Dog Fight For the Presidency

[WalterM140]

Only in an election year ruled by fiction could a sissy who used
Daddy's connections to escape Vietnam turn an actual war hero into a
girlie-man.

As we leave the scripted conventions behind us, that is the
uber-scenario that has locked into place, brilliantly engineered by
the president of the United States, with more than a little unwitting
assistance from his opponent. It's a marvel, really. Even a $10,000
reward offered this year by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau couldn't
smoke out a credible eyewitness to support George W. Bush's contention
that he showed up to defend Alabama against the Viet Cong in 1972. Yet
John Kerry, who without doubt shed his own blood and others' in the
vicinity of the Mekong, not the Mississippi, is now the deserter and
the wimp.

Don't believe anyone who says that this will soon fade, and that the
election will henceforth turn on health-care policy or other wonkish
debate. In a time of fear, the only battle that matters is the
broad-stroked cultural mano a mano over who's most macho. And so both
parties built their weeklong infotainments on militarism and
masculinity, from Kerry's toy-soldier "reporting for duty" salute in
Boston to the special Madison Square Garden runway for Bush's
acceptance speech. Though pundits said that Republicans pushed
moderates center stage this week to placate suburban swing voters, the
real point was less to soften the president's Draconian image on
abortion than to harden his manly bona fides. Hence Bush was fronted
by a testosterone-heavy lineup led by a former mayor who did not dally
to read a children's book on 9/11, a senator who served in the Hanoi
Hilton rather than the "champagne unit" of the Texas Air National
Guard and a governor who can play the role of a warrior on screen more
convincingly than can a former Andover cheerleader gallivanting on an
aircraft carrier.

Not that Bush is ignorant of the ways of Hollywood. Unlike Kerry,
whose show business pals he constantly derides, the president actually
worked in the film business. In the 1980s he lined his pockets as a
board member of Silver Screen, which financed Disney movies. Maybe he
even picked up a few tricks of the trade along the way.

The early drafts of the script pre-date 9/11. In "A Charge to Keep,"
his 1999 campaign biography crafted by Karen Hughes, Bush implies that
he just happened to slide on his own into one of the "several
openings" for pilots in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 and that
he continued to fly with his unit for "several years" after his
initial service. This is fantasy that went largely unchallenged until
9/11 subjected it to greater scrutiny. Since then, the mysterious gaps
in the president's military résumé have been finessed by the dialogue
and wardrobe departments, from the invocation of "Wanted: Dead or
Alive" (whatever did happen to that varmint, Osama, anyway?) to the
"Mission Accomplished" rollout. Of late, Bush's imagineers have
publicized his proud possession of Saddam Hussein's captured pistol.

But with the high stakes of an election at hand, it's not enough to
stuff socks in the president's flight suit. Kerry must be turned into
a girl. Such castration warfare has long been a Republican staple.
We've had Bill Clinton vilified as the stooge of a harridan wife and
Al Gore as the puppet of the makeover artist Naomi Wolf. But given his
actual history on the field of battle, this year's Democratic standard
bearer would, seemingly, be immune to such attacks, especially from
the camp of a candidate whose most daring feat of physical courage was
tearing down the Princeton goalposts.

No matter. Once Kerry usurped Howard Dean, whose wartime sojourn in
Aspen made the president look like a Green Beret, the Bush campaign's
principals and surrogates went into overdrive. His alleged encounters
with Botox and a Christophe hairdresser were dutifully clocked on
Drudge. Eventually John Edwards would become "the Breck girl," and
Dick Cheney would yank an adjective out of context to suggest that
Kerry wanted to fight a "sensitive" war on terror.

But there was still this Vietnam problem. One guy went there, one may
have gone AWOL. Enter Karen Hughes. Having helped fictionalize Bush's
wartime years, she now resurfaced to undermine Kerry's, using her
April book tour (for her memoir "Ten Minutes From Normal") to
introduce the rhetorical insinuations of mendacity that would surface
in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault four months later.

The rest is the rewriting of history. Democrats are shocked that the
Republicans have gotten away with it to the extent they have. After
all, John O'Neill, the ringleader of the Swifties, didn't serve "with"
Kerry anywhere except on "The Dick Cavett Show." Other members of this
truth squad include a doctor who claims to have treated Kerry's wounds
even though his name isn't on a single relevant document. How could
such obvious clowns fool so many?
..By turning spurious, unchecked smears into a mediathon, Fox has given
priceless nonstop hype to commercials that otherwise would have been
seen only in seven small to medium markets, where the total buy of
airtime amounted to a scant $500,000. Though the major newspapers, did
vet and challenge the Swifties' claims, aggressive reporting on
television was rare.

But Kerry, having joined the macho game with Bush on the president's
own cheesy terms, is hardly innocent in his own diminishment. From the
get-go he has tried to match his opponent in stupid male tricks. If
Bush clears brush in Crawford, then Kerry rides a Harley-Davidson onto
the set of the late-night talk show host Jay Leno. In the new issue of
GQ, you can witness him having a beer (alcoholic) with a reporter as
he confesses to a modicum of lust for Charlize Theron and Catherine
Zeta-Jones.

The flaw in Kerry is not, as Washington wisdom has it, that he asked
for trouble from the Swifties by bringing up Vietnam in the first
place. Both his Vietnam service and Vietnam itself are entirely
relevant to a campaign set against an unpopular and ineptly executed
war in Iraq that was spawned by the executive branch in similarly
cloudy circumstances. But having brought Vietnam up against the
backdrop of our 2004 war, Kerry has nothing to say about it except
that his service proves he's more manly than Bush. Well, nearly anyone
is more manly than a president who didn't have the guts to visit with
the 9/11 commission unaccompanied by a chaperone.

It's Kerry's behavior now, not what he did 35 years ago, that has
prevented his manliness from trumping the president's. Posing against
a macho landscape like the Grand Canyon, he says that he would have
given Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq even if he knew then
what we know now. His attempt to do nuance, as Bush would put it,
makes him sound as if he buys the message the Republicans hammered in
last week: the road from 9/11 led inevitably into Iraq.

The truth is that Kerry was a man's man not just when he volunteered
to fight in a losing war but when he came home and forthrightly fought
against it, on grounds that history has upheld. Unless he's man enough
to stand up for that past, he's doomed to keep competing with Bush to
see who can best play an action figure on television. Kerry doesn't
seem to understand that it takes a certain kind of talent to play
dress-up and deliver lines like "Bring it on." In that race, it's not
necessarily the best man but the best actor who will win.

-- Frank Rich, NYT

[ArtKramr]

>ubject: Dog Fight For the Presidency
>From: (WalterM140)
>Date: 9/3/2004 9:27 AM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>Only in an election year ruled by fiction could a sissy who used
>Daddy's connections to escape Vietnam turn an actual war hero into a
>girlie-man.
>
>As we leave the scripted conventions behind us, that is the
>uber-scenario that has locked into place, brilliantly engineered by
>the president of the United States, with more than a little unwitting
>assistance from his opponent. It's a marvel, really. Even a $10,000
>reward offered this year by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau couldn't
>smoke out a credible eyewitness to support George W. Bush's contention
>that he showed up to defend Alabama against the Viet Cong in 1972. Yet
>John Kerry, who without doubt shed his own blood and others' in the
>vicinity of the Mekong, not the Mississippi, is now the deserter and
>the wimp.
>
>Don't believe anyone who says that this will soon fade, and that the
>election will henceforth turn on health-care policy or other wonkish
>debate. In a time of fear, the only battle that matters is the
>broad-stroked cultural mano a mano over who's most macho. And so both
>parties built their weeklong infotainments on militarism and
>masculinity, from Kerry's toy-soldier "reporting for duty" salute in
>Boston to the special Madison Square Garden runway for Bush's
>acceptance speech. Though pundits said that Republicans pushed
>moderates center stage this week to placate suburban swing voters, the
>real point was less to soften the president's Draconian image on
>abortion than to harden his manly bona fides. Hence Bush was fronted
>by a testosterone-heavy lineup led by a former mayor who did not dally
>to read a children's book on 9/11, a senator who served in the Hanoi
>Hilton rather than the "champagne unit" of the Texas Air National
>Guard and a governor who can play the role of a warrior on screen more
>convincingly than can a former Andover cheerleader gallivanting on an
>aircraft carrier.
>
>Not that Bush is ignorant of the ways of Hollywood. Unlike Kerry,
>whose show business pals he constantly derides, the president actually
>worked in the film business. In the 1980s he lined his pockets as a
>board member of Silver Screen, which financed Disney movies. Maybe he
>even picked up a few tricks of the trade along the way.
>
>The early drafts of the script pre-date 9/11. In "A Charge to Keep,"
>his 1999 campaign biography crafted by Karen Hughes, Bush implies that
>he just happened to slide on his own into one of the "several
>openings" for pilots in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 and that
>he continued to fly with his unit for "several years" after his
>initial service. This is fantasy that went largely unchallenged until
>9/11 subjected it to greater scrutiny. Since then, the mysterious gaps
>in the president's military résumé have been finessed by the dialogue
>and wardrobe departments, from the invocation of "Wanted: Dead or
>Alive" (whatever did happen to that varmint, Osama, anyway?) to the
>"Mission Accomplished" rollout. Of late, Bush's imagineers have
>publicized his proud possession of Saddam Hussein's captured pistol.
>
>But with the high stakes of an election at hand, it's not enough to
>stuff socks in the president's flight suit. Kerry must be turned into
>a girl. Such castration warfare has long been a Republican staple.
>We've had Bill Clinton vilified as the stooge of a harridan wife and
>Al Gore as the puppet of the makeover artist Naomi Wolf. But given his
>actual history on the field of battle, this year's Democratic standard
>bearer would, seemingly, be immune to such attacks, especially from
>the camp of a candidate whose most daring feat of physical courage was
>tearing down the Princeton goalposts.
>
>No matter. Once Kerry usurped Howard Dean, whose wartime sojourn in
>Aspen made the president look like a Green Beret, the Bush campaign's
>principals and surrogates went into overdrive. His alleged encounters
>with Botox and a Christophe hairdresser were dutifully clocked on
>Drudge. Eventually John Edwards would become "the Breck girl," and
>Dick Cheney would yank an adjective out of context to suggest that
>Kerry wanted to fight a "sensitive" war on terror.
>
>But there was still this Vietnam problem. One guy went there, one may
>have gone AWOL. Enter Karen Hughes. Having helped fictionalize Bush's
>wartime years, she now resurfaced to undermine Kerry's, using her
>April book tour (for her memoir "Ten Minutes From Normal") to
>introduce the rhetorical insinuations of mendacity that would surface
>in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault four months later.
>
>The rest is the rewriting of history. Democrats are shocked that the
>Republicans have gotten away with it to the extent they have. After
>all, John O'Neill, the ringleader of the Swifties, didn't serve "with"
>Kerry anywhere except on "The Dick Cavett Show." Other members of this
>truth squad include a doctor who claims to have treated Kerry's wounds
>even though his name isn't on a single relevant document. How could
>such obvious clowns fool so many?
>.By turning spurious, unchecked smears into a mediathon, Fox has given
>priceless nonstop hype to commercials that otherwise would have been
>seen only in seven small to medium markets, where the total buy of
>airtime amounted to a scant $500,000. Though the major newspapers, did
>vet and challenge the Swifties' claims, aggressive reporting on
>television was rare.
>
>But Kerry, having joined the macho game with Bush on the president's
>own cheesy terms, is hardly innocent in his own diminishment. From the
>get-go he has tried to match his opponent in stupid male tricks. If
>Bush clears brush in Crawford, then Kerry rides a Harley-Davidson onto
>the set of the late-night talk show host Jay Leno. In the new issue of
>GQ, you can witness him having a beer (alcoholic) with a reporter as
>he confesses to a modicum of lust for Charlize Theron and Catherine
>Zeta-Jones.
>
>The flaw in Kerry is not, as Washington wisdom has it, that he asked
>for trouble from the Swifties by bringing up Vietnam in the first
>place. Both his Vietnam service and Vietnam itself are entirely
>relevant to a campaign set against an unpopular and ineptly executed
>war in Iraq that was spawned by the executive branch in similarly
>cloudy circumstances. But having brought Vietnam up against the
>backdrop of our 2004 war, Kerry has nothing to say about it except
>that his service proves he's more manly than Bush. Well, nearly anyone
>is more manly than a president who didn't have the guts to visit with
>the 9/11 commission unaccompanied by a chaperone.
>
>It's Kerry's behavior now, not what he did 35 years ago, that has
>prevented his manliness from trumping the president's. Posing against
>a macho landscape like the Grand Canyon, he says that he would have
>given Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq even if he knew then
>what we know now. His attempt to do nuance, as Bush would put it,
>makes him sound as if he buys the message the Republicans hammered in
>last week: the road from 9/11 led inevitably into Iraq.
>
>The truth is that Kerry was a man's man not just when he volunteered
>to fight in a losing war but when he came home and forthrightly fought
>against it, on grounds that history has upheld. Unless he's man enough
>to stand up for that past, he's doomed to keep competing with Bush to
>see who can best play an action figure on television. Kerry doesn't
>seem to understand that it takes a certain kind of talent to play
>dress-up and deliver lines like "Bring it on." In that race, it's not
>necessarily the best man but the best actor who will win.
>
>-- Frank Rich, NYT
>


Cry the beloved country.

Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[Jarg]

I see walter gets to be on top today.

Jarg

[ArtKramr]

>Subject: Re:Desperate whining lefties
>From: "Jarg"
>Date: 9/3/2004 10:50 AM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>I see walter gets to be on top today.
>
>Jarg


Walter is on top every day.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[B2431]

>From: (ArtKramr)
>Date: 9/3/2004 12:53 PM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: >
>
>>Subject: Re:Desperate whining lefties
>>From: "Jarg"
>>Date: 9/3/2004 10:50 AM Pacific Standard Time
>>Message-id: >
>>
>>I see walter gets to be on top today.
>>
>>Jarg
>
>
>Walter is on top every day.
>
>
>Arthur Kramer

Now THAT made me crack up :) Poor art doesn't get it.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

[WalterM140]

>I see walter gets to be on top today.
>
>

While you get it doggie-style from Bush and his criminal cronies -- and don't
even know it.

Walt

[WalterM140]

>>I see walter gets to be on top today.
>>
>>Jarg
>
>
>Walter is on top every day.

No, Art. They'll all roll their eyes, but you are the man. Hell, anybody
that even gets in one of those flying prostitutes has a leg up on about any
body. :)

Walt

[Ragnar]

"WalterM140" > wrote in message
om...
> It's a marvel, really. Even a $10,000
> reward offered this year by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau couldn't
> smoke out a credible eyewitness to support George W. Bush's contention
> that he showed up to defend Alabama against the Viet Cong in 1972.

Which leads to the rather unstartling conclusion that no such witness
exists, and that Bush was present. Rather bad for your Bush-bashing.

[Ragnar]

"ArtKramr" > wrote in message
...
> >Subject: Re:Desperate whining lefties
> >From: "Jarg"
> >Date: 9/3/2004 10:50 AM Pacific Standard Time
> >Message-id: >
> >
> >I see walter gets to be on top today.
> >
> >Jarg
>
>
> Walter is on top every day.

Must . . . not . . . make . . . obvious . . . reply . . .

[ArtKramr]

>Subject: Re:Desperate whining neocons
>From: (WalterM140)
>Date: 9/3/2004 1:00 PM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>>>I see walter gets to be on top today.
>>>
>>>Jarg
>>
>>
>>Walter is on top every day.
>
>No, Art. They'll all roll their eyes, but you are the man. Hell, anybody
>that even gets in one of those flying prostitutes has a leg up on about any
>body. :)
>
>Walt
>

Getting in is easy. It's getting out that is tough. (grin)


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[ian maclure]

On Fri, 03 Sep 2004 09:27:10 -0700, WalterM140 wrote:

[nothing relevant]

If its a dog fight I guess those swine Trotskerry and
Bobbin John will have to drop out.

IBM

__________________________________________________ _____________________________
Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
<><><><><><><> The Worlds Uncensored News Source <><><><><><><><>

[BUFDRVR]

>Getting in is easy. It's getting out that is tough. (grin)
>

Damn...this is the best thread Walts ever started ;)


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"

[Kevin Brooks]

"BUFDRVR" > wrote in message
...
> >Getting in is easy. It's getting out that is tough. (grin)
> >
>
> Damn...this is the best thread Walts ever started ;)

Is this the one where Art also said Walt was always on top? Geeze, he does
keep piling it on, completely oblivious, no doubt...

Brooks
>
>
> BUFDRVR
>
> "Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it
harelips
> everyone on Bear Creek"

[Jarg]

"WalterM140" > wrote in message
...
> >I see walter gets to be on top today.
> >
> >
>
> While you get it doggie-style from Bush and his criminal cronies -- and
don't
> even know it.
>
> Walt

I'll have to defer to you and Art on this one Walter since you two are the
experts on such things. And good luck getting it out!!!!

Jarg

[[email protected]]

Just Tell Your Hero to Sign a ""Standard Form 180"" & the truth will
set him free!!

Sgt. Randy - USMC 64 to 68


(WalterM140) wrote in message >...
> Only in an election year ruled by fiction could a sissy who used
> Daddy's connections to escape Vietnam turn an actual war hero into a
> girlie-man.
>
> As we leave the scripted conventions behind us, that is the
> uber-scenario that has locked into place, brilliantly engineered by
> the president of the United States, with more than a little unwitting
> assistance from his opponent. It's a marvel, really. Even a $10,000
> reward offered this year by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau couldn't
> smoke out a credible eyewitness to support George W. Bush's contention
> that he showed up to defend Alabama against the Viet Cong in 1972. Yet
> John Kerry, who without doubt shed his own blood and others' in the
> vicinity of the Mekong, not the Mississippi, is now the deserter and
> the wimp.
>
> Don't believe anyone who says that this will soon fade, and that the
> election will henceforth turn on health-care policy or other wonkish
> debate. In a time of fear, the only battle that matters is the
> broad-stroked cultural mano a mano over who's most macho. And so both
> parties built their weeklong infotainments on militarism and
> masculinity, from Kerry's toy-soldier "reporting for duty" salute in
> Boston to the special Madison Square Garden runway for Bush's
> acceptance speech. Though pundits said that Republicans pushed
> moderates center stage this week to placate suburban swing voters, the
> real point was less to soften the president's Draconian image on
> abortion than to harden his manly bona fides. Hence Bush was fronted
> by a testosterone-heavy lineup led by a former mayor who did not dally
> to read a children's book on 9/11, a senator who served in the Hanoi
> Hilton rather than the "champagne unit" of the Texas Air National
> Guard and a governor who can play the role of a warrior on screen more
> convincingly than can a former Andover cheerleader gallivanting on an
> aircraft carrier.
>
> Not that Bush is ignorant of the ways of Hollywood. Unlike Kerry,
> whose show business pals he constantly derides, the president actually
> worked in the film business. In the 1980s he lined his pockets as a
> board member of Silver Screen, which financed Disney movies. Maybe he
> even picked up a few tricks of the trade along the way.
>
> The early drafts of the script pre-date 9/11. In "A Charge to Keep,"
> his 1999 campaign biography crafted by Karen Hughes, Bush implies that
> he just happened to slide on his own into one of the "several
> openings" for pilots in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 and that
> he continued to fly with his unit for "several years" after his
> initial service. This is fantasy that went largely unchallenged until
> 9/11 subjected it to greater scrutiny. Since then, the mysterious gaps
> in the president's military résumé have been finessed by the dialogue
> and wardrobe departments, from the invocation of "Wanted: Dead or
> Alive" (whatever did happen to that varmint, Osama, anyway?) to the
> "Mission Accomplished" rollout. Of late, Bush's imagineers have
> publicized his proud possession of Saddam Hussein's captured pistol.
>
> But with the high stakes of an election at hand, it's not enough to
> stuff socks in the president's flight suit. Kerry must be turned into
> a girl. Such castration warfare has long been a Republican staple.
> We've had Bill Clinton vilified as the stooge of a harridan wife and
> Al Gore as the puppet of the makeover artist Naomi Wolf. But given his
> actual history on the field of battle, this year's Democratic standard
> bearer would, seemingly, be immune to such attacks, especially from
> the camp of a candidate whose most daring feat of physical courage was
> tearing down the Princeton goalposts.
>
> No matter. Once Kerry usurped Howard Dean, whose wartime sojourn in
> Aspen made the president look like a Green Beret, the Bush campaign's
> principals and surrogates went into overdrive. His alleged encounters
> with Botox and a Christophe hairdresser were dutifully clocked on
> Drudge. Eventually John Edwards would become "the Breck girl," and
> Dick Cheney would yank an adjective out of context to suggest that
> Kerry wanted to fight a "sensitive" war on terror.
>
> But there was still this Vietnam problem. One guy went there, one may
> have gone AWOL. Enter Karen Hughes. Having helped fictionalize Bush's
> wartime years, she now resurfaced to undermine Kerry's, using her
> April book tour (for her memoir "Ten Minutes From Normal") to
> introduce the rhetorical insinuations of mendacity that would surface
> in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault four months later.
>
> The rest is the rewriting of history. Democrats are shocked that the
> Republicans have gotten away with it to the extent they have. After
> all, John O'Neill, the ringleader of the Swifties, didn't serve "with"
> Kerry anywhere except on "The Dick Cavett Show." Other members of this
> truth squad include a doctor who claims to have treated Kerry's wounds
> even though his name isn't on a single relevant document. How could
> such obvious clowns fool so many?
> .By turning spurious, unchecked smears into a mediathon, Fox has given
> priceless nonstop hype to commercials that otherwise would have been
> seen only in seven small to medium markets, where the total buy of
> airtime amounted to a scant $500,000. Though the major newspapers, did
> vet and challenge the Swifties' claims, aggressive reporting on
> television was rare.
>
> But Kerry, having joined the macho game with Bush on the president's
> own cheesy terms, is hardly innocent in his own diminishment. From the
> get-go he has tried to match his opponent in stupid male tricks. If
> Bush clears brush in Crawford, then Kerry rides a Harley-Davidson onto
> the set of the late-night talk show host Jay Leno. In the new issue of
> GQ, you can witness him having a beer (alcoholic) with a reporter as
> he confesses to a modicum of lust for Charlize Theron and Catherine
> Zeta-Jones.
>
> The flaw in Kerry is not, as Washington wisdom has it, that he asked
> for trouble from the Swifties by bringing up Vietnam in the first
> place. Both his Vietnam service and Vietnam itself are entirely
> relevant to a campaign set against an unpopular and ineptly executed
> war in Iraq that was spawned by the executive branch in similarly
> cloudy circumstances. But having brought Vietnam up against the
> backdrop of our 2004 war, Kerry has nothing to say about it except
> that his service proves he's more manly than Bush. Well, nearly anyone
> is more manly than a president who didn't have the guts to visit with
> the 9/11 commission unaccompanied by a chaperone.
>
> It's Kerry's behavior now, not what he did 35 years ago, that has
> prevented his manliness from trumping the president's. Posing against
> a macho landscape like the Grand Canyon, he says that he would have
> given Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq even if he knew then
> what we know now. His attempt to do nuance, as Bush would put it,
> makes him sound as if he buys the message the Republicans hammered in
> last week: the road from 9/11 led inevitably into Iraq.
>
> The truth is that Kerry was a man's man not just when he volunteered
> to fight in a losing war but when he came home and forthrightly fought
> against it, on grounds that history has upheld. Unless he's man enough
> to stand up for that past, he's doomed to keep competing with Bush to
> see who can best play an action figure on television. Kerry doesn't
> seem to understand that it takes a certain kind of talent to play
> dress-up and deliver lines like "Bring it on." In that race, it's not
> necessarily the best man but the best actor who will win.
>
> -- Frank Rich, NYT

[[email protected]]

Just tell your ""Hero"" to sign ""Standard Form 180"" & the trurh will
set him free. AND then the rest of the world will know the truth
also!!

Sgt. Randy USMC 64 - 68




(ArtKramr) wrote in message >...
> >ubject: Dog Fight For the Presidency
> >From: (WalterM140)
> >Date: 9/3/2004 9:27 AM Pacific Standard Time
> >Message-id: >
> >
> >Only in an election year ruled by fiction could a sissy who used
> >Daddy's connections to escape Vietnam turn an actual war hero into a
> >girlie-man.
> >
> >As we leave the scripted conventions behind us, that is the
> >uber-scenario that has locked into place, brilliantly engineered by
> >the president of the United States, with more than a little unwitting
> >assistance from his opponent. It's a marvel, really. Even a $10,000
> >reward offered this year by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau couldn't
> >smoke out a credible eyewitness to support George W. Bush's contention
> >that he showed up to defend Alabama against the Viet Cong in 1972. Yet
> >John Kerry, who without doubt shed his own blood and others' in the
> >vicinity of the Mekong, not the Mississippi, is now the deserter and
> >the wimp.
> >
> >Don't believe anyone who says that this will soon fade, and that the
> >election will henceforth turn on health-care policy or other wonkish
> >debate. In a time of fear, the only battle that matters is the
> >broad-stroked cultural mano a mano over who's most macho. And so both
> >parties built their weeklong infotainments on militarism and
> >masculinity, from Kerry's toy-soldier "reporting for duty" salute in
> >Boston to the special Madison Square Garden runway for Bush's
> >acceptance speech. Though pundits said that Republicans pushed
> >moderates center stage this week to placate suburban swing voters, the
> >real point was less to soften the president's Draconian image on
> >abortion than to harden his manly bona fides. Hence Bush was fronted
> >by a testosterone-heavy lineup led by a former mayor who did not dally
> >to read a children's book on 9/11, a senator who served in the Hanoi
> >Hilton rather than the "champagne unit" of the Texas Air National
> >Guard and a governor who can play the role of a warrior on screen more
> >convincingly than can a former Andover cheerleader gallivanting on an
> >aircraft carrier.
> >
> >Not that Bush is ignorant of the ways of Hollywood. Unlike Kerry,
> >whose show business pals he constantly derides, the president actually
> >worked in the film business. In the 1980s he lined his pockets as a
> >board member of Silver Screen, which financed Disney movies. Maybe he
> >even picked up a few tricks of the trade along the way.
> >
> >The early drafts of the script pre-date 9/11. In "A Charge to Keep,"
> >his 1999 campaign biography crafted by Karen Hughes, Bush implies that
> >he just happened to slide on his own into one of the "several
> >openings" for pilots in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 and that
> >he continued to fly with his unit for "several years" after his
> >initial service. This is fantasy that went largely unchallenged until
> >9/11 subjected it to greater scrutiny. Since then, the mysterious gaps
> >in the president's military résumé have been finessed by the dialogue
> >and wardrobe departments, from the invocation of "Wanted: Dead or
> >Alive" (whatever did happen to that varmint, Osama, anyway?) to the
> >"Mission Accomplished" rollout. Of late, Bush's imagineers have
> >publicized his proud possession of Saddam Hussein's captured pistol.
> >
> >But with the high stakes of an election at hand, it's not enough to
> >stuff socks in the president's flight suit. Kerry must be turned into
> >a girl. Such castration warfare has long been a Republican staple.
> >We've had Bill Clinton vilified as the stooge of a harridan wife and
> >Al Gore as the puppet of the makeover artist Naomi Wolf. But given his
> >actual history on the field of battle, this year's Democratic standard
> >bearer would, seemingly, be immune to such attacks, especially from
> >the camp of a candidate whose most daring feat of physical courage was
> >tearing down the Princeton goalposts.
> >
> >No matter. Once Kerry usurped Howard Dean, whose wartime sojourn in
> >Aspen made the president look like a Green Beret, the Bush campaign's
> >principals and surrogates went into overdrive. His alleged encounters
> >with Botox and a Christophe hairdresser were dutifully clocked on
> >Drudge. Eventually John Edwards would become "the Breck girl," and
> >Dick Cheney would yank an adjective out of context to suggest that
> >Kerry wanted to fight a "sensitive" war on terror.
> >
> >But there was still this Vietnam problem. One guy went there, one may
> >have gone AWOL. Enter Karen Hughes. Having helped fictionalize Bush's
> >wartime years, she now resurfaced to undermine Kerry's, using her
> >April book tour (for her memoir "Ten Minutes From Normal") to
> >introduce the rhetorical insinuations of mendacity that would surface
> >in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault four months later.
> >
> >The rest is the rewriting of history. Democrats are shocked that the
> >Republicans have gotten away with it to the extent they have. After
> >all, John O'Neill, the ringleader of the Swifties, didn't serve "with"
> >Kerry anywhere except on "The Dick Cavett Show." Other members of this
> >truth squad include a doctor who claims to have treated Kerry's wounds
> >even though his name isn't on a single relevant document. How could
> >such obvious clowns fool so many?
> >.By turning spurious, unchecked smears into a mediathon, Fox has given
> >priceless nonstop hype to commercials that otherwise would have been
> >seen only in seven small to medium markets, where the total buy of
> >airtime amounted to a scant $500,000. Though the major newspapers, did
> >vet and challenge the Swifties' claims, aggressive reporting on
> >television was rare.
> >
> >But Kerry, having joined the macho game with Bush on the president's
> >own cheesy terms, is hardly innocent in his own diminishment. From the
> >get-go he has tried to match his opponent in stupid male tricks. If
> >Bush clears brush in Crawford, then Kerry rides a Harley-Davidson onto
> >the set of the late-night talk show host Jay Leno. In the new issue of
> >GQ, you can witness him having a beer (alcoholic) with a reporter as
> >he confesses to a modicum of lust for Charlize Theron and Catherine
> >Zeta-Jones.
> >
> >The flaw in Kerry is not, as Washington wisdom has it, that he asked
> >for trouble from the Swifties by bringing up Vietnam in the first
> >place. Both his Vietnam service and Vietnam itself are entirely
> >relevant to a campaign set against an unpopular and ineptly executed
> >war in Iraq that was spawned by the executive branch in similarly
> >cloudy circumstances. But having brought Vietnam up against the
> >backdrop of our 2004 war, Kerry has nothing to say about it except
> >that his service proves he's more manly than Bush. Well, nearly anyone
> >is more manly than a president who didn't have the guts to visit with
> >the 9/11 commission unaccompanied by a chaperone.
> >
> >It's Kerry's behavior now, not what he did 35 years ago, that has
> >prevented his manliness from trumping the president's. Posing against
> >a macho landscape like the Grand Canyon, he says that he would have
> >given Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq even if he knew then
> >what we know now. His attempt to do nuance, as Bush would put it,
> >makes him sound as if he buys the message the Republicans hammered in
> >last week: the road from 9/11 led inevitably into Iraq.
> >
> >The truth is that Kerry was a man's man not just when he volunteered
> >to fight in a losing war but when he came home and forthrightly fought
> >against it, on grounds that history has upheld. Unless he's man enough
> >to stand up for that past, he's doomed to keep competing with Bush to
> >see who can best play an action figure on television. Kerry doesn't
> >seem to understand that it takes a certain kind of talent to play
> >dress-up and deliver lines like "Bring it on." In that race, it's not
> >necessarily the best man but the best actor who will win.
> >
> >-- Frank Rich, NYT
> >
>
>
> Cry the beloved country.
>
> Arthur Kramer
> 344th BG 494th BS
> England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
> Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
> http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[[email protected]]

Walt & Art, Have ""Hanoi John"" sign ""Standard Form 180"". I will not
bear false witness!!

Sgt. Randy USMC 64 - 68

"ian maclure" > wrote in message >...
> On Fri, 03 Sep 2004 09:27:10 -0700, WalterM140 wrote:
>
> [nothing relevant]
>
> If its a dog fight I guess those swine Trotskerry and
> Bobbin John will have to drop out.
>
> IBM
>
> __________________________________________________ _____________________________
> Posted Via Uncensored-News.Com - Accounts Starting At $6.95 - http://www.uncensored-news.com
> <><><><><><><> The Worlds Uncensored News Source <><><><><><><><>

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Ragnar" > wrote in message
...
>
> "WalterM140" > wrote in message
> om...
>> It's a marvel, really. Even a $10,000
>> reward offered this year by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau couldn't
>> smoke out a credible eyewitness to support George W. Bush's contention
>> that he showed up to defend Alabama against the Viet Cong in 1972.
>>
>
> Which leads to the rather unstartling conclusion that no such witness
> exists, and that Bush was present. Rather bad for your Bush-bashing.
>

A witness did come forward and Trudeau paid.

[ArtKramr]

>Subject: Re: Re:Desperate whining lefties
>From: "Jarg"
>Date: 9/3/2004 7:20 PM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>"WalterM140" > wrote in message
...
>> >I see walter gets to be on top today.
>> >
>> >
>>
>> While you get it doggie-style from Bush and his criminal cronies -- and
>don't
>> even know it.
>>
>> Walt
>
>I'll have to defer to you and Art on this one Walter since you two are the
>experts on such things. And good luck getting it out!!!!
>
>Jarg
>

Guess you know zero about Martin Marauders.



Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[[email protected]]

Hey, Art & Walt, Still need your ""HERO"" to sign ""Standard Form 180""!!!
""Let the truth shine thru all the smoke & mirrors!!""

Sgt. Randy USMC 64 - 68



(ArtKramr) wrote in message >...
> >Subject: Re:Desperate whining lefties
> >From: "Jarg"
> >Date: 9/3/2004 10:50 AM Pacific Standard Time
> >Message-id: >
> >
> >I see walter gets to be on top today.
> >
> >Jarg
>
>
> Walter is on top every day.
>
>
> Arthur Kramer
> 344th BG 494th BS
> England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
> Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
> http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[[email protected]]

Hey, Walt, Tell him to sign right here = _________________________
Standard Form 180 !!

Sgt. Randy USMC 64 - 68


(WalterM140) wrote in message >...
> >I see walter gets to be on top today.
> >
> >
>
> While you get it doggie-style from Bush and his criminal cronies -- and don't
> even know it.
>
> Walt

[Jarg]

"ArtKramr" > wrote in message
...
> >I'll have to defer to you and Art on this one Walter since you two are
the
> >experts on such things. And good luck getting it out!!!!
> >
> >Jarg
> >
>
> Guess you know zero about Martin Marauders.
>
>
>
> Arthur Kramer

Apparently there are several areas of expertise you and Walter share with
which I am unfamiliar!

Jarg

[ArtKramr]

>Subject: Re: Re:Desperate whining lefties
>From: "Jarg"
>Date: 9/3/2004 8:52 PM Pacific Standard Time
>Message-id: >
>
>
>"ArtKramr" > wrote in message
...
>> >I'll have to defer to you and Art on this one Walter since you two are
>the
>> >experts on such things. And good luck getting it out!!!!
>> >
>> >Jarg
>> >
>>
>> Guess you know zero about Martin Marauders.
>>
>>
>>
>> Arthur Kramer
>
>Apparently there are several areas of expertise you and Walter share with
>which I am unfamiliar!
>
>Jarg
>

A lot more than just several.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

[Kevin Brooks]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
k.net...
>
> "Ragnar" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > "WalterM140" > wrote in message
> > om...
> >> It's a marvel, really. Even a $10,000
> >> reward offered this year by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau couldn't
> >> smoke out a credible eyewitness to support George W. Bush's contention
> >> that he showed up to defend Alabama against the Viet Cong in 1972.
> >>
> >
> > Which leads to the rather unstartling conclusion that no such witness
> > exists, and that Bush was present. Rather bad for your Bush-bashing.
> >
>
> A witness did come forward and Trudeau paid.

No, Steven, he did not pay the reward to any witness, despite at least one
credible one coming forward. "It turns out that no credible witness has come
forward to claim the prize, so this week Trudeau mailed a personal check for
$10,000 to the USO. "We're extremely grateful for his generosity," USO Vice
President John Hansen told me yesterday."
www.pro-war.com/prowardotcom/2004/week12/

Brooks

>
>

[Ragnar]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
k.net...
>
> "Ragnar" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > "WalterM140" > wrote in message
> > om...
> >> It's a marvel, really. Even a $10,000
> >> reward offered this year by the cartoonist Garry Trudeau couldn't
> >> smoke out a credible eyewitness to support George W. Bush's contention
> >> that he showed up to defend Alabama against the Viet Cong in 1972.
> >>
> >
> > Which leads to the rather unstartling conclusion that no such witness
> > exists, and that Bush was present. Rather bad for your Bush-bashing.
> >
>
> A witness did come forward and Trudeau paid. \

Cite?
>
>

[WalterM140]

"Steven P. McNicoll"

> A witness did come forward and Trudeau paid.

If that were true, you could name this person.

Trudeau donated the money to the USO.

Walt

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Kevin Brooks" > wrote in message
...
>>
>> A witness did come forward and Trudeau paid.
>
> No, Steven, he did not pay the reward to any witness, despite at least one
> credible one coming forward. "It turns out that no credible witness has
> come
> forward to claim the prize, so this week Trudeau mailed a personal check
> for
> $10,000 to the USO. "We're extremely grateful for his generosity," USO
> Vice
> President John Hansen told me yesterday."
> www.pro-war.com/prowardotcom/2004/week12/
>

No, Kevin, he didn't pay the reward to any witness. From the start, the
reward was not to be paid to the witness, it was to be paid to the USO.
After the witness came forward Trudeau very quickly, and very quietly, paid
off as promised.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Ragnar" > wrote in message
...
>>
>> A witness did come forward and Trudeau paid.
>>
>
> Cite?
>

"Q: Is there some sort of hitch?

A: Well, yes, but it's a hitch for a good cause. The winner won't actually
receive the reward for himself; instead we'll be donating $10,000 in his
name to the USO. That way everyone's a winner, including GBT's tax
accountant."

http://doonesbury.msn.com/strip/bush_guard.html




CASE CLOSED: Four weeks ago, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau announced in
his cartoon strip the "Bush Guard Service" contest: "We're offering $10,000
cash to any witness who can definitively corroborate Mr. Bush's claim" that
three decades before he became President, he served in the Alabama National
Guard. "So if you served with Mr. Bush - even if only in the officers'
club - we want to hear from you right now! Why? So we can put this trash
story to rest and get back to the real issues." Well, it turns out that no
credible witness has come forward to claim the prize, so this week Trudeau
mailed a personal check for $10,000 to the USO. "We're extremely grateful
for his generosity," USO Vice President John Hansen told me yesterday. But
has Trudeau's check cleared? "Oh, I think he's good for it."

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/175228p-152467c.html

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Kevin Brooks" > wrote in message
...
> > >
> > > No, Steven, he did not pay the reward to any witness, despite at least
> > > one credible one coming forward. "It turns out that no credible
> > > witness has come forward to claim the prize, so this week Trudeau
> > > mailed a
>> > personal check for $10,000 to the USO. "We're extremely grateful for
> > > his generosity," USO Vice President John Hansen told me yesterday."
>> > www.pro-war.com/prowardotcom/2004/week12/
> > >
> >
> >
> > No, Kevin, he didn't pay the reward to any witness. From the start, the
> > reward was not to be paid to the witness, it was to be paid to the USO.
> > After the witness came forward Trudeau very quickly, and very quietly,
> > paid off as promised.
> >
>
> Steven, what is so hard to understand about, "It turns out that no
> credible witness has come forward to claim the prize..."? The money
> was offered up as an individual reward--he only gave it to the USO after
> he claimed no credible witness had come forward. Do a Google on it.
> Even you should be able to handle that difficult task.
>

Yes, Kevin, I can perform a Google search. If you were capable of that
rather simple task you might have learned that the Trudeau prize was NOT
offered up as an individual reward. See the last of the FAQs below:


http://doonesbury.msn.com/strip/bush_guard.html


For the past twelve years, George W. Bush has had to endure charges that he
didn't take the final two years of his Guard service as seriously as duty
required. (For updated timeline, click here.) And the two witnesses who have
come forward in support so far haven't exactly cleared things up. We at the
Town Hall believe that with everything he has on his plate, Mr. Bush
shouldn't have to contend with attacks on the National Guard, which is
serving so bravely in Iraq. And we're willing to back up our support with
cold, hard cash.

Granted, this has been tried before. In 2000, concerned veterans in both
Texas and Alabama offered cash rewards to lure former guardmates of Mr. Bush
into stepping forward, to no avail. The problem, in our view, was that these
enticements weren't serious enough, that the sums offered were insulting. In
contrast, we at the DTH&WP respect how inconvenient it can be to subject
yourself to worldwide media scrutiny in general, and Fox News in particular,
and are thus prepared to sweeten previous offers by a factor of five. That's
right, we're offering $10,000 cash! Yours to either spend or invest in job
creation. All you have to do is definitively prove that George W. Bush
fulfilled his duty to country.

So don't let the smear artists define the president. If you personally
witnessed George W. Bush reporting for drills at Dannelly Air National Guard
Base between the months of May and November of 1972 we want to hear about
it. Help Mr. Bush put this partisan assault on his character behind him, so
he can focus on more serious issues like jobs, the deficit and the coming
civil war in Iraq. Just contact us below with the salient details. If we
think you're a possible winner, we'll get back to you pronto. Good luck to
all contestants!

Contest FAQs

Q: Isn't this just a publicity stunt?
A: If by a publicity stunt, you mean an attempt to draw attention to the
problem of gutter politics, trolling-for-trash, and cheap smear tactics,
then sure, guilty as charged.

Q: What if I saw Bush, but I can't prove it? Can I get some of the money?
A: No, but if your story's entertaining enough, you may qualify for our
consolation prize, an original Doonesbury strip personally signed by a top
studio intern.

Q: Haven't you done something like this before?
A: Yes, only in reverse -- the goal was implication, not exoneration. In
1992, we offered an Austin Powers-like $25.00 to anyone willing to admit she
slept with a presidential candidate. The entry form was multiple-choice with
a few essay questions (e.g. "You're dating a married father of three with
presidential ambitions. You believe that you and he have a future together.
Explain.") There were no takers.

Q: The DTH&WP is a media content web site, which means you're broke. Who's
paying the reward?
A: The reward is being generously underwritten by Doonesbury creator G. B.
Trudeau. The money has been put in escrow and is being administered by
Universal Press Syndicate.


Q: It's really in escrow?
A: No, but we're good for it. Thanks to Bush's massive tax cuts for people
who don't need them, GBT is flush.

Q: Are employees of Universal Press Syndicate, Slate or Microsoft eligible
for the contest?
A: Only if no one else comes forward.

Q: Is there some sort of hitch?
A: Well, yes, but it's a hitch for a good cause. The winner won't actually
receive the reward for himself; instead we'll be donating $10,000 in his
name to the USO. That way everyone's a winner, including GBT's tax
accountant.

[Kevin Brooks]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
k.net...
> "Kevin Brooks" > wrote in message
> ...
> > > >
> > > > No, Steven, he did not pay the reward to any witness, despite at
least
> > > > one credible one coming forward. "It turns out that no credible
> > > > witness has come forward to claim the prize, so this week Trudeau
> > > > mailed a
> >> > personal check for $10,000 to the USO. "We're extremely grateful for
> > > > his generosity," USO Vice President John Hansen told me yesterday."
> >> > www.pro-war.com/prowardotcom/2004/week12/
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > No, Kevin, he didn't pay the reward to any witness. From the start,
the
> > > reward was not to be paid to the witness, it was to be paid to the
USO.
> > > After the witness came forward Trudeau very quickly, and very quietly,
> > > paid off as promised.
> > >
> >
> > Steven, what is so hard to understand about, "It turns out that no
> > credible witness has come forward to claim the prize..."? The money
> > was offered up as an individual reward--he only gave it to the USO after
> > he claimed no credible witness had come forward. Do a Google on it.
> > Even you should be able to handle that difficult task.
> >
>
> Yes, Kevin, I can perform a Google search. If you were capable of that
> rather simple task you might have learned that the Trudeau prize was NOT
> offered up as an individual reward. See the last of the FAQs below:

Note the following direct quotes from your own cite: "And the two witnesses
who have
come forward in support so far haven't exactly cleared things up" and
"That's
right, we're offering $10,000 cash! Yours to either spend or invest in job
creation." Now tell us again how he recognized one of the witnesses as being
credible? Can you point out which witness was allegedly found to be credible
by Mr. Trudeau and Co.? As to where the money was destined, it seems the ad
posits two differing claims--the one above, and the one about it going to
the USO.

Brooks

>
>
> http://doonesbury.msn.com/strip/bush_guard.html
>
>
> For the past twelve years, George W. Bush has had to endure charges that
he
> didn't take the final two years of his Guard service as seriously as duty
> required. (For updated timeline, click here.) And the two witnesses who
have
> come forward in support so far haven't exactly cleared things up. We at
the
> Town Hall believe that with everything he has on his plate, Mr. Bush
> shouldn't have to contend with attacks on the National Guard, which is
> serving so bravely in Iraq. And we're willing to back up our support with
> cold, hard cash.
>
> Granted, this has been tried before. In 2000, concerned veterans in both
> Texas and Alabama offered cash rewards to lure former guardmates of Mr.
Bush
> into stepping forward, to no avail. The problem, in our view, was that
these
> enticements weren't serious enough, that the sums offered were insulting.
In
> contrast, we at the DTH&WP respect how inconvenient it can be to subject
> yourself to worldwide media scrutiny in general, and Fox News in
particular,
> and are thus prepared to sweeten previous offers by a factor of five.
That's
> right, we're offering $10,000 cash! Yours to either spend or invest in job
> creation. All you have to do is definitively prove that George W. Bush
> fulfilled his duty to country.
>
> So don't let the smear artists define the president. If you personally
> witnessed George W. Bush reporting for drills at Dannelly Air National
Guard
> Base between the months of May and November of 1972 we want to hear about
> it. Help Mr. Bush put this partisan assault on his character behind him,
so
> he can focus on more serious issues like jobs, the deficit and the coming
> civil war in Iraq. Just contact us below with the salient details. If we
> think you're a possible winner, we'll get back to you pronto. Good luck to
> all contestants!
>
> Contest FAQs
>
> Q: Isn't this just a publicity stunt?
> A: If by a publicity stunt, you mean an attempt to draw attention to the
> problem of gutter politics, trolling-for-trash, and cheap smear tactics,
> then sure, guilty as charged.
>
> Q: What if I saw Bush, but I can't prove it? Can I get some of the money?
> A: No, but if your story's entertaining enough, you may qualify for our
> consolation prize, an original Doonesbury strip personally signed by a top
> studio intern.
>
> Q: Haven't you done something like this before?
> A: Yes, only in reverse -- the goal was implication, not exoneration. In
> 1992, we offered an Austin Powers-like $25.00 to anyone willing to admit
she
> slept with a presidential candidate. The entry form was multiple-choice
with
> a few essay questions (e.g. "You're dating a married father of three with
> presidential ambitions. You believe that you and he have a future
together.
> Explain.") There were no takers.
>
> Q: The DTH&WP is a media content web site, which means you're broke. Who's
> paying the reward?
> A: The reward is being generously underwritten by Doonesbury creator G. B.
> Trudeau. The money has been put in escrow and is being administered by
> Universal Press Syndicate.
>
>
> Q: It's really in escrow?
> A: No, but we're good for it. Thanks to Bush's massive tax cuts for people
> who don't need them, GBT is flush.
>
> Q: Are employees of Universal Press Syndicate, Slate or Microsoft eligible
> for the contest?
> A: Only if no one else comes forward.
>
> Q: Is there some sort of hitch?
> A: Well, yes, but it's a hitch for a good cause. The winner won't actually
> receive the reward for himself; instead we'll be donating $10,000 in his
> name to the USO. That way everyone's a winner, including GBT's tax
> accountant.
>
>

[Ragnar]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> "Ragnar" > wrote in message
> ...
> >>
> >> A witness did come forward and Trudeau paid.
> >>
> >
> > Cite?
> >
>
> "Q: Is there some sort of hitch?
>
> A: Well, yes, but it's a hitch for a good cause. The winner won't actually
> receive the reward for himself; instead we'll be donating $10,000 in his
> name to the USO. That way everyone's a winner, including GBT's tax
> accountant."
>
> http://doonesbury.msn.com/strip/bush_guard.html
>
>
>
>
> CASE CLOSED: Four weeks ago, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau announced
in
> his cartoon strip the "Bush Guard Service" contest: "We're offering
$10,000
> cash to any witness who can definitively corroborate Mr. Bush's claim"
that
> three decades before he became President, he served in the Alabama
National
> Guard. "So if you served with Mr. Bush - even if only in the officers'
> club - we want to hear from you right now! Why? So we can put this trash
> story to rest and get back to the real issues." Well, it turns out that no
> credible witness has come forward to claim the prize, so this week Trudeau
> mailed a personal check for $10,000 to the USO. "We're extremely grateful
> for his generosity," USO Vice President John Hansen told me yesterday. But
> has Trudeau's check cleared? "Oh, I think he's good for it."

Except that according to the article, NO credible witness came forward.
Looks like your cite only proves my earlier assertion that no credible
witnesses came forward.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Kevin Brooks" > wrote in message
...
>>
>> Yes, Kevin, I can perform a Google search. If you were capable of that
>> rather simple task you might have learned that the Trudeau prize was NOT
>> offered up as an individual reward. See the last of the FAQs below:
> >
>
> Note the following direct quotes from your own cite: "And the two
> witnesses who have come forward in support so far haven't exactly
> cleared things up" and "That's right, we're offering $10,000 cash! Yours
> to either spend or invest in job creation." Now tell us again how he
> recognized one of the witnesses as being credible? Can you point out
> which witness was allegedly found to be credible by Mr. Trudeau
> and Co.?
>

I didn't say Trudeau recognized one of the witnesses as credible, I said a
credible witness came forward and Trudeau paid the reward as specified in
the offer. The witness was Lt. Col. John Calhoun. He remembered sharing an
office with Lt. Bush and dining with him.


>
> As to where the money was destined, it seems the ad posits two
> differing claims--the one above, and the one about it going to
> the USO.
>

Yeah, commonly referred to as "the fine print", "the catch", "the hitch",
etc.

The point is someone came forward and Trudeau paid. If nobody had come
forward to prove Bush's service he wouldn't have paid, at least not before
the election. He'd have been trumpeting "still no witness" all the way to
election day! He paid very quickly, and very quietly, after Lt. Col.
Calhoun verified Bush's service. If he hadn't the Republicans would have
lambasted him for reneging on his offer, and he'd probably be facing a
lawsuit.




http://makeashorterlink.com/?F22924488


Former Guardsman: Bush served with me in Alabama

By the Associated Press

A retired Alabama Air National Guard officer said Friday that he remembers
George Bush showing up for duty in Alabama in 1972, reading safety magazines
and flight manuals in an office as he performed his weekend obligations. "I
saw him each drill period," retired Lt. Col. John "Bill" Calhoun said in a
telephone interview with The Associated Press from Daytona Beach, Fla.,
where he is preparing to watch this weekend's big NASCAR race.

"He was very aggressive about doing his duty there. He never complained
about it. ... He was very dedicated to what he was doing in the Guard. He
showed up on time and he left at the end of the day."

Calhoun, whose name was supplied to the AP by a Republican close to Bush, is
the first member of the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group to recall Bush
distinctly at the Alabama base in the period of 1972-1973. He was the unit's
flight safety officer.

The 69-year-old president of an Atlanta insulation company said Bush showed
up for work at Dannelly Air National Guard Base for drills on at least six
occasions. Bush and Calhoun had both been trained as fighter pilots, and
Calhoun said the two would swap "war stories" and even eat lunch together on
base.

Calhoun is named in 187th unit rosters obtained by the AP as serving under
the deputy commander of operations plans. Bush was in Alabama on non-flying
status.

"He sat in my office most of the time - he would read," Calhoun said. "He
had your training manuals from your aircraft he was flying. He'd study those
some. He'd read safety magazines, which is a common thing for pilots."

Democrats have asked for proof that Bush, then a 1st lieutenant with the
Texas Air National Guard, turned up for duty in Alabama, where Bush had
asked to be assigned while he worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of family
friend Winton "Red" Blount.

Pay and medical records released by the White House this week failed to
quash allegations that Bush shirked his Guard responsibilities. (Related
story: Bush's driving records disclosed)

The 187th's former commander, retired Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, has
said he doesn't remember Bush ever turning up on base, and more than a dozen
members of the 800-person unit, including its commander, told The Associated
Press this week they have no recollection of Bush. Critics have made much of
the fact that the White House has failed to produce anyone who could
remember seeing Bush there.

Calhoun said he contacted Texas GOP leaders with his story in 2000 when the
issue was raised just before the November general election.

"I got on the phone and got information and called Austin, Texas, and talked
to the Republican campaign. They said I was talking to the campaign
manager," he said. "I told him my story and said I would be glad to provide
information to that effect. At that time they said ... The story is not
true. And we don't think it's got enough weight to stay out as a story.' And
they said, 'But if it does we'll call you back.' And I never heard from them
again."

Last week as the issue raged again, Calhoun sent an e-mail to the White
House offering to tell his story. "I got a response back, one of those
automatic responses," he said. It wasn't until his wife contacted Georgia
GOP officials that Calhoun's name surfaced.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Friday that the White House
was not making any effort to try to locate people who might have served with
Bush. He also accused reporters of trying to raise new lines of questioning,
beyond whether Bush served in Alabama.

Critics have suggested that Bush used his family connections to get the safe
Guard assignment ahead of thousands of others. But Calhoun said Bush never
mentioned his congressman father while they sat together at Dannelly.

"I knew he was working in the senatorial campaign, and I asked him if he was
going to be a politician," said Calhoun, who is a staunch Republican. "And
he said, 'I don't know. Probably.'"

Calhoun has not made any donations to Bush this election season or during
the 2000 season, according to campaign finance records.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Ragnar" > wrote in message
...
>>
>> "Q: Is there some sort of hitch?
>>
>> A: Well, yes, but it's a hitch for a good cause. The winner won't
>> actually
>> receive the reward for himself; instead we'll be donating $10,000 in his
>> name to the USO. That way everyone's a winner, including GBT's tax
>> accountant."
>>
>> http://doonesbury.msn.com/strip/bush_guard.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> CASE CLOSED: Four weeks ago, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau announced
> in
>> his cartoon strip the "Bush Guard Service" contest: "We're offering
> $10,000
>> cash to any witness who can definitively corroborate Mr. Bush's claim"
> that
>> three decades before he became President, he served in the Alabama
> National
>> Guard. "So if you served with Mr. Bush - even if only in the officers'
>> club - we want to hear from you right now! Why? So we can put this trash
>> story to rest and get back to the real issues." Well, it turns out that
>> no
>> credible witness has come forward to claim the prize, so this week
>> Trudeau
>> mailed a personal check for $10,000 to the USO. "We're extremely grateful
>> for his generosity," USO Vice President John Hansen told me yesterday.
>> But
>> has Trudeau's check cleared? "Oh, I think he's good for it."
> >
>
> Except that according to the article, NO credible witness came forward.
> Looks like your cite only proves my earlier assertion that no credible
> witnesses came forward.
>

Except that a credible witness DID come forward. That Trudeau paid the
reward while claiming no credible witness had been heard from only indicates
that he has little integrity.





http://makeashorterlink.com/?F22924488


Former Guardsman: Bush served with me in Alabama

By the Associated Press

A retired Alabama Air National Guard officer said Friday that he remembers
George Bush showing up for duty in Alabama in 1972, reading safety magazines
and flight manuals in an office as he performed his weekend obligations. "I
saw him each drill period," retired Lt. Col. John "Bill" Calhoun said in a
telephone interview with The Associated Press from Daytona Beach, Fla.,
where he is preparing to watch this weekend's big NASCAR race.

"He was very aggressive about doing his duty there. He never complained
about it. ... He was very dedicated to what he was doing in the Guard. He
showed up on time and he left at the end of the day."

Calhoun, whose name was supplied to the AP by a Republican close to Bush, is
the first member of the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group to recall Bush
distinctly at the Alabama base in the period of 1972-1973. He was the unit's
flight safety officer.

The 69-year-old president of an Atlanta insulation company said Bush showed
up for work at Dannelly Air National Guard Base for drills on at least six
occasions. Bush and Calhoun had both been trained as fighter pilots, and
Calhoun said the two would swap "war stories" and even eat lunch together on
base.

Calhoun is named in 187th unit rosters obtained by the AP as serving under
the deputy commander of operations plans. Bush was in Alabama on non-flying
status.

"He sat in my office most of the time - he would read," Calhoun said. "He
had your training manuals from your aircraft he was flying. He'd study those
some. He'd read safety magazines, which is a common thing for pilots."

Democrats have asked for proof that Bush, then a 1st lieutenant with the
Texas Air National Guard, turned up for duty in Alabama, where Bush had
asked to be assigned while he worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of family
friend Winton "Red" Blount.

Pay and medical records released by the White House this week failed to
quash allegations that Bush shirked his Guard responsibilities. (Related
story: Bush's driving records disclosed)

The 187th's former commander, retired Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, has
said he doesn't remember Bush ever turning up on base, and more than a dozen
members of the 800-person unit, including its commander, told The Associated
Press this week they have no recollection of Bush. Critics have made much of
the fact that the White House has failed to produce anyone who could
remember seeing Bush there.

Calhoun said he contacted Texas GOP leaders with his story in 2000 when the
issue was raised just before the November general election.

"I got on the phone and got information and called Austin, Texas, and talked
to the Republican campaign. They said I was talking to the campaign
manager," he said. "I told him my story and said I would be glad to provide
information to that effect. At that time they said ... The story is not
true. And we don't think it's got enough weight to stay out as a story.' And
they said, 'But if it does we'll call you back.' And I never heard from them
again."

Last week as the issue raged again, Calhoun sent an e-mail to the White
House offering to tell his story. "I got a response back, one of those
automatic responses," he said. It wasn't until his wife contacted Georgia
GOP officials that Calhoun's name surfaced.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Friday that the White House
was not making any effort to try to locate people who might have served with
Bush. He also accused reporters of trying to raise new lines of questioning,
beyond whether Bush served in Alabama.

Critics have suggested that Bush used his family connections to get the safe
Guard assignment ahead of thousands of others. But Calhoun said Bush never
mentioned his congressman father while they sat together at Dannelly.

"I knew he was working in the senatorial campaign, and I asked him if he was
going to be a politician," said Calhoun, who is a staunch Republican. "And
he said, 'I don't know. Probably.'"

Calhoun has not made any donations to Bush this election season or during
the 2000 season, according to campaign finance records.

[Ragnar]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> "Ragnar" > wrote in message
> ...
> >>
> >> "Q: Is there some sort of hitch?
> >>
> >> A: Well, yes, but it's a hitch for a good cause. The winner won't
> >> actually
> >> receive the reward for himself; instead we'll be donating $10,000 in
his
> >> name to the USO. That way everyone's a winner, including GBT's tax
> >> accountant."
> >>
> >> http://doonesbury.msn.com/strip/bush_guard.html
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> CASE CLOSED: Four weeks ago, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau
announced
> > in
> >> his cartoon strip the "Bush Guard Service" contest: "We're offering
> > $10,000
> >> cash to any witness who can definitively corroborate Mr. Bush's claim"
> > that
> >> three decades before he became President, he served in the Alabama
> > National
> >> Guard. "So if you served with Mr. Bush - even if only in the officers'
> >> club - we want to hear from you right now! Why? So we can put this
trash
> >> story to rest and get back to the real issues." Well, it turns out that
> >> no
> >> credible witness has come forward to claim the prize, so this week
> >> Trudeau
> >> mailed a personal check for $10,000 to the USO. "We're extremely
grateful
> >> for his generosity," USO Vice President John Hansen told me yesterday.
> >> But
> >> has Trudeau's check cleared? "Oh, I think he's good for it."
> > >
> >
> > Except that according to the article, NO credible witness came forward.
> > Looks like your cite only proves my earlier assertion that no credible
> > witnesses came forward.
> >
>
> Except that a credible witness DID come forward. That Trudeau paid the
> reward while claiming no credible witness had been heard from only
indicates
> that he has little integrity.

Big surprise there. A liberal exhibiting a lack of integrity.

[Kevin Brooks]

"Steven P. McNicoll" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
> "Kevin Brooks" > wrote in message
> ...
> >>
> >> Yes, Kevin, I can perform a Google search. If you were capable of that
> >> rather simple task you might have learned that the Trudeau prize was
NOT
> >> offered up as an individual reward. See the last of the FAQs below:
> > >
> >
> > Note the following direct quotes from your own cite: "And the two
> > witnesses who have come forward in support so far haven't exactly
> > cleared things up" and "That's right, we're offering $10,000 cash! Yours
> > to either spend or invest in job creation." Now tell us again how he
> > recognized one of the witnesses as being credible? Can you point out
> > which witness was allegedly found to be credible by Mr. Trudeau
> > and Co.?
> >
>
> I didn't say Trudeau recognized one of the witnesses as credible, I said a
> credible witness came forward and Trudeau paid the reward as specified in
> the offer. The witness was Lt. Col. John Calhoun. He remembered sharing
an
> office with Lt. Bush and dining with him.

Nice try--that article (13 Feb) about Calhoun was published *before* Trudeau
made his offer; Calhoun was one of the two "not credible" witnesses
mentioned in Trudeau's initial release.

www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/ 02/27/elec04.bush.doonesbury.reut/

>
>
> >
> > As to where the money was destined, it seems the ad posits two
> > differing claims--the one above, and the one about it going to
> > the USO.
> >
>
> Yeah, commonly referred to as "the fine print", "the catch", "the hitch",
> etc.
>
> The point is someone came forward and Trudeau paid. If nobody had come
> forward to prove Bush's service he wouldn't have paid, at least not before
> the election. He'd have been trumpeting "still no witness" all the way to
> election day! He paid very quickly, and very quietly, after Lt. Col.
> Calhoun verified Bush's service. If he hadn't the Republicans would have
> lambasted him for reneging on his offer, and he'd probably be facing a
> lawsuit.

Nope, the point is that Trudeau refised to consider either Calhoun or the
lady from Alabama (the other witness who had already come forward) as meeing
his own strange criteria for credibility, and both of them had come forward
*before* Trudeau issued his challenge. There has been no mention that
Calhoun ever even *submitted* for the reward. And FYI, Trudeau was still
trumpeting that no witness had come forward when he made that presentation
to the USO.

"Four weeks ago, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau announced in his cartoon
strip the "Bush Guard Service" contest: "We're offering $10,000 cash to any
witness who can definitively corroborate Mr. Bush's claim" that three
decades before he became President, he served in the Alabama National Guard.
"So if you served with Mr. Bush - even if only in the officers' club - we
want to hear from you right now! Why? So we can put this trash story to rest
and get back to the real issues." Well, it turns out that no credible
witness has come forward to claim the prize, so this week Trudeau mailed a
personal check for $10,000 to the USO."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/175072p-152467c.html

Or, you can take it in the words of Trudeau himself: " Alas, none of the
over 1600 entries we received qualified for the proferred $10,000."

www.doonesbury.com/strip/faqs/faq_sl.html

So, to sum it all up--you were wrong, weren't you?

Brooks

[Steven P. McNicoll]

(WalterM140) wrote in message >...
>
> If that were true, you could name this person.
>

John "Bill" Calhoun.


>
> Trudeau donated the money to the USO.
>

Yes, as was specified in the offer. The money was never to be paid to the witness.

[Tom Cervo]

>Yeah, commonly referred to as "the fine print", "the catch", "the hitch",
>etc.
>
>The point is someone came forward and Trudeau paid. If nobody had come
>forward to prove Bush's service he wouldn't have paid, at least not before
>the election. He'd have been trumpeting "still no witness" all the way to
>election day! He paid very quickly, and very quietly, after Lt. Col.
>Calhoun verified Bush's service. If he hadn't the Republicans would have
>lambasted him for reneging on his offer, and he'd probably be facing a
>lawsuit.

Then why is the offer still posted?

http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/bush_guard.html

Apparently Calhoun's dates did not jibe with the dates that Bush claims to have
been in Alabama, and the money was never paid.
Maybe he mistook The Kingfish for GWB.

[Kevin Brooks]

"Tom Cervo" > wrote in message
...
> >Yeah, commonly referred to as "the fine print", "the catch", "the hitch",
> >etc.
> >
> >The point is someone came forward and Trudeau paid. If nobody had come
> >forward to prove Bush's service he wouldn't have paid, at least not
before
> >the election. He'd have been trumpeting "still no witness" all the way
to
> >election day! He paid very quickly, and very quietly, after Lt. Col.
> >Calhoun verified Bush's service. If he hadn't the Republicans would have
> >lambasted him for reneging on his offer, and he'd probably be facing a
> >lawsuit.
>
> Then why is the offer still posted?

Maybe for the same reason oodles of webpages from thre and four years ago
are still posted.

>
> http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/bush_guard.html
>
> Apparently Calhoun's dates did not jibe with the dates that Bush claims to
have
> been in Alabama,

Can you point to any evidence of that? No? Nobody has yet been able to
indict Calhoun's account.

> and the money was never paid.

The USO did receive a check, and the contest is no longer.

Brooks

<snip>

[Tom Cervo]

>The USO did receive a check, and the contest is no longer.
>
>Brooks

Or maybe it is:
Bush's Missing Records
Reports on Missing Service Time So Far Not Found
By MATT KELLEY, AP 09/05/04 23:57 EDT
WASHINGTON - Documents that should have been written to explain gaps in
President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service are missing from the military
records released about his service in 1972 and 1973, according to regulations
and outside experts.
For example, Air National Guard regulations at the time required commanders to
write an investigative report for the Air Force when Bush missed his annual
medical exam in 1972. The regulations also required commanders to confirm in
writing that Bush received counseling after missing five months of drills.
No such records have been made public and the government told The Associated
Press in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that it has released
all records it can find.
Outside experts suggest that National Guard commanders may not have produced
documentation required by their own regulations.
"One of the downfalls back then in the National Guard was that not everyone
wanted to be chief of staff of the Air Force. They just wanted to fly or
maintain airplanes. So the record keeping could have been better,'' said
retired Maj. Gen. Paul A. Weaver Jr., a former head of the Air National Guard.
He said the documents may not have been kept in the first place.
Challenging the government's declaration that no more documents exist, the AP
identified five categories of records that should have been generated after
Bush skipped his pilot's physical and missed five months of training.
"Each of these actions by any member of the National Guard should have
generated the creation of many documents that have yet to be produced,'' AP
lawyer David Schulz wrote the Justice Department Aug. 26.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said there were no other documents to
explain discrepancies in Bush's files.
Military service during the Vietnam War has become an issue in the presidential
election as both candidates debate the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Democrat John Kerry commanded a Navy Swift boat in Vietnam and was awarded five
medals, including a Silver Star. But his heroism has been challenged in ads by
some veterans who support Bush.
The president served stateside in the Air National Guard during Vietnam.
Democrats have accused him of shirking his Guard service and getting favored
treatment as the son of a prominent Washington figure.
The AP talked to experts unaffiliated with either campaign who have reviewed
Bush's files for missing documents. They said it was not unusual for guard
commanders to ignore deficiencies by junior officers such as Bush. But they
said missing a physical exam, which caused him to be grounded, was not common.
"It's sort of like a code of honor that you didn't go DNF (duty not including
flying),'' said retired Air Force Col. Leonard Walls, who flew 181 combat
missions over Vietnam. "There was a lot of pride in keeping combat-ready
status.''
Bush has said he fulfilled all his obligations. He was in the Texas Air
National Guard from 1968 to 1973 and was trained to fly F-102 fighters.
"I'm proud of my service,'' Bush told a rally last weekend in Lima, Ohio.
Records of Bush's service have significant gaps, starting in 1972. Bush has
said he left Texas that year to work on the unsuccessful Senate campaign in
Alabama of family friend Winton Blount.
The five kinds of missing files are:
A report from the Texas Air National Guard to Bush's local draft board
certifying that Bush remained in good standing. The government has released
copies of those DD Form 44 documents for Bush for 1971 and earlier years but
not for 1972 or 1973. Records from Bush's draft board in Houston do not show
his draft status changed after he joined the guard in 1968. The AP obtained the
draft board records Aug. 27 under the Freedom of Information Act.
Records of a required investigation into why Bush lost flight status. When Bush
skipped his 1972 physical, regulations required his Texas commanders to "direct
an investigation as to why the individual failed to accomplish the medical
examination,'' according to the Air Force manual at the time. An investigative
report was supposed to be forwarded "with the command recommendation'' to Air
Force officials "for final determination.''
Bush's spokesmen have said he skipped the exam because he knew he would be
doing desk duty in Alabama. But Bush was required to take the physical by the
end of July 1972, more than a month before he won final approval to train in
Alabama.
A written acknowledgment from Bush that he had received the orders grounding
him. His Texas commanders were ordered to have Bush sign such a document; but
none has been released.
Reports of formal counseling sessions Bush was required to have after missing
more than three training sessions. Bush missed at least five months' worth of
National Guard training in 1972. No documents have surfaced indicating Bush was
counseled or had written authorization to skip that training or make it up
later. Commanders did have broad discretion to allow guardsmen to make up for
missed training sessions, said Weaver and Lawrence Korb, Pentagon personnel
chief during the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1985.
"If you missed it, you could make it up,'' said Korb, who now works for the
Center for American Progress, which supports Kerry.
A signed statement from Bush acknowledging he could be called to active duty if
he did not promptly transfer to another guard unit after leaving Texas. The
statement was required as part of a Vietnam-era crackdown on no-show guardsmen.
Bush was approved in September 1972 to train with the Alabama unit, more than
four months after he left Texas.
Bush was approved to train in September, October and November 1972 with the
Alabama Air National Guard's 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group. The only
record tying Bush to that unit is a dental exam at the group's Montgomery base
in January 1973. No records have been released giving Bush permission to train
with the 187th after November 1972.
Walls, the Air Force combat veteran, was assigned to the 187th in 1972 and 1973
to train its pilots to fly the F-4 Phantom. Walls and more than a dozen other
members of the 187th say they never saw Bush. One member of the unit, retired
Lt. Col. John Calhoun, has said he remembers Bush showing up for training with
the 187th.
Pay records show Bush was credited for training in January, April and May 1973;
other files indicate that service was outside Texas.
A May 1973 yearly evaluation from Bush's Texas unit gives the future president
no ratings and stated Bush had not been seen at the Texas base since April
1972. In a directive from June 29, 1973, an Air Force personnel official
pressed Bush's unit for information about his Alabama service.
"This officer should have been reassigned in May 1972,'' wrote Master Sgt.
Daniel P. Harkness, "since he no longer is training in his AFSC (Air Force
Service Category, or job title) or with his unit of assignment.''
Then-Maj. Rufus G. Martin replied Nov. 12, 1973: "Not rated for the period 1
May 72 through 30 Apr 73. Report for this period not available for
administrative reasons.''
By then, Texas Air National Guard officials had approved Bush's request to
leave the guard to attend Harvard Business School; his last days of duty were
in July 1973.

[Kevin Brooks]

"Tom Cervo" > wrote in message
...
> >The USO did receive a check, and the contest is no longer.
> >
> >Brooks
>
> Or maybe it is:

No, it is not--what you are referring to is just another case of folks with
no real understanding of things military in general, or things Guard related
in particular, trying to make mountains out of molehills, and has nothing at
all to do with the Trudeau sponsored "reward", which was already donated to
the USO and the program was announced to have been finished.

Brooks

<snip garbage>

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Kevin Brooks" > wrote in message
...
>
> Nice try--that article (13 Feb) about Calhoun was published *before*
> Trudeau made his offer;
>

Yup, ten days before. You'd think a political cartoonist would make some
effort to stay on top of things.


>
> Calhoun was one of the two "not credible" witnesses
> mentioned in Trudeau's initial release.
>

Calhoun was a "credible witness" by any reasonable definition.


>
> Nope, the point is that Trudeau refised to consider either Calhoun or the
> lady from Alabama (the other witness who had already come forward) as
> meeing his own strange criteria for credibility, and both of them had come
> forward *before* Trudeau issued his challenge. There has been no
> mention that Calhoun ever even *submitted* for the reward. And FYI,
> Trudeau was still trumpeting that no witness had come forward when he
> made that presentation to the USO.
>
> "Four weeks ago, "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau announced in his
> cartoon strip the "Bush Guard Service" contest: "We're offering $10,000
> cash to any witness who can definitively corroborate Mr. Bush's claim"
> that three decades before he became President, he served in the Alabama
> National Guard. "So if you served with Mr. Bush - even if only in the
> officers' club - we want to hear from you right now! Why? So we can put
> this trash story to rest and get back to the real issues." Well, it turns
> out
> that no credible witness has come forward to claim the prize, so this
> week Trudeau mailed a personal check for $10,000 to the USO."
>
> http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/175072p-152467c.html
>
> Or, you can take it in the words of Trudeau himself: " Alas, none of the
> over 1600 entries we received qualified for the proferred $10,000."
>
> www.doonesbury.com/strip/faqs/faq_sl.html
>

"So if you served with Mr. Bush - even if only in the officers' club - we
want to hear from you right now!", says Trudeau. Well, Calhoun meets that
criterion.


>
> So, to sum it all up--you were wrong, weren't you?
>

No, Kevin, I wasn't wrong. You were wrong. I said a witness came forward
and Trudeau paid the USO. That is what happened. You said the money was
offered up as an individual reward. But it wasn't offered as an individual
reward, the money was to go to the USO from the start.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?M23723A39

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"Tom Cervo" > wrote in message
...
>
> Then why is the offer still posted?
>
> http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/bush_guard.html
>

Same reason many outdated webpages are still available.


>
> Apparently Calhoun's dates did not jibe with the dates that Bush claims to
> have been in Alabama, and the money was never paid.
> Maybe he mistook The Kingfish for GWB.
>

Or maybe he's just a bit fuzzy on the dates after more than thirty years.

I can clearly remember many things from throughout my life that I can't pin
down to a specific date. A canoe trip as a Boy Scout, for example. It was
on the Oconto River. We came upon same fast water and hit a submerged tree,
capsizing us. Had to dry out all our gear at our campsite in Suring. I can
remember the trip, but I can't remember the date. It would have been in the
summer of 1970 or 1971.

Why should it be any different with Calhoun? He served in the Alabama ANG a
long time, briefly alongside George Bush. He remembers him, they shared an
office, sometimes they dined together. So what if he got the dates wrong?
Did Trudeau expect a witness to present a diary, with entries like "7/8/72 -
Dined today with George W. Bush. Had the special. Got gas."? If he'd had
that kind of detail Trudeau would have claimed it was a fabrication, and
probably have been right!