An adviser to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is daring President Bush to prove he didn't go AWOL from the National Guard in 1972 by releasing his military records.
Asked if he thought Bush needed to produce his Guard records, Howard Wolfson told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" Wednesday night: "Absolutely. He could solve this very easily by coming clean with the American people and letting them know what he did and didn't do."
Wolfson, who was Mrs. Clinton's Senate campaign spokesman in 2000 and currently serves as her adviser, attacked Bush's military record despite Bill Clinton's own problems during the Vietnam era with the draft.
However, Mrs. Clinton's one-time spokesman was unfazed by the incongruity of his attack.
"The truth is," he insisted, "the Republicans brought this on themselves. ... They had George Bush go out to an aircraft carrier on a stunt. He dressed up in a flight suit. He tried to tell everyone that he was a pilot."
"The fact is that he didn't serve for much of the time," Wolfson insisted.
Wolfson urged Bush to produce his military records despite the fact that his political team already did so during the 2000 campaign.
At the time the New York Times reported, "Guard records show [Bush} received credit for having performed all the required service."
Mrs. Clinton's adviser insisted, however, that "for 18 months [Bush's] commander at the base says that he didn't see him."
Wolfson was apparently unaware that earlier in the day, the commander in question, Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, had recanted his allegation, telling NBC News: "I don't know if [Bush] showed up, I don't know if he didn't. I don't remember how often I was even at the base."
Editor's note:
"Hillary’s Scheme" get the untold story
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
George W. Bush
2004 Elections
Sen. Hillary Clinton
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