Posted on 09/17/2004 11:59:41 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON - President Bush's father responded to a personal letter from his son's Texas Air National Guard unit commander soon after the younger Bush enlisted, according to documents released late Friday, fueling new claims from Democrats that he got special treatment.
On Sept. 11, 1968, George H.W. Bush, then a congressman from Houston, wrote: "That a major general in the Air Force would take an interest in a brand new Air Force trainee made a big impression on me."
The letter, in response to one from Maj. Gen. G.B. Greene, was released by the Pentagon along with other Bush military records. Greene's was not included in the documents.
To the campaign of Democrat John Kerry, the letter demonstrated preferential treatment, buttressing the depiction of the younger Bush as someone who relied on family connections to avoid the Vietnam War.
'A fortunate son' "If the president was truly proud of his service, he wouldn't be releasing these documents on a Friday night," Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe said. "These documents demonstrate yet again that George Bush was a fortunate son who received special consideration."
The Pentagon released the documents after what it called an exhaustive search of all Defense Department databases that might contain records on Bush's Guard service.
That service has become an issue in the presidential campaign, with Democrats saying Bush has not explained whether he was admitted to the unit thanks to special influence and failed to perform some of his Guard duties in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Bush campaign, pointing to the honorable discharge he received, has responded that the president fulfilled all requirements.
Kerry's Navy service in the Vietnam War also has been questioned, as Bush's role as commander in chief during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a major element of the presidential campaign.
The new documents shed no light on the questions about Bush's service, including whether he performed duties in Alabama after transferring from Texas so he could work for a Republican campaign there. Nor did they answer critics who ask why Bush, described by officers as a gifted, enthusiastic pilot, failed to take a physical examination and allowed his flight status to lapse.
The release "demonstrates we are fulfilling the president's request to release all the documents regarding his military service," White House spokesman Dan Bartlett said.
The letter from Bush's father described him as "anxiously looking forward to going to flight school and with parental pride, I do have the feeling that he will become a gung ho member of the U.S. Air Force."
A straight arrow According to Bush's father, the 22-year-old "was full of the training he had received and particularly enthusiastic about the dedication of the men he met" at the unit at Ellington Field in Houston.
Among the papers released Friday was a press release, sent to Houston newspapers in 1970 by the Texas Air National Guard, lauding the young Bush as a straight arrow.
"George Bush is one member of the younger generation who doesn't get his kicks from pot or hashish or speed," the release said. "Oh, he gets high, all right, but not from narcotics."
A book by celebrity biographer by Kitty Kelley, published this week, recycled allegations that Bush used cocaine and other illegal drugs as a young man. The White House called the book garbage.
The Pentagon's release of documents Friday came in response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by the Associated Press this year. Pentagon officials said the information was uncovered by checking through unit histories, the National Archives, Air Force files and other places that went beyond Bush's personnel files. The White House had said all information in Bush's files was released earlier this year.
Use of influence denied In the related controversy over CBS News' reliance on purported Guard memos, a man named in the documents as putting pressure on other officials to help Bush repeated his denial Friday that he played such a role.
Retired Col. Walter Staudt of Texas, commander of Bush's unit in Houston, told ABC News, "I never pressured anybody about George Bush because I had no reason to."
michael.hedges@chron.com
I guess he thought you'd come around by 20.
You were just a late bloomer.
LOL
I'm tellin' ya! WHAT is this world coming to!
When I was in the Army at Ft. Riley, my battalion was tasked with guarding the post Ammo Supply Holding Area. During our period of duty a SINGLE hand grenade was discovered missing. Our batt was "locked down" (restricted to the BN area, no visitors, etc) and a thorough - and I mean thorough - search ensued. After four days of this (I was a married man and lived off post) I had had enough.
I contacted my Representative. Within an hour, a Congressional Inquiry was launched, and within three hours the "lock down" was over - the "missing" grenade was apparently a clerical error.
The point: NO military officer wants to have Congress staring over their shoulder. A General Officer might consider it a duty to inform an elected official of their children's progress.
The left thinks they can repeat their "glory days" of anti-war activism during Vietnam.
They're deluded and losing BIG TIME.
Bump!
Kerry's World: Father Knows Best***.........."Americans," he writes, "are inclined to see the world and foreign affairs in black and white." They celebrate their own form of government and denigrate all others, making them guilty of what he calls "ethnocentric accommodation -- everyone ought to be like us." As a result, America has committed the "fatal error" of "propagating democracy" and fallen prey to "the siren's song of promoting human rights," falsely assuming that our values and institutions are a good fit in the Third World. And, just as Americans exaggerate their own goodness, they exaggerate their enemies' badness. The Soviet Union wasn't nearly as imperialistic as American politicians warned, Kerry argues. "Seeing the Soviet Union as the aggressor in every instance, and the U.S. as only reacting defensively, relieves an American observer from the need to see any parallel between our use of military power in distant parts of the world, and the Soviet use of military power outside the Soviet Union," he writes. He further claims that "Third world Marxist movements were autonomous national movements" -- outside Moscow's orbit. The book culminates in a plea for a hardheaded, realist foreign policy that removes any pretense of U.S. moral superiority. ..........***
Bump!
The democrats own polling must show they are seriously on the ropes if they have to try and twist this into something bad.
Hannity said today they are like a boxer who is losing bad on points. They are starting to swing wildly hoping that some punch will connect. So, as Hannity said, we can expect this making big deals out of trivia to continue. Plus, the ridiculous attempts to harm President Bush will continue. I just hope they stay this silly and don't get anything with traction (meaning something that strikes a chord with the public).
It is highly probable that Bush was given some special treatment - as is every child of a public official - then and now. What is the big deal? Bush may have even dabbled in some things he should not have when he was a young - as many have. However, I would say he has matured and become a fine, God fearing, man today that I trust with this country. He learned from his mistakes and changed.
John Kerry never grew up. He is still a childish, America bashing, boy wanting to be president. My apologies to any New Englander's here, but only from MA could such a person get into public office.
Jeez! Will you trolls just go suck up so tofu someplace else?
You DUmb@sses will never learn...
"You DUmb@sses will never learn..."
Unfortunately, they seem to be incapable of learning. Probably a genetic disorder.
Uh huh. Gotta be.
Nobody is that stupid naturally.
You're correct - the scandal is the MSM and their news handling and reporting. They ignore the Swift Vet story until Rather's expose`, which they thought would put the SV to sleep.
Look how it backfired - all because of their hate for the Bush family.
Think the GOP will pick up any votes from that picture!
The DNC keep digging themselves deeper and deeper!
That and maybe because the dad was also a pilot!
Oops - not shoot (no guns allowed) maybe sledgehammer themselves in the foot.
"---A 1970 evaluation said Bush “clearly stands out as a top notch fighter interceptor pilot” and was “a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to for leadership.”
A 1971 evaluation called Bush “an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot” who “continually flies intercept missions with the unit to increase his proficiency even further.” And a 1972 evaluation called Bush “an exceptional fighter interceptor pilot and officer.”
Now, it is only natural that news reports questioning Bush’s service — in The Boston Globe and The New York Times, on CBS and in other outlets — would come out now. Democrats are spitting mad over attacks on John Kerry’s record by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.--"
Yep. And that little piggy's starting to look like roast beef!
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