You're So Grounded.

Based on new information unveiled during last night's 60 Minutes II, the big papers delve further into Dubya's AWOL shenanigans. Apparently, not only was Dubya suspended from flying due to his missed physical (which we already knew), but he blatantly ignored a direct order from his commanding officer (Col. Jerry Killian, now deceased) to report for a medical examination. (Killian complained in a private letter, heretofore unreleased, that Dubya was "talking to someone upstairs" to get out of it.) Nor, as the Boston Globe noted yesterday, was Dubya -- pictured at right wearing a ribbon he apparently never earned -- ever called to active duty or otherwise punished for this insubordination, or for any of his later lapses (such as not showing up for reserve duty in either Alabama or Massachusetts, as ordered.) "'It appears that no one wanted to hold him accountable,' said retired Major General Paul A. Weaver Jr., who retired in 2002 as the Pentagon's director of the Air National Guard." Yeah, what else is new?

Meanwhile, on the drug front, Sharon Bush is now trying to back away from her comments to Kitty Kelley on Dubya's alleged cocaine binging at Camp David. But, Doubleday is standing by the charge - in fact, they've got written notes and two witnesses (Kelley and her publisher) to verify Bush's original statement. Good for them...I would think Doubleday has planned very carefully for exactly this sort of thing prior to going public with any allegations from The Family.

Now, with the further details about Dubya's disappearance and the extent of his alleged coke habit each gaining notoriety in separate news channels, how much longer will it take before the major media outlets are forced to comment on the obvious drug test angle connecting the two threads? One has to wonder if the GOP strategy gurus are starting to rethink their not-so-Swift-Boat decision to put Vietnam in play.