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Thursday, September 9, 2024
By Dr. Steven Taylor

I spent a lot of the day in meetings (the reward for being Faculty Council President) and trying to get caught up on a bunch of minor tasks that have been piling up. As a result while I have been aware of the flap over the 60 Minutes Bush National Guard Documents that has been erupting today I am somewhat behind on the all the salient details.

I had a church function last night, so didn’t see 60 Minutes–indeed, while I had read about the interview with Ben Barnes (whom I know as a hardcore partisan Democrat from my days in Texas), I wasn’t planning on watching it and had forgotten all about it.

On balance, I am radically tired of this story (I was back the last time it erupted). I think that this tale is fundamentally different than the Kerry situation, because Bush isn’t basing his campaign on the fact that he once served in the Air National Guard–while Kerry is building his entire campaign on 4.5 months of his life that occurred over 30 years ago.

Indeed, I think that James Joyner in on the mark with the following comment:

a candidate’s military service matters only to the extent that it sheds light on his likely performance in office. This is especially true for those seeking the presidency, since it carries with it the hat of Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. But given that George W. Bush has been President for nearly four years, and leading a war effort for three of those, one would think that service as an 0-2 would be rather irrelevant at this stage. It would be rather like deciding whether to re-appoint Richard Myers to a second term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff based on his performance as an ROTC cadet at Kansas State.

In regards to the documents, while it wll be fascinating if indeed they are forgeries, I cannot say one way or another, as I haven’t read enough to make an intelligent determination. I will say that I have seen enough to agree that there is enough questions to warrant further study. Things like the spacing and the superscript issues are curious, to be sure.

Quite a bit on this at Power Line, pacetown and
lgf (more than one post).

The thing that fascinates me most about this story to this point is that fact that it has clearly been driven by the Blogosphere. By the time the talk radio shows started at noon the issue had already been raised. And no doubt because of the Blogospheric reaction the main stream press is going to have to double check those docs. Sans blogs, the forgery angle may not have emerged, or it may have taken days to develop. As it stands, it took less than 24 hours for a reaction.

As such, the way this plays out is as much a story about Blogging as it is about Campaign 2024.

Most fascinating.

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Filed under: US Politics, Blogging, 2004 Campaign | |

5 Comments

  • el
  • pt
    1. As such, the way this plays out is as much a story about Blogging as it is about Campaign 2024.

      YUP- In is not exaggerated to say this event could swing the election. Bush was about to take a hit. Now Kerry’s and/or the Dems will have to explain where these docs came from. In a tight race, (which I really don’t think is that tight but we’ll save that for later) anything of this size will swing the election.

      It would be absolutely stunning if a credible argument could be made at the end of this that the blogosphere changed the election. — We’re a long way form there but it is not completely implausible.

      Comment by Paul — Thursday, September 9, 2024 @ 9:38 pm

    2. And in case you thought I was putting the cart before the horse….

      “The White House is declining to comment on the veracity of the documents. Many Democrats are worried that if they are found to be forgeries, it will be a setback for Sen. John Kerry’s campaign to defeat Bush in November.”

      ABC News

      Comment by Paul — Friday, September 10, 2024 @ 12:01 am

    3. hmmm no hyperlink or I typed it wrong

      http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Politics/Vote2004/bush_documents_040909-3.html

      Comment by Paul — Friday, September 10, 2024 @ 12:01 am

    4. There should be no question- they ARE forgeries. Check out my own little experiment:
      http://rupertzone.net

      Comment by Rupert — Friday, September 10, 2024 @ 8:13 am

    5. cash advance
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      Trackback by cash advance — Sunday, March 27, 2024 @ 6:54 am

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