Big fat slob Moore, has the nerve to attack our President? He is a stupid drop-out who made a living out of attacking Roger of GM....
> 1) George W. Bush "AWOL" or a "deserter"? Michael Moore put
the subject back into play when, at a Wesley Clark rally in New
Hampshire, he previewed a Clark versus Bush race as pitting "the
General versus the Deserter." At the January 22 Democratic
presidential debate Peter Jennings raised the incident with Clark,
describing it as "a reckless charge not supported by the facts."
On Friday night's Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, though he
maintained he was just joking around in introducing Clark, Moore
lashed back at Jennings: "For Peter Jennings to say that it was 'a
reckless charge,' it's reckless for Peter Jennings and ABC not to
investigate this."
Moore's wish became ABC's command as both ABC on Sunday,
following DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe on This Week maintaining
that he's looking forward to a debate in which "John Kerry, a war
hero with a chest full of medals, is standing next to George Bush,
a man who was AWOL in the Alabama National Guard," and CNN on
Monday, looked into the charge and found it baseless.
To his credit, given his personal involvement in Bill Clinton
obfuscation in 1992, on This Week George Stephanopoulos challenged
McAuliffe: "So how do you answer then people who would say, wait a
second, Democrats all defended Bill Clinton back in 1992 despite
the questions about his draft record? Isn't this hypocrisy here?"
On Sunday's World News Tonight, Geoff Morrell undermined the
criminal claims made by Moore and McAuliffe about Bush supposedly
not showing up for Guard duty for a few months in 1972/73, four
years into a six year hitch: "In the 2000 campaign, Democrats
tried to make an issue of George W. Bush's service in the National
Guard, but their nominee never went so far as to accuse him of
being absent without leave, a serious charge subject to
court-martial. Reporters investigating Mr. Bush's military career
found that, while he missed some weekends of training, he later
made up for them and was eventually honorably discharged."
CNN reporter Jennifer Coggiola, on Monday's Wolf Blitzer
Reports, noted that "according to military code, President Bush
can't technically be labeled AWOL or a deserter. Only active-duty
soldiers in the U.S. military who don't appear for 30 days qualify
for that."
In the meantime, Moore isn't exactly apologetic. A letter
posted last week on his Web site begins: "I would like to
apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a 'deserter.' What I
meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election
thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar and a functional illiterate. And
he poops his pants. In fact, he shot a man in Tucson 'just to
watch him die.'" For the rest of his screed:
michaelmoore.com
I guess that's humor in the same vein as seeing Janet
Jackson's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" as edgy entertainment.
Moore appeared on Bill Maher's January 30 HBO show, via
satellite from Lansing, and as taken down by MRC analyst Jessica
Anderson, Maher got Moore to repeat his unsubstantiated charges:
Maher: "So, you are here once again in the role of a
newsmaker, which is what you seem to be, because you, I guess a
couple of weeks ago, you were introducing Wesley Clark, and I know
this was a joke, you were saying if he ran against Bush it would
be 'the General against the Deserter.' Okay, so the media went ape
shit, saying this was a reckless charge. I have been having a hard
time finding whether this is a reckless charge or not. Why don't
you tell me what you know are the facts. What are the facts?
Because a lot of publications have come out against you and said
these are not facts. What do you know is a fact about Bush's war
record?"
Moore: "The facts, as reported by the Boston Globe, are that
when Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard, he took a year off
and went to Alabama to work on the campaign of a Republican
senator that his dad wanted him to work on."
Maher: "Now, is that normal for a soldier to be able to leave
his duty to work on a campaign? Is there a requisition form that
any soldier can get for that?"
Moore: "I'll tell ya, if there were, I know a lot of guys in
the National Guard who are over in Iraq right now, who were told
that it was a six-month rotation and they've been there for over a
year."
Maher: "Right."
Moore: "I wonder if any of them- [stops and chuckles as
audience begins applauding]"
Maher: "So I've heard the same stories, and I have to tell
you, I've referred to him as a draft dodger, which is different
than a deserter -- that's a little harsher."
Moore: "Yeah, or he was AWOL."
Maher: "There is a difference, there is a big difference."
Moore: "There is a difference, yes."
Maher: "But why is it so murky to find the facts on this? This
isn't something that happened in the 16th century. I mean, my God,
the gospels were written 40 to 70 years after Jesus died and we
got the 4-1-1 on him!"
Moore: "Exactly."
Maher: "Why can't we get a definitive version of this?"
Moore: "Because I think, with a lot of things, the press just
doesn't want to do their work. I don't think it's an ideological
reason. I just think that, for the most part, a lot of the media
are just lazy and this would take a lot of work. Now fortunately,
the Boston Globe did the investigation, they presented a lot of
the facts. They found the head of the, his commander in the Air
National Guard in Alabama, who said, 'I have no recollection of
ever seeing him report for the entire year.' And you know, it's
there, it's all there, and the press just chooses to ignore it.
For Peter Jennings to say that it was 'a reckless charge,' it's
reckless for Peter Jennings and ABC not to investigate this
[audience applauds and cheers]." |
