"A Compelling Witness"

[UPDATE:  CBS News says, in effect, I am right.  My red letter day - can I stop now?  More in UPDATE below.  And eventually Nick Kristof grudgingly concurs.]

Nick Kristof promoted the "Bush AWOL" story in the NY Times yesterday.  His lede featured Bob Mintz, who claimed to be quite certain that Bush never reported for duty in Alabama.  However, either Mr. Mintz misled Nick Kristof about his involvement in this story, or Nick Kristof is engaging in a bit of strategic misrepresentation.  Since Mr. Mintz is a key figure in a new Bush-bashing ad, his credibility is quite interesting to us.  Here is the key excerpt:

...In his first interview with a national news organization, Mr. Mintz recalled why he remembered Mr. Bush as a no-show: "Young bachelors were kind of sparse. For that reason, I was looking for someone to haul around with." Why speak out now? He said, "After a lot of soul-searching, I just feel it's my duty to stand up and do the right thing."

Mr. Mintz is a compelling witness. Describing himself as "a very strong military man," he served in the military from 1959 to 1984. A commercial pilot, he is now a Democrat but was a Republican for most of his life, and he is not a Bush-hater. When I asked him whether the National Guard controversy raises questions about Mr. Bush's credibility, Mr. Mintz said only, "That's up to the American people to decide."

Nick Kristof needs to buy a subscription to Google.  With it, he would have found this interview with Mr. Mintz, who is telling his story (virtually unchanged) to CBS News in February 2004.

So when Mr. Mintz was asked, "Why come forward now?", why the toe-in-the-carpet soul-searching?  Has he already forgotten his chat with CBS last winter?  That does not encourage confidence in his memory of events in 1972.

And in assessing Mr. Mintz's feelings about George Bush, perhaps Mr. Kristof forgot to ask, and Mr. Mintz forgot to mention, that Mr. Mintz is starring in a new Bush-bashing ad run by "Texans for Truth".

I don't know if the "Texans for Truth" duped Mr. Kristof, or whether Mr. Kristof manage to reach the absurd conclusion that Mintz's appearance in the ad should not affect our judgement of his credibility.  I do know that Mr. Kristof ought to use Google.

NOTE:  You have just finished the Atkins version; here is the original sprawling, brawling post below.

UPDATE:  CBS News is on my side (how odd for both of us).  It's buried in the closing paragraphs, but here we go:

But like their Republican counterparts, Texans for Truth has a credibility problem. While the chief accuser, former Alabama Guard pilot Bob Mintz, says in the ad it would have been impossible for Mr. Bush to have gone unnoticed, in an interview earlier this year with CBS News, Mintz admitted he's not a smoking gun.

"I cannot say he was not there," Mintz said. "Absolutely positively was not there. I cannot say that. I cannot say he didn't do his duty."

Hey, CBS smacks Kristof.  Go, my new Big Media friends.

And we know that Messrs. Kristof and Okrent will want to hear from their readers. "A compelling witness!"

E-mails:  Nick Kristof -- [email protected]

Daniel Okrent -- [email protected]

They will probably want feedback on their careful vetting of this "Texans for Truth" story.  I have more in my endless post.

Comments

[BigFire]

His beef is lost in the many continium of time. Or he just couldn't keep his dates straight.

[MathewK]

A former Alabama National Guardsman says he remembers George Bush serving with him.

[retief]

Is this the same Calhoun fella who "remembers" Bush being where even Bush doesn't calim he was?
---
Retired Lt. Col. John B. "Bill" Calhoun said Bush continued his Guard duties with the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in Montgomery from May to October 1972. Calhoun said Bush showed up for drills at least four times, maybe as many as six, during the period.

"I'm having to do this from memory, but I know he spent at least four drills with us there at that time," Calhoun said.

Military records from Texas, Alabama and Colorado, released by the White House on Friday and earlier last week, show Bush did not perform any Guard duties in 1972 from mid-April until late October.

The records also show Bush was authorized to work with another Alabama unit from May until August, and didn't consider transferring to the 187th until submitting a typed request to his Texas Guard superiors in September 1972.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Actually, Bush was on the Alabama base earlier than October. He probably was there in May to have the CO of the 9921st sign a form accepting him. He might have served there during June and July only to find out that he wasn't allowed to drill with that unit, sometime in August--thus drawing no pay, and generating no pay or attendance records.

A notice to that effect is cc'd to Bush care of the 9921st in Alabama on July 31st, '72. A notice he responded to by finding the 187th and being accepted by it, and reporting that to his COs in Houston the first week of September. Which they accepted a week or so later. So, Calhoun could easily have seen him when he says he did.

Anyway, another officer, Joe LeFevers, remembers seeing him on the base because he associates him with Red Blount's Senate campaign.

[JFK]

I'm America's greatest war hero. I served in a war. I have medals for Bravery, Courage, and Valor. Even the enemy honors my service in their War Museum of Heroes. I fought for America, before I re-examined the Government's official position on it. My wife says you're an idiot if you don't vote for me. How dare you stupid insophisicate tool Americans dare to Question My Patriotism! I was in Vietnam, you weren't! How dare you! If I can't win in the EC, we'll take it to the courts! How dare you! Voting?! We'll Crush You! Smugly.

[Craig Diesslin]

Could someone ask the secretary that Dan Rather interviewed whether or not she ever saw one of those fancy typewriters in the Texas national guard office? I don't buy the argument that one of them could have produced the memos, yet not asking this question seems a convenient oversight by Rather. Convenient oversight...hmmm.

[Brennan Stout]

Tom: You left out some important details. I hate to have to be the one to break this to you, but this story is really bigger than even John Avarosis is willing to say.

Pentagon Conducting Psy Ops: Target is United States

Gannon is Part of the Psy Ops US Mission

These two stories make for fantastic bed time reading.

[Brennan Stout]

Whoops. Wrong thread.

Nothing to see here.