Here comes another massive headache for Bush II

[saz]

Ben Barnes to break silence on "60 Minutes"

The Republican campaign gets ready for shock waves, as the former Texas official who says he pulled strings to get George W. Bush into the Air National Guard finally goes public.

The campaign battle over Vietnam War records is still raging, but President Bush may soon be the one answering uncomfortable questions about his past service. Ben Barnes, the former lieutenant governor of Texas, will finally break his silence and talk to the press about what role he played in helping Bush get a coveted slot in the Texas Air National Guard in 1968.

Sources say Barnes has already sat down for a "60 Minutes" interview that will air next week. A "60 Minutes" spokesperson declined to comment, saying the program does not discuss reports that are in progress.

Barnes made headlines last week when his videotaped comments that he was "very ashamed" of getting Bush into the National Guard began circulating on the Web. He said the remorse was prompted by a recent visit to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, where he saw the names of thousands of other young men who did not enjoy the connections of the Bush family.

Link (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/01/barnes60minutes/index.html)

[saz]

George W. Bush's missing year

The widow of a Bush family confidant says her husband gave the future president an Alabama Senate campaign job as a favor to his worried father. Did they see him do any National Guard service? "Good lord, no."

Before there was Karl Rove, Lee Atwater or even James Baker, the Bush family's political guru was a gregarious newspaper owner and campaign consultant from Midland, Texas, named Jimmy Allison.

In the spring of 1972, George H.W. Bush phoned his friend and asked a favor: Could Allison find a place on the Senate campaign he was managing in Alabama for his troublesome eldest son, the 25-year-old George W. Bush?

"The impression I had was that Georgie was raising a lot of hell in Houston, getting in trouble and embarrassing the family, and they just really wanted to get him out of Houston and under Jimmy's wing," Allison's widow, Linda, told me. "And Jimmy said, 'Sure.' He was so loyal."

Linda Allison's story, never before published, contradicts the Bush campaign's assertion that George W. Bush transferred from the Texas Air National Guard to the Alabama National Guard in 1972 because he received an irresistible offer to gain high-level experience on the campaign of Bush family friend Winton "Red" Blount.

In fact, according to what Allison says her late husband told her, the younger Bush had become a political liability for his father, who was then the United States ambassador to the United Nations, and the family wanted him out of Texas. "I think they wanted someone they trusted to keep an eye on him," Linda Allison said.

After more than three decades of silence, Allison spoke with Salon over several days before and during the Republican National Convention this week -- motivated, as she acknowledged, by a complex mixture of emotions.

They include pride in her late husband's accomplishments, a desire to see him remembered, and concern about the apparent double standard in Bush surrogates attacking John Kerry's Vietnam War record while ignoring the president's irresponsible conduct during the war. She also admits to bewilderment and hurt over the rupture her husband experienced in his friendship with George and Barbara Bush.

To this day, Allison is unsure what caused the break, though she suspects it had something to do with her husband's opposition to the elder Bush becoming chairman of the Republican National Committee under President Nixon.

Link (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/02/allison/index.html)

[bilbo]

It'll be fun watching them try to spin this one.

[D_Raay]

All I know is better damn well get reported. I'm so sick of the media making major issues out of nonsense and ignoring the real important ones.
Oh wait here's one (editing). Kobe Bryant's case has been dismissed. Let the endless media hours commence.

[Scotty-C]

Kobe Bryant's case has been dismissed. Let the endless media hours commence.

LOL! So damn true. Already sick of it.

[Loppfessor]

Am I alone when I say that the service records of EITHER canidate really don't concern me? I mean I'm not as worried about what happened 30 years ago as I am about what they'd do in the future. Both sides should just drop the whole service record thing.

[Blighty]

Am I alone when I say that the service records of EITHER canidate really don't concern me? I mean I'm not as worried about what happened 30 years ago as I am about what they'd do in the future. Both sides should just drop the whole service record thing.

You're not alone. In fact I suspect Bush must be loving this stuff. It keeps the attention away from the last four years. Why would he want people discussing what he's been doing as President when they can obsess over his time in the National Guard?

[saz]

This issue is exposing Bush II and Cheney for what they truly are - pussy ass cowards who avoided fighting in a war, yet are war mongers, all in the name of oil and corporate profiteering.

[abdulmohammad]

So "Destroyer" I guess since you are a "Jihad Soldier" you support the 9/11 hijackers and the death of 3,000 innocent lives.

[QueenAdrock]

He's obviously an alias.

[bilbo]

Both sides should just drop the whole service record thing.

Doesn't work that way. When you start flinging shit, expect consequences.
Having said that, expect a new terror warning come sunday night. :rolleyes:

[QueenAdrock]

I'm lookin' forward to it. :cool:

[Echewta]

His followers won't believe anything bad so he wont have to spin it.