Posted on 08/29/2004 8:09:29 PM PDT by GOPcapitalist
According to today's New York Times, disgraced Democrat politician Ben Barnes is once again claiming that he assisted a young George W. Bush in obtaining a slot in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam war. According to the story,
Former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes said he is ``more ashamed at myself than I've ever been'' because he helped President Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas National Guard so they could avoid serving in Vietnam.``I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard ... and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it,'' Barnes, a Democrat, said in a video clip recorded May 27 before a group of John Kerry supporters in Austin.
Barnes, who was House speaker when Bush entered the Guard, later became lieutenant governor.
Curiously, the story omits a key portion of the Barnes quote, possibly because it demonstrates a glaring inconsistency in Barnes' story. A video of Barnes' speech shows the full quote as follows, the omitted portion in bold:
I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard when I was Lieutenant Governor of Texas and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it.
The problem with Barnes' story: Bush entered the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 at which time Barnes was Speaker of the House. Barnes did not take office as Lieutenant Governor until 1969 and thus could not have done what he claimed. Some readers may best remember Barnes as a central unindicted co-conspirator in the Sharpstown Stock Scandal that rocked the Texas legislature in 1971.
I also strongly suspect that the reporter knew all of this when he opted to replace Barnes' lie with ellipses.
No bug. It's the way gangsters operate.
I'll try to get the contact information for the reporter, and post it here.
also discussed here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1202190/posts?page=1#1
...ooooops.
Try the NY Slimes Ombudsman...
Also in that Houston unit IN SAFE, CUSHY, GROUND JOBS were sons of DEMOCRAT politicians Lloyd Bentsen and John Connoly, and other Dems. Texas in 1968 was an overwhelmingly Democrat state.
Barnes was also much more recently "neck deep" in a scandle involving the firms used to run the Texas state lottery!!!!
OK, I found a link here:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Bush-National-Guard.html
However, as is their custom, there's no byline. AP Washington office is 202-776-9400.
New York Times number is 212-556-1234.
Was Barnes even Speaker of the Texas House in 1967 or 1968? My understanding is that he was either ambassador to NATO (1967) or the U.N. in Geneva (1968), and may not have even been in the country.
Is that correct?
I agree - I was in that same TXANG unit following 3 and 1/2 years on active duty - many members were sons of rich and well connected - that's not to infer that GWB did not serve out his committment with honor.
Circle the queers, kerrycommiecRAT and the other RATS have just about lost it all.
He was Speaker of the House then, but the legislature only meets in odd numbered years so he wouldn't have been around to do what he claimed he did in 1968 either. Virtually all legislators have other jobs that they do for the year and a half in between sessions. It is doubtful that Barnes was even in Austin.
Elected to the Texas House of Representatives when he was in his early 20's, he went on to become the youngest house speaker in Texas history. He served as lieutenant governor from 1969 to 1973.
http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/thepubliceditor/danielokrent/index.html
In TX, Speaker of the House and LT Governor are almost the same job, just different houses of the legislature. It's possible he may be suffering from old age memory.
You are right!
Barnes was UN Rep to Geneva (Swiss) in 1968. Barnes was elected Lt-Governor of Texas in 1969. Refer to: http://www.klru.org/texasmonthlytalks/archives/barnes/bio.asp
- mwd
Houston, TX
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.