WaPo readers on Bush AWOL controversy (great read)

[scottxyz]

Washington Post readers were invited last week to express their opinions on Bush's AWOL controversy.

Many comments were published Feb 13, and they are powerful stuff.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38926-2004Feb13.html
(free registration required)


Bush's AWOL controversy - combined with his WMD fibs, his flight-suit stunt, and his "Bring 'em on" comment - is really hitting a sore spot with a lot of people (including a surprising number of conservatives and veterans), making them question the only real "plus" he supposedly ever had - his "character".

The irony of a rich kid blowing off his cushy National Guard duty and then not coming clean about it - and then sending soldiers off to die in a questionable war and prancing around in a military uniform he never earned and calling himself a "war president" while refusing to release all his records - is not lost on people, and many now see him as spoiled, lazy, weak, phony, arrogant, sneaky, callous or just plain out-of-touch - the total opposite of the down-home straight-shooter tough-guy image he tries to project in public.

And a lot of people are simply wondering WHY he missed his physical (which included a routine drug test).

The Republicans often claim that campaigns are about "character" - and in this campaign, the press is finally starting to notice how unimpressed people are with Bush's "character".

>>As a way to keep this thread kicked (and maybe promote some new grassroots soundbites), how about quoting some of your favorite reader comments in your posts?<<


Here's some of my favorites:

i'll tell you where this is heading...where it should, with that punk bush being exposed for the sissy, talk the talk but can't walk the walk, mamma boy he truly is....i'm sick and tired of chicken hawk punks disparging the character of decent, hardworking, taxpaying veterans such as myself when we disagree with administation policies.....

johnny montani, white sulphur springs, west virginia


President Bush subjected his National Guard record to scrutiny when he dressed up in a flight suit and staged his taxpayer-funded "Mission Accomplished" reelection photo op. He took credit for his National Guard service then, he should explain it fully now.

Gregg Johnson, Richmond, Virginia


As a lesbian former Army officer who served in Kuwait for 6 months in 1992 as part of Operation Southern Watch, I find it unbelievable that my family and I are about to be written out of the U.S. Constitution via a "federal marriage amendment" by a man who couldn't be bothered to show up for National Guard service.

Lara Ballard, Washington, D.C.


Can we, Americans, trust a president that lied about Iraq WMD, that lies about his military records, and that lied when he told us about a kinder and gentler republican party. Even more concerning, can we trust a Harvard MBA graduate that does not understand the problem that budget deficits will bring us; was he AWOL at Harvard also?, or was he only AWOL during basic ECON and Finance classes?

Enrique P. Becerra, Hollywood, Florida


I can still recall with hurt and anger, after long training marches, hot and sweaty, feeling abused and unloved by our drill sergeants, hearing them yell out... "all Nat'l Guard & reserves to the head of the chow line."

Danny Jacob, N Wilkesboro, NC

= = =

Many arguments supporting Bush seem flimsy or tangential by comparison - lacking any real personal angle, or coming from people who seem gullible or unquestioning: reminding us that he really did win the last election, he really does know how to fight terrorists because he says that a lot, or he really did do good on his disastrous "Meet the Press" interview this week:

I feel like since we made our bed we should sleep in it -- Bush is president, get over it. ... Now, more than ever, we need to be united.

Julie Bradshaw, Arlington, VA


In a recent interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Bush once again reminded us of his commitment and dedication as commander in chief. Today, that's what matters most. ... If, God forbid, terrorists hit us again, I can guarantee you that folks won't worry about whether Bush made it to every drill over 30 years ago. Instead, they'll be looking to a steady hand in the White House. And, that's exactly what, as history tells us, Bush can ably provide.

Andy C. Szul, Alexandria, VA

[teach1st]

1. Reading * supporter's viewpoints help us...

Steady hand? Yeah, right!

If, God forbid, terrorists hit us again, I can guarantee you that folks won't worry about whether Bush made it to every drill over 30 years ago. Instead, they'll be looking to a steady hand in the White House. And, that's exactly what, as history tells us, Bush can ably provide.

One image Democrats have to bring to the nation in clear and understandable focus is the image of the President sitting petrified in a classroom on September 11th while thousands of Americans were being killed - sitting reading a book, out of touch and incapable of responding in the first moments of the worst attack on American soil in history.

<edit: spelling>

[rolodomo]

2. I like how the Ministry of Propaganda (Fox)...

is trying to build up the importance of his flying career in terms of heroic behavior and national security. They are just setting him up for a fall! The more important his flying was then the more important the question becomes of why he refused to physical to keep flying and just walked away.

[Old and In the Way]

6. I hope someone does a creative ad on Bush at Brooker.

Show Bush sitting there reading his goat story book with 3rd graders, show Card whispering in his ear and fastforward a clock for 20 minutes in a minute. In split screen, show the smoke billowing from the WTC's while they clock moves on. We've got him on tape for the entire period. We ought to remind the American voter what "leadership" Bush exhibited when it really counted.

[rolodomo]

7. Yep, I think he freaked and did not know what to do next...

Not a good sign. Under pressure, a leader must be able to make those first few good decisions, no matter how basic they are (e.g., stand up, tell the children the president has some business to take care, walk out, confer with aides and found out what is going on)!

Maybe it is a good thing he went AWOL. I see him freezing up in combat.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. How about this for a counter-thought....

...Junior and the NeoCons knew exactly what was going to happen on 911, because they had to have "another Pearl Harbor" to enact the plans they had for global domination. In their view, 911 had to play out to the fullest for maximum pyschological impact on each and every American watching the television that day. They had to create an atmosphere of hate and revenge against that region of the world they intended to attack first.

Junior wasn't shell-shocked, nor was he frozen with fear. IMHO, he was thinking about his next steps to push the NeoCon agenda.

By the way, Junior told two different groups in the White House in the months following 911 that he had seen the first plane impact the World Trade Center. From the 911 timeline readily available on the Net, we know that Junior was on his way to the elementary school in his limo when the first plane hit the north tower of the WTC.

We also know that the presidential limo is packed with the latest in electronics, to include closed-circuit television. If the NeoCons knew what day the "terrorists" would attack, then they most certainly knew what targets they would attack. If Junior actually did see the first plane strike the WTC, as he has publicly claimed, then a good case could be made that Junior watched the event unfold while riding in the limo to the Sarasota elementary school. As we all know, Andy Card told Junior when the second plane impacted the south tower...so that could not have been the plane Junior claimed to have seen striking the WTC.

Junior was much too calm that day not to have known what was happening, and not to have known what his carefully rehearsed next steps would be.

JMHO.

[teach1st]

8. Good idea for a commercial, but..

Would the images of 9/11 be too much for the swing vote, ie, politicizing the tragedy?

What about playing the video as is with a few superimposed messages and clock: "What should a real leader after being told about an attack on America?"?

[boobooday]

3. The most ironic thing

About all of this is that anyone ever considered CHARACTER to be Bush's strong point. Maybe in some alternate universe.

It's about time.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

Jeanette

[punpirate]

4. "... a steady hand in the White House."

:wtf:


This guy has bailed out on every company he was associated, bailed out on the Guard--his middle name is appropriate--"Walker."

[Karenina]

10. THAT is a good meme, Punpirate!

*dauphin at least remains true to his middle name. He thinks he can simply be a "Walker" and leave any mess he creates behind for others to clean up.

[yellowcanine]

5. "Bush is president, get over it.". Heh. Not bloody likely.

I like the arrogance of this writer. Why should we get over it? We don't have to get over it. We can vote his sorry lying AWOL ass out of there.