It's An Issue Of Character
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Well, now we know W's teeth were in Alabama.
This week, in response to Democrat criticism that W didn't fulfill his Air National Guard obligation in Alabama in 1972 or 1973, the White House trotted out some dental records.
These records prove that W was, in fact, in the dental clinic at the Air National Guard base in Alabama where he was supposed to be serving.
Of course, the Democrats say that doesn't prove anything. It doesn't prove he served.
That, I suppose, is true. It doesn't prove he served. But I mean, really. If you were AWOL from the Air National Guard, would you go to the air base to have your teeth cleaned?
Earlier, the White House ponied up W's pay stubs and a letter that said W fulfilled his duty and was honorably discharged.
The Demos say none of that really proves anything, either. After all, if you're a little rich kid like W, you just get preferential treatment. You get paid whether you perform or not. You get an honorable discharge when you were AWOL.
I guess I think W probably did actually fulfill his Air National Guard duty, but we probably will never know for sure.
Seems like somebody ought to remember, but there were 800 guys in that group of reservists and W wasn't famous back then.
Who knows?
Aside from all the political posturing, I do believe that the issue of whether W served or not is relevant. I mean, it's an issue of character, really.
You have obligations. You fulfill them. A simple concept, really. You should not use privilege and status to avoid service or secure special treatment.
No one, regardless of politics, should do that. If W did, it's wrong.
And frankly, if I was in the armed forces and I found out my commander in chief was AWOL, I am pretty sure that would bother me.
But here's what I don't get.
How can Democrats say Bill Clinton's well-documented evasion of the Vietnam draft wasn't relevant to his ability to be president?
They're all over W - calling him a deserter, traitor, AWOL - talking about how he isn't fit to send our boys off to war to die.
How could they have no problem with Clinton sending our boys off to Somalia to die?
Ah, yes, politics as usual. And while we're on the topic of politics as usual, how about that John Kerry and his now famous special interest quip?
You've heard it.
He tells the special interests in Washington, "We're coming. You're going. And don't let the door hit you on the way out!"
Yeah, that's great, John.
Is that the door to your office you're talking about?
Last week, after Kerry was railing on the oil and HMO special interests who are so ingrained in the W administration, there was some interesting reporting going on.
The Washington Post reported the honorable Sen. Kerry has collected more money from special interest lobbyists than any other U.S. senator in the last 15 years. That's right, Kerry is No. 1 in the special interest sweepstakes.
Newsweek reports Kerry met with and personally corresponded with Johnny Chung. Chung later pleaded guilty to illegally funneling money to Kerry's campaign.
The Associated Press reported that Kerry's tax-exempt political committee gathered donations from groups with direct interests before Kerry's Senate committee.
According to AP:
Kerry collected more than $470,000 directly from companies and unions in 2002 for his Citizen Soldier Fund, and spent large amounts of it sowing goodwill in key primary states just before Congress banned the use of such "soft money" donations, according to records his group filed with the IRS.
More than $100,000 of those donations came from telecommunications and Internet companies that have had a direct interest in the work of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on which Kerry serves.
For instance, nearly every major cellular phone company donated to Kerry's committee, including AT&T Wireless ($7,500), Nextel ($5,000), Verizon Wireless ($5,000), T-Mobile ($5,000) and Cingular ($5,000). The head of Internet publishing giant International Data Group gave $50,000, while the chairman of the Google Web site chipped in another $25,000.
Op-ed columnist David Brooks, of the New York Times, notes that Kerry took a special interest in the insurance giant American International Group.
Seems Sen. John McCain proposed legislation that would have ended a federal contracting loophole benefiting A.I.G.
A.I.G. wasn't really happy about that. So Kerry preserved the loophole and, coincidentally, received $30,000 from A.I.G. to help fire up his presidential campaign.
One of Kerry's major fund-raisers back in the late '80s and early '90s was a savings and loan executive named David Paul.
Paul's CenTrust Savings Bank of Miami failed in 1990 and cost taxpayers an estimated $2 billion, according to a report from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The investigation found that Paul "spent millions of dollars of insured deposits on such lavish personal perquisites as an art collection, the leasing of an airplane frequently used for personal and political purposes, operating expenses of a $7 million yacht owned by another Paul business interest, the purchase of a sailboat, Persian rugs, Baccarat crystal, foreign linens and other expensive furnishings."
The investigators also found there was "an interlocking relationship" between CenTrust and BCCI in the person of Ghaith R. Pharaon, a Saudi investor in both banks, who paid to fly six French chefs to a lavish 1988 dinner party at Paul's Florida home - a party attended by Kerry and other legislators. Kerry was among those politicians who flew on Paul's jet, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Kerry chaired, leased Paul's yacht for fund-raisers.
Yup, Kerry's just a regular guy. No blue blood in him.
Then there's Bob Majumder, a San Diego defense contractor accused of seeking to influence members of Congress, according to a 40-count federal indictment charging conspiracy, witness tampering, fraud, tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions.
The contributions were intended to help the company win lucrative U.S. government contracts for an air-to-ground missile system, the indictment alleges.
Kerry got only a lousy $13,000 from that guy.
Law firms, brokerage houses, oil companies, HMOs and drug companies, all have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Kerry.
In fact, the senator has accepted $30 million in special interest money in the last nine years.
Republican or Democrat. That's just wrong.
OK, a couple observations:
1. If you were Kerry, wouldn't "special interests" be the last two words you would ever utter on the campaign trail?
2. And politicians wonder why so many Americans don't bother to vote. [[In-content Ad]]
Well, now we know W's teeth were in Alabama.
This week, in response to Democrat criticism that W didn't fulfill his Air National Guard obligation in Alabama in 1972 or 1973, the White House trotted out some dental records.
These records prove that W was, in fact, in the dental clinic at the Air National Guard base in Alabama where he was supposed to be serving.
Of course, the Democrats say that doesn't prove anything. It doesn't prove he served.
That, I suppose, is true. It doesn't prove he served. But I mean, really. If you were AWOL from the Air National Guard, would you go to the air base to have your teeth cleaned?
Earlier, the White House ponied up W's pay stubs and a letter that said W fulfilled his duty and was honorably discharged.
The Demos say none of that really proves anything, either. After all, if you're a little rich kid like W, you just get preferential treatment. You get paid whether you perform or not. You get an honorable discharge when you were AWOL.
I guess I think W probably did actually fulfill his Air National Guard duty, but we probably will never know for sure.
Seems like somebody ought to remember, but there were 800 guys in that group of reservists and W wasn't famous back then.
Who knows?
Aside from all the political posturing, I do believe that the issue of whether W served or not is relevant. I mean, it's an issue of character, really.
You have obligations. You fulfill them. A simple concept, really. You should not use privilege and status to avoid service or secure special treatment.
No one, regardless of politics, should do that. If W did, it's wrong.
And frankly, if I was in the armed forces and I found out my commander in chief was AWOL, I am pretty sure that would bother me.
But here's what I don't get.
How can Democrats say Bill Clinton's well-documented evasion of the Vietnam draft wasn't relevant to his ability to be president?
They're all over W - calling him a deserter, traitor, AWOL - talking about how he isn't fit to send our boys off to war to die.
How could they have no problem with Clinton sending our boys off to Somalia to die?
Ah, yes, politics as usual. And while we're on the topic of politics as usual, how about that John Kerry and his now famous special interest quip?
You've heard it.
He tells the special interests in Washington, "We're coming. You're going. And don't let the door hit you on the way out!"
Yeah, that's great, John.
Is that the door to your office you're talking about?
Last week, after Kerry was railing on the oil and HMO special interests who are so ingrained in the W administration, there was some interesting reporting going on.
The Washington Post reported the honorable Sen. Kerry has collected more money from special interest lobbyists than any other U.S. senator in the last 15 years. That's right, Kerry is No. 1 in the special interest sweepstakes.
Newsweek reports Kerry met with and personally corresponded with Johnny Chung. Chung later pleaded guilty to illegally funneling money to Kerry's campaign.
The Associated Press reported that Kerry's tax-exempt political committee gathered donations from groups with direct interests before Kerry's Senate committee.
According to AP:
Kerry collected more than $470,000 directly from companies and unions in 2002 for his Citizen Soldier Fund, and spent large amounts of it sowing goodwill in key primary states just before Congress banned the use of such "soft money" donations, according to records his group filed with the IRS.
More than $100,000 of those donations came from telecommunications and Internet companies that have had a direct interest in the work of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on which Kerry serves.
For instance, nearly every major cellular phone company donated to Kerry's committee, including AT&T Wireless ($7,500), Nextel ($5,000), Verizon Wireless ($5,000), T-Mobile ($5,000) and Cingular ($5,000). The head of Internet publishing giant International Data Group gave $50,000, while the chairman of the Google Web site chipped in another $25,000.
Op-ed columnist David Brooks, of the New York Times, notes that Kerry took a special interest in the insurance giant American International Group.
Seems Sen. John McCain proposed legislation that would have ended a federal contracting loophole benefiting A.I.G.
A.I.G. wasn't really happy about that. So Kerry preserved the loophole and, coincidentally, received $30,000 from A.I.G. to help fire up his presidential campaign.
One of Kerry's major fund-raisers back in the late '80s and early '90s was a savings and loan executive named David Paul.
Paul's CenTrust Savings Bank of Miami failed in 1990 and cost taxpayers an estimated $2 billion, according to a report from the Senate Judiciary Committee. The investigation found that Paul "spent millions of dollars of insured deposits on such lavish personal perquisites as an art collection, the leasing of an airplane frequently used for personal and political purposes, operating expenses of a $7 million yacht owned by another Paul business interest, the purchase of a sailboat, Persian rugs, Baccarat crystal, foreign linens and other expensive furnishings."
The investigators also found there was "an interlocking relationship" between CenTrust and BCCI in the person of Ghaith R. Pharaon, a Saudi investor in both banks, who paid to fly six French chefs to a lavish 1988 dinner party at Paul's Florida home - a party attended by Kerry and other legislators. Kerry was among those politicians who flew on Paul's jet, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Kerry chaired, leased Paul's yacht for fund-raisers.
Yup, Kerry's just a regular guy. No blue blood in him.
Then there's Bob Majumder, a San Diego defense contractor accused of seeking to influence members of Congress, according to a 40-count federal indictment charging conspiracy, witness tampering, fraud, tax evasion and illegal campaign contributions.
The contributions were intended to help the company win lucrative U.S. government contracts for an air-to-ground missile system, the indictment alleges.
Kerry got only a lousy $13,000 from that guy.
Law firms, brokerage houses, oil companies, HMOs and drug companies, all have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Kerry.
In fact, the senator has accepted $30 million in special interest money in the last nine years.
Republican or Democrat. That's just wrong.
OK, a couple observations:
1. If you were Kerry, wouldn't "special interests" be the last two words you would ever utter on the campaign trail?
2. And politicians wonder why so many Americans don't bother to vote. [[In-content Ad]]