Bush Gaps

From today's Washington Post:

President Bush's military records, including personal flight logs just released by the Pentagon, paint a picture of a solid, if hardly outstanding, pilot who energetically performed his duties for much of a six-year stint with the Air National Guard. Then, in the spring of 1972, the picture changes.

After initially expressing his intention to make flying "a lifetime pursuit," Bush checked out an F-102 interceptor jet for an 80-minute spin on April 6, 1972, in Texas , and never piloted a military plane again.

Why Bush stopped flying and failed to take an annual physical necessary for him to remain a pilot have become the object of much speculation and reporting that spiked in intensity last week, as it did during the 2000 campaign.

Just one question.

Did that F-102 come back in one piece? Were all planes there accounted for?

There's a story told by a Bush friend that surfaced in 1999, I believe, in which Bush (preparing to run for office) laughs about this expensive plane he took for a test drive and, drunk and stoned, crashed (I assume he bailed). His comments as reported by the friend indicated that the plane wreck was disappeared from records because it was an embarrassment to Poppy.

This isn't about Bush's mental condition or even about his crappy flying skills. It's about accountability and how he's never taken any for anything. It seems to be a family tradition (waving to Neil Bush, Marvin Bush, and the dopey twins). Everything today points to the same thing that is implied by his record then.