After weeks of controversy and fruitless searches for someone — anyone — who saw George W. Bush perform Guard duty in Alabama, a name has turned up.
The good news for Bush is that John B. “Bill” Calhoun says he clearly remembers Bush on base and that the two hung out together at Dannelly. The bad news for Bush is that Calhoun’s story suffers from a few flaws.
Aside from the fact that Calhoun doesn’t have any photos or other documents to support the claims, there are two main reasons to be skeptical about Calhoun’s claim.
First, the timing is entirely wrong. Calhoun says he remembers seeing Bush throughout the summer of 1972, starting in May. That can’t be right. As the Houston Chronicle noted, “Bush’s transfer to the Alabama squadron wasn’t approved until September 1972, months after Bush’s presence as recalled by Calhoun.”
Second, the number of times Calhoun claims to have seen Bush has clearly been exaggerated. As Billmon noted on Friday, Calhoun claims to have seen Bush on base eight to 10 times for about eight hours each from May to October 1972. Documents from the White House, meanwhile, show that Bush was not paid for any service from May 1972 to September 1972, but was paid for two days in October, four days in November, and none in December 1972. Unless I use Bush administration math, two plus four is six. Calhoun probably wasn’t aware of the White House’s line, so he said “eight to 10 times” without knowing that would contradict the official story.
And just as an aside, even if one believes Calhoun’s account, it doesn’t exactly paint Bush in the best light. Indeed, Calhoun’s story, if it is true, hardly makes it sound as if Bush was actually serving in the National Guard. Calhoun told the Washington Post, for example, that Bush “would sit on my couch and read training manuals and accident reports and stuff like that.”
Maybe it was tougher than it sounds. Some of those training manuals could have been kind of heavy.