Barnes caught in lie about Bush National Guard favor (shoddy journalism exposed!)

Chronically Biased - Keeping tabs on the Houston Chronicle ^ | 8/30/04

[Bonaparte]

"I also strongly suspect that the reporter knew all of this when he opted to replace Barnes' lie with ellipses."

There is no other reason for a reporter to take that phrase out. He was both misrepresenting to his readers and covering for Barnes.

[Bonaparte]

"However, as is their custom, there's no byline."

Maybe they farmed this story out to Jayson Blair.

[Bonaparte]

More on Kerry fundraiser Ben Barnes.

I think he served as Lt. Gov. from 1969 until the people of Texas kicked him out of office in 1973.

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

" legislature only meets in odd numbered years"

Even numbered years are reserved for swindling? Is that considered part-time swindling?

[B.Bumbleberry]

Just curious as to the software you used to create the graphic in #15.

[GOPcapitalist]

Even numbered years are reserved for swindling?

Ben Barnes was always swindling, even and odd. Most reps today simply work their normal jobs in even years...er...at least the republican ones do.

[Bonaparte]

"Does any dem have any type of relationship with the truth at all?"

Well, not an agreeable relationship -- unless we're talking about Zell who supports Bush and will be speaking at the RNC this week.

[hummingbird]

Anybody got that picture of "Nelson" from "The Simpsons" saying "Ha, Ha!"

[TheLawyerFormerlyKnownAsAl]

Seriously, I think part-time legislatures are preferable and I believe used to be the norm in many states. Now, in many states, the "success" of a legislative session, including Congress, is measured by the number of bills passed, whereas I think the fewer the better.

[BigDaddyTX]

And I thought it was just Wesly Clark who had the time machine. Those Dems better share it with us!!! Or maybe they did, BEFORE they didn't (think about it, it works).

[GeorgeW23225]

The demoRats seem to be some kind of time warp. They really need to co-ordinate their calenders, so that the lies match the dates!! :-)

Defeating Kerry is more fun than a human being should be allowed to have!!

[GOPcapitalist]

Interesting. That story is incorrect though when it downplays Barnes' role in the Sharpstown scandal. If you to some of the oldtimers and state legislators who were there during the thing they'll tell you Barnes was all over it. IIRC the two people who finished ahead of Barnes in his '72 governor bid were the eventual winner Dolph Briscoe - an outsider and moderate democrat in the race - and Sissy Farenthold, the liberal democrat. Farenthold was a state rep. The main reason she did so well was the fact that she had attained high statewide name ID as a leader in the "dirty thirty bastards" - a renegade group of state reps who blew the whistle on Barnes, Mutscher, and all the other Sharpstown cronies (the group was made up of the Republicans - who were fewer than thirty at the time - plus a couple disaffected Democrats including Farenthold). She was the anti-Sharpstown candidate in that race while Barnes was the undisputed Sharpstown candidate.

[mtntop3]

Good observations.

[rwfromkansas]

Wow.

[L.N. Smithee]

There must be some sort of a bug going around the Kerry campaign. Kerry claims that Richard Nixon sent him into Cambodia in 1968 a month before Nixon took office in 1969. Now Barnes claims he used the Lieutenant Governor's office in 1968 to give Bush a favor some six months before he was elected to that office in November! Call it "retroactive recollections"

But it's all true! President Nixon DID order Kerry into Cambodia in January 1969! Ben Barnes DID get George W. Bush into the National Guard, also in January 1969!

Here's how Nixon got Kerry into Cambodia in December 1968, and Barnes got Bush into the Air National Guard in 1968: They sent them off in the car below!!!

[nopardons]

bttt

[L.N. Smithee]

bttf!

[L.N. Smithee]

lobster, you ROCK!

[Angry Republican]

To quote Homer Simpson: "D'oh!"

[Bonaparte]

"...it downplays Barnes' role in the Sharpstown scandal"

I would expect that from the NYT. They also downplayed Barnes' intimate fundraising relationship with the kerry campaign. Thanks for the background on this crook.