The AWOL scandal has obviously faded a bit. That’s a shame, because there are key questions that remain unanswered. Realistically, though, it’s hard not to notice that the controversy isn’t dominating the way it was just a week ago at this time.
I think there are probably at least three reasons for this. One, the document trail has largely dried up. The White House has (allegedly) released what it has and nothing new has prompted fresh questions.
Two, the public seems largely not to care. A USA Today poll released yesterday shows that a plurality of Americans (42%) believe Bush “did his duty for the country during the Vietnam War, a plurality (49%) believes Bush did “nothing seriously wrong” at the time, a majority (54%) believes Bush isn’t hiding anything about his service, and a whopping 80% said the controversy will have no effect on their vote.
Three, someone — Lt. Col. John B. “Bill” Calhoun — finally came forward to say he not only saw Bush serving in Alabama, but that the two hung out together. After weeks of interviews with people on base at the time, none of whom recall seeing Bush at all, Calhoun’s statement led the media to believe there was a first-hand witness of Bush fulfilling his responsibilities.
The problem is Calhoun’s account lacks credibility. As I’ve mentioned before, the timing of his account is completely wrong and the number of instances Calhoun recalls has clearly been exaggerated.
Better yet, as Kevin Drum reported last night, some of the Guardsmen who were looking for Bush on base at the time and couldn’t find him also knew Calhoun. And — surprise, surprise — they don’t believe his story either.
As the Memphis Flyer reported:
“I’m not saying it wasn’t possible, but I can’t imagine Bill not introducing him around,” Mintz said. “Unless he [Bush] was an introvert back then, which I don’t think he was, he’d have spent some time out in the mainstream, in the dining hall or wherever. He’d have spent some time with us. Unless he was trying to avoid publicity. But he wasn’t well known at all then. It all seems a bit unusual.”
Bishop was even more explicit. “I’m glad he [Calhoun] remembered being with Lt. Bush and Lt. Bush’s eating sandwiches and looking at manuals. It seems a little strange that one man saw an individual, and all the rest of them did not. Because it was such a small organization. Usually, we all had lunch together.
“Maybe we’re all getting old and senile,” Bishop said with obvious sarcasm. “I don’t want to second-guess Mr. Calhoun’s memory and I would hate to impugn the integrity of a fellow officer, but I know the rest of us didn’t see Lt. Bush.” As Bishop (corroborated by Mintz) described the physical environment, the safety office where the meetings between Major Calhoun and Lt. Bush allegedly took place was on the second floor of the unit’s hangar, a relatively small structure itself… It was a very close-quarters situation ” It would have been “virtually impossible,” said Bishop, for an officer to go in and out of the safety office for eight hours a month several months in a row and be unseen by anybody except then Major Calhoun.
In light of these comments, does anyone still believe Calhoun — a self-described Republican whose story conflicts with the White House’s own accounts — is still a credible source for Bush’s whereabouts in 1972?