Atrios raises a small but important point — that can’t be emphasized enough — about Bush’s National Guard record. No matter what details remain unclear about whether Bush reported for duty in Alabama and Texas, one thing we know for sure is that the president lied in his autobiography about his Guard service.
(I know Bush didn’t write his autobiography, which, obviously, contradicts the auto part of the word. Nevertheless, his name is listed as the author and it’s only fair to hold him accountable for its text)
As the Boston Globe reported in 2000:
Bush himself, in his 1999 autobiography, “A Charge to Keep,” recounts the thrills of his pilot training, which he completed in June 1970. “I continued flying with my unit for the next several years,” the governor wrote.
But both accounts are contradicted by copies of Bush’s military records, obtained by the Globe. In his final 18 months of military service in 1972 and 1973, Bush did not fly at all. And for much of that time, Bush was all but unaccounted for: For a full year, there is no record that he showed up for the periodic drills required of part-time guardsmen.
This is one of those convenient, unambiguous falsehoods that are fun to throw around once and a while.