Memogate: Did Burkett Tip His Hand?

HobbsOnline ^ | September 16, 2004 | Bill Hobbs

[tdadams]

Memogate: Did Burkett Tip His Hand?

Retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, a long-time Bush-hater who has been named by several news outlets as a possible source for the forged documents in the CBS memogate scandal, wrote the following on August 13, 2004, for Democrats.com, before the memos surfaced:

I have found no documentation from LTC Killian's hand or staff that indicate that this unit was involved in any complicit way to either cover for the failures of 1LT Bush, or to provide him pay or certification for training not completed.

So, if Burkett found no such documentation - did he forge it? And did he then sell CBS a bill of goods, convincing them that the memos were authentic and "accurately reflected" that for which there actually is no authentic documentation? [Hat tip: Mike Hollihan]

Here's a story from today's Washington Post reporting that the forged documents were faxed from a Kinko's in Abilene, Texas, which is the closest Kinko's to Burkett's home 21 miles away in Baird, Texas.

I'll bring you more links later regarding Burkett.

[cyncooper]

Oh, btw, Rather is a Clintonite.

Um, the Kerry Kamp and the DNC are Clintonites, too. What's your point?

Mine is that it is clear to me that CBS (it is obvious now it is not just Rather) conspired with the DNC and the Kerry campaign to present this fraud to the American public.

[silverleaf]

Behind door number 1 for suspects-

http://www.vanosforsupremecourt.com/vanos_biography.htm

[Maria S]

"You Clinton conspiracy losers bore me."

I'm with gobucks on this one. It may bore you to death, but the "Hillary in 2008" theory/conspiracy is getting stronger all the time.

[cyncooper]

He's not so far off the mark. The Clintons and their accomplices are involved. But I agree, this is not about tripping up Kerry or undermining him. He's involved, too--in conjunction with, not the unknowing victim of.

[gobucks]

"This is 2004 and Kerry is the challenger. "

Really. Well, you must be right. Ok then. I guess Bill and Hillary have been HELPING Kerry all this time, right? They're loyal to the party, hate Bush, right?

But, honestly, I guess I'm a bit slow to see how they are helping. But I guess I'm too slow anyway to figure it out. Oh well. Thank you for bringing clarity to the matter of Kerry's "challenge".

[tdadams]

Further down on the page, Hobbs added this commentary, with which I can only vehemently agree:

The CBS Memo Forgery Scandal is a case study in journalistic malpractice followed by willful obstinance and bad PR, and will be taught in J-school for years to come. Well, honest journalism schools with honest journalism professors, anyway. Probably not by any J-school prof who thinks Fahrenheit 9/11 really is a "documentary."

[JesseJane]

Read that again. It's quite damning:
I have found no documentation from LTC Killian's hand or staff that indicate that this unit was involved in any complicit way to either cover for the failures of 1LT Bush
How does that square with the CBS memos where Killian supposedly wrote that he was under pressure to "sugar coat" Bush's evaluation

---

I've been wondering that myself.. If RNC operatives were sent to "review" or "sanitize" Bush's records, FIRST, I'd like to know how they had access to Killians garage files of personal papers.

(Maybe I'm missing something here)

But, lets pretend these "records" were part of the official file, I can see reviewing the record to prepare for questions. But SANITIZED to me means to clean up the record. Unless Sanitize means to infect the record with lies. You can't have it both ways.. Okay, so it's not that, it's that sanitizing the records means removing them and destroying them. Okay, then you just openly toss in a garbage can where anyone can see 60 PAGES OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS?? Please, no.. that doesn't work.. You can't be that stupid. You'd have to take them or shred them. But if they ARE NOT official documents, but someone's personal files, it would still seem appropriate to shred them... or put in what we used to call 'burn bags'..

So we are to believe that Bushies, sanitized the records by throwing them out after they sugarcoated them, and put them in a place where Burkett just happened to walk in and see the documents, and after he reads them, the words on the pages magically go from sugar to shit? And viola! Proof that Bush was... _____ enter accusation of choice that coincides with 527 ad.

[Unemployed Capitalist]

He's got history with Bush - it would be too easy. Possibly someone that knows the history and wants to do something about it.....Or not. This is only speculation - we need someone from Abilene with info.

[silverleaf]

Oh my- this is much too nefarious!
What you're failing to consider is why the VRWC in its infinite evilness didn't simply forge 3 weekend sign-in rosters for ANG drill in Alabama between Septenber 72 and January 73.

[gobucks]

"Mine is that it is clear to me that CBS (it is obvious now it is not just Rather) conspired with the DNC and the Kerry campaign to present this fraud to the American public."

I was once asked why I hated Clinton so badly. I said "Because he likes to get caught in his mistakes. A president who likes to get caught looks weak. It invites attacks from bullies, and our enemies. And in a world with nukes, a President can't afford to enjoy getting caught."

I was viewed as being rather kookish for saying that. That was the Spring of 1992, April, when the reporters were giving a free pass to clinton after the draft letter suddenly 'surfaced' after all those months of Clinton denying it.

CBS, Rather, wanted to get caught. It is too obivious. The question is why. Who gets hurt, really hurt by this. In the end, KERRY. That's my point.

[Fenris6]

"Burkett came up with the idea and someone else ran with it and made sure it would be traced back to Burkett if it blew up"

Agree. It was well-known in Dem circles that Burkett was eager to shop around hit-pieces on Bush. Dem operatives are savy enough to pre-set a fall guy, just in case. And CBS would not double up on a losing hand for him alone.

We need a Blogger Beacon to help us compile known facts and deconstruct this logically.

[Reo]

Check the store security tapes! See if Burkett was wearing a Karl Rove mask as he faxed the copies! More tinfoil! More tinfoil!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

in other words, a double-double cross ?

[Bob from De]

Mapes is in this one big time! She was in Texas investigating "rumors". She spoke to Killian's son, who referred her to several others. She never spoke to the others! Her father said he was ashamed of her for the type of reporting she had done in the past!
Seems well qualified for the job!

[Fenris6]

It may bore you to death, but the "Hillary in 2008" theory/conspiracy is getting stronger all the time

Fair enough. Lets just follow the trail and see where it leads. Who knows, if its tied to Hillary's people, this scandal could remove her from the the 2008 ballot as well. But lets not get in a shoving match on the way there...wherever "there" is.

[js1138]

Hugh and series are common misspellings for huge and serious on FR. It's a joke about folks who don't proofread, which includes most of us. Except Buckhead, who's been outed as a highly trained right wing operative who probably posts at 12:59 am wearing a tux.

[danamco]

Burkett is not the unimpeachable source.

I apologize for this question.
Please define for me the context of "unimpeachable source" relating to this spicy case??? Thank you!!!

[counterpunch]

Really. Well, you must be right. Ok then. I guess Bill and Hillary have been HELPING Kerry all this time, right? They're loyal to the party, hate Bush, right?

This isn't zero-sum.
Their lack of help doesn't prove the opposite.
And their hands are not in all things at all times.

The Clintons were never good at scandals. They got caught every time. The only thing they were good at is escaping punishment, but that's only because of their friends who protected them to their own detriment.

A setup this elaborate, this meticulously planned and executed is far beyond these bumbling Arkanas bumpkins.

And as far as their 'help' or lack thereof, it's hard to tell the difference between the Clintons' legitimate 'help' and sabotage these days.
Remember McBride in Florida?
Remember all the other Demcrats they campaigned for in 2002?
Their 'help' did more harm than good for the Democrats.

The best help the Clintons could give is to stay far, far away, and that is what they've been doing.

[gobucks]

A double double cross? Nope .. that would give the media flakes too much credit. Merely a case of deliberate incompetence, which conveniently benefits ... in the end ... who?

We'll see soon enough.

[randog]

...CBS would not double up on a losing hand for him alone.

Exactly. CBS is protecting someone they consider important enough to sink their news division over. That's a short list: Ra^ther's daughter, the DNC, or the Kerry campaign.

Now it gets complicated; CBS can't reveal its sources because it would cause serious damage to their presidential candidate, and even if they did finger any of the source candidates I listed above, that candidate pulls the emergency chute and fingers their patsie Burkett. That makes it even worse for CBS because their "unimpeachable" source becomes a nutter.