White House Releases Bush Military Record
The title of the article made me apprehensive, but the contents of the article made me laugh. The best they can come up with is that he was paid for six days over a five-month period?! By my math, that comes out to a whopping 4%.
Bush was not credited with any service for a five-month period in 1972, from May through September, according to the pay records. He was paid for two days in October and four days in November and none in December. The records do not indicate what duty Bush performed or where he was.
But Scott McClellan lays it out in the best dumbed-down Fleischer/Bush tradition:
"When you serve, you are paid for that service. These documents outline the days on which he was paid. That means he served. And these documents also show he met his requirements," press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters. "And it's just really a shame that people are continuing to bring this up."
Doesn't he realize that "When you serve, you are paid for that service" works against his point when we're talking about six days from a period of five months?
The author of the article, Terence Hunt (AP White House Correspondent) does a nice job of contrasting the White House, which "has not been able to produce fellow guardsmen who could testify that Bush attended guard meetings and drills", with Kerry, who "is regularly accompanied by military veterans who served with him in Vietnam".
I was also pleased to see that:
Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman, did not hesitate. "We also still do not know why the president's superiors filed a report saying they were unable to evaluate his performance for that year because he had not been present to be evaluated. That report was filed on the very day these documents allege he was reporting for duty."
Attaboy, Terry M!
The author also did a nice job of pointing out that the people who have backed Bush up have done so at his request:
a memo written by retired Lt. Col. Albert Lloyd Jr., at the request of the White House[emphasis mine], said a review of Bush's records showed that he had "satisfactory years" for the period of 1972-73 and 1973-74 "which proves that he completed his military obligation in a satisfactory manner."
But it seems that not even this guy was willing to say that Bush showed up more than six days during those five months!