Domingo Soto: Because Freedom Isn't Dumb

WHEN BUSH WAS IN ALABAMA

Are people claiming that Bush wasn't here or are they saying he didn't report for Guard duty? Or, gee, are they aghast to think that a connected politico's son might be assigned a cushy assignment?
The topic came up accidentally yesterday while I was having lunch. A lawyer friend - also a yellow dog Democrat and hardly one who is going to make excuses for the prez - was still living in Montgomery with his parents, also well-connected GOPers. So he saw him constantly. At any rate, he called Bush an affable "good guy" (followed by the kind of criticism you might expect) and remembers him as being "Montgomery's eligible batchelor" which - if that's an accurate statement - is enough said for the (Republican) women of Montgomery.
But the real point was that he not only remembers Bush as being in Alabama during the Blount campaign but also as being assigned to the Guard. The attention that this is drawing is an unfortunate tabloid diversion - like Clinton's lack of military service or Janet Jackson's boob. It's a santimonious tempest in a teapot and probably, yes, a little invited (aircraft carrier) payback (Clinton). But, if I run into someone at lunch that knows this much about it, surely the media - the Montgomery Advertiser, Mobile Press-Register, or the Birmingham Post - can clarify it pretty easily.
So, get your MTV-like groove on if you must, but sooner or later we're going to have to look at the really serious and immediate issues at hand.
The real debate should be about now. Right now , he's on duty full-time so the issue of what he may have done twenty years ago is bogus. Right now , he's Commander-in-Chief of the most mighty military power in the world. No one can claim it's a cushy assignment or that when forced to handle a horrific situation that he did not rise admirably - and rationally - to the challenge. But giving the devil his due, the issue Right now is whether you support his world view and want to see it continued. Do you support his neoconservative views or do you think them whacky? Right now , he has our economic future in his hands. What he is doing Right now and the potential that he has to continue doing it is the issue. Right?
CLICK HERE TO SEE A VALID CRITIQUE OF BUSH'S MILITARY HISTORY
OR
CLICK HERE TO SEE A WASHINGTON POST STORY AT MOBILE FREE PRESS
(LINK TO NYT STORY ADDED FEB 17, MFP LINK ADDED FEB 18)