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An Honorable Discharge Does Not Mean "You Did Your Duty":

Tron Nick


Media, CNN Continue to rely on irrelevant honorable discharge to suggest Bush didn't skip out on Guard duty
CNN host Wolf Blitzer joined his colleague Judy Woodruff in once again falling for the irrelevant Bush-Cheney '04 campaign spin that George W. Bush's honorable discharge means he fulfilled his duties. During an interview with Democratic strategist Howard Wolfson, Blitzer repeatedly interrupted Wolfson to diminish Bush's documented failure to perform his duty and to advance the long-discredited canard that his honorable discharge proves something. From the September 10 edition of Wolf Blitzer Reports:

  • WOLFSON: When he was in the Oval Office this past year being interviewed by Tim Russert, he said, 'I did my duty.' We know that he didn't show up for months at a time, we know that he didn't take his physical, and we know that he was grounded --
  • BLITZER [interrupting]: We also know he got an honorable discharge.
  • WOLFSON: Is that doing his duty, Wolf? Is --
  • BLITZER [interrupting]: He got an honorable discharge.
  • WOLFSON: Is being grounded doing his duty?
  • BLITZER: If he wouldn't have done his duty, would he have gotten an honorable discharge?
As Blitzer should know by now: Yes, Bush could have gotten an honorable discharge despite not doing his duty. In fact, he did. [more  In fact, as MMFA has noted, many people have received honorable discharges despite dishonorable service, including Washington, DC-area sniper John Allen Muhammad  ( Pictured above : ), who was charged with striking an officer, stealing a tape measure, and going AWOL, then sentenced to seven days in the brig -- and still received an honorable discharge from the Louisiana National Guard.