The Command Post
2004 US Presidential Election
September 14, 2004
| Bush Redeemed

In what seems to be typical of the tone of this Presidential Race, here’s an update to a previous post, from UPI:

The Air Force has knocked down allegations by a Web site that said President Bush, when serving as an officer in the Texas Air National Guard, wore a ribbon he was not authorized to wear — a military offense that could have led to a bad-conduct discharge from the service if true.

The original story was offered to United Press International during late August by operatives from Democrats.com, an Internet activist group whose founder had earlier this year served as a source for The Boston Globe and other media outlets on stories about Bush’s service in the guard in the 1960s and 1970s.

A summary of the story was also posted on the DemocraticUnderground.com Web site by Walt Starr of Democrats.com last month, along with a photo from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library of Lt. George W. Bush wearing the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.

An e-mail message to UPI on Aug. 27 from Bob Fertik, founder of Democrats.com, stated, “Walt Starr called the Air Force and discovered that the only AFOUA given to Bush’s unit was in 1975 — five years after the photo. Case closed!”
[…]
White House spokesman Trent Duffy referred UPI to the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Colorado where Technical Sgt. Rob Mims is the spokesman.

Mims said the claims were “not true. I verified that (Thursday). Lieutenant Bush received Air Force Outstanding Unit Award while he was in basic training with the 3724th Basic Military Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.”
[…]
Mims said that personnel records in the military are often incomplete due to “clerical errors.”

But I did verify that that unit did get the award while he (Bush) was there,” said Mims.

The sergeant added that the photo in question was “taken after pilot training.”

Mims said he confirmed his information about the medal with the Air Force’s history office. “It’s all there in black and white, we’ve spelled it out,” said Mims.

The White House, through Duffy, said: “Lieutenant Bush at the time was completely authorized to wear those ribbons he has in those pictures. He could only wear those ribbons if he has the wings. He earned his wings in 1969.”

When contacted by UPI Monday about the Air Force’s statements, Fertik refused to comment.

UPDATE : You know you have to give some people marks for sheer persistence.



Posted by Alan Brain at September 14, 2004 07:31 AM | TrackBack
Comments

So, I can add another liberal democrat to the ‘sack of shit list!’ …..I’ll put old Bubbie Fertik toward the top of the list. The stink of a loser is on Kerry, and these people now are desparate….the harder they try to slime and the louder they speak, the more the public will be against them. It is taking some time, but the same thing is going to happen to Dan Rather. He will be removed from his spidey hole once the story is widespread….when CBS advertisers start to get a clue too.

Posted by: dickmr [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 08:58 AM

In regards to the issue of ribbons, it should be on the DD 214 as to what he is authorized to wear.

Posted by: jet35 [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 12:38 PM

hah!

What DD214?

The military lost theirs somewhere. probably in a fire. Wimp lost his in a drunken or cocaine-addled state.

This lying sack of crap continues to lie…a character from childhood. This election is about winning…it doesn’t matter how. And what this country will have if coWard wins is more of the same. radical agenda benefiting a few at the expense of many and LIES.

I’d like Kerry to win even for just one reason. With the DoJ in American control rather than German, Cheney would probably do the walk on the basis of his criminal activity at HolyBarfin. You know the one where his CFO got dinged.

The animus toward Clinton, et al was political and contrived, orchestrated by the likes of Scaife. The animus toward Bush et al is its own agenda.

I’m a unifier, not a divider. Another lie.

If you support him, don’t whine about what he does to our country.

Posted by: dubyus [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 02:26 PM

dubyus, I’m not whining. You are. You Democrats need to clean your own house, presently awash in lies and liars; only then will you and they have the moral authority to complain about lying by others.
The unreasoning intensity of the ABB hate crowd is exactly like the racist hatred of the KKK in its heyday. It’s your problem; fix it from within.

Posted by: TomTom [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 03:38 PM

Which bridge are you living under there, dubyus?

There’s only so much unsustantiated ad hominem I can handle.

BTW - Were you in Cambodia with Senator Kerry on Christmas Day, 1968?

Now, we know THAT’S a LIE…

Posted by: Cap'n DOC [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 03:39 PM

“I’d like Kerry to win even for just one reason.”

Yeah, me too, but just so I won’t have to listen to you desperately deranged Bush-haters from whining.

Hey, that’s a cool name, “dubyus” but not as cool as John Forged….I mean Forbes Kerry.

Posted by: Ebonic Plague [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 03:57 PM

Beware!!

I wasted 30 minutes of my time writing a response to Dubyus yesterday, giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was a thoughtful, serious participant in our discussions.

He is not.

Don’t waste your time feeding trolls.

Posted by: Colorado [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 07:00 PM

1 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security issued between 20 January 2001 and 10 September 2001 that mentioned al-Qa’ida.

104 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned Iraq or Saddam Hussein.

101 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned missile defence.

65 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned weapons of mass destruction.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned Osama bin Laden in his three State of the Union addresses.

73 Number of times that Bush mentioned terrorism or terrorists in his three State of the Union addresses.

83 Number of times Bush mentioned Saddam, Iraq, or regime (as in change) in his three State of the Union addresses.

$1m Estimated value of a painting the Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, received from Prince Bandar, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States and Bush family friend.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned Saudi Arabia in his three State of the Union addresses.

1,700 Percentage increase between 2001 and 2002 of Saudi Arabian spending on public relations in the United States.

79 Percentage of the 11 September hijackers who came from Saudi Arabia.

3 Number of 11 September hijackers whose entry visas came through special US-Saudi “Visa Express” program.

140 Number of Saudis, including members of the Bin Laden family, evacuated from United States almost immediately after 11 September.

14 Number of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents assigned to track down 1,200 known illegal immigrants in the United States from countries where al-Qa’ida is active.

$3m Amount the White House was willing to grant the 9/11 Commission to investigate the 11 September attacks.

$0 Amount approved by George Bush to hire more INS special agents.

$10m Amount Bush cut from the INS’s existing terrorism budget.

$50m Amount granted to the commission that looked into the Columbia space shuttle crash.

$5m Amount a 1996 federal commission was given to study legalized gambling.

7 Number of Arabic linguists fired by the US army between mid-August and mid-October 2002 for being gay.

Posted by: Patriot [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 08:58 PM

Great list Patriot. A bunch of figures when put together mean nothing. Did you invent Kerry’s New Misery Index?

Of course not, you post some lame email going around with no comment and expect us to hop around.

By the by, what year did Bush become President?

Posted by: jones [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 14, 2004 09:14 PM

Damn, baby, that a good list, but mine’s better.

0 The number of Bush-hating liberals that are more interested in fighting the war on terrorism and defending American security than unseating George W. Bush

37 The average IQ of the average John Kerry voter.

37 The combined IQ of both “dubyus” and “Patriot”

3.7 The workweek (in hours) of the average John Kerry or Howard Dean voter

47,000,000 The number of positions John Kerry has on any given subject

7 The number of times the Clinton Administration stupidly signed treaties with dictators.

0 The number of times the Bush administration stupidly signed treaties with brutal dictators.

0 The number of liberals who cared about “terrorism” when Bill clinton was President signing treaties with North Korea and ignoring terrorist bombings worldwide.

100 The average increase of shrillness and volume(in decibels) of the average liberal voter in the last two months.

0 The percent likelihood that this increase will result in more votes for John Kerry.

0 The number of liberals who would care about fired gay Arabic linguists if there were a Democrat as President.

147,100,389,378,235,768 (and counting) The number of times that THIS:

“140 Number of Saudis, including members of the Bin Laden family, evacuated from United States almost immediately after 11 September.”

..has been refuted.

0 The number of the Bin Laden family in the United States at that time that were accused of a crime

>95% The likelihood that forged documents regarding Bush’s National Guard service were both forged and obtained from someone in the Democratic National Committee.

>95% The likelihood that that fact will be discovered and revealed to the American people.

0 The likelihood that that will result in more votes for John Kerry

100 The percentage likelihood that this reeks of desperation in the Bush-haters

0 The percent likelihood that this desperation will result in a John Kerry victory.

100 The percent likelihood that both “dubyus” and “Patriot” are trolls

<80 the percent likelihood that they are the same person.

0 The percent likelihood that either one is worth responding to again.

Posted by: Ebonic Plague [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 15, 2004 07:27 AM

Going back to the article, there was an indepth discussion of the awards on another website. The award in question was a Unit Award that he would wear only while a part of that unit. It would not appear on his DD214.

As an example, current members of the 2d Infantry Division wear a Belgian fourragere awarded during the first world war. When they leave the unit, they no longer wear it.

Posted by: red [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 15, 2004 09:16 AM

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