From: MOVEON.ORG, Tuesday, Sept. 7 2004
The Bush campaign took a huge risk last week: rather than focus on issues or vision at their convention, they attacked John Kerry where he is strong and where they are weak. This isn't surprising. Big lies have become a trademark strategy of the Bush administration and now the Bush campaign. However, lies come back to haunt.
In this case, smearing John Kerry about his service in Vietnam has brought focus back on Bush's embarrassing evasion of service. Today, a group in Texas, Texans for Truth, is launching an ad campaign that highlights Bush's absence from duty in 1972. The first ad, featuring a National Guardsman at the base where Bush was supposedly posted, will air as soon as Texans for Truth can raise their $200,000 budget for the ad.
Let's help get this ad on the air now. You can make this possible by going to
http://www.texansfortruth.com/contribute.html
The ad features Robert Mintz, who served in Alabama's 187th Air National Guard when Bush claims to have been there. In the ad, Robert Mintz says simply and powerfully that
"I heard George Bush get up and say 'I served in the 187th Air National Guard in Montgomery Alabama.' Really? That was my unit. And I don't remember seeing you there. So I called friends. 'Did you know that George served in our unit?' 'Naw. I never saw him there.' It would be impossible to be unseen in a unit of that size."
Spurred by Bush's cynical and ugly attacks on Kerry, people who have never spoken out before have now begun to come forward to talk about this period in Bush's career. And journalists are now also ready to cover the story of Bush's evasion of service. Many are embarrassed that their outlets reported the false charges against John Kerry without checking the facts. And it's well known that the Bush campaign has been stonewalling on details of the President's service.
On Sunday, the Associated Press reported on their continuing fight to get records of Bush's service released. I've attached an excerpt of the story below. The AP, which is a cooperative of almost every newspaper in the nation, has sued the Bush administration for records of Bush's service, which are still being withheld even though President Bush agreed on national television to release everything about his service.
Texans for Truth is run by our friend Glenn Smith, who also runs an affiliated 20,000 member Texas-based advocacy group called DriveDemocracy.org. It's great that a group in Bush's home state is working to hold him accountable. Help them out now at:
http://www.texansfortruth.com/contribute.html
Thanks for everything you do,
--Wes Boyd MoveOn.org Voter Fund September 7th, 2004
