House Republicans said Thursday that an investigation of military records had turned up no sign that a major Democratic donor who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, M. Larry Lawrence, served in the Merchant Marine during World War II, as he had long claimed.

Lawrence was among 69 individuals over the last five years who received special waivers to be buried at the cemetery, the nation’s most hallowed military burial ground. Last month, White House and Army officials, citing Lawrence’s wartime record, vigorously defended their decision to allow him to be interred in Arlington.

But Rep. Terry Everett, R-Ala., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said, “We have found that Mr. Lawrence’s name does not appear in at least three locations where a reasonable person would expect it to appear in the records.”

The new questions about Lawrence revived a political drama that had seemed put to rest after Republicans backed off earlier accusations that President Clinton had rewarded rich Democratic donors with burial plots at Arlington. The issue, which has inspired outrage both among those accusing and defending the administration, has been sustained by the congressional inquiry and conservative commentators. The new allegations arose after the conservative columnist Arianna Huffington said that a longtime aide to Lawrence told her she believed his war record was a fabrication. The aide, Norma Nicholls, confirmed her account in an interview.

Thursday’s events raised the possibility of demands that Lawrence’s body be removed from Arlington cemetery. “If that did turn out to be the case, it would be distressing, obviously,” White House spokesman Mike McCurry said.

wow, this was before Zsa Zsa drank the Kool-Aid.

I would like to see what percentile he fell in.

I doubt it was much above 65.

She, like her husband, is either completely naieve, or blind.

BobMbx on August 27, 2009 at 4:42 PM

Compared to him, she’s Einstein.

The Main Scream Media has adopted the motto of the New York Times:

“All the news that fits, we print”

Limerick on August 27, 2009 at 3:20 PM

People talk a great deal about the Marines on Iwo Jima or the guys on Okinawa. They talk about the Heroism of the Little Boys off of Samar or perhaps the Paratroopers on D-Day in that Great Crusade.

No American combat position in the war history of this country had it worse then the Strategic bomber crews carrying out daylight raids over Nazi occupied Europe. Absolutely no one. Not the Marines, not the Paratroopers, not the tankers, not the Sailors.

Groundpounds, when they die, they die generally whole. They may loose a limb, perhaps even their head. Maybe their guts are hanging out. But aircrew are usually nothing but charred and shattered bone.

What’s so sad about 2004 is that the only reason Jeanne-Claude Kerri ran on his “military record” was because he had absolutely nothing else to run on-his Senate career has pretty much been a complete failure as far as what legislation he’s gotten passed, etc.

I especially liked the Mrs. Kerry event, held in a Baptist church in the Deep South, where she claimed she knew what it meant to be an African American….because she was African-American. Complete “deer in the headlights” reaction from the crowd.

Turns out, she really is an African-American. Born and raised in South Africa.

She, like her husband, is either completely naieve, or blind.

Monkeytoe on August 27, 2009 at 4:15 PM

Don’t confuse orange with facts.

What’s so sad about 2004 is that the only reason Jeanne-Claude Kerri ran on his “military record” was because he had absolutely nothing else to run on-his Senate career has pretty much been a complete failure as far as what legislation he’s gotten passed, etc.

In fact, in over 2 decades in the Senate, he’s had a grand total of about 10 of his bills signed into law. That’s about as impressive as his nonexistent pitching skills at Fenway Park.

“Reporting for Duty!”

At the same time, Chimpy spent his down time reading history books.

The thing is, there is absolutely no evidence that Bush did not perform his Guard duties. He received an honorable discharge from the Guard.

Thus, the presumption is that he did perform the Guard duties. And, as I said, w/o evidence that he did not perform the Guard duties, the case that he did perform the
Guard duties based on honorable discharge and lack of contradictory evidence, is about 100% proven.

After all, we currently have a president who never served and never even considered serving. I trust that the lefties who told us in 2004 how important military service is as a prerequisite to be President – and that the candidate with the more impressive service should win – voted for McCain?

That whole argument is yet another proof that lefties have no principals, only thirst for power. Else McCain would be president right now based on the left’s 2004 presidential criteria.

that doesnt disprove the actual allegation against Bush:

orange on August 27, 2009 at 1:41 PM

Actual allegation? That is a good one.

Look, orangey, some folks don’t put their ‘rack’ on the living room wall to impress their friends and neighbors. Some lay at the bottom of a seldom opened drawer. The owner doesn’t need someone else to validate them for him. How’s that for an ‘allegation’?

Just one question, Ed.

Where the heck is Capt. Louis Renault?

connertown on August 27, 2009 at 2:47 PM

Buried in the tiny Red Hill Cemetery here in New Hampshire. He and his wife spent the last years of their lives living in Sandwich.

orange on August 27, 2009 at 1:41 PM

getalife.

Everyone understood that Bush didn’t want to go into the infantry

…..

Errrrrrr,,,errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I was a doggie. You couldn’t pay me to strap a jet engine to my fanny and get tossed through the air. No siree, bubba!
On the ground I could hide behind rocks, and jump into holes. If need be I could scoot my tail across a ridge and keep scootin’. Them airdales we’re (are) nuts. Anyone who thinks flying a combat aircraft is like being in a holding pattern at O’Hare is nuts too.

What the heck is wrong with you?

rukiddingme on August 27, 2009 at 2:33 PM

What’s wrong with him is that he’s so full of BDS that he sees it as President Bush’s responsibility to “disprove the actual allegation” against him. BDSers demand American Justice for terrorist but Napoleonic Justice for the Bush Administration, handy, eh?

Here’s an allegation: During his college years, President Obama began a local chapter of the KKK. He used his contacts in the black community to distribute heroin in minority neighborhoods that had been supplied to him by the KGB. And he kidnapped the Lindberg baby.

Those are pretty serious allegations, I hope President Obama has an answer for them.

getalife must have meant a lot to you. I’m so sorry that you miss him/her/it so much. That’s very touching.

UltimateBob on August 27, 2009 at 12:52 PM

getalife is in the Hot Air Great Arcana of Trolls because it was resurrected in the June 9, 2009 Registration under the most incredibly clever and deceptive user name. Evah!

g0tmylifeback

but on the third day, June 11, 2009

all is well

Why are people suddenly paying attention now?

http://www.nationalreview.com/babbin/babbin200402190855.asp

No. Sorry. Carry on.

blink on August 27, 2009 at 2:33 PM

Truth be told, not knowing getalife is something to be cherished.

Cheers,

The Rather Affair killed “Allah is in the House.” That’s unforgivable.

Attila (Pillage Idiot) on August 27, 2009 at 11:45 AM

Is this really true? AP stopped updating the blog at one point and said something about legal problems, but (although I could be wrong) I thought he tried to assure readers that they were unrelated to this. I don’t recall any mention to the contrary, at least. He temporarily suspended blogging the May prior to the Mapes story, so I figured he might have stopped due to similar “personal stuff.”