Okay, I backslid. Happy? I’m sure some of you are gloating right now, but you could at least keep reading to find out how I slipped.
I cannot stop beating my head up against brick walls. I am powerless over the rant.
Kevin Drum of Calpundit made me relapse. Here, he posts a copy of George W. Bush’s Air National Guard point earnings (attendance records) from October 1972 to July 1973. (This page shows only October to May):
Drum: “My guess is the latter: they don't show much of anything related to the National Guard. Rather, they are records of something that counted as drills in the Air Reserve, although it's not clear what.” [Bold mine]BZZZTTT!!!! Your guess is wrong, Kevin. What else would this record be related to besides Guard Service? A point run-down of a game of tiddly-winks? The points listed are for attendance: drill (or Unit Training Assembly as we Air Force Reservists call it; that required single weekend per month) or active duty. In other words, you have to actually be there for something other than a goose egg to be listed under “points.”
Also, the only thing that counts as drill is….wait for it…..drill. However, as mention above, points are also accumulated for the two-week active duty period (fourteen days) that each Guard member/Reservist is required to serve each year. By the way, those fourteen days need not be served consecutively. You figure it out.
Drum: “But whatever they show, both records show the same thing. Even if we're not sure exactly what that is… [Bold mine]
Have truer words ever been typed on a keyboard? At least he admits it.
…..the mainstream media needs to at least understand what evidence is currently available and what its possible interpretations are.” [Bold mine]Why am I not surprised to find out that the “mainstream media” cannot manage to dig up one of their number who is/was a Guardsman/Reservist? (I can help them: FoxNews reporter Greg Kelly is a Marine Reservist. Wonder if he’s been asked about this matter? Heh.)
Interpretation? What is there to interpret? The document shown isn’t some obscure scroll written in a long dead language, found during an archeological dig at the foot of the Himilayas. It’s an objective document showing the amount of attendance points that President Bush earned during the last part of his ANG stint--the part that a certain segment of the population just can’t get out of their minds.
Drum: “POSTSCRIPT: By the way, the actual point of Romano's story is that the Defense Department is requesting Bush's payroll records from "a DOD archive in Colorado." Why is DOD doing this? And why just payroll records? Very peculiar.”It’s only seems peculiar if one doesn’t know how things work in the military, as, apparently, you do not, Kevin. Such records are the minimal needed to disprove the assertions that George W. Bush was “AWOL” from or “deserted” from the Air National Guard. Hopefully, after that, people like you will STOP TRYING TO PEDDLE SIMILAR CROCKS OF SHIT TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.
There's always hope.
UPDATE: Since a lot of people have sent me the link to this letter—including one fine gentleman named GB who, in spite of the initials, is not fond of George W. Bush, but who is quite fair-minded—I wanted to mention that I had read it and heard it read aloud by Hugh Hewitt (while I yelled, “you go, Colonel!”). It’s great and awesome, but, for those in the tertiary stage of BDS, it won’t make a difference.

