So, exactly what was the source for this “fake” but “accurate” document? Was it a literal transcription, a loose recollection, or just invented for the occasion?
The secretary who typed the original memos said the "information was accurate" but the documents themselves were not the ones she typed. Someone apparently knew about the scandal, but couldn't get the original papers, made copies and passed them on to Rather. Shame on Rather, and shame on Bush.
Do we now accept this kind of garbage as fact?
The lady who typed the documents in the first place verifies the information. So yes, first-hand knowledge is sufficient.
Do we all get to recreate documents supposedly written 30 years ago and claim they are “accurate” because we want them to be?
Since she typed the originals, she's the authority on what she typed.
Barbarian observes:
He also went AWOL, got busted from flying status for refusing to report as ordered, and then got a mere slap on the wrist, because he had political back-up. His supervisor declined to rate him, because he hadn't even been seen for over a year.
There is no record of the President being AWOL while in the service of his country.
There are two documents that show this. The first is the orders busting him from flying status for failure to show as ordered for a physical (Bush knew that the AF was starting to examine nasal passages for cocaine use, but we aren't sure why he refused to appear) The second is his OER, in which his supervisor documented that he had been absent from his assigned duty for over a year.
Such things are very carefully recorded by the military
Indeed they were. That is how they ended up on the net.
Barbarian observes:
No one assigned him to just quit coming, or to fail to report as ordered. That was his own agenda.
He moved to a different state to pursue political activities. So what?
So he happened to have an assignment, and was never relieved of that assignment. BTW, a group of veterans in Alabama offered a substantial amount of cash for anyone who could show that Bush ever showed at the Guard unit he says he switched over to. So far, no one's been able to show that, either.
Ya think?
The commander in Alabama wrote that he doesn't remember Bush ever being there. Neither does anyone else. And no one gave him permission to change. He just left and never came back.
Pay records show he continued to serve.
They show he continued to draw pay. However, neither his assigned supervisor, nor the unit he supposedly switched to on his own recalls him being in either place.
Those records didn’t come from Dan Rather’s files so does that make them “genuine” but “inaccurate”?
The genuine ones include the one in which his supervisor says he hadn't been seen at his assigned station for over a year, and the one that shows he was busted for not reporting as ordered.
Barbarian on the notion that Bush would have served honorably:
Doubtful. He specifically requested to never be sent overseas, and he picked a unit that flew outdated aircraft, which was thought to be unlikely to go. Even then, he went AWOL.
Lot’s of people, even in the regular components requested various assignments, stateside or in Europe, and only a few – perhaps “fools” like me – actually asked to be sent to Viet Nam even if we really didn’t have a choice. So what?
Kerry did. So did a lot of people. Just pointing out that Bush's lack of moral fiber was consistent.
There’s no reason to make the irresponsible implication that the President would have refused service in war if ordered.
There is the fact that he refused to serve even in a safe Guard slot. And it's not just the testimony of the woman who typed the memos.
Barbarian observes:
The majority of Guardsmen and women are proud, conscientious and patriotic. They have nothing in common with Bush.
You’re correct about the majority but incorrect about President Bush.
It's all true. The are official documents which make it very clear. Bush went AWOL when it suited his purpose, he used political pressure to escape all but the mildest punishement.
Your implication that the President was not “proud, conscientious and patriotic” is irresponsible.
You misspelled "accurate."
His reasons for serving – whatever they were – don’t matter.
His reasons for not serving honorably are obvious.
Barbarian observes:
The record that will stay with him forever, is the Colonel's secretary saying that he did indeed fail to sever honorably. It will be the record in which his supervisor says he was missing for a year. The one in which the Air Force grounds him for failing to report as ordered.
That's the record he's got. And those records will be preserved.
The record will stand that Dan Rather...
We're not talking about Rather. We're talking about the lady who was there, and typed the memos, and says that the information was accurate.
Matter of public record. So are the documents busting him, and the one in which his absences are documented.
That's how it is.
