As far as scrubbing jobs go, this
wasn't a very good one.
Files released by the White House last night from President Bush's Vietnam War-era service in the National Guard show that the future president was an exemplary pilot whose military record contains numerous gaps in the last two years of his six-year commitment.
The White House, seeking to quell a revived controversy over Bush's Guard service, released hundreds of pages of records that were previously withheld. The documents include what the White House describes as all the non-medical elements of Bush's military personnel file, including performance evaluations, documentation of his honorable discharge, and a thick bureaucratic paper trail of applications, promotions and transfers.
The records show Bush was an eager fighter pilot who said he wanted to spend a lifetime in aviation. But they provide no evidence that he did any military service in Alabama, to which he had requested a transfer in May 1972 to work on a Senate campaign that ended in November 1972.
And the records show officials from Bush's home base in Texas declining to provide details of his activities between May 1972 to April 1973, even though such documentation was requested by National Guard headquarters.
We also find out that Bush had a hemorrhoid while in the Guard. Not something I really wanted to know...
The files also show that Bush was a good officer for a couple of years, until the concept of national service bored him and he decided to skeedadle to Alabama. The records then do nothing to prove that Bush ever reported to duty.
As for that dental exam? Medical services are free in the military. All that proves is that Bush scored a free dental examination, not that he actually did anything to earn that exam.
So where do we go from here? He clearly didn't do his duty. This story might be in its final legs, though that part about "Bush's home base in Texas declining to provide details of his activities between May 1972 to April 1973" might help keep it going a while longer.
But the damage is done. AWOL has taken a hit to his credibility. And we've got plenty more material for the press to work with.
