They were only "meetings"

Mark Shields on the News Hour (02 May 2003):

The most recurring criticism I heard of the president was the uniform, that you recall during the 2000 campaign, questions he was missing from the meetings in Alabama when he went to work on a political campaign there, didn't show up for reserve meetings.

Robert Novak on Meet the Press (04 May 2003):

But I would say that the response by our Democrats that, well, he missed a lot of National Guard meetings, that is not going to do the trick.

posted by Quiddity at 5/05/2003 10:12:00 AM