Since February, Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau has been offering $10,000 to anyone who can come forward and demonstrate that they actually served with, or saw George W. Bush serving his required time in the Air National Guard in Alabama. As he said in his strip: “So if you served with Mr. Bush — even if only in the officers’ club — we want to hear from you right now!” So far, no takers.

Now the ante is upped. Texans for Truth is offering $50,000 to anyone who can prove that George W. Bush fullfilled his required duties in the Alabama National Guard from May of 1972 to May of 1973.

Now if he actually did perform that service, there should be plenty of folks, and plenty of documentation that he did so. Not to mention, the idea of winning $50k, showing up those “terrible mean partisans” at Texans for Truth, and proving once and for all that Bush did fullfill his required duty, should be more than ample incentive for anyone who could actually prove it to be the case.

We’ll let you know if anyone is able to do so.

And again, speaking to why this is relevant today, Texans for Truth founder Glen Smith said in a statement announcing the reward: “Bush’s dishonesty about missing from service during Vietnam goes to the heart of his presidency. He was dishonest then just as he is misleading us about why we went to war with Iraq. He dodges responsibility then just as he dodges responsibility for Iraq today.”

Remember folks, when Clinton was “caught” with his pants down, the conventional wisdom was “See? We knew he was a philanderer before we elected him, so why should we be surprised that he still is?!”

That question goes precisely to the heart of the Bush “Presidency” where, with virtually every decision he has made, he has either mislead, told only partial truths about, or lied completely and attempted to quash or discredit any information that didn’t support his point of view. Had the media, and America, looked a bit closer at Bush’s Air National Guard record before placing him into office, they would have been able to see precisely the kind of guy he was:

He has done all of those things in his “Presidency”, and America is paying the price. We should have known. And perhaps if the media had done it’s job then (or even started doing it now!) America would be better able to make informed decisions about it’s leaders.