Even more oddly, people don't think that lying about getting sexual favours under oath is disqualifying.
I think it probably ought to be, and that the fact of getting said favours ought not be.
"The enlightened consensus seems to be that Bill Clinton getting sexual favors in the Oval Office didn't render him unqualified to be President, but the people who feel the most strongly about that are the same ones screaming "Bush went AWOL!" at the top of their lungs. Go figure."
Even more relevant: The " enlightened consensus" was that Clinton blatantly and unapologetically dodging the draft "didn't render him unqualified to be President....."
And the people who ignored it or minimized it (Rather included) are "the same ones screaming 'Bush went AWOL' at the top of their lungs."
This may be what irks me more than the criminal act of producing forgeries to sway the election. Rather is implicitly making the case that his crusade to get to the bottom of Bush's National Guard Service, is somehow noble and a necessary public service to inform the electorate, when he wanted nothing to do with going after Clinton over avoiding the draft.
There simply is no comparison, if we're using the " who should be more embarassed scale," between Bush and Clinton during Vietnam. Bush's first 4 years in the Guard were exemplary. He accumulated far more than the minimum service points during that time. The first year was essentially a full time committment. It seems obvious his last year and a half was spotty, but this was at a time when the Guard was flush with pilots returning from Vietnam who were relegating themselves to Guard status. The Alabama commander himself said he couldn't find enough flying hours for the guys he already had, and Bush wasn't certified on their aircraft! The Guard during Vietnam was loaded with professional athletes and other VIP's who failed to show up for months at a time. Bush's attendance would stack up very well against these people.
The sins Bush is alleged to have committed regarding his Guard service are trivial and ridiculously inconsequential. When viewed with the treatment Clinton received from the pro-Democratic media, Rather's jihad against Bush is indefensibly hypocritical.
I believe it was Media Research Centre who conducted a study into the media's coverage of Clinton's draft dodging versus the Democratic campaign to smear Republican Vice President Dan Quayle allegedly having help getting into the National Guard during the war. Media stories examining Quayle's service outnumbered Clinton draft dodging storied 4 to 1. And Quayle was the second banana on the GOP ticket, while Clinton was running for President!!
Of course, we have an even more current example of Rather/MSM bias in favour of the Dems as it relates to Vietnam. These guys sure made a big deal out of Howard Dean's draft deferment for his " bad back." Guess no one thought to ask him about it while he was skiing and snowboarding this winter.
Dan Rather is scum. No, make that ly'in scum.