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From today's Media Backtalk
Kingston, R.I.: Re: Photo op on the Abraham Lincoln
Observation: a president who basically blew off most of his Air National Guard hitch would fly onto an aircraft carrier to declare an end to a war, and that amid all the media's gushing over this stunt there was virtually no mention of the president's military record -- or lack thereof. Question: I realize that this may be "old news," but wouldn't it have been apropos to bring up his Air National Guard absence?
Howard Kurtz: I've seen a couple of references to Bush's National Guard service, but since we never got a definitive explanation as to whether he was absent without leave, it's hard to keep pounding that as an issue.
In other words, since we've never actually gotten an answer we should stop asking questions about it or even bringing it up.
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On Selective Biographies and the Press: Howard, you say candidates can't offer selective versions of their biography, but that is exactly what Bush successfully managed in campaign 2000, effectively shutting off all discussion of his drug use and other "irresponsibilities" of his youth and middle age. Earlier you claimed, essentially, that there's no there there in the questions about Bush's Guard service. Why is Bush's Guard duty, which you would probably have to admit is still cloaked in mystery, off limits to reporters when every other candidates military service will not be?
Howard Kurtz: Bush didn't shut off discussion of his youthful irresponsibility; he just refused to talk about it in any detail. The press was filled with stories questioning what he was trying to hide, examining his youthful drinking, speculating about whether he used cocaine, questioning his explanation to a Dallas reporter that he could have signed a government application attesting to no drug use in the past 15 years. There was also the story of his DUI charge that broke in the last week of the election. So this was hardly a non-issue.
UPDATE: The Horse reminds us of this nonsense by Kurtz:
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Howard Kurtz then:-
HOWARD KURTZ: "Josh Marshall, you
don't know the extent of damage or
vandalism by departing Clinton White
House aides, and neither do I. So, in
writing in Slate Magazine that the press
wildly overplayed this story, it kind of
sounds like you're acting as a knee-jerk
Clinton defender."
- Howard Kurtz Now:
HOWARD KURTZ: I've seen a couple of
references to Bush's National Guard
service, but since we never got a
definitive explanation as to whether he
was absent without leave, it's hard to
keep pounding that as an issue.
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