Fox News had William Campenni (the guy who served in the same unit as Bush in the early '70s, and who wrote the letter touted by Ed Gillespie as proving that Bush actually existed back then) on the Brit Hume show this evening. Campenni was brought on to give his opinion that the Colonel wouldn't have routinely written a memo ordering a pilot to show up for his physical, because pilots usually had until the end of their birth month to get checked out -- which for Bush would have been a couple of months after the date on the memo -- and they took said exam without needing a special order to do so. Campenni added that drug and alcohol screening also wasn't routine in 1972, and was only done when requested by a commanding officer who had reason to suspect there was a problem.

So, Fox News is making it sound like Col. Killian had reason to suspect that George Bush was using drugs (or seriously abusing alcohol) in 1972, and so he specifically ordered the young officer to show up for a physical which would have included special screening for alcohol and/or drugs. And Bush refused to obey that order.

And then George was whisked out of state by his family. And he was later given permission to serve in a non-flying unit in Alabama (even though he had signed a commitment to serve his country as a pilot, in recognition of the fact that it had invested thousands and thousands of dollars training him to fly planes), all so it wouldn't come out that George had a drug problem. But he didn't even bother to show up to read the magazines (or whatever other cushy made-up work they arranged for him in Alabama) during the time he was there, because a commitment to his country meant so little to him at the time. And then associates of his family put pressure on George's superiors to write up undeserved performance ratings for him, showing their contempt for honorable military service. And then most of the records which could embarrass him were illegally destroyed in the past decade or so, in order to help George's political prospects, because his career is more important than the law or the truth.

Pretty damning stuff, which I never would have suspected without Fox News' efforts to discredit the memos. (Because, as even the White House said, the stuff about Bush basically bailing on the last couple of years of his National Guard service is old news.) Thanks, Fox News!

It sucks that we have to keep focusing on candidates' records from decades ago instead of actual issues that matter. I understand why it's happening (the Bushies have no ground to stand on in the present to get elected) but it makes the whole race seem like a joke, when it's anything but.