FR Thread
Posted on 09/16/2004 6:57:57 AM PDT by Protect the Bill of Rights
Established fact: the memos Dan Rather used in his 60 Minutes II segment are forgeries.
The WASHINGTON POST has reported the memos originated from a Kinko's in Abilene Texas.
Bill Burkett, a man with a long festering grudge against the Bush family lives in Baird Texas, 25 miles from Abilene. It has been report Mr. Burkett has an account at Kinko's
The obvious conclusion would be Mr. Burkett is the source of the memos. Case closed. End of Story. And the DNC and Dan Rather would have us believe the story is over. They want to get to the substance. Problem is that ending is way too neat. I am convinced this goes back to the DNC and the information is out there, waiting for us. I believe it can be proven. But it is going to take some work.
The story is NOT the content of the memos. The story is:
Who faxed them to CBS?
Is the DNC/Kerry Campaign involved?
If the DNC/Kerry Campaign is involved, can it be proven?
Was Dan Rather a willing participant?
I believe the above questions can be answered with certainty. We need another central thread to focus on this chapter of the story. It is a place where documentation can be gathered, facts confirmed, wild speculation disgarded, rumors dismissed, and logical, reasonable conclusions drawn.
This is from my post on another thread: Rather Concedes Papers Are Suspect (Rather Talks of Questions On Papers (on DRUDGE) #127 posted on 09/16/2004
To: shrinkermd; Anti-Bubba182; GOPcapitalist; SnowstormPatriot
As more information flows, I am convinced this is a DNC coordinated smear effort. Case in point:
Ex-Texas Guardsman eyed in Bush memo leak posted on 09/16/2004 2:35:47 AM EDT by Anti-Bubba182
"...Mr. Burkett's attorney, David Van Os, said yesterday through a spokeswoman that he has been instructed by his client not to comment. The New York Times reported yesterday that Mr. Van Os refused to say if his client played a role in providing the memos to CBS.
The New York Times quoted Mr. Van Os as saying, "If, hypothetically, Bill Burkett or anyone else, any other individual, had prepared or had typed on a word processor as some of the journalists are presuming, without much evidence, if someone in the year 2004 had prepared on a word processor replicas of documents that they believed had existed in 1972 or 1973 — which Bill Burkett has absolutely not done" — then he continued, "what difference would it make?" ....." excerpted from the Washington Times.
Next: Memogate: Burkett's attorney/spokesman hosted Kerry rallies in Texas
"Here's a photo of David Van Os, the spokesman for Bill Burkett of Memogate fame, addressing a major John Kerry for President rally in Austin last month."
posted on 09/16/2004 3:04:52 AM EDT by GOPcapitalist
further down the thread: David Van Os for Texas Supreme Court
To: GOPcapitalist
You might also be interested to know that David Van Os was an associate in the law firm of David R. Richards.
For those of you that haven't made the connection yet, David Richards is the husband of Ann Richards, the former Governor of Texas that was defeated by George W. Bush.
Do you smell a bit of vendetta here?
15 posted on 09/16/2004 3:29:10 AM EDT by SnowstormPatriot
Several weeks or maybe a month ago, I watched 2 newsclips which I believe (speculation only) were designed to generate interest in this story. The first was an article in Salon Salon.com News | George W. Bush's missing year Sept 2, 2004. I do not have the whole article [refuse to register] , I believe Mrs. Allison is laying a groundwork for the Killian memos. This may be the article which describes a perceived snub by the Bush family towards the Killians. If anyone has that article, please post link or quote.
I saw another TV news clip and I am desperately looking for the source. It states implicitly that the video Ben Barnes made was done at the request of John Kerry. If anyone remembers the report or has a link to a source on that one, please post here.
Burkett to Wes Clarke to Hillary to rather?
Finding out how USA Today and other media outlets got their own copies of the memos before the CBS story will probably fill in a few of the blanks.
You rock.
Thanks!
You're right Wes Clarke has demonstrated in the not so distant past that he's shown himself to be a conspiracy nut, knowingly screwed up the memo and figured no one would notice the glaring error(s) in the memo; i.e., military jargon, or the fact the P.O. Box in the letterhead is "34567", and the address is conveniently Houston, TX and not Austin, TX where the TANG HQ is located.
who would fax from a public place? someone with high visibility and who doesn't want the paper trail from their own machine or someone who doesn't have a fax machine period. i bet that covers both sides--Burkett and DNC operatives.
You would think someone at Kinko's (if paid) could either remember or possibly even have the cover sheet confirmation or the log that comes from the machine. I am not sure how long they are stored (i think ours is a month or so) but i bet whoever faxed it was dumb enough to put their name on it. i bet they even paid for it with plastic. whoever created those lousy fakes might be dumb enough to leave their trail.
In the short run, they succeeded. No one in the media is talking about the SwiftVets' charges any more - a net positive for Kerry at the minimal cost of putting Dan Rather on the hot seat for a while.
The Clintons have Bill's surgery to duck out. Little known fact is Bill was told he would need to undergo surgery months ago. He went in not too long before this broke, and she has yet to make any statements on any of it. They used Wes Clark to carry their water, as they have been since he retired. They never leave fingerprints.
I don't believe it was Burkett - too hamfisted as far as the military info in the forgeries. My money is on Barnes.
Drudge needs that, too.
John-John Kennedy's magazine? Do you have a copy? Is it on the web?
Good find. My question is this: how did the Kerry campaign know in April that Bush failed to show up for a physical? I thought I had read (and granted, I haven't been able to keep up with the millions of words written on this subject) that this "newly discovered memo" that CBS claims is authentic was the first indication that Bush missed a physical.
Ok, I just did.
Burketts manifesto here
http://onlinejournal.com/bush/031903Burkett/031903burkett.html
exerpt:
In January of 1998 and what seems like a full lifetime ago, I was stricken by a deadly case of meningoencephalitis. I was returning from a short duty trip to Panama as a team chief to inspect the hand over of Ft. Clayton to the Panamanians. I had been 'loaned' from the senior staff and state planning officer of the Texas National Guard to the Department of the Army for a series of these special projects after angering George W. Bush by refusing to falsify readiness information and reports; confronting a fraudulent funding scheme which kept 'ghost' soldiers on the books for additional funding, and refusing to alter official personnel records [of George W. Bush].
was a pawn then caught in a struggle for right and wrong, but also caught within a political struggle between a man who would do anything to be 'king' of America and an institution of laws that we knew as America.
For five years, I have fought my battles around two fronts; the personal retaliation that was waged against me and the individual organizational unlawful acts and practices waged against our institutions.
"...Fortunate Son ad, with CBS memo, was revealed to the press July 20 - before the SBVT ads even aired..."
OMG!!! I missed this.
"..Back on July 20 — before the Swift boat campaign got under way — McAuliffe held a conference call with reporters to announce that, from that day forward, Democrats would devote a great deal of time and energy to exposing Bush’s Guard record...."
from http://www.hillnews.com/goddard/091604.aspx
The video announced July 20th and released September 14
What events happened in that time frame?
Mid July: Terry McAuliffe drudges up the AWOL story, yet once again, seemingly out of the blue. At the time, it was "Is this all they have to fight with? Old charges which have been debunked over & over & over?
July 20 - August 2 according to reports DNC has possession of memo's
Week of August 29th (aprox) Killian's son said Mary Mapes came to him looking for documents they heard about.
Media reports alluding to a change of heart from the Killian family. Old papers. Bush snub
A taped speech by Ben Barnes (at the request of Kerry, but still looking for that source)
September 8, 2004 60 Minutes II interview with Ben Barnes
September 14, 2004 Fortunate Son released.
When does the Army have physicals?
Do they call them physicals or medicals?
We need an Army ping?
We need more comparison's between army lanuage and air force language.
Let me see if I can add another dot or two. CBS probably gets a truckload of tin foil hat conspiracy thoeries faxed to them every day. So, without someone that CBS News knows intimately from past associations (or their being vouched for a trusted person) paving the way, this guy's rant ends up in the dumpster with the rest of the trash. The significance of the "unimpeachable source" comment Rather made now takes on real significance. Who paved the way for these forgeries -- there is the person to look for?
Dan Rather's daughter lives in Austin. That disgraced ex-Lt Gov (Barnes?) lives not too far from Abilene, Texas. This Burkette's lawyer is a Dem operative, a Gore chad counter, ex-labor lawyer for the AFL-CIO, and Dem candidate for Texas Supreme Court.
There are way too many conincidences here. Some rumblings a short while back about Bush's Guard service, the CBS forgeries based story, followed IMMEDIATELY by the DNC "Fortunate Son" ad campaign (they don't crank out those ads overnight on a laptop). Does anyone else smell an intricately planned smear assault that went horribly wrong?
That's the bad thing about being a "bomb factory" - sometimes one of them blows up in your face!
The heartless Bent One was announced to have heart surgery on the same day Kerry's camp was sabotaged by Clintonista's, shortly thereafter of course, the forged memos surface. Wes Clark of course was the inside guy for the Clintons in the Kerry camp lo' these many months since he dropped out of the race for President. I truly think the Clintons may be indirectly connected, being that Hillary has been pondering a run at the POTUS job in 2008. Destroying Kerry while maintaining control of the Democrat party only ensures Hillary gets what she wants later.
Read upthread about the attorney's parsing about memos typed in 2004, then read my response. I think they were created in 2003. This was supposedly their big strategy to win.
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