Posted on 09/12/2004 3:37:13 PM PDT by wagglebee
NEW YORK -- A principal source for the CBS story about President Bush's National Guard duty was Bill Burkett, a disgruntled former Guard officer who lives in Baird, Texas, who says he was present at Guard headquarters in Austin in 1997 when a top aide to then Governor Bush ordered records sanitized to protect the Boss, Newsweek reports in the current issue.
Typed memos from the early '70s suggesting officers were pressured to give Bush special treatment and "sugarcoat" increasingly negative evaluations were a central part of the CBS report.
Other Guard officials disputed Burkett's account and the Bush aide involved, Joe Allbaugh, called it "absolute garbage."
Burkett may have a motive to make trouble for the powers that be. In 1998, he grew gravely ill on a Guard mission to Panama, causing him to be hospitalized, and he suffered two nervous breakdowns. He unsuccessfully sued for medical expenses.
Still, in theory, Burkett may have had access to any Guard records that, in a friend's words, "didn't make it to the shredder," report Chief Political Correspondent Howard Fineman and Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff in the September 20 issue of Newsweek.
Fellow officers say Burkett wasn't a crank, but rather a stickler for proper procedure-a classic whistle-blower type.
Burkett was impressive enough to cause CBS producer Mary Mapes to fly to Texas to interview him.
"There are only a couple of guys I would trust to be as perfectly honest and upfront as Bill," said Dennis Adams, a former Guard colleague. The White House, through Communications Director Dan Bartlett, called Burkett a "discredited source."
Newsweek also reports that a hard-core group within the John Kerry campaign is setting up a new "oppo" squad aimed at countering what they perceive as Republican-backed smears against Kerry. Tentatively called Sealords II -- Kerry's Mekong Delta mission in Vietnam was known as Sealords -- the group has a $1 million budget and will be housed at the Democratic National Committee, where, one of its members says, the mission will be "message, debate prep, attack, attack."
Oh dear, their bringing out the "Sealords II". We're in big trouble, folks.
No ,I disagree no one should watch 60 minutes ever again!
. . . with pizza and french fries.
I would bet that Burkett wrote the memos
Let me try this again..."...I wonder how many of us are going to watch 60 Minutes for the first time in years just to see..."
What's to disagree with?
Gotta read between the lines here...
The CBS Source Was: "...a hard-core group within the John Kerry campaign is setting up a new "oppo" squad aimed at countering what they perceive as Republican-backed smears against Kerry. Tentatively called Sealords II -- Kerry's Mekong Delta mission in Vietnam was known as Sealords -- the group has a $1 million budget and will be housed at the Democratic National Committee, where, one of its members says, the mission will be "message, debate prep, attack, attack."
2004 Dem candidate for Supreme Court Justice Van Os is/was his attorney against the Guard and Burkett is working faithfully on the current campaign. http://www.vanosforsupremecourt.com/
Bingo.. and there you have your link to the DNC.
Shame on CBS for believing a partisan with a third-rate forgery. Their zealous hatred of everything Republican has blinded them to the truth.
Hopefully, this gets linked back to Kerry quickly.
The only way kerry will release his records is with a court order. And maybe this will be done as they investigate his fake medals.
People even democrats, have to wonder about why he won't release them. Then again, I'm assuming that democrats have the ability to rational thought processes, which they have haven't given much evidence of.
Sorry I misread your statement my fault
UH, sounds like it's a 527 housed within the DNC--- "Boston, we have a problem."
Ahhh understand. NP
Clinton machine
Fineman and Isikoff? Sounds like a couple of communists.
Dan IS the bimbo coming over.
You statement about "B.J.s" house is on the money.
Burkett was in the ARMY National Guard. I seriously doubt he would even have any access to AIR National Guard records.
Take a look at when he sued his commanding officers.
http://www.3rdcoa.courts.state.tx.us/opinions/htmlopinion.asp?OpinionId=10979
This man is a tin foil hatter.
This thread on DU has a different theory about the source
**CBS REVEALS ITS SOURCE - New Killian Memos Released**
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x796593
Got to go take a bath now.
Anybody can be "unimpeachable" when they are anonymous and the documents are locked up in the CBS vaults so no independent document experts can examine and analyze them.
The Democrats are fighting a dirty campaign, total disregard for any truth, integrety, and law.
It's absolutely disgusting. How could anyone with any self respect be a member of this is beyond belief.
The fallout of this will continue long after the election.
I doubt the democrats wil be able to rebuild themselves before the next one.
Dan is never on the Sunday 60 Minutes, only the Wednesday program.
They will completely ignore Fontgate tonight.
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