Bush couldn’t be rated because his nominal superiors in Alabama refused to report on his (probably nonexistent) activities there, and his superior in Texas stood up to political pressure and refused to sugarcoat matters.
Now we see why 1LT Bush’s performance review from 1973 records “unable to rate.” The outfit he’d supposedly been reporting to in Alabama wouldn’t say anything to the commander of his home unit in Texas, and that commander, standing up to pressure from his superiors, refused to (his words) “sugar-coat” matters. So he simply refused to rate.
This is very strong evidence that Bush didn’t actually report for duty in Alabama; otherwise, why wouldn’t his superiors there fill out the paperwork to allow him to get a satisfactory Officer Efficiency Report?
Note to Dan Bartlett: No, this doesn’t require reading a dead man’s mind. All that’s necessary is to read his words.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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