We’ve known for some time that the president felt compelled to lie about his National Guard service, going so far as to falsely claim that he was in the Air Force.
In literature for his failed 1978 congressional campaign, George W. Bush said he served in the Air Force, a claim his presidential campaign says is legitimate based on time he spent training and on alert while a member of the Texas Air National Guard.
Asked Tuesday at an appearance in New Jersey whether he was justified in claiming Air Force service, Bush replied: “I think so, yes. I was in the Air Force for over 600 days.”
But the Air Force says once a guardsman always a guardsman, even if called to active duty for training or another temporary assignment.
Now, for what I believe is the first time, we have photo evidence of Bush’s false claim. Here’s Atrios’ close up of the relevant portion of the ad and a link to the whole thing in context.
Now I realize that I’ve been saying that the Bush-TANG story is a bit of a distraction from the Kerry campaign’s message. I still believe that. However, this is documented proof that the president of the United States lied about serving in the Air Force during a time of war. This is no minor development.
This broader controversy has generally been about a) whether the president did his duty, which we now know he did not; and b) whether the president was honest about his service, which we also know he was not.
But this latest revelation points to something else: Bush’s character problem. What kind of person runs for public office under a false claim about serving in the Air Force? It seems like the kind of story that would force a congressional candidate to withdraw from a campaign in disgrace, but yet the president is seeking a second term, ironically basing his campaign on his alleged military leadership.
Al Gore was branded a serial exaggerator because he allegedly claimed to have invented the Internet (though he never really said that). George W. Bush, meanwhile, lied about serving in the Air Force, but presents himself as an honest straight-shooter with morality-based integrity. This persona is a fraud — and now we have one more example that proves it.