Posted on 08/27/2009 8:59:04 AM PDT by RobinMasters
This story by Bernard Goldberg certainly takes me back to the early days of my blogging career. Shortly after the 2004 Republican convention, Mary Mapes produced a segment for 60 Minutes II that alleged that George W. Bush had manipulated his enlistment in the Texas Air National Guard to avoid serving in combat in Vietnam. The documents used by CBS, Mapes, and Dan Rather turned out to be clumsy hoaxes, which the blogosphere exposed through careful review of their substance and their form (the latter of which I played a small part in refuting, with my expertise in printing and fonts, among larger efforts from Power Line and LGF).
CBS did an internal investigation that discredited the memos and caused the network to fire Mapes. Buried in the report, however, is an admission that has not been noticed until now which is that Mapes knew the basis of her story was an outright lie from the beginning (emphases Goldbergs):
Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is it: Mary Mapes knew before she put the story on the air that George W. Bush, the alleged slacker, had in fact volunteered to go to Vietnam.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Today’s sign/countersign is “Wombat-Armor.”
“Rinos and their staffs and lobbyists all make good money whether Republicans or Democats are in power. It makes little difference to them which party is in power so long as they can stay in Washington and make a lot of money and be included in that society.”
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Much of which could be solved by term limits (including staff, lobbyists and even many Capitol employees), eliminating in one fell swoop, the professional political class and hopefully the dominance of lawyers serving in the government.
This country would be in MUCH better hands with 1-2 term service by regular Americans such as accountants, engineers, electricians, health professionals, businessmen, carpenters, homemakers, and bankers.
I stand corrected before the entire forum, and thank you for that information. The numbers I used were from a site that I had hoped (after seeing similar numbers on two others) were reliable, and one that I found rather quickly because I felt a response was due someone that would label the NG and Reserve and "legal draft dodging."
I agree with your analysis of the other poster... I'm not going to criticize anyone that puts on the uniform, for I am not qualified to do so since I am uninformed as to their personal situations. There are some folks out there in situations that will not allow them to serve full time in the military, but they are there to do the job that needs to be done, when it needs to be done.
My business partner was active duty Air Force before he went Air Guard... When 9-11 occurred, he was activated immediately (Senior NCOIC of Combat Arms Training and Maintenance) and was deployed to Bagram within a few weeks with the Security Police Squadron to which he was regularly attached. This is a man with a wife and two kids... And bills to pay. He was over there before hot kitchens, before any of the other niceties arrived, and lived off of MREs for the entire tour. About 50% of the MRE entrees have mushrooms in them. He is allergic to mushrooms. Anyone that knows how boring MREs can get: imagine having only about 6 to choose from instead of the normal 12. And that was the easy part... They had to deal with the Taliban throwing random rounds into their camp. The Russian land mines were still all over the place (even if you didn't step on one, the cold or the dogs setting them off at night would deprive you of rest.) The entire situation was miserable and he pretty much lived off of the powdered drink mix for the last two weeks he was over there - but they were there getting the job done... Those GUARDSMEN were getting the job done. The story ends with him being held over for 3 years beyond his retirement date on a stop loss. But he made it home and went right back to work in his regular job.
Regards,
Raven6
I voted for both as both were qualified. As far as anwers go the more I read your postings, the more I know that you don’t have any answers.
Because you’re not a jerk?
Oh, wait, you are.
Well (NOT) pleased to meet you.
Same to you ‘wipe.
Exactly, you’re a Rino, search for your answers on the Daily Kos...
And you’re an idiot, search for your answers elsewhere than your head.
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