duty, which has been fully acknowledged by the Bush. Tap dancing around the issue does not change the overall aspect."
The "issue" has been rebutted a thousand different ways. The F-102 had pretty much been recalled, and Bush simply wasn't going to get sent over. I fully believe for a variety of reasons and sources that he -wanted- to be, that he very much wanted to be a fighter pilot and fight in Nam. That's why he put in a ferocious number of hours his first three years. But when he was told that he had no chance of getting into Palace Alert, that's when his enthusiasm waned, and since the NG didn't really have any use for him either (having a glut of F-102 pilots at that point), they made it easy for him to just finish out with the minimum requirements. I suspect that was typical for the glut of pilots they had, nothing preferential about it.
General Turnipseed, the guy who liberals love to use as one of their primary sources that "he wasn't there", is on the record as saying he was never -required- to show up to Alabama. That it was strictly voluntary for him to do so.
Same goes for the unsubstantiated allegations about how he got "preferential treatment" for getting in in the first place. There may have been 500 applicants for the TANG... but not for officer positions, which is what Bush was applying for... and not for fighter pilots, which required a voluntary commitment for -heavy duty- training on the part of the applicant. Most applicants didn't want to do it. Bush did. This put him on a very very short list, and when he was accepted there were three other slots for fighter pilot still open.
The whole thing is a farce and a fraud by liberals. Bush has nothing in his record to be ashamed of. Especially given the wartime record of so many of the very liberals that have the gall to launch this accusation. I wonder how many liberals "outraged" at Bush's NG service spent the war in Canada.
Qwinn
Additionally, Bush volunteered more than once for a position or status that would have put him in a position of being likely to be sent to active duty in Vietnam. I'll have to find that, that fact is being ignored (big shock there) by the MSM.
W did EVERYTHING he was REQUIRED to do (and a lot more) -- that's why the Honorable Discharge.