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The Former Communciations Director for the Texas Democratic Party Has A Few Things to Say About the Press and Bush's Infamous National Guard "Record"

A BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

On February 11th, White House press secretary Scott McClellan tried to once again spin away the truth about George W. Bush’s National Guard service, or lack thereof, by claiming that Team Bush had already addressed the issue in 1994, 1998 and in 2000.

The truth, as usual when it comes to this team of profligate liars, is that this issue was essentially ignored for nearly a decade. That is, the Bush Spin worked like a charm -- until last week.

About McClellan’s contention that this issue was “already addressed.”

In 1994, the Texas press corps essentially bought the Team Bush line and did no digging and Ann Richards barely mentioned it on the campaign trail.

In 1998, the issue never came up, not even once. I should know. In 1998 I was Communications Director for the Texas Democratic Party and would have loved the opportunity to force then Governor Bush on go on the defensive about something. We hit him over Harken Energy, the Patient Protection Act veto, his plan to increase taxes and more. But the National Guard never, ever came up and for McClellan even to infer otherwise is a flat out lie.

We all know how deeply his service was examined in 2000. The Boston Globe exposed the story and then absolutely nothing happened. It was thrown into the trashbin along with any other story line that didn’t conform to the “Al Gore is a Liar, George W. Bush is a man of integrity.” Eight years after every word Bill Clinton every uttered or wrote about his draft service was replayed by the media like Kevin Costner rewinding the Zapruder film in “JFK”, and 12 years after Day Quayle was virtually flayed alive, Bush got a free pass. The funny thing is that Quayle actually “did his duty."

The facts of this story have never changed, only the spin coming from Team Bush. First it was “I served”. Then it was, hilariously, “his doctor was back in Houston.” Now it is simply that those asking questions are “playing politics” and “trolling for trash.” For the first time, however, the spin isn’t working and McClellan, Bartlett and Bush can’t get the press to just go away.

I don’t know about you, but I smell another “Orange Alert” on the horizon.

Jeremy Warren

A BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY