Posted on 09/08/2004 9:47:59 AM PDT by GOPcapitalist
You've probably already seen the hype. Tonight the former Democrat Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Ben Barnes, will be on 60 minutes where he is expected to levy widespread accusations against President Bush by claiming that he used his office to get Bush into the Texas National Guard. The charges are naturally baseless and contradicted by a number of facts including the fact that Ben Barnes was not even Lieutenant Governor when Bush joined the Guard, the leftist media is giving Barnes a COMPLETE PASS on this inconsistency and his own disgraceful record.
Since the press refuses to do its job it is our job to get the word about the real Ben Barnes out there!!!
Most people outside of Texas know very little about Ben Barnes. Those who remember him here though know that he shares the dubious distinction of being on that short list of Texas politicians who puts LBJ to shame when it comes to corruption. Ben Barnes has literally been one giant walking scandal for the last forty years in Texas politics and is probably the most disgraced living political name in our state.
HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BEN BARNES, THE HUMAN COCKROACH OF TEXAS POLITICS:
I. The Sharpstown Stock Scandal:
This was the "Scandal of the Century" for Texas as it took down our Democrat Governor, the Democrat Speaker of the House, the Democrat Lieutenant Governor (Barnes), and a huge chunk of the Democrat legislature. It was also one of the landmark events in the transition of Texas from a Democrat to Republican state. There's lots of information out there on the web about the Sharpstown Scandal. Barnes was an unidicted co-conspirator at the very center of the thing and he paid the ultimate price - it caused the end of his political career in elected office the year before he was expected to waltz into the governor's office on the fast track to the US Senate and, perhaps, eventually the presidency or vice presidency. Here is the synopsis of the Sharpstown Scandal that I posted on another thread:
Barnes was the unindicted co-conspirator with Speaker Gus Mutscher and Governor Preston Smith who ramrodded a banking bill through the legislature as a favor to businessman Frank Sharp. In return Sharp provided a bunch of state officeholders who helped him out with several hundred thousand dollars worth of loans from Sharpstown State Bank, which he owned, that were used to buy stock through another of Sharps' company thus artificially pumping up the price of it, while the stock itself was in turn used as collateral for the loans!
The stock was then boosted to artificial highs then, with a huge killing for Sharp and its owners, it was unloaded onto the educational endowment of a private catholic school in Houston where it soon became worthless, leaving them with the bill. In short, they took the money and ran.
The money was made while Sharp's bill was between the legislature and the governor's desk and then, to cover his tracks, Governor Smith vetoed the thing. Mutscher and a bunch of state reps who helped him went to jail over the thing and he, Smith, Barnes, and dozens of state legislators who were unindicted co-conspirators got the boot in the 1972 elections. This all goes to show just how desperate Kerry is though. He's making his attacks on Bush now by turning to a human cockroach who is best remembered for bilking a bunch of school children out of their educational endowment fund.
There is lots of information on this scandal all over the web. Here are a few links to get you started:
1. Handbook of Texas Articles:
Sharpstown Scandal
The Dirty Thirty
2. Texas Monthly:
Article on the Members of the "Dirty Thirty" (google cache)
Important Note: The "Dirty Thirty" were a group of renegade state legislators - the tiny group of Republicans who held office in Texas at the time plus some disaffected Democrats - who publicized the Sharpstown Scandal by clogging up the legislature on parliamentary moves and eventually took down Mutscher, Smith, and Barnes. Many of these legislators are still alive and several were conservative republicans. Many of them DESPISED Ben Barnes and may even be willing to give a statement about how corrupt and disreputable he is.
3. Free Republic research and background links on Ben Barnes: Lots of great background stuff revealed on the posts of these threads
II. Barnes' Corruption in General
Since getting the boot by the voters Barnes has settled into a lucrative career as the sleaziest lobbyist in Texas. He's been involved in one or more major scandals every decade since he left office. He was at the center of the real estate bust that bankrupted John Connolly. He was the force behind the scandal-ridden contracts to run the Texas Lottery. He's behind a controversial and ethically suspect pipeline proposal. The list is endless
2. Texas Monthly cache on Barnes
III. Ben Barnes' ties to the Democrats and the Kerry Campaign
Every left wing paper in the country has run a front page story alleging a conspiracy web that ties the Swift Boat Vets to Karl Rove. Not one of them has taken notice of Ben Barnes, who is a top fundraiser for the Kerry campaign and DNC causes in general!
1. Barnes tops list of Kerry fundraisers - he's in the "$100,000 and up club"
2. Barnes helps Democrat candidates
IV. BEN BARNES' BIG LIE: The Bush National Guard Story
Here is the direct proof that Ben Barnes is lying about Bush's national guard record - the quote from the Barnes video being circulated by MoveOn and all the other leftist groups:
"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 this quote: Ben Barnes was NOT Lieutenant Governor of Texas in May of 1968 when Bush joined up! He didn't take office until 1969. In 1968 Barnes was a lame duck speaker in the Texas legislature, which was out of session since it was an even numbered year. He was working his other job that spring - a UN position over in EUROPE that LBJ appointed him to! (story)
This all needs to be our message about Ben Barnes as the left starts to replay tonight's interview ad nauseum. People in Texas know all about the human cockroach named Ben Barnes but the rest of the country does not! Write letters to your editor, pass this information on to friends and family, CALL YOUR LOCAL TALK RADIO SHOWS ABOUT IT.
As it stands right now nobody knows who the real Ben Barnes is and he'll sound credible with the complicit leftist media giving him a free pass tonight. It's our job to inform the public and make sure the truth gets out there.
ping
"Ben Barnes is a Cockroach" ping! Spread the word!
Excellent post filled with relevent information. Thanks.
Bump for truth
Call your local talk shows - esp. outside of Texas. We all know that this guy is so scummy that scum won't even associate with him...but Democrats will. The national media IS NOT REPORTING BARNES' TRUE PAST AND THE REAL REASON HE WAS FORCED FROM OFFICE.
Ben Barnes is a worthless piece of garbage who is wasting good oxygen ping.
60 minutes of FREE Political propaganda for the Dems...
This is basically a freakin Democrat INFOMERCIAL...
How much is 60 minutes of prime time advertising worth?...
All in the name of J'Urinalism (jiihad journalism)
It's an unfortunate truth but if they show that video of Barnes it will be effective...UNLESS THE VOTERS KNOW WHAT A COCKROACH BEN BARNES IS.
Bump for truth! Get this info to all the talk radio shows TODAY! Let's make a preemptive strike against SeeBS!
Never let it be said that Dan Rather and 60 minutes let a lie get in the way of a good anti-Bush story.
It's called "Shadow on the Alamo" by Harvey Katz and came out in the 1970's. If any freeper has this or can find a copy there might be a treasure trove of information in there about Ben Barnes' corruption.
Also - old magazine copies of the Texas Observer from the 60's and 70's (yes, it's a liberal publication - Molly Ivins' old rag) have hundreds of articles slamming Ben Barnes. He's a Democrat hero now, but back then the liberals hated him almost as much as the republicans because he was so corrupt and slimy.
You're right - I had never heard of him before...thanks for the ping!!
BUMP for pre-emptive action!
OUT THE RAT PING!!!!!
You are giving cockroaches a bad name.
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