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| Fifth Column |
| Bush Guard Commander Recants AWOL Charge |
| 2004-02-06 |
| The ex-military man who first launched charges during the 2000 presidential campaign that President Bush had gone AWOL from the National Guard has recanted his story. (You don’t say!) The account from Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, who told the Boston Globe four years ago that Bush never showed up for Guard drills with his Alabama unit, had become the centerpiece of Democratic attacks on the White House in recent days. "Had [Bush] reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not," Gen. Turnipseed told the Globe in May 2000. "I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered." (Apparantly NOT!) But on Wednesday Gen. Turnipseed reversed course, telling NBC News: "I don’t know if [Bush] showed up, I don’t know if he didn’t. I don’t remember how often I was even at the base." Still, the same day the retired general had withdrawn the allegation, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry (The Rat) McAuliffe was citing Turnipseed’s earlier, erroneous account in a bid to keep AWOL charges against Bush afloat. "The commander this week reiterated the entire time [Bush] was supposed to show up in the Alabama National Guard he wasn’t there," McAuliffe told CNN’s "Inside Politics" on Wednesday. "He said he made it up later, but you don’t have that option. When you’re supposed to serve our country, you’re supposed to be there." In fact, McAuliffe was wrong on the latter point as well, since Guard regulations expressly allow for make-up drills, according to no less an authority than Gen. Turnipseed himself. In July 2000, the New York Times reported, "Colonel Turnipseed, who retired as a general, said in an interview that regulations allowed Guard members to miss duty as long as it was made up within the same quarter." Asked if McAuliffe was prepared to apologize to the White House for misstating Gen. Turnipseed’s position on the Bush AWOL allegation, a spokesman for the DNC told NewsMax: "I don’t know. We’ll get back to you." I would really like to know how long Mr. McAuliffe served in the Military? I don’t have to look and neither do you. Scratch one option from the DNC dirty play book. They will next clain the Bush showed up in a dress or drunk (or both) for guard duty. Terry, the Rat disgusts me! Does the TRUTH hurt Terry? Well does it? |
| Posted by:Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) |
| #9 #4 Shipman, didn't mean to offend the whole clan; just the one. GA seems to have more Turnipseeds than AL and all of them have a first initial W. BTW, MS has a 98 year old W.A. Turnipseed. |
| Posted by: GK 2004-2-6 10:09:32 PM |
| #8 Data, just wait bro'. The whole medal throwing tantrum he pulled will be displayed as soon as he is declared their candidate. He also mocked the Iwo Jima Memorial on the cover of an anti-war mag a few months later. More to follow.... |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-2-6 9:57:10 PM |
| #7 Aaaaaand what do you think the chances are that Turnipseed's recantation won't get buried by the media? They have WAY too much emotional investment in trying to drive GWB out of office to let inconvenient facts stand in the way... |
| Posted by: Prince Tofurki bin Turducken 2004-2-6 8:49:56 PM |
| #6 WTF happened to Akron?! |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-2-6 7:14:19 PM |
| #5 Save this. The Dems will still be spouting this in November. Am I the only one who is wondering why Kerry's activities after the war aren't horse fodder yet? Am I missing something here? |
| Posted by: dataman1 2004-2-6 6:42:54 PM |
| #4 TurnipSeed is a fine local name GK. I'm starting to think I may know this guy..... he'd be about 90.. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-6 5:36:52 PM |
| #3 Dave D., you must feel like the Pretenders who went back to Ohio to find that Akron was gone. I kept expecting the regular Democrats to jump in and back Joe Lieberman. It never happened. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-6 5:25:03 PM |
| #2 I've tried, without any success at all, to get my mind around the concept that this "Bush was AWOL" business is actually going to be the Democrats' Big Burning Issue of the upcoming election. It's especially difficult since, until about this time last year, I myself was a Democrat- and had been, for more than thirty years. WTF happened to my [former] party???? Did somebody put something in the water or something that made them all drooling idiots? If so, who did it? Bill Clinton? Michael Moore? Sorry, just venting... |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-2-6 5:12:24 PM |
| #1 McAuliffe: "....When you’re supposed to serve our country, you’re supposed to be there." Just like Senators Kerry and Edwards who haven't attended a Senate vote for three months. AWOL, Mr McAuliffe? Turnipseed? TurnipSEED? That naive idiot didn't even make it to the truck so he COULD fall off. |
| Posted by: GK 2004-2-6 5:11:08 PM |