Posted on 02/03/2010 11:04:16 AM PST by RED SOUTH
Looks like Palin is the overwhelming choice of freepers who voted!
Palin - 102 votes
None Of The Above - 12 votes
Barbour - 10 votes
Hunter - 8 votes
Demint - 7 votes
Pence - 3 votes
Ryan - 3 votes
Jindal - 2 votes
Jeb Bush - 2 votes
Liz Cheney - 2 votes
Mitch Daniels - 2 votes
Newt Gingrich - 2 votes
Thune, Gary Johnson, Joe Wilson, Scott Brown and rick Perry all got a vote.
No Votes for Romney or Huckabee ....
Now that would be a pairing worth the watch.... talk about popcorn time
Statement two is true. That doesn’t make anything else true. Romney, Huckabee, and McCain for my money were all just the same old tired RINO. Romney would have been saddled with the effects of health care as it is in Mass.
More salient question where has he been in all the battles against Obamacare? He has been silent. That won’t cut it in my book. Palin has been out front with her opinions and they have made a difference
:) I only post because of the meager turn out..*smiles*
I like it...
LOL!
OATH OF ENLISTMENT AIR NATIONAL GUARD:
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of (STATE NAME) against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the Governor of (STATE NAME) and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to law and regulations. So help me God.
Tell me, FRiend, how does one get out of serving in an active vital F-101 intercept squadron in Texas to go help out a politician running for Congress in Alabama to a ground-based IRR Air Guard unit where no one remembers him ever showing up for drill?
THE MOVE TO ALABAMA
The records show that Bush kept up his rigorous schedule of flying through the spring of 1972: He was credited for duty on ten days in March of that year, and seven days in April. Then, as Bush began his fifth year of service in the Guard, he appears to have stepped back dramatically. The records indicate that he received no credit in May, June, July, August, and September 1972. In October, he was credited with two days, and in November he was credited with four. There were no days in December, and then six in January 1973. Then there were no days in February and March.
The change was the result of Bush’s decision to go to Alabama to work on the Senate campaign of Republican Winton Blount. With an obligation to the Guard, Bush asked to perform equivalent service in Alabama. That was not an unusual request, given that members of the Guard, like everyone else, often moved around the country. “It was a common thing,” recalls Brigadier General Turnipseed. “If we had had a guy in Houston, he could have made equivalent training with Bush’s unit. It was so common that the guy who wrote the letter telling Bush to come didn’t even tell me about it.”
The president’s critics have charged that he did not show up for service — was “AWOL” — in Alabama. Bush says he did serve, and his case is supported by records showing that he was paid and given retirement credit for days of service while he was known to be in Alabama. The records also show that Bush received a dental examination on January 6, 1973, at Dannelly Air National Guard base, home of the 187th (January 6 was one of the days that pay records show Bush receiving credit for service). And while a number of Guard members at the base say they do not remember seeing Bush among the roughly 900 men who served there during that time, another member, a retired lieutenant named John Calhoun, says he remembers seeing Bush at the base several times.
What seems most likely is that Bush was indeed at Dannelly, but there was not very much for a non-flying pilot to do. Flying fighter jets involves constant practice and training; Bush had to know when he left Texas that he would no longer be able to engage in either one very often, which meant that he would essentially leave flying, at least for some substantial period of time. In addition, the 187th could not accommodate another pilot, at least regularly. “He was not going to fly,” says Turnipseed. “We didn’t have enough airplanes or sorties to handle our own pilots, so we wouldn’t have done it for some guy passing through.”
On the other hand, showing up for drills was still meeting one’s responsibility to the Guard. And, as 1973 went along, the evidence suggests that Bush stepped up his work to make up for the time he had missed earlier. In April of that year, he received credit for two days; in May, he received credit for 14 days; in June, five days; and in July, 19 days. That was the last service Bush performed in the Guard. Later that year, he asked for and received permission to leave the Guard early so he could attend Harvard Business School. He was given an honorable discharge after serving five years, four months, and five days of his original six-year commitment.
The records indicate that, despite his move to Alabama, Bush met his obligation to the Guard in the 1972-73 year. At that time, Guardsmen were awarded points based on the days they reported for duty each year. They were given 15 points just for being in the Guard, and were then required to accumulate a total of 50 points to satisfy the annual requirement. In his first four years of service, Bush piled up lots of points; he earned 253 points in his first year, 340 in his second, 137 in his third, and 112 in his fourth. For the year from May 1972 to May 1973, records show Bush earned 56 points, a much smaller total, but more than the minimum requirement (his service was measured on a May-to-May basis because he first joined the Guard in that month in 1968).
Bush then racked up another 56 points in June and July of 1973, which met the minimum requirement for the 1973-74 year, which was Bush’s last year of service. Together, the record “clearly shows that First Lieutenant George W. Bush has satisfactory years for both ‘72-’73 and ‘73-’74, which proves that he completed his military obligation in a satisfactory manner,” says retired Lt. Col. Albert Lloyd, a Guard personnel officer who reviewed the records at the request of the White House.
All in all, the documents show that Bush served intensively for four years and then let up in his fifth and sixth years, although he still did enough to meet Guard requirements. The records also suggest that Bush’s superiors were not only happy with his performance from 1968 to 1972, but also happy with his decision to go to Alabama. Indeed, Bush’s evaluating officer wrote in May 1972 that “Lt. Bush is very active in civic affairs in the community and manifests a deep interest in the operation of our government. He has recently accepted the position as campaign manager for a candidate for United States Senate. He is a good representative of the military and Air National Guard in the business world.”
Beyond their apparent hope that Bush would be a good ambassador for the Guard, Bush’s superiors might have been happy with his decision to go into politics for another reason: They simply had more people than they needed. “In 1972, there was an enormous glut of pilots,” says Campenni. “The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Air Force was putting pilots in desk jobs. In ‘72 or ‘73, if you were a pilot, active or Guard, and you had an obligation and wanted to get out, no problem. In fact, you were helping them solve their problem.”
Bush was an empty suit too , the republican version of Obama. Just a name and face the big money got behind.
How did I miss the poll? I was on here most of the evening.
I don’t think it was lack of interest. It was not prominently displayed. I don’t miss much on FR, but I missed this poll. Where was it?
<<< Mike Pence is my vote!
I was in the Army during then, Bush was not going to Vietnam in mid 1972, his earlier request for Vietnam was turned down, and his unit was not called up and sure wasn't going to be in 1972. (Read the article)
"Beyond their apparent hope that Bush would be a good ambassador for the Guard, Bush’s superiors might have been happy with his decision to go into politics for another reason: They simply had more people than they needed. “In 1972, there was an enormous glut of pilots,” says Campenni. “The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Air Force was putting pilots in desk jobs. In ‘72 or ‘73, if you were a pilot, active or Guard, and you had an obligation and wanted to get out, no problem. In fact, you were helping them solve their problem.”
One and, occasionally two, weekends missed is sometimes overlooked but the missed drills he's admitted to is unacceptable to my way of thinking because I personally know of enlisted Sailors who missed drills who were called to active duty.
I spent years in the National Guard also, and they were very good about letting people work around their schedules and transfer to units in different states, don't try and tell these people that the Guard does not allow them to pursue their personal lives by moving to different states and missing meetings and annual training for a while if it can't be avoided, as long as you make it up.
You didn't dispute the article at all, Bush had a pretty high speed hitch in the Guard, amassing much more duty time than required and fulfilling his duty honorably.
"Together, the record “clearly shows that First Lieutenant George W. Bush has satisfactory years for both ‘72-’73 and ‘73-’74, which proves that he completed his military obligation in a satisfactory manner,” says retired Lt. Col. Albert Lloyd, a Guard personnel officer who reviewed the records at the request of the White House.
All in all, the documents show that Bush served intensively for four years and then let up in his fifth and sixth years, although he still did enough to meet Guard requirements. The records also suggest that Bush’s superiors were not only happy with his performance from 1968 to 1972, but also happy with his decision to go to Alabama. Indeed, Bush’s evaluating officer wrote in May 1972 that “Lt. Bush is very active in civic affairs in the community and manifests a deep interest in the operation of our government. He has recently accepted the position as campaign manager for a candidate for United States Senate. He is a good representative of the military and Air National Guard in the business world.”
OMGosh. I never made that connection between Huck and Kevin Spacey but you are right. LOL
Me neither. Makes the poll invalid! ;^)
One problem is...by the time Oklahoma, and many other states got to vote in the primary. McCain was already “crowned”.....
You clearly want to attack a vet for his service regardless of the facts.
Bush served his full 6 years completely, transferring units is normal in the Guard, when I was in, I even saw a bidding war as another unit was offering us rank if we would transfer to them and accept a totally new MOS.
Way too bloody early.
Can concur with your point about transferring between state units - know someone who is in the process of doing this now, moving from one state to another.
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