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Suspected CBS Source Is Well-Regarded Texan: Democrat Lives Among GOP Voters
Wash Post ^ | 9/17/04 | Sylvia Moreno

Posted on 09/16/2004 8:19:10 PM PDT by Cableguy

BAIRD, Tex., Sept. 16 -- For half a dozen years, Bill Burkett has lived a pretty uneventful life in this tiny West Texas town. He and his wife are regulars at the Whistle Stop Cafe, ordering bacon cheeseburgers with jalapenos and fries or the pork chop special on Mondays. He "visits," as people like to say in these parts, with other ranchers over coffee at the Callahan County Farmer's Co-Op. And like other polite locals, he drops in on the local elected officials to introduce himself.

He is, by most accounts, a nice man who, in an overwhelmingly Republican-voting area, might be seen as somewhat eccentric for his Democratic bias

"I've made comments to him like, 'I think there's only two Democrats left in Callahan County, and I'm both of them,' " said Pete Mendez, 65, a retired federal firefighter who has lived in the county all his life. " 'It's three of us, if that's the way you look at it' is kind of what he's said."

Despite several requests, Burkett has said nothing publicly since Wednesday, after he was named in news reports as a possible source of the disputed documents CBS News's "60 Minutes" used in a Sept. 8 broadcast that said President Bush received preferential treatment while he was in the Texas Air National Guard.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: billburkett; cbsnews; killian; rather
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To: Cableguy

I've done a little lurking tonite at DU:
Here is an experpt of one of their threads:

Dear Ms. xxxxx,
Thank you for taking the time to write. Your support is appreciated. As you can imagine, we've been inundated with negative emails. It's refreshing to hear from a viewer such as yourself. We strive for the highest level of journalistic integrity and will continue to do so, no matter what the cost. A free society demands free, unmuzzled media expression.


CBS Evening News

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 2:38 PM
To: CND Evening News
Subject: Dan Rather is Heroic


Dear Mr. Rather,

What you have done is not only brave but patriotic. It's time the media in this country stopped acting as a propaganda arm of the
cabal in the White House and started telling
truth and facts to the American people.

These facts about AWOL should have come out
strongly while he was running before the election of 2000 instead of the media acting as cheerleaders for him and for the phony Iraq "imminent danger" war . It should be made clear that the Iraq war declared by this administration had nothing to do with the attack on the WTC.

Because of the propaganda of the WH which the media repeated, 60% of the American people who only get their news from tv, believe
Iraq was responsible for the attack on the WTC.

Please continue to do real and honest reporting.
You seem to be the only one.

Thank you again for your heroic bravery.

xxxxxxxx
Florida


21 posted on 09/16/2004 8:32:31 PM PDT by diamond6 (Everyone who is for abortion has already been born. Ronald Reagan)
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To: Azzurri
He was a quiet boy ...

And a loner...

"Excitable boy," they all said. Well he's just an excitable boy.

22 posted on 09/16/2004 8:32:52 PM PDT by anonymous_user (Still waiting for one reason to support John Kerry...)
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To: Cableguy

Bill Burkett is not being described as a "nice man" among the old media journalists. They're talking like he has grudges and takes his grudges to court and sues people who offend him, and changes his story, ala john kerry, and so on. What I heard today, anyway.


23 posted on 09/16/2004 8:32:56 PM PDT by onyx eyes (..................."ouch......that's gotta hurt.....")
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To: Biblebelter
Sylvia Moreno appears to be blissfully unaware of Burkett's medical history. And of his incoherent rantings.

Smacks of the "he was such a nice boy" reports you get after some kid has sprayed the playground with a 12 guage.

24 posted on 09/16/2004 8:33:20 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: Cableguy

"Many of us have risked everything on this election," Burkett said in a message posted on Aug. 31.


There it is.

Now the only thing left is to know how many and who the others are who "risked everything".


25 posted on 09/16/2004 8:34:29 PM PDT by Vn_survivor_67-68
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To: Cableguy
"I describe Colonel Burkett as a person I would trust with my life or my wife," Kerr said.

Based on the moral survey results posted tonight in another thread, I wouldn't trust a Dem with my life, wife, or even my towels.
26 posted on 09/16/2004 8:34:46 PM PDT by LSU Engineer
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To: Hank All-American

Hahahahahahaha.


27 posted on 09/16/2004 8:35:33 PM PDT by savedbygrace
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To: piasa
"I've made comments to him like, 'I think there's only two Democrats left in Callahan County, and I'm both of them,' "

Makes it much easier to live in the two Americas I suppose.

28 posted on 09/16/2004 8:35:34 PM PDT by The Citizen Soldier ("We will always remember. We will always be proud." Ronald Reagan)
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To: metalcor

The Shadow knows.


29 posted on 09/16/2004 8:36:13 PM PDT by shiva
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To: mdittmar

I think the answer is yes. I wish everyone on this site would refer to Rather as Crazy Dan. I wrote a letter to my CBS affiliate and that is the way that I referred to Rather. He is starting to act Nixonian. When he said that if the documents are forged I would like to break that story, then that is a clue that the pressure has gotten to him. Scarborough and Buchanan were making fun of him tonight and said How stupid can he be?


30 posted on 09/16/2004 8:36:31 PM PDT by Biblebelter
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To: Hank All-American

He was born a poor black child....


31 posted on 09/16/2004 8:36:57 PM PDT by sinkspur ("I heard that the traditionalists have taken over the FR religion forum"--Cardinal Fanfani)
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To: All

I've just been lurking over at DU. Maybe there really are two Americas--because they certainly don't live in the one I do. All they seem to talk about is how courageous Dan Rather is, and how the "forgery issue" is just a distraction cooked up by Rove, and how the "liberal" media is covering up for the White House.

I could find no mention of the new Gallup poll.


32 posted on 09/16/2004 8:37:41 PM PDT by Hank All-American (Free Men, Free Minds, Free Markets baby!)
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To: okie01

The Post may be trying to get Burkett's trust with a favorable story so that they can get him to agree to be interviewed, but that is not going to happen, because as the expression goes he is too lawyered up for that.


33 posted on 09/16/2004 8:39:16 PM PDT by Biblebelter
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To: LSU Engineer

And you must certainly don't want to trust one with BOTH your wife AND your towels.


34 posted on 09/16/2004 8:42:05 PM PDT by savedbygrace
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To: Cableguy

Well regarded? Seems to be a nutcase if you ask me.


35 posted on 09/16/2004 8:43:34 PM PDT by San Jacinto ("This is Dan Rather---'forging' ahead'")
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To: Cableguy

To the Washington Post: You picked up the ball briefly, but it looks like you dropped it again. Shame on you. To the showers with you.


36 posted on 09/16/2004 8:45:23 PM PDT by Rocky (Heinz Kerry: 57 positions on any issue)
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To: Cableguy
I'm surprised they didn't dredge up a Dem operative couple like the one in FL that "taped" Newt's cell phone conversation a few years ago. It won't be long before we see this guy strolling down the street with his wife, holding hands and happily swinging their arms in time with their stride.
37 posted on 09/16/2004 8:52:55 PM PDT by Major Matt Mason (Chilling the champagne for the announcement of Dan Rather's early retirement.)
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To: Cableguy

These high praises do not fit any liberal I know.


38 posted on 09/16/2004 8:54:50 PM PDT by MissAmericanPie
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To: Cableguy

A Boston Globe reporter on H&C tonight said he checked Burkett out for a story he would have loved to run with, but found him not credible. He went further, said any one using Burkett for a source, had better check things very carefully. In short, Burkett AKA a liar.


39 posted on 09/16/2004 8:55:03 PM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
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To: Biblebelter
The Post goes back to the Dark Side. This is a puff piece. The Boston Globe reporter on Hannity tonight said that he was not credible enough to source a story on.

And Chris Matthews wasn't very impressed with him, either.

And one other thing -- this guy is constantly complaining of death threats, and said he got some in just the past day. Has he bothered to file police reports on any of these death threats? After all, if he's as well-liked in his town as this article is spinning, why wouldn't the cops want to help him?

40 posted on 09/16/2004 8:55:33 PM PDT by NYCVirago
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