corrente

Well, not exactly. But you can connect the dots below.

Wolf "blank stare" Blitzer speaking with David Gergen. CNN - Aug 24, 2004:

BLITZER: So should the president -- David, should the president do what Kerry says he should do and others, including John McCain, say he should do, namely specifically condemn those ads put out by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth?

[David] GERGEN: It does strike me that -- that we now know that a lot of what these -- are -- is in these ads is incorrect and it does constitute a smear. And on that basis, the president should listen to the good counsel of his friend John McCain and denounce these ads, just as John Kerry denounced the ads against George Bush's service in Vietnam, the ads which allege that -- that the father got the son into the National Guard, which was untrue and a smear as well from MoveOn.org, a liberal group. [See CNN transcript: Bush Campaign Says Kerry Ad is Libelous; Kerry Campaign Says White House Mounting Smear Campaign; Intelligence Reform Aired August 23, 2004 - 11:59 ET LINK

Ok, so what Gergen is referring to as "a lot of what ... is in these ads" includes the MoveOn ad suggestion that George W. Bush received preferential treatment - thanks to dear old dad - in order to secure a nice cozy spot with the Texas Air National Guard. This is the kind of allegation that Gergen characterizes as "untrue" and "a smear"? Apparently. Which only reinforces the usual cable TV anchor-pundit-dither about angy Bush hating liberal meanies making wild-eyed unfounded allegations about our misunderestimated heroic God given Leader's glorious legacy. Oh where oh where could MoveOn dot org have gotten such outrageous and unthinkable notions!

Maybe Gergen should ask the guy who wrote this here stuff below:

At Yale, both his grandfather and father were tapped by Skull and Bones, and so was George W. After graduating, he became a military pilot like his father, with some similar help from family influence. In early 1968, before his graduation, a friend of his father's spoke to Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes. The lieutenant governor, in turn, contacted the commander of the Texas Air National Guard, Brigadier General James M. Rose, with the result that George W. jumped the several waiting lists involved. After taking five weeks of basic training, he was discharged as an enlisted man, recommended for a second lieutenancy the next day, and given pretraining permission to spend September to November working in the campaign of successful GOP Florida Senate candidate Edward J. Gurney.

[the Blount/Alabama campaign came later in mid 1972]

It had been against navy regulations in 1942 to place eighteen-year-old George Bush in flight training, and the Los Angeles Times found a similar bending of the rules twenty-six years later.[1] George W. Bush did not qualify for either a direct commission or flight training. Tom Hail, the historian of the Texas National Guard, explained that direct commissions were "for doctors only, mostly because we needed extra flight surgeons." The air force flight-instruction program was also a favor, because such expensive training would not normally be given to a green candidate who had shown no professional commitment. The Texas Air National Guard arranged for George W. to train on F-102 fighters, dated aircraft being phased out of frontline service. He knew that he would not go to Vietnam; indeed, his own unit in Texas was being shut down even as he finished flight training. [Kevin Phillips American Dynasty; Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush, pages 44-45.]

[1] "Bush Received Quick Air National Guard Coalition," Los Angeles Times, July 4, 1999.

Outrageous! Unforgivable! Oh the scandalous unfounded odious stench of it all!

Will the Bushies sue former Reagan administration White House strategist Kevin Phillips for libel? Will Gergen recant his "smear" against MoveOn? Or, will Gergen accuse Phillips of being a liar. Or a dreaded lefty 527 himself. Perhaps even - SCREAM - a crazed Deaniac!

I'm sure Wolf Blitzer or grande dame Judy of the Wood-ruffs will delve to the bottom of the murky pond and rescue truth on behalf of infotainment, aristocracy, orphaned puppies, and our collective national good fortune incorporated.

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