Salon/Conason: Karen Hughes' high-octane gall

[kskiska]

With amazing chutzpah, the Bush flack says reporters should ask more questions about John Kerry's military history. What they really ought to explore is her role in covering up Bush's spotty National Guard record.

For George W. Bush's surrogates to question John Kerry's war record, as they have continued to do in recent days, requires a special Republican brand of super-high-octane gall. Why would the president want to draw additional attention to the most unflattering contrast between him and the Democratic challenger? Why would his flacks reopen the painful issues of that era by questioning Kerry's undoubted heroism? If anyone ever earned the right to talk about what he had seen in Vietnam and why no more Americans should kill or die there, it was the young, highly decorated Navy lieutenant who had volunteered for duty.

(snip)

More likely Hughes was just being her disingenuous self when suggesting Kerry's wartime behavior hadn't gotten enough scrutiny. At any rate, she isn't in the best position to accuse Kerry or anyone else of false pretenses. Among the press corps that covered the 2000 campaign, her instinct to conceal and dissemble was well known. Indeed, conservative journalist Tucker Carlson suggested last year that her willingness to lie for Bush "almost crosses over ... into mental illness." Feigning indigation over comments made by Kerry more than 30 years ago would pose no challenge for Hughes.

She deserves to be challenged, however, about her own role in the concealment of Bush's actual service record. Although she is currently peddling her new bestseller, the most pertinent questions concern "A Charge to Keep," that slim promotional volume with Bush's name and likeness on the cover.

While including plenty of filler and self-serving rhetoric, Hughes needed only five pages to recount Bush's military career -- from his decision to apply for pilot training to the lessons he learned during his National Guard service. The deceptions begin on Page 51, when Bush claims that during Christmas vacation in Houston, he "heard from contemporaries that there were openings for pilots in the Texas Air National Guard, and I called to ask about them ... I met the qualifications and was accepted into the Texas Air National Guard." It's a nice, simple story, but it omits most of the facts and distorts others, as this investigation by the Los Angeles Times explains.

more…
http://salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/04/27/hughes/index.html

[wabeewoman]

1. Jon Stewart

mocked her nicely tonight on The Daily Show. She is a piece of work and I don't mean that nicely.

[Manix]

2. ..she's a lying, good for nothing piece of shit!! Kick her fat ass Joe!!

[Skittles]

3. she does suck

Ms. Hughes is one despicable human being.