EXCLUSIVE: The Dirt on Ben Barnes Claims about Bush and the Air National Guard (NY Times Barf Alert)

The Blogspirator ^ | 8/28/04 | adam_az

[adam_az]

UPDATED 8/28/04 at 8:21 MST

According to an 8/27/2004 article in the the New York Times, a new Swiftboatesque testimonial video was released featuring Texas lobbyist Ben Barnes who claims that he got George W. Bush into the National Guard in 1968.

"I walked through the Vietnam Memorial the other day," Mr. Barnes said, according to a videoclip posted on the Internet this summer, "and I looked at the names of people who died in Vietnam and I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because the worst thing I did was get a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance into the Guard and I'm very sorry about that and I apologize to you and the voters of Texas."

The New York Times did not mention Ben Barnes connections with John Kerry's campaign, or the DNC connections with the release of these videos.

Who Is Ben Barnes?

CBS News reports that Ben Barnes is one of eight "bundlers" who have raised more than $500,000 for John Kerry's campaign. He is also listed as a Vice Chair of the Kerry campaign on the John Kerry campaign website. According to the Dallas Ft. Worth Star Telegram, Barnes is one of the "gatekeepers and endorsers for Texas appointees and job-seekers" in a potential Kerry administration.

Ben Barnes had been the Lt. Governor of Texas in the early 1970's, but saw his elected political career end as a result of the Sharpstown stock-fraud scandal.

The timing of this news release, days before the Republican National Convention, is suspicious. A Texas Observer editorial from 10/15/1999 shows that Ben Barnes has made this accusation before.

Ben Barnes, then Lieutenant Governor... has admitted that he personally interceded with Guard officials at the behest of a business associate of Congressman Bush. The ex-President says he is "almost certain" he didn’t ask Barnes, directly or indirectly, to intercede for his son; the carefully crumbling denials suggest there is smoking documentation somewhere, and we may yet get a more precise snapshot of how the people who start the wars avoid risking their children to fight them.

These claims were already discredited by then. CNN reported in July 1999 that the Los Angeles Times had already investigated them, reporting that the "Los Angeles Times said it found no evidence that either Bush or his father, former President George Bush, had personally tried to influence or pressure anyone to get the younger Bush a place in the Texas Guard. Bush's father was a congressman from Houston at the time."

Additionally, Mr. Barnes wasn't Lt. Gov yet in 1968, he was the UN Representative to Geneva. Previously, he US Representative to the NATO conference in 1967. He wasn't elected governor until 1969. The Republican party had it's first Republican majority in all three branches of government in Texas for the first time in 130 years in 2002. In 1968, there were only 8 Republicans elected to the State Legislature out of 150 seats. At the time, President Bush's father was one of Republicans elected in a state that was primarly Democrat., which did not put him into a position of great influence.

Who is Distributing This Video Now

According to the New York Times, the website which released the video, Austin4Kerry.com, crashed when James Moore, the author of "Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential" and "Bush's War For Reelection : Iraq, the White House, and the People" sent an email to his mailing list, with the resuling traffic crashing the website hosting the video.

According to the New York Times, the website changed to http://69.59.167.160

This website is hosted by www.polycot.com but contains the instructions "email info@greaterdemocracy.org"

I spoke with Greaterdemocracy.org blogger Aldon Hynes, who was also an accredited "blogger" at the Democratic National Committee. According to the DNC Blogwebsite, "Aldon is one of approximately 20 bloggers who received press credentials for the convention."

Mr. Hynes says that he is not involved with the Barnes video. He directed me to Mr. John Lebowsky, CEO of Polycot Consulting LLC, who is the actual proprietor of GreaterDemocracy.org, and the person who Mr. Hynes says is hosting the Barnes videos.

The Blogspirator will update this page once Mr. Lebowsky is interviewed...

[adam_az]

Moderators:

Please leave this in Breaking News.

The NY Times is running with this story, expect to see it all over the news this week.

Hopefully if we get the facts out there, we can head them off at the pass.

I would suggest that it's one prong of Kerry and the DNC's attempt to fend of the Swifties, but I don't need tinfoilman pictures pasted all over this thread. ;)

[adam_az]

ping

[america-rules]

There is over $40,000,000 ready to go from pro Bush supporters that hasn't been launched yet.

The sparks are just starting to fly !

[jnarcus]

This is soooo typical of the demprats...Notice well that Barnes does NOT say he got Bush into the Air National Guard only that he got people who were rich with famous names into the Air National Guard...Hell in Texas that could be the sons of the college football coach or the governor or almost any oil man....means nothing to anyone...And do we believe that a leftie would have bent over backwards to get GW iout of draft status....as if...

[AmericanCheeseFood]

Another scumbag from the Kerry crowd.

More low blows and returns to the same failed tactics than ever.

Vomit is exactly what I shall do.

[Lancey Howard]

Thanks for pinging Jonathan Stein.
Think I'll go bump his thread a few times.
The maggots at the NY Times keep sinking lower and lower.

[america-rules]

Real smart.

After claiming that because a Pubbie gave $100,000 to the swift vets they are controled by Bush.

Now they rate trot out a guy who gave $500,000 to Kerry and is the Vice Chair of the Kerry campaign to lay down the dirt.

This will be blown out of the water like Kerry's swift boat wasn't and keep the swiftvets in the news another few weeks

What idiots !!

[Lancey Howard]

bttt

[Mo1]

They're at it again ping

[Lancey Howard]

bttt

[fuzzy122]

Here is a link to "The Facts about Bush and the National Guard"
It is an EXCELLENT read!!!

Arm yourself with ALL the facts to defuse this issue.

Stay Strong
Fuzzy

[kcvl]

bttt

[NYCVirago]

Another fact is that he testified in 1999 under oath that while a friend of the Bush family (who is conveniently dead) asked him for help, neither the Bush family nor W himself either asked for help or even knew about it!

[ladyinred]

I heard either Rush or Hannity or someone last week predict that this is what we would be seeing in the news at the start of the convention. He was right, it has begun. The media will smear Bush about his national guard service (while hundreds of Guards are serving in Iraq at this moment) and God knows what else.

Dirty politics at it's dirtiest as far as I am concerned. The media are traitors to the profession, and the nation.

[adam_az]

Yup, it's in the article, with link.

These claims were already discredited by then. CNN reported in July 1999 that the Los Angeles Times had already investigated them, reporting that the "Los Angeles Times said it found no evidence that either Bush or his father, former President George Bush, had personally tried to influence or pressure anyone to get the younger Bush a place in the Texas Guard. Bush's father was a congressman from Houston at the time."

I did my homework. :)

[Lancey Howard]

BUMP!

[MJY1288]

I have seen James Moore on TV promoting his book "Bush's Brain" The guy is a mental midget, if the Kerry Campaign gets behind this drueling vegatables claims, they are more incompetant than I thought.

James Moore makes Molly Ivans look credible, and Michael Moore a possible family member :-)

[Lancey Howard]

I think that as long as the original hit-piece thread keeps showing up on the 'latest posts' page, this thread should show up (at least) equally as often. Please help.

BUMP!

[Lancey Howard]

bttt

[adam_az]

Glad you're so enthusiastic... it's also easy to find here

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/t-breaking/browse