Peter

Hey, Mr. BIG PICTURE, your reply says all one needs to know about you. I was under the impression that we had an election for President. The underlying issue relates to GWB. You guys choose to ignore it and/or defend. Instead, you guys are focusing in on these documents -- which may be fabricated -- but we now know that the substance of them was accurate. If the documents are false and Dan Rather knew that, he should pay. Yet, even Bill O'Reilly says that he does not think that Dan Rather knowingly used fabricated documents. More importantly, as Marian Knox says, GWB was not the citizen soldier that he would have us believe. So there you go Mr. BIG PICTURE. To me, the election is much more important than Dan Rather. Unfortunately for me, I am not a big fan of either candidate. As a Republican, if GWB had kept his eye on the ball rather than get distracted with Iraq, I would be supporting him with both my money and my vote.

I didn't realize that Dan Rather was running for President.

60 Minutes II Interview with Marian Knox

National Intelligence Estimate for Iraq The neocons never bothered to think this thing through. They outsmarted themselves.

It is the hypocrisy of it given his history. Apparently, you are unable to see that.

See post above. I also forgot to mention that the ship was 20 miles off shore and the administration asked that it be delayed from coming into port so that they could get the photo op. BIG PICTURE.

Did it ever occur to you that he went in the jet to look like that warrior president and parade around like a rooster. Gee, there were no political motives in doing so and then standing in front of a sign that said "Mission Accomplished" and then blaming it on the crew. He looked like a fool. In fact, he looked like Dukakis in that tank.

Thanks. I actually found that exact location in London and had my picture taken walking across the street in bare feet.

I know that you are not that naive. GWB should just acknowledge what happened and move on. Certainly, GWB is not so naive to think that strings were not pulled for him. I don't mind so much that George Sr. did what he could to protect his son. It is the hypocrisy of the son that bothers me. It is kind of like Hillary and Bill calling the 1980's the "decade of greed" while Hillary was making 100k in cattle futures. Some of you guys will defend GWB regardless of what he did or does. Fine. Whatever. The next time he thinks about sending someone else's kids to die or about putting on his flight suit to parade around like a rooster, he should think back about what happened to him. Perhaps, he will become more circumspect.

Strings were pulled for ALL of them. No question. In fact, I am sure that strings were pulled by my Dad to get me some jobs when I was a kid. No question. What troubles me is that someone who went so far out of his way to avoid hostile gunfire thinks of himself as a warrior and finds it so easy to send other people to die for a war that has been dressed up as a war in response to 9/11 but is really meant to accomplish pre-9/11 goals of certain chickenhawks in the administration. By the way, I always found it humorous (and sad) that Bill Clinton always seemed to have our military bomb someone whenever he seemed to get in trouble.

Did they jump over a waiting list of people?!? If you seriously believe that strings were not pulled for GWB . . . you are pretty gullable.

U2 definitely deserves to get in.

There is no question that people (who can) have strings pulled for them. It goes without saying. That is why it is so humorous that GWB keeps on denying it. What is not so humorous is that these chickenhawks who were so successful in purposely avoiding hostile gunfire (GWB, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Feith et al) could so easily send other people's kids to die. That is why it is relevant to what is happening today. That is also why the professional military is usually more circumspect about war than these guys who like to talk a big game. The chickenhawks also should have listened to the professional military with respect to what they recommended to get the job done rather than play politics in the face of war.

Is there anyone here who seriously doubts that someone pulled strings to get GWB in the Texas National Guard?

Yes. It is a guilty pleasure. It is pretty amusing.

I have never been there, but I love Maine. We went to Boothbay Harbor, Freeport, Bar Harbor, and Acadia National Park last Summer. We had a great time.

Consider it done.

I really hope so.

You are funny. I thought that the whole POINT was for the plane NOT to go down under ANY circumstances. You would just prefer that the passengers shoot it down from inside. If you guys seriously believe that we should allow passengers to carry assault weapons on planes, you guys are just too far gone.

Are you suggesting that the plane would not have gone down if a plane load of passengers armed with assault weapons began shooting bullet holes in the fuselage? By the way, you never answered my question. Are you in favor of ANY kind of gun control? If so, what would it be? Given that you are the Second Amendment guy on this board, I am genuinely interested to read your views on the subject.

Circular reasoning. You made my point. If you guys seriously advocate that we should allow everyone to carry assault weapons on airplanes, you have gone way past any slippery slope. The last thing we need is for passengers to have assault weapons or any other kind of weapon on a plane. There is enough air rage without arming the passengers. Let's leave that job to the air marshalls.

The plane also would have gone down.

If only we could take them on planes and walk down the street with them . . . we would have real freedom. Sarcasm off. Alaska Darin, are you in favor of any kind of gun control?

The turning point in the game occured with 2:45 remaining in the game. Instead of first down at the Jaguars 21 yard line, Villarrial's penalty backed us up to 3rd and 12 at the 35. Play by Play from NFL.com

You should watch the play again. Even with a play action pass, the RB is supposed to occupy one or more defenders. Moreover, Travis DID try to block the guy. He failed miserably and ended up on his belly while his guy sacked Drew. I will watch the play again to confirm my recollection of it. You should too.