Politics from North of the 49th Parallel
Published on September 14, 2004 By IanGillespie In Politics

OK, that's a little harsh; a bit of fun on my part. It's some pretty ugly rhetoric -- even in jest -- but likely no worse than what we'll be hearing soon enough on CNN.

Last week saw a renewed effort to impugn George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard -- and thereby, his integrity as a whole. This scandal hardly made a ripple, but it may only be a hint of what's to come.

Washington has been teeming with rumours that far more sensational charges have already been unearthed. Today, those charges will finally be brought to light by a sure-to-be-best-selling book, "The Family" by the notoriously devastating biographer Kitty Kelley.

Given the sudden flop of last week's scandal, it's apt to compare the new allegations made by Kelley to the Guard allegations already disposed of so effectively by the Bush camp.

The resurgence of TANG stories began with an AP report confirming that Bush missed several months of Guard duty between April and October of 1972. Ironically, Bush's missed drills included "a mission to safeguard against surprise attack". (So, he's got quite a history of fucking that stuff up, doesn't he?)

The Boston Globe quickly followed up with a story revealing that after moving to Massachusetts to attend Harvard, Bush failed to finish his sixth year of service -- despite making a commitment to resume training within 60 days.

60 Minutes II then hit the Bush administration with a double whammy of its own. Dan Rather scored former Texas Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes' first national interview about keeping Dubya out of Vietnam. Later, CBS added some spice with a few newly discovered, or possibly forged, documents, including a memo ordering Bush to take a flight physical -- an order he never obeyed.

Now that's all very interesting, but well -- no, it's not. That stuff's not interesting. It's boring. It's boring as all hell. It's all documents, and dates, and regulations.

To generate real interest in this stuff you'd at least need a highly organized group of Swift boat liars, or even a reporter willing to ask questions of a "war president".

But it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. We're might just have to rely on sex and drugs for our entertainment this election season. Thankful, we've got Ms. Kelley for that.

From the Sunday Herald:

"Kelly [sic] -- the bitch of biographers who has already assassinated the characters of such luminaries as the Reagans, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Onassis and the Windsors -- says she spoke to the President’s sister-in-law Sharon Bush, who divorced the President’s brother, Neil."

"Sharon Bush apparently told Kelly: 'The President did coke at Camp David when his father was President [1989-93] and not just once either.' ... Sharon Bush, however, is now denying that she made the cocaine claim to Kelly [Sharon Bush denies having made this claim despite Kelley's editor having been present at the time.]."

"Proof of coke use in the late 1980s and early 1990s would mean that Bush used the drug after his reported conversion to Christianity. If that was proved to be the case then the one thing that protects Bush from his hard-partying past -- his born-again status and his repentance for past sins -- would fall to bits."

But wait, there's more:

"Even more damaging is the allegation... that she has gathered 'a great deal of circumstantial evidence' that the President helped arrange for a girlfriend to have an abortion in the 1970s [before Roe v. Wade]."

"Kelly says four friends of the woman who had the abortion provided affidavits to the authoritative US current affairs magazines Time and Newsweek about the abortion but the magazines did not run with the story."

And just for fun, there's this:

"There are even claims that First Lady Laura Bush was a drug dealer in her youth.... Kelly says she was the 'go-to-girl for dime bags' of grass at the Southern Methodist University. Kelly quotes a PR executive, Robert Nash, who says: 'She not only smoked dope but she sold dope.'"

It's sad, not only to see American politics devolve to the point that substance is trumped by scandal, but devolve to the point that even scandal is trumped by more tawdry, personal scandal.

To say that I'm 'of two minds' about this would be an understatement -- I'm of several.

On the one hand, I would never condone the use irrelevant personal smears, but on the other, George W. Bush is a dangerous man, I won't be crying myself to sleep the night he's brought down no matter what the circumstances.

On the one hand, I would never ascribe to an 'injustice for all' view of political retribution, but on the other, perhaps this is the only way by which some will ever learn.

American voters probably don't that believe coke-snorting abortionizers are irredeemably evil, but they certainly long for a breed of leadership that has long since been lacking. Ironically, that is why smears tactics work: they blind us to true leadership. No manner of counter smear will ever lay bare the hypocrisy of such attacks, but exposing what hypocrisy we can will illuminate the simple truth that human weakness knows no party. And those who revel in the politics of personal destruction should remember that.

Ultimately, success or failure is ours. We were young once, and our heroes seemed larger than life. We are older now, and in the omnipresent microscope of media no one seems larger than human. But just as courage cannot exist without fear, human frailty does not diminish our leaders, it provides the contrast that allows them to achieve greatness. We ought to try and remember that, if only occasionally.


Comments (Page 2)
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on Sep 14, 2004

Reply #14 By: liveletlive - 9/14/2004 6:05:13 PM



There's not one lie in that post - it's all true. I remember it all after watching many newscasts , and I do watch alot of news.

Where were you that you missed all of this? I saw Bush say it to a reporter. Why do you people who call those who tell the truth "Liars", when you are to lazy to find out on your own?

Because you know it's true.


You spout the talk but as of yet I see NO PROOF! You say he said it to a reporter, I say PROVE it! Show me "proof" or clam up!
on Sep 14, 2004
George Bush: Coke Addled Philanderer


So the man loved Coca-Cola, what were the people who are accusing him, Pepsi Drinkers?
on Sep 14, 2004

http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0001a/fortunateson.html http://www.negativespin.com/cocaine.htm

http://www.progress.org/archive/drc12.htm

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/10/18/cocaine/

http://www.bobharris.com/scoop/bushcocaine.htm

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/007802.html

http://www.november.org/razorwire/rzold/14/1407.html

http://www.youdebate.com/DEBATES/bush_cocaine.HTM

http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/t43.htm

http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread2633.shtml

http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm

http://www.kausfiles.com/archive/index.08.25.99.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/politics/administration/whbriefing/

on Sep 14, 2004



Sorry, the first and last web sites are "run together" The more intelligent of you will be able to figure out the www. *************
on Sep 14, 2004
George Bush belongs in jail ( and so does Neil Bush ) , not in the White House.


Are you, by any chance, one of those far right, hardliner republicans? I swear I've heard this same type of rhetoric concerning those "damned dope smoking hippies ... they oughta lock em all up forever and throw away the key!"

Now there's a tolerant bunch.
on Sep 14, 2004
*cough*
*cough*

...wait..!

*cough*

(eyes watering)

...who's locking up dope smokers?

*cough*
...damn...
on Sep 15, 2004
Are you, by any chance, one of those far right, hardliner republicans? I swear I've heard this same type of rhetoric concerning those "damned dope smoking hippies ... they oughta lock em all up forever and throw away the key!"

Now there's a tolerant bunch.


Well, no , I'm right in the middle.

But when a person locks people up for drug abuse , and yet does the same thing himself , AND then steals an election , falls alseep at the wheel,
killing thousands of Americans , then sends us into a war we didn't have to fight ...

On top of that , he and his brother are involved in insider trading / fraud scandals - I think jail is a great place for him. People with less crimes than that are still in jail.

George W. Bush - the only President with a criminal record ( would've and should've been a lot more )
on Sep 15, 2004
Liveletlive, that is not proof. That is simply restating allegations. At the least since you can forge documents from a Dead Guard Commander, you could forge some records of his arrest. And then just clam up like Dan Rather so no one could prove you wrong. Guess that makes you an honest dupe.
on Sep 15, 2004


All he had to do was answer yes or no like the others.
The person I saw challenging Bush was Orrin Hatch , and here's the exact thing that I heard :


http://www.evote.com/index.asp?Page=/news_section/1999-08/08221999Bush.asp


And then I saw George W. Bush do the same thing he did with the alcohol abuse story , and here it is , his own words, exactly as I have stated and had heard.

http://www.evote.com/index.asp?Page=/news_section/1999-08/08221999Bush.asp

But I'm sure the networks have plenty of footage of his remarks , and that in time , we will all see them when the truth is told , again.
If someone walked up to me and asked if I used cocaine , I can say "no" . without lying. Our President CAN'T.

And about the "forgeries" - All of the documents are not said to have been forged. The ones that show that Bush was suspended are real , and that he didn't show for a physical are real. Furthermore :

It was announced on the noon news today that the dead Commander's secretary stated that if the papers are forgeries, the content is correct.
on Sep 15, 2004
Ex-secretary says papers on Bush `not real' but accurate in content [LINK]

From article:
She added that she does not support Bush as president, deeming him "unfit for office" and "selected, not elected."


Right there I think it shows that her view may be biased and she could be lying about the content, after all if she did not type them, and the LTC typed his own personal back logs, than how would she know what content was in them, not saying one way or the other, but it makes her case on the Content mighty weak and look partisan than the actual objective truth. That's all I know.
on Sep 15, 2004



And she could also be a very honest person. After all , she was THERE , and you , and I weren't.
on Sep 15, 2004
But when a person locks people up for drug abuse , and yet does the same thing himself , AND then steals an election , falls alseep at the wheel,
killing thousands of Americans , then sends us into a war we didn't have to fight ...


You mean he did all that himself? And to think people paint him as a goof off.

Seriously, such extreme rhetoric makes you come across as merely regurgitating the Democratic party line.

Locks people up? I don't get that one at all. Was he a cop? I don't remember hearing about that.

Does the same thing himself? Any proof? Hint - heresay is not proof, nor is refusing to give a yes or no answer.

Steals an election? That has been debunked so many times, it's becoming absurd.

Falls asleep at the wheel killing thousands of Americans? What was he giving them a ride in his car? That makes no sense.

Then sends us into a war we didn't have to fight? Matter of opinion, although we could have done nothing and took our chances. Congress felt otherwise.
on Sep 15, 2004


pictoratus,

Oh , yeah , just more Republican doublespeak.

If you guys ever cared to check facts , you might learn something.

No wait, you'd see the sky was blue and say it was orange.

You always want me to check the facts for you. You have the same amount of keys on your keyboard.

I know it's hard for you , but try - just try. Someday you'll know the truth.

By the way - where is Saddam ? How do you know that he won't be found "not guilty" , and want to retake his position?
We should have known that the fighting and killing going on even now was what would happen - everyone wants the power, including the
religious fanatics , just like the Taliban wanted. This was a war that was not needed. That's why very few supported us.

Bush's old friend Saddam may have killed many people , but so has China and so has Sudan, and many others. We can't take on China , and there's no oil in Sudan,
so we don't even pick the worst of regimes!

As for Congress , everyone knows that in times like this, you HAVE to say yes to the President ( who lied and lied ) , or the Republicans will call you un American.
THAT'S POLITICS in the worst form.
on Sep 15, 2004
I smoked the marijuana but I did not inhale.

on Sep 15, 2004

You mean he did all that himself? And to think people paint him as a goof off.


I wonder what kind of logic people have to paint Bush as some idiot who's such a SUPER GENIUS that he's able to be commit all the scandals of which liveletlive accuses him and still be President (and have a good chance of being one for another four years).

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