But if you must talk about character.... It's a dead hawse, but one worth beating:

Among the questions Bush had to answer on his application forms was whether he wanted to go overseas. Bush checked the box that said: 'do not volunteer.'

Whatever. Yet somehow it's this picture that says it all:


Yes, that's George W. Bush on the right. Caption?

UPDATE: As Uncle Dan notes in the comments, I got a little ahead of myself with this post. I got the link from Josh Marshall's site and I was referring to the fact that Bush's campaign chairman is telling reporting that the only reason Bush didn't go to Vietnam was because although he volunteered, he wasn't selected. But Bush didn't volunteer, and even admits he didn't volunteer.

The danger of harping on this military service issue is that people generally think you're criticizing Bush for avoiding service, or even criticizing the guy for not going to Vietnam for whatever reason. That's totally not the point. Hell, I probably would have done anything to get out of it. In fact, this whole thing is probably more about how badly the prez and his people are handling this from a PR point of view than anything else.

The Vietnam question is sort of weird, when you think about it. Just 30 years ago, a pressing life decision for American men in their 20s was how to avoid getting killed in the jungle like an animal. As George Cerny points out in the comments bin, today they're wondering if they should spent a year in Prague, or in my case seven.

As for the photo of Georgie Jr., to me it's simply funny because a) it appears to confirm, in a trite and superficial sort of way, one's suspicion that the guy was a spoiled brat who drank and snorted and blew bubbles through life until the age of 40, getting by on family money and poppy's political connections and b) old yearbook photos, like cops in donut shops, are one of those jokes that never stop being funny. But I guess you can't really explain humor, can you.