corrente

Well, well. My understanding is that usually the military takes a dim view of this sort of behavior. I wonder why they treated Bush differently? And why Bush felt he could disobey with impunity? And why he disobeyed?

WaPo's headline:

Records Say Bush Balked at Order

Note well that this takes the story out of the "he said/she said" "balanced" mode.

Bush failed to carry out a direct order from his superior in the Texas Air National Guard in May 1972 to undertake a medical examination that was necessary for him to remain a qualified pilot, according to documents made public yesterday.

Documents obtained by the CBS News program "60 Minutes" shed new light on one of the most controversial episodes in Bush's military service, when he abruptly stopped flying and moved from Texas to Alabama to work on a political campaign. The documents include a memo from Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, ordering Bush "to be suspended from flight status for failure to perform" to U.S. Air Force standards and failure to take his annual physical "as ordered."
(via WaPo)

You know, it's kind of like the Iraq war, isn't it? That was "controversial" too—except the blogosphere, using those old-fashioned and oh-so-unbalanced Enlightenment tools called "evidence" and "reasoning" got to the story a lot earlier than the SCLM did. (Atrios gives a well-deserved shout-out to Paul Lukasiak here (see also here).

And readers! It couldn't hurt to drop Kristoff a line and remind him of Paul Lukasiak's work. Just to keep the story alive, you know....Heck Salon did..