corrente

I think the media needs to stop being so mean to Dear Leader. It's mean to say that Bush was a deserter—but to back it up with documents? That's really crossing the line. CBS:

What has never surfaced before, reports CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, are four documents from the personal files of Col. Jerry Killian, Mr. Bush's squadron commander. They could help answer lingering questions on whether Lt. Bush received special consideration during his military service.

Mmmm... Forget the special considerations—that's a given (see Ben Barnes). What we want to know is whether Bush broke the law.

The first memo is a direct order to take "an annual physical examination" – a requirement for all pilots.

The impunity: Bush disobeys the order. This would be the medical examination Bush didn't take—after taking the exam would have involved a drug test (back).

Another memo refers to a phone call from the lieutenant in which he and his commander "discussed options of how Bush can get out of coming to drill from now through November." And that due to other commitments "he may not have time."

The impunity: Normally, in the military, you make the time for it, not the other way round. "commitment"?

On August 1, 1972, Col. Killian grounded Lt. Bush for failure to perform to U.S. Air Force/Texas Air National Guard standards and for failure to take his annual physical as ordered.

The impunity: Grounding is a penalty for disobeying a direct order?

A year after Lt. Bush's suspension from flying, Killian was asked to write another assessment.

Killian's memo, titled 'CYA' reads he is being pressured by higher-ups to give the young pilot a favorable yearly evaluation; to, in effect, sugarcoat his review. He refuses, saying, "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job."

[T]wo official memos seem to contradict previous White House statements.

One "orders" the president to report for a physical. The White House has said the physical was "not necessary" because the president stopped flying.

The impunity: Bush decides what is "necessary," not his commanding officers.

And where the White House says the president's flying status was revoked simply for missing that physical, the memo points to both the missed physical and "failure to perform to (USAF/TexANG) standards."

It's not just the newly discovered memos causing trouble. There are new questions as to why, when he moved to Massachusetts to attend Harvard Business School, Mr. Bush did not sign up with a reserve unit there, as he promised in a letter when he left the Texas National Guard.

Because He could?

And why, with his erratic attendance record, he was subject to neither discipline nor active duty call-up as provided for in his contract with the Guard.

Because He had juice?

Larry Korb, an assistant Secretary of Defense under President Reagan has reviewed the Mr. Bush's record and believes he did not fulfill his contract.
"Essentially, Bush gamed the system to avoid serving his country the way that most of his contemporaries had to," Korb said.
(via CBS)

The impunity: Bush "gamed the system." (Of course, Reagan DOD officials are all in the tank for the Democrats...)

The money quote in Walter Robinson's story sums up Bush's impunity nicely—yes, all the way at the end:

''It appears that no one wanted to hold him accountable," said retired Major General Paul A. Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's director of the Air National Guard.
(via the Boston Globe)

Throughout Bush's life, (1) people never hold Him accountable for anything, and (2) He doesn't believe they have any right to.

That's the story of Bush's "service" in the Guard; that's the story of Bush's term in office. The fact that between them Bush was "born again" makes no difference to his character or his behavior. Classic example: Try (1) to hold Bush accountable on the missing WMDs, and what (2) does He answer? "What's the difference?" Subtext: You have no right to question me.

It's a culture of impunity that is rapidly taking hold in this country, and Bush is doing everything He can to foster it.

Fortunately, in November, we have the opportunity to hold him accountable... We hope....