I like one aspect of AWOL2 a great deal

[troublemaker]

I earlier said that the second round of Bush AWOL charges is lame. I was referring to the Texans For Truth ad, the Boston Globe article and the Barnes interview. They seem at best a distraction and I think they're actually harmful because they are tedious advancements of a story that's been beaten to death.

The four Killian memos are another matter. Their content isn't a big deal, but their existence is. The point is that Killian had *copies* of two of Bush's documents in his file. The originals of those two docs should have been in Bush's file, but they weren't.

It's widely believed that Bush had his TANG files tampered with and documents shredded, but the story never got enough support. Reading the unedited transcript of CBS' Bartlett interview (courtesy of TPM; link below) it's plain that CBS was interested in the tampering angle, but they just didn't have enough to go on. We'll see what they turn up now.

Bartlett's reactions in this interview seem disproportionate to anything in the documents... he really does seem freaked out that they even exist.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_09_05.php#003452

[rumguy]

1. Bartlett was clearly flailing in that interview

They are on the defensive, for now anyway.

[fob]

3. Oh yeah, big time. Did you see those sideways glances at the camera

and the twitchy, quivering lips? There was a second there where I thought he was going to break into a full-fledged stutter!!

[fob]

2. Did you get the feeling that Rather has more memos and wanted

Bartlett to say "The bottom line is, is that President Bush would not have received the honorable discharge that he was granted when he returned from Alabama if he had not met his requirements." as many times as possible? I didn't count the number of times bartlett says that but it's pretty much in EVERY answer that he gives. It's their Jeopardy Style answer that's gonna fuck em up big time.

They use the "honorable discharge" as "proof" that he "served honorably", without realizing that while the statement is true the other way around, it's not necessarily true the way they use it, and the Killian Memos seem to support that. bush* is basically saying 4 is the answer without realizing the question is "what is 73-68?"

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

4. That is a beautiful way to put it.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Drip...Drip...Drip

Remember, the big clock on the wall says a quarter to Nov. 2...two months left. Any week a campaign is thrown off its message and has to play defense or refute side issues is a major plus. Look how the slimeboaters took Kerry out for the entire month of August. Fortunately those assholes played their cards too soon (methinks Rove didn't know this dog would hunt again and was as surprised as anyone when it did). Now the tables are turned.

The fact this regime was forced to admit new documents existed and this memo adds more questions than it answers is just fine with me. Whether the shithead showed in Alabama or not or where and how he supposedly fulfilled his TANG requirements mean little. The fact is, he used power and privilidge to avoid going to a war John Kerry volunteered to serve in. Nothing more, nothing less. It shows who leads, who runs.

Actually the regime's reaction has been disjointed today. They rolled out Ben Ginsburg to defend them? What crackpipe was Rove smoking for that choice? Bartlett? Another smarmy lawyer...an operative...parsing every sylable.

Let's watch these assholes box with the ghost they brought to this dance for a bit. Nothing finer than seeing the kharma train go rolling over these assholes.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. What would be great is if Rather HAD other documents that hadn't been

shown yet, and asked Bartlett Pear:

"Are there any other documents relating to President Bush's National Guard service that you haven't yet released?"

You know when the cop, or your mom, is asking you a question that you suspect they might already know the answer to...