Probably One of the Most Vicious Anti-Bush Letters You'll Ever Read

Lewiston Sun-Journal ^ | May 12, 2003 | Paul Macri

[bogeybob]

Hail to the great hyprocrite

Paul F. Macri, Auburn, Maine

President Bush is a great American, a great American hypocrite, that is.

My stomach turned last Thursday night as Bush’s jet landed on the USS Abraham Lincoln and America saw him in a flight suit for the first time since he went AWOL from the Texas National Guard more than 30 years ago.

Don’t those cheering sailors — who truly are brave and did serve their country — know that Dubya conveniently sat out the Vietnam War, not as a protester or Rhodes Scholar, but with a rich boy’s “in” to the National Guard? And he couldn’t even hack that for the length of his sign-up, so he went AWOL his last year to run a Republican campaign in Alabama.

He was never punished, as a regular soldier would have been, and even got an “honorable” discharge.

Karl Rove knows that you can’t lose by underestimating the intelligence of the American voter, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing these pictures soon in campaign ads.

Bush was “unelected” in 2000. Shame on him.

If he’s “unelected” again in 2004, shame on us for having an economic, political and class double standard.

All is forgiven if you went to Yale and then pretended that you were in the military — if your father is a rich Republican and former president of the United States.

Beware being a smart boy from Tennessee who went to Vietnam or a Rhodes Scholar (a true intellectual achievement) from Arkansas. Oh, and also a Democrat.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Thanks ....

I appreciate the (more detailed) info.

As a frequent weekend duty officer at the Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, I regularly "monitored/signed in/out" the weekend Reserve EDO officers who were working that weekend on base...but I NEVER would have bugged my CO about what each officer was doing each hour, or even where they were working.

He wasn't interested in their job(s), they weren't interested in his job, and he had specific things and jobs he wanted me to specifically track. Reserve officer extra-duty work wasn't one of them, once we had verified they were on official orders and had the proper security access to their work areas.

What they were doing was between their CO and their XO, not my CO and my XO or my Dept. Head.

Anybody who is going to pretend that a USAF Base CO would remember what a single reserve officer was doing at his base during the Vietnam war is simply stupid.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Love most certianly creats the deepest and sometimes the stupidest delusions known to man.

The Democrats don't have the passionate love excuse. They're just terrified. Ha Ha Ha!

And, you're right, I'm always sooo perceptive. Thank you, thank you very much. ;-)

[El Gato]

I believe there is documentation online that proves Bush was AWOL. His unit may never have seen combat, but he was called up.

They do no such thing. It's not unusual for reservists/guardmen to change their active duty (For training!) dates after orders are submitted. They do have to be changed, but just because the site doesn't show the new orders, doesn't mean that there weren't any. In fact there have to have been, because the points record that the site does show indicates that Bush served several periods of active duty training around that time. In fact it shows he only missed the first 3 day period, 22-24 May, he has points for the other two 3 day periods indicated on the orders. The points accounting docment shows more active duty on July 2,3, and 5, an obvious make up for the 22-24 May dates, plus 9-12, 23-27 and 30 July active duty time. Additionally it shows Inactive duty training ('drill') for 23-24 June, 16-19 and 21-22 July, or 10 days worth (20 drills/points) You can't get the active duty point credit unless you submit both a copy of the orders putting you on active duty and signed documentation showing that you were present for that duty. The inactive duty training is handled by a single form, (Fm. 40, IIRC) with one place for advance approval, and a second attesting that the member was present for training. Now it's not unheard of for those "advance" approvals to be done at the same time as the other part, but they still have to be done by the appropriate unit personell. Units can handle their standard "drill weekends" by a single roster type document, which serves the same function as the individual member form. (All this is from memory and my memory of my ANG time is getting a little foggy, but the ANG and AF Reserve have pretty much the same procedures, because the requirements are federal and the accounting done by the Air Reserve Pesonnel Center. These days they may use the internet, probably do, as I'm always coming accross various reserve uint sites that have links to forms, such as orders requests, that I can't get to)

[walrus954]

I don't even pay attention when I read this stuff. I know in my heart that what I beleive is right and that my President is right. To hell with everyone else.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Thanks for the PING, Nutmeg..

It was actually very generous of Mr. Macri to give us a piece of his mind, since it is obvious he can ill afford it.

[KingofQue]

I believe Rhodes was a conservative

[Valin]

but with a rich boy’s “in” to the National Guard?

I wonder if these were the same rich boys from the Nevada guard that humped the line with me at Osan in 68-69?

[Valin]

I kind of actually enjoy what seems to be happening to the opposition.

You and me both! I work with a couple of young lefties, after the election last year I gave them fair warning that I was planning on being incredibly insufferable for the next couple of days so they had best be prepared for a constant barrage of I told you so's.

You should read what's happening here in Mn. WHAT FUN!!

[Egregious Philbin]

Anybody who is going to pretend that a USAF Base CO would remember what a single reserve officer was doing at his base during the Vietnam war is simply stupid.

Even if the single reserve officer was the son of George H. Bush?

[PARodrig]

since he went AWOL from the Texas National Guard more than 30 years ago.

---

I keep hearing this. Is there actual documentation that he was absent without leave? Is this just spin, or the actual truth. I don't know how to debate Libs about this. Can anyone help?

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Don’t those cheering sailors — who truly are brave and did serve their country — know that Dubya conveniently sat out the Vietnam War, not as a protester or Rhodes Scholar, but with a rich boy’s “in” to the National Guard?

---

As if sitting out the war as a protestor were somehow something to be admired. Rhodes Scholar? Yes, Clinton was really patriotic, protesting against the US in the Soviet Union. By the way, he never completed his Rhodes Scholarship.

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And he couldn’t even hack that for the length of his sign-up, so he went AWOL his last year to run a Republican campaign in Alabama.

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Again, does anyone have documentation on this?

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Karl Rove knows that you can’t lose by underestimating the intelligence of the American voter...

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Yes, Bill Clinton did it every day in office.

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Beware being a smart boy from Tennessee who went to Vietnam or a Rhodes Scholar (a true intellectual achievement) from Arkansas. Oh, and also a Democrat.

---

Smart boy from Tennessee? That's why Gore failed out of Law and Divinity Schools and did no better than Bush at Yale. Such crap. Rhodes Scholar? Only an achievement if he actually completed it. Besides, how does academic achievement help the country's was effort in Vietnam.

Whoever wrote this is a boob!

[Egregious Philbin]

Thanks for the long, thoughtful posts, particularly the insight from your own National Guard experience. Comparing all these stories and documents gives me a headache.

For others, the documents in questions are here, a better organized and far less over-the-top site than the one I linked earlier, awolbush.com. The documents are compiled here.

The "penalty for bad attendance" document is clearly some part of Bush's initial enlistment before he attended basic training and before he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt, not some record of punishment or even "warning" other than one given to all ANG (and reserve) enlistees.

You definitely called that one, it is misrepresented on the site, though the guy refers to it in a later article as part of a “signed statement.”

It's not unusual for reservists/guardsmen to change their active duty (For training!) dates after orders are submitted. They do have to be changed, but just because the site doesn't show the new orders, doesn't mean that there weren't any. In fact there have to have been, because the points record that the site does show indicates that Bush served several periods of active duty training around that time. In fact it shows he only missed the first 3 day period, 22-24 May, he has points for the other two 3 day periods indicated on the orders.

Here you lose me. These dates are all after April 1973, which comes after the period where Bush is nowhere to be found – May 1972 until then. The last article written by the guy who requested the info is here. It makes the most sense to me, up until the point where he claims that “nothing indicates in the records that he ever made up the time he missed.” You appear to have successfully refuted that claim. The final claim is that the ARPC in Denver did Bush a favor and “tacked an extra six months on to Bush's commitment” – on paper, that is.

If Bush didn’t desert or go AWOL, doesn’t this documentation still demonstrate special treatment? Supposedly Bush’s unit’s “ranks included John Conally's son, Lloyd Bentson's son, John Tower's son, SEVEN Dallas Cowboys, and two sons of the businessman who got G W Bush into the Guard ahead of hundreds of others on a waiting list.”

[bogeybob]

It is often 'who you know' rather than 'what you know' in these United States. This has been the case for many years. Clinton was a classic case of 'who you know'.

[Egregious Philbin]

It is often 'who you know' rather than 'what you know' in these United States. This has been the case for many years. Clinton was a classic case of 'who you know'.

So much for "character counts" then.

[HighWheeler]

"All is forgiven if you went to Yale and then pretended that you were in the military."

You forgot that he got an MBA at Havard Business School, too, not just selected for Rhodes and then dropping out.

[Robert A Cook PE]

IN 1968-1973 (during the Vietnam War when this happened), G. Bush (senior) wasn't important enough at the national level for anybody (in the USAF command level) to take notice of a junior reservist (who happens to be his son) who shows up for a couple of weekends at an out-of-state airbase during a war.

[longtermmemmory]

remeber the commercials with ex-guard members who are insulted by this constant bash the guard stupidity. I would rather vote for the guy who started a few parties at yale than the guy who could not fill daddy's shoes in a political party.

[Egregious Philbin]

IN 1968-1973 (during the Vietnam War when this happened), G. Bush (senior) wasn't important enough at the national level for anybody (in the USAF command level) to take notice of a junior reservist (who happens to be his son) who shows up for a couple of weekends at an out-of-state airbase during a war.

With no documentation of Bush "show[ing] up for a couple of weekends at an out-of-state airbase during a war," I would not assume that it happened. You may be right about George H. Bush's profile at the time - he was only a Rep. for many of those years - though he was a war hero, Ambassador to the U.N. from 1971-1973, and chairman of the RNC in 1973-1974. Perhaps one would take notice of a politician's son who was given the fast track to the National Guard? I went to a college of 1,200 and, though I did not know them personally, could point out the handful of sons/daughters of famous people on campus.

[Robert A Cook PE]

I'm still not getting through the key fact yet: this period (when W was working in Alabama) was BEFORE Bush (senior) WAS IN ANY of those positions: Look at your date line:

Bush (senior) WASN'T in the UN (yet), he wasn't CIA director (yet), he wasn't RNC chairman (yet), and he certainly wasn't really anything of a "war hero" at all: just another TX congressman who had flown prop torpedo planes in WWII.

Why the H**L would anybody remember who W was when he showed up for temporary NG duty in AL?

That's IT!!!!!

YOU were in college (for four or more years, continuous interacting on campus with other students (of your age group), and by your own admission, could "only" point out (and not name them individually) some the sons and daughters of "famous people" who were on campus full time.

You were NOT running the college, you were NOT in charge of the student records, and you DIDN'T issue paychecks or ID cards to every student, and you did NOT hire (nor issue fitness reports) for everybody who comes on campus for two weekends during a football game to work a temporay job in the campus police office. Do you honestly think your fictional college president could name every "famous" son or daughter who came through visiting on weekends?

A temporary job in the campus police office for two football weekends by a temp duty police officer from out-of-state working thirty years before.

NOW, could YOU remember that temp duty officer's name if YOU were college president?

That's what you're expecting this base CO to do.

[Egregious Philbin]

Bush (senior) WASN'T in the UN (yet), he wasn't CIA director (yet), he wasn't RNC chairman (yet), and he certainly wasn't really anything of a "war hero" at all: just another TX congressman who had flown prop torpedo planes in WWII.

The year in question is 1972, so Bush Sr. was the U.N. Ambassador. This doesn't wreck your argument, as many people cannot name the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.. As for Bush Sr. as "war hero" - he was the youngest Navy pilot to receive his wings in WWII, and received the Flying Cross.

YOU were in college (for four or more years, continuous interacting on campus with other students (of your age group), and by your own admission, could "only" point out (and not name them individually) some the sons and daughters of "famous people" who were on campus full time.

Well, I knew their names too, but no matter. The real problem with your argument is that you assume Bush did the time in AL, without the documentation to back your argument up, and rely solely on the statement of Bush's ex-girlfriend, whereas the CO's comments make sense to me:

''Had he reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not,'' Turnipseed said. ''I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered.''

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you so much for sharing your insight! Kudos!