Posted on 09/15/2004 3:57:33 PM PDT by hobson
It was just too convenient to have all the long awaited "missing documents" and a player in Texas politics come together to "confirm" what the Democrats have been trying to "prove" for a long time. How did Barnes and the forged memos make it to the nicely packaged hit piece reported by Dan Rather on 60 Minutes II?
The following is an attempt to layout the origin and subsequent events that bring us to the "revelations" reported by Dan Rather.
Moore first challenged Bush about guard records in 1994
JAMES C. MOORE - Author and Former CBS affiliate employee, James C. Moore first challenged George W. Bush about his Texas Air National Guard service during the 1994 gubernatorial debate between Bush and Ann Richards. Moore, from Flint, Michigan, was a reporter for the CBS affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston at that time. He won an Emmy in 1997 for his report "Lone Star Standoff".
Former CBS KHOU TV reporter and author of Bush's Brain, James C. Moore, was the first to question Bush's guard record in a 1994 debate with Anne Richards. Moore admits," Ever since asking Bush that question almost a decade ago, I have been obsessed with finding the truth". He has published many articles on the subject over the last 10 years.
Moore ratcheted up his efforts beginning in February 2004. His new book "Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made Bush Presidential" was first published on February 21, 2004. In an article dated April 27, 2004 for salon.com titled Bush's Flight from the Guard (Alternate Link), Moore says, "I leaked Burkett's story to the national media shortly after filmmaker Michael Moore described the president as a "deserter" and set off a furor".
Moore's work can be found at
Clear the air, Mr Bush provides some interesting insight as to Mr. Moore's familiarity with TANG operations. Could it be Mr. Moore is a candidate for the source mentioned in the article by Editor and Publisher where USA Today described their source as"a person with knowledge of Texas Air National Guard operations"?
MOORE AND CBS
On May 4, 2004, Moore was used as source for this article by CBS reporter Beth Lester, Gaps Remain in Bush Guard Service. Lester refers to Moore's speculations, " ... there was a drug or alcohol induced reason for Mr. Bush's absence that he and his superiors wanted to avoid publicizing. " And uses Moore to add further suspicions that Bush did not fulfill his obligation, "Moore is quoted in the article as saying, "A pilot can not simply walk away from all of that training..."." The article points out that "The Kerry campaign thinks it has a winner with this issue. " and that "the Kerry campaign sent out a press release titled Key Unanswered Questions: Bush's Record in The National Guard.". The Key Questions were published on April 27, 2004 and the same day Moore published Bush's Flight from the Guard on salon.com. On September 10, 2004 Dan Rather used Moore as an authority on Bush's guard records:
MOORE: They are absolutely consistent with the records as I know it. RATHER: Put it in context and perspective for us the story and what we call the counterattack on the story. Where are we right now? MOORE: I think what has happened is some incriminating documents have come out. The white house, you should remember, has not discredited the documents. they're relying on the blogosphere and other people to do that. Because the White House probably knows these documents are in fact real. Unbelievable. Could it be the "impeccable" source Mr. Rather is relying on is the former CBS KHOU-TV reporter and dogged Bush basher James C. Moore? And has James C. Moore lent his "credibility" to Lieutenant Colonel Will Burkett who is now being identified as a possible source of the documents? MOORE AND BURKETT Moore has speculated on many occasions that the reason Bush did not take the physical was because he was avoiding a drug test along with many other allegations. How does one man continue to ask the same questions for TEN YEARS ? Enter Lieutenant Colonel William (Bill) Burkett who has been describe as The Fried Man and has an unfortunate illness called meningoencephalitis . (must read) Burkett's story provided the avenue for Moore to keep beating the "missing document" drum beat. It is unclear when or how Moore first met Burkett. But, Burkett needed someone to tell his story and at one point was told to contact Bev Harris, a consultant, who could help him do just that. And indeed she did when she published her own articles on the subject at onlinejournal.com: Onlinejournal.com also published articles by Burkett and James C. Moore: More about the Moore and Burkett duo can be found at CyberAlert.com . CBS USES MOORE AND BURKETT AS SOURCES On February 13, 2004, Guardsmen Differ On Bush Service CBS News reporter John Roberts quotes Burkett and refers to Moore book:
"I was troubled sufficiently within my own conscience that there was an effort here to cast an image that was better maybe than the individual's record," Burkett said. He claims he overheard a phone conversation in which Mr. Bush's then chief-of-staff Joe Allbaugh gave the order to scrub the records, and later found some in the trash. Video of this report is found here . MOORE AND BEN BARNES Dan Rather also interviewed former Lt. Governor of Texas, Ben Barnes. Barnes is still a powerful player in Texas and National Democratic politics. Senator Tom Daschle calls him the 51st Democratic Senator ("So What if He Never Got to be Governor or President?" by Paul Burka, September, 2001). But this wasn't the first time Barnes told this story. In May 2004 Barnes recanted testimony he had previously given under oath in a video produced by Michael Nicholson and Todd Phelan of Austin4Kerry.org. Austin4kerry.org has this to say about the making of this video:
The video didn't get much attention until ... wait for it... James C. Moore sent out an email around August 25 calling attention to the video. On August 27, CBS News, article titled Ex-Honcho: I Got Bush Into Guard they give Moore credit for jump starting the most recent whirlwind. The austin4kerry.org website was slammed with traffic and asked their friends at Greaterdemocracy.org mirror the video. How is austin4kerry.org connected? Michael and Todd Phelan are volunteers for the Kerry campaign who organize and host events. You can find their efforts at volunteer.johnkerry.com. According to an article by Jeff Horwitz, I'm very ashamed, (alt link) Todd Phelan is an organizer for Travis County Democratic party. Which brings us to yet another connection with CBS's Dan Rather. Dan Rather is connected to the the Travis County Democratic Party through his daughter, Robin Rather. She is an organizer and fund raiser for Democratic causes and the Kerry campaign. Dan Rather was the featured speaker at one of the events she organized. Robin Rather is or has been chair-person of several environmental groups. Ben Barnes is also an active supporter of Travis County Democratic Party. For more on Barnes see Who is Ben Barnes? AND FINALLY
Dan Rather made himself the eye of the Rather-Gate storm but James C. Moore is the energy feeding this hurricane. Moore identified individuals willing to make public accusations against President Bush. Moore collected and published their tales in his books and on the internet. Moore helped at least one of the accusers, Bill Burkett, acquire an outlet. Moore ran the spam campaign publicizing the Barnes video for the Travis County Democrats. James C. Moore has been working toward this moment since 1994. RATHER: You've studied president Bush's records for 10 years. Are these documents consistent with the record as you know it?
"In a six-year old letter to Texas lawmakers obtained by CBS News and in a new book, former guard officer Bill Burkett claims that in 1997, Texas Guard commanders purged Mr. Bush's records to "make sure nothing will embarrass the Governor during his re-election campaign, or if he runs for president."
For the record, the footage for these clips was shot this past May. We conducted a sit-down interview on Tuesday, May 25th, and then, almost as an afterthought, we taped his speech at our MeetUp on Thursday May 27th. The clips were edited together over the following month and posted on the morning of Friday, June 25th. They've been online ever since
"The video was posted June 25 on the Web site www.austin4kerry.org, but didn't get much attention until Friday, when Jim Moore, an Austin-based author of books about Mr. Bush, sent out e-mail messages calling attention to it...".
" In 1994, I was the first person to publicly ask Bush about how he got into the National Guard. I had tried to get in myself, desperately, knowing that it might protect me from combat, if the war were still being prosecuted when I graduated from college. I was told, as were thousands of other young men, that the waiting list for enlistment as a guard soldier was about three years. Anyone wanting to be a pilot found themselves in a five year queue. But not George W. Bush. He just walked in and signed up and went off to flight training. As a panelist on the televised debate when Bush first ran for governor against Ann Richards, I felt compelled to ask Mr. Bush how he did it. More than that, I was obligated. My home town, Flint, Michigan, was filled with kids drafted out of the factories and high schools, (and a disproportionate number were African-Americans,) who went to Vietnam and died. Their fathers were not congressmen.
ping
UPDATE: It is unclear whether Bev Harris and Bev Conover are same individual.
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