Text 1256, 86 rader
Skriven 2004-08-12 11:57:24 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
     Kommentar till en text av FRANK SCHEIDT (1:123/140)
Ärende: Another analysis
========================
12 Aug 04 07:50, FRANK SCHEIDT wrote to JOHN HULL:

 FS> -=> Quoting John Hull to Frank Scheidt <=-

 RJ>>> This article can be found on the web at
 RJ>>> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040816&s=williams
 RJ>>> Bush's Military Past
 RJ>>> by IAN WILLIAMS

 RJ>>> Even allowing for the usual military-bureaucratic incompetence,
 RJ>>> records relating to George W. Bush's National Guard Service have 
 RJ>>> a suspiciously low survival rate, so there has been 
 RJ>>> understandable incredulity about the recent revelation that a 
 RJ>>> crucial quarter's pay records from 1972 did not survive the 
 RJ>>> Pentagon's alleged attempt to transfer the microfilm to a more 
 RJ>>> durable medium. That incredulity was enhanced rather than allayed 
 RJ>>> when they eventually were discovered behind whichever filing 
 RJ>>> cabinet they had been dropped. 

 RJ>>> At issue is whether Bush was, technically at least, a deserter in 
 RJ>>> his fourth year of National Guard service, when he requested a 
 RJ>>> transfer to Guard duties in Alabama so he could assist a 
 RJ>>> Republican senatorial campaign there. 
 FS>>                               ... [snip] ...
 FS>> This kind of activity is known as "Flogging a dead horse".  So 
 FS>> let's cut out the nonsense and start studying Kerry's "brilliant" 
 FS>> U.S. Senate career ... I wonder why Kerry is so silent about that 
 FS>> ... also about the fact that he was Dukakis's Lt. Governor ... 
 FS>> heh heh heh ... now *there's* a horse which can really gallop!

 FS>> ... "I need a home-run hitter," Tom said ruthlessly.

 JH>> Don't bet on it, Frank.  Cal Thomas had a rather long column in 
 JH>> the paper today about how these questions about Kerry's military 
 JH>> and Vietnam service are legitimate questions.  Why?  Two reasons:  
 JH>> 1. He has been trying to sell his leadership ability and courage 
 JH>> under fire based on his alledged Vietnam record, and 2. He has made 
 JH>> a big deal of Bush's record, trying to get traction by saying he 
 JH>> was AWOL, etc.

 JH>> He can't have it both ways, and I have to tell you, we 
 JH>> conservatives would WELCOME him into a courtroom to try to take 
 JH>> legal action for what the Swift Boat guys are saying.  WELCOME IT! 
 JH>>  

 JH>> This is not going away and it won't do him any good.

 FS> I'm certain it won't go away, but, from my standpoint the closer 
 FS> his actions are to *today* the more important.  After all the 
 FS> Vietnam War was three decades ago while his Senate record is 
 FS> fairly recent.  

 FS> I think his Vietnam record is largely a wash.  People can use the 
 FS> swift boats challengers to knock him down while supporters can 
 FS> use his official record in that war to build him up.  I don't 
 FS> care much for his Vietnam record in general.

You don't just spring up at age 50, ready to be president or a CEO or whatever.
 Your abilities as a leader, as a manager, are learned over a long period of
time.  Our performance as a adult is based on the knowledge we gained in our
early years at home (what our parents taught us), our years in school, and the
moral values we learned as youngsters and young adults.  The sum total of all
of that is what makes us who we are as adults, and is the foundation of our
adult ability in nearly every area.

Kerry obviously learned little or nothing of value as a child, because he used
deceit, dishonesty, and lies to get ahead as a young officer in Vietnam,
encurred the wrath and disdain of his commanding officers, his contemporaries,
and the enlisted men who worked for him to the extent that they are willing to
come out NOW and say they didn't trust him, thought he was a "loose cannon",
and asked him to leave.  Nobody wanted to serve with the guy.  That's an
extremely harsh thing to lay on somebody in a combat zone when you're a
twenty-something officer with dreams of glory.

You'll have to pardon me if I think his character, his morality, and his
ability as CinC is based on those things that he learned - or didn't learn - as
a child and young man.  He has been judged by his peers and found wanting.  You
don't elect a man like that as president of the most powerful nation on earth.

John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
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