re VLVL2 Vato, Blood, Bush, Kerry

[pynchonoid]

This transcript of yesterday's press conference where
Bush's spokesperson faced a group of curious reporters
for a change is some funny bs, unless perhaps you know
somebody who actually put his or her ass on the line
in Vietnam, and maybe got hurt or killed because he or
she didn't have paren's like the President's who could
pull strings to keep their slacker kid out of harm's
way. 

<http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/02/20040210-3.html>

[...]Q Scott, when Senator Kerry goes around
campaigning, there's frequently what they call "a band
of brothers," a bunch of soldiers who served with him,
who come forward and give testimonials for him. I see,
in looking at our files in the campaign of 2000, it
said that you were looking for people who served with
him to verify his account of service in the National
Guard. Has the White House been able to find, like
Senator Kerry, "a band of brothers" or others who can
testify about the President's service?

MR. McCLELLAN: All the information that we have we
shared with you in 2000, that was relevant to this
issue. And all the additional information that has
come to our attention we have shared with you. The
President was asked about this in his interview over
the weekend, and the President made it clear, yes, I
want all records to be made available that are
relevant to this issue; that there are some out there
that were making outrageous, baseless accusations. It
was a shame that they brought it up four years ago. It
was a shame that they brought it up again this year.
And I think that the facts are very clear from these
documents. These documents -- the payroll records and
the point summaries verify that he was paid for
serving and that he met his requirements.

Q Actually, I wasn't talking about documents, I was
talking about people -- you know, comrades-in-arms --

MR. McCLELLAN: Right. That's why I said everything
that came to our attention that was available, we made
available at that time, during the 2000 campaign.

Q But you said you were looking for people -- and I
take it you didn't find any people?

MR. McCLELLAN: I mean, obviously, we would have made
people available. And we -- Mr. Lloyd, who has
provided a statement to put some of this into context
for everybody, made some public statements during that
time period to verify the records that the President
had fulfilled his duties. And he put out an additional
statement now to put this into context. He's someone
with some technical expertise and someone that
understands these matters, because he was in the
National Guard at the time.

Q Scott, can I follow on this, because I do think this
is important. You know, it might strike some as odd
that there isn't anyone who can stand up and say, I
served with George W. Bush in Alabama, or in Houston
in the Guard unit. Particularly because there are
people, his superiors who have stepped forward -- in
Alabama and in Houston -- who have said in the past
several years that they have no recollection of him
being there and serving. So isn't that odd that nobody
-- you can't produce anyone to corroborate what these
records purport to show?

MR. McCLELLAN: David, we're talking about some 30
years ago. You are perfectly welcome to go back and
talk to individuals from that time period. But these
documents --

Q Hey, we're trying. But I would have thought you guys
would have had a real good handle on --

MR. McCLELLAN: - these documents make it very clear
that the President of the United States fulfilled his
duties --

Q Well, that's subject to interpretation. [...]

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