In article <
[email protected]>,
"Tom Kunich" <
[email protected]> wrote:
> "remove the polite word to reply" <[email protected]> wrote in
> message news:[email protected]...
> > true political genius to have a sneaky, coddled draft dodger get the
> > upper hand in a scandal involving someone who actually risked his life
> > fighting. The medium is the message.
>
> Draft dodger? Bush became a fighter pilot, one of the most dangerous jobs in
> any service. He volunteered for Vietnam but there wee precious few fightre
> slots available there and they were only going to the most experienced
> pilots.
"Volunteered for Vietnam"???? Right, but poor ol' George just couldn't
get a break and go do his patriotic duty, since some unknown person had
gotten ahold of his application and checked off the box next to "NO
OVERSEAS DUTY". Dang. There's no evidence in his official records that
indicate he attempted to get to 'Nam.
By the way, you've mentioned that he got put on desk duty because the
ANG had retired his plane, the F102. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for
another four years after he had skipped off into the sunset:
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/fighter/f102/
"A total of 1,000 F-102A interceptors and two-seat trainers were built
for the US Air Force, and many were later transferred to Air National Guard
units. The last of these aircraft were not withdrawn from service until
1976."
> Kerry attempted to get a deferral to spend a couple of years in France and
> when that was denied he joined what he thought was the safest service - the
> Naval Reserve.
You know what he was thinking, do you? Wow. Funny that you'll criticize
Kerry for trying to get a deferral. From what I've read, he had doubts
about the Vietnam war from the outset, but decided to serve anyway. Can you
say the same for:
Cheney: no military service ever, five deferrals
Rumsfeld: avoided Korea; no combat
Rove: no military service ever
Rush Limbaugh: no military service
Tom DeLay: avoided Vietnam; "So many minority youths had volunteered ...
that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself "
Trent Lott: no military service ever
Ashcroft: seven deferrals
You keep saying that people who haven't served shouldn't be allowed to
criticize Bush's "service", yet some of the most vociferous critics of
Kerry seem to fall into the same camp (except they were all *for* the war
in Vietnam). Isn't DeLay's excuse for not serving great?
> As someone pointed out, what happened 30 years ago doesn't mean jack today.
> However, both men did the same thing as most of the rest of those who
> worried about the draft. To say that somehow Bush's two years of flying full
> time put him in less danger than Kerry's four months in combat is a little
> stupid to say the least.
Earlier, Tom, you said he had served "a full year" - now it's two? Odd
that the Bush camp has only made one reference to being in the Air Force.
That's in the Karen Hughes penned biography "A Charge to Keep", in which
they stated that his time in flight training was considered time in the
USAF. (Of course, they also quote Geo. as saying, "I continued to fly with
my unit for the next several years." 22 months is stretching the definition
of "several years" a bit, isn't it?
You know what would solve the whole issue, Tom? President Bush should
sit down with the media and answer questions about his service directly by
himself.
--
tanx,
Howard
A billion + 2 followups...
remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?
