Except for the possible disagreement on the wars, was Bush an OK President?
See worldUS\NoteOn0Bush112310
Was Bush intelligent or ...
a young man...
By all accounts Bush was an excellent pilot
Bush was in the National Guard reserve, a "weekend" warrior, where it was not regarded as a huge deal missing a weekend.
A few months after the 2000 election, former Bill Clinton adviser Paul Begala said he'd done a Nexis search and found 13,641 stories about Clinton's alleged draft dodging versus 49 about George W. Bush's military record.
Indeed, when Bush decided to go to business school at Harvard in the fall of 1973, he requested and got an honorable discharge — eight months before his service was scheduled to end.
"a dynamic outstanding young officer" who stood out as "a top notch fighter interceptor pilot." He said that "Lt. Bush's skills far exceed his contemporaries," and that "he is a natural leader whom his contemporaries look to for leadership. Lt. Bush is also a good follower with outstanding disciplinary traits and an impeccable military bearing
On February 13, 2004, more than 700 additional pages of documents on Bush's service were released, including those from the National Personnel Records Center, under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. This release is claimed by some to contradict the February 8, 2004, statement by Bush to Meet the Press interviewer Tim Russert that "We did [authorize the release of everything] in 2000, by the way." In response, Bush contended that he was referring only to documents already in his possession, as opposed to the newly released documents from military sources.
The original documents have never been submitted for authentication. The man who delivered the copies, Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, a former officer in the Texas Army National Guard and outspoken Bush critic, claimed that he burned the originals. Burkett admitted lying to CBS and USA Today about where he had obtained the papers and eventually expressed doubts of his own about their authenticity Failure to verify the facts before advocating the forgery ws correct was what caused the demise of Dan Rather..
White House communications director Dan Bartlett said yesterday that although no official record has been found, "obviously, you don't get an honorable discharge unless you receive the required points for annual service." He said Bush "specifically remembers" performing some of his duties in Alabama. Bartlett also provided a news clipping from 2000 quoting friends of Bush's from the Alabama Senate campaign saying they recalled Bush leaving for Guard duty on occasion.
Bush said in 2000 that he did "show up for drills. I made most monthly meetings, and when I missed them I made them up."
New Evidence Supports Bush Military Service (Mostly) The records show that National Guard officials credited Bush with enough points to meet minimum requirements for the 12-month period ending May 26, 1973, the period of the original alleged "gap" in his records.
http://www.factcheck.org/new_evidence_supports_bush_military_service_mostly.html
Grades of bush, keryy and gore http://www.insidepolitics.org/heard/heard32300.html
http://2004.georgewbush.org/bios/yale-transcript.asp
While the general impression during the 2004 presidential campaign was that Democrat John Kerry was the intellectual superior to President Bush, it turns out that their grades while undergraduate students at Yale were remarkably similar.
In fact, Bush's were a tad higher. His four-year average was 77; Kerry's 76. Both were C students. Kerry graduated from Yale in 1966; Bush in 1968.
New Evidence Supports Bush Military Service (Mostly) FactCheck.Org
