Posted on 02/04/2004 12:15:31 PM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John F. Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, Tuesday "defended" President Bush's choice to serve in the National Guard -- but then, in the same breath, Kerry appeared to equate National Guard service with draft-dodging.
In an interview on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes show Tuesday night, Sean Hannity asked Kerry if Democrats such as Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe are being fair in criticizing President Bush's National Guard service. Bush learned to fly fighter jets while serving in the National Guard, but he was never called for active duty.
McAuliffe infuriated Republicans Sunday when he accused Bush of being "AWOL" during his stint in the National Guard.
"I look forward to that debate, when John Kerry, a war hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush, a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard," McAuliffe said on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."
"George Bush never served in our military in our country. He didn't show up when he should have showed up," McAuliffe said.
"You really helped Bill Clinton on the issue of Vietnam," Hannity said in an interview with Kerry Tuesday night. "Do you think the comments that have been made [about Bush] by some in your party are fair?" Hannity continued.
"Well, I don't know the facts on it [Bush's National Guard service]," Kerry said.
"What I've always said is -- and I defended Bill Clinton's position, and I would defend the president's choice with respect to going into the Guard.
"I've never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard. Those are choices people make," Kerry said.
"But there is a question that's been raised about whether -- about what his service was. And I don't know the answers to those questions," Kerry said.
On Monday, Kerry said he hasn't decided whether to make Bush's military record a campaign issue. "I haven't made up my mind," he was quoted as saying.
'Shame'
The Bush administration Tuesday defended President Bush's National Guard service.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan called it a "shame" that the issue came up four years ago, during the 2000 presidential campaign, "and it is a shame that it is being brought up again."
McClellan told reporters, "The president fulfilled his [military] duties. The president was honorably discharged. I think it is sad to see some stoop to this level."
The questions center on a one-year period during the Vietnam War, when Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard: Did he report for drills or not?
Bush's aides have said he did indeed report to his assigned Alabama base -- doing mostly "paper-shuffling," Ari Fleischer said four years ago, when he was Bush's campaign spokesman and these questions first came up.
Bush has said he remembers taking part in drills at the Alabama base, but the administration did not release any new details about that service on Tuesday.
As Kerry looks more and more likely to win his party's presidential nomination, Democrats already are comparing Kerry's "heroic" war service with Bush's "questionable" service in the National Guard.
Republicans, on the other hand, want to make Kerry's liberal voting record the issue.
The election is about nine months away.
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Ya beat me by 19 seconds : )
I send this out, and will send some snail mail also.
Thanks for the heads up.
After the Bush AWOL story had percolated for months, Col. Turnipseed finally remembered another glitch in his story: the fact that National Guard regulations allowed Guard members to miss duty as long as it was made up within the same quarter.Keep up with the program... : )And, in fact - according to the Times - that's what Bush did.
"A document in Mr. Bush's military records," the paper said, "showed credit for four days of duty ending Nov. 29 and for eight days ending Dec. 14, 1972, and, after he moved back to Houston, on dates in January, April and May."
The paper found corroboration for the document, noting, "The May dates correlated with orders sent to Mr. Bush at his Houston apartment on April 23, 1973, in which Sgt. Billy B. Lamar told Mr. Bush to report for active duty on May 1-3 and May 8-10."
Yet another document obtained by the Times blew the Bush AWOL story out of the water.
It showed that Mr. Bush served at various times from May 29, 1973, through July 30, 1973 - "a period of time questioned by The Globe," the Times sheepishly admitted.
(Translation) MCAULIFFE: How is it hypocrisy? I cleave to no principle other than fighting for what our living, breathing polls tell me and what I've told our constituencies concerning what's important to us.
HF
I don't get it.
My understanding was that after flight school, he did fly on a regular basis while in Texas. When transferred to Alabama for the last year of his enlistment, they did not have the same equipment, so he was not qualified to fly. Thus he showed up for drills and shuffled paperwork (a time honored NG activity, BTW)
In that same year, 1971, Kerry was desecrating our flag, called our troops baby killers, and was openly siding with our enemy.
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