Democrats to push Guard questions through election

Democrats said yesterday they will repeat questions about President Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard through Election Day, following the Pentagon’s release of new records about Mr. Bush’s service and a newspaper assertion that he didn’t fulfill his service obligation.

“These new documents show the president did not serve honorably, and they did not have all the documents out,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe in a telephone call with reporters yesterday.

Mr. McAuliffe said Mr. Bush made it acceptable to question someone’s record from years ago, when Swift Boat Veterans for Truth asked questions about his candidate’s Vietnam war medals, and now Democrats will pursue Mr. Bush’s Guard record.

“It’s going to be on the table from now until Nov. 2,” Mr. McAuliffe said. “This administration, time and time again, has misled the American public. And today they have been caught in some lies.”

The Associated Press reported late Tuesday that it had obtained more than two dozen new pages of Mr. Bush’s service records in response to a Freedom of Information lawsuit, and yesterday the Boston Globe published a story questioning whether Mr. Bush fulfilled his commitments.

The new records show Mr. Bush was slightly above the middle of his flight class, but don’t reveal whether he reported for duty in Alabama as required when he moved there temporarily to work on a Senate campaign. Democrats say he did not.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the records support Mr. Bush’s contention he met his obligation.

“If the president had not fulfilled his commitment he would not have been honorably discharged,” Mr. McClellan said. “He was honorably discharged in October of ‘73. The president is proud of his service in the National Guard.”

Mr. McClellan blamed military officials for the late discovery of the additional records.

“The president directed back in February that the Department of Defense do a comprehensive search and make all the documents available, and we had assurances that they had done that and, unfortunately, we have since found out that it was not as comprehensive as we thought,” he said.

Last night, CBS’ “60 Minutes II” program aired an interview with Ben Barnes, a former lieutenant governor of Texas, who says he used his influence to get Mr. Bush into the National Guard. He says he now regrets that.

Mr. Barnes, who is now a lobbyist, earlier had rebutted accusations by other Democrats that he had been asked by George H.W. Bush, then a Republican congressman from Texas, to help his son get into the Air National Guard. When Democrats made the claim after Mr. Bush had emerged as the leading Republican presidential candidate for 2000, Mr. Barnes denounced the charge.

“I never spoke to Congressman Bush about his son,” he told the Associated Press on July 15, 1999. “The story is false.”

The Boston Globe story said a review of documents released earlier found that Mr. Bush twice didn’t meet the obligations of duty.

The Globe reported that Mr. Bush signed documents that said he could be called up to active duty if he didn’t meet his training requirements. The Globe said the records showed Mr. Bush failed to meet training requirements twice. Mr. Bush was never called to active duty.

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