Posted on 09/17/2004 11:45:54 PM PDT by RatherBiased.com
The Washington Post and The New York Times both have huge stories in today's editions on the connections between Bill Burkett, CBS News, and the Democratic Party. Memogate is the story that just keeps giving.
First from the Post's:
The former Texas National Guard officer suspected of providing CBS News with possibly forged records on President Bush's military service called on Democratic activists to wage "war" against Republican "dirty tricks" in a series of Internet postings in which he also used phrases similar to several employed in the disputed documents. [...]
In e-mail messages to a Yahoo discussion group for Texas Democrats over the past few months, Burkett laid out a rationale for using what he termed "down and dirty" tactics against Bush. He said he had passed his ideas to the Democratic National Committee but that the DNC seemed "afraid to do what I suggest."
In another message, dated Sept. 4, Burkett hinted he might have had advance knowledge of some details in an explosive segment that aired Sept. 8 on the CBS News program "60 Minutes." [...]
"I believe that Bush knows that there is more coming out than Ben Barnes," Burkett wrote. "No proof, just gut instinct."
In an Aug. 13 essay for a liberal webzine called OnlineJournal.com, Burkett hinted again that President Bush was going to be attacked. This time he was more specific:
Americans will get through the gotchas of the preemptive strike from the Republican swift boat crews who want to elevate obviously flimsy charges in order to immunize Americans from more Bush assaults. The Bush assaults are rumored to finally close the issue of Bush's disappearance from his Air National Guard duty in Alabama; efforts and methods to falsify and cover up Bush problems in his files; and the obvious disciplinary actions that led to his grounding from flying. Both sides will count on the electorate to sicken of this style and leave the real meat on the table untouched.
As documented in most recent polls, the real issues of Iraq have already required enough Maalox for most Americans. Most Americans don't like war. They are rapidly moving their focus to their domestic issues of jobs, healthcare and education.
Burkett elaborated on his thoughts in an Aug. 31 posting not printed in the Post:
While some of us pine for the return of Bill CLinton, that's not the real answer. Many of us have risked everything on this election. And the disappointment is deep and difficult to manage.
But we fight on, inspite of incompetance at the top.
The truth probably is that many of the insiders simply didn't think to chekc someone out in Texas. Does that mean they won't check out those that submit themselves for key positions, as well. That's what we all think.
CBS has said that it obtained its controversial documents within the last few weeks. It may have received them from Burkett following the latter's unsuccessful attempts to pass them on to former Democratic senator Max Cleland who traveled to Texas in late August. Before Cleland's trip, Burkett had telephoned the ex-senator saying that he had damaging information about Bush. He was told to pass this information along to the Democratic National Committe but, according to the Post, national hq was less than enthusiastic.
In an Aug. 21 posting, Burkett referred to a conversation with former senator Max Cleland (D-Ga.) about the need to counteract Republican tactics: "I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. He said counterattack. So I gave them the information to do it with. But none of them have called me back."
Cleland confirmed that he had a two- or three-minute conversation by cell phone with a Texan named Burkett in mid-August while he was on a car ride. He remembers Burkett saying that he had "valuable" information about Bush, and asking what he should with it. "I told him to contact the [Kerry] campaign," Cleland said. "You get this information tens of times a day, and you don't know if it is legit or not."
Contacted by the New York Times, Cleland confirmed contact with Burkett, acknowledging that the disgruntled former guardsman had offered him information relating to Bush's guard service.
"I couldn't swear to it whether he used the term documents or information," Cleland told the paper. "It was some kind of stuff, some kind of information he wanted to get to the campaign, or something, regarding Bush's National Guard service. I referred him up to somebody in the campaign."
CBS has publicly denied Burkett was its source although a source within the network told Times reporter Jim Rutenberg that Burkett had "helped with the reports" but did not elaborate on exactly how.
Burkett's lawyer, a prominent Democratic activist named David Van Os who is the party's candidate for the Texas Supreme Court denied that his client had forged the Memogate documents.
"From my knowledge of Bill's character, I am 100 percent positively, unequivocally certain that Bill Burkett has not created or falsified any documents," Van Os told the Times.
Stan Merriman, co-founder of a group seeking to make the Texas Democratic party more liberal, echoed Van Os's sentiments in a Sept. 17 posting to the Yahoo Texas Democrats mailing list.
"Our brother, Bill Burkett is under siege by the Carl Rove [sic] smear machine," Merriman wrote.
"David Van Os assures me that as Bill's legal Counsel on a longstanding basis, any assertions that Bill has engaged in 'forgery' vis a vis the now infamous documentation of the Bush desertion of duty as a Texas National Guardsman is total smear with the footprints of the Karl Rove modus operandi all over it."
"I stand with both our brothers Burkett and Van Os and applaud their guts to stand up to the right wing slander machine; President Kerry and many of our DNC brethren can take a lesson from our two populist fellow-Texans who have the cajones to look contemptuously in the eye these ruthless cowards bringing down our formerly proud democracy and tell them to go to h*ll."
A long-time associate of Burkett's is James Moore, a former reporter for CBS's Houston affiliate, KHOU. Since 1994, Moore has been hounding Bush over his National Guard service. Eventually, he left "objective" journalism and has since become a part of the anti-Bush cottage industry that has sprung up following Bush's emergence as a national figure. He is the author of two books on the president,
Bush's Brain and Bush's War for Reelection.
While researching his second book, Moore received assistance from Burkett who provided him with a number of documents which Moore used to make the case that Bush had acted dishonorably during Vietnam. Some of these documents were given to CBS News which used in a Feb. 12 Evening News report which relayed Burkett's charges that Bush had instructed staff members to destroy documents which cast doubt on his Guard service.
Mary Mapes, the producer of CBS's Sept. 8 report which relied on the controversial Memogate documents likely was the recipient of these papers since, according to the network, she has been working on the Bush Guard story for the past five years and is based in Dallas. CBS officials have confirmed that Mapes interviewed Burkett.
Another Great American.
Looks like he should be playing the "Chuckie" doll in a horror flick.
BINGO?
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statutes/petoc.html
Texas Penal Code. Title 8
Chapter 37
--§ 37.09. TAMPERING WITH OR FABRICATING PHYSICAL
EVIDENCE.
--§ 37.10. TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL RECORD.
(PRETTY SURE AN ELECTION IS AN OFFICIAL PROCEEDING)
§ 37.09. TAMPERING WITH OR FABRICATING PHYSICAL
(1) alters, destroys, or conceals any record,
document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or
availability as evidence in the investigation or official
proceeding; or
(2) makes, presents, or uses any record, document, or
thing with knowledge of its falsity and with intent to affect the
course or outcome of the investigation or official proceeding.
(b) This section shall not apply if the record, document, or
thing concealed is privileged or is the work product of the parties
to the investigation or official proceeding.
-
§ 37.10. TAMPERING WITH GOVERNMENTAL RECORD
1) knowingly makes a false entry in, or false
alteration of, a governmental record;
(2) makes, presents, or uses any record, document, or
thing with knowledge of its falsity and with intent that it be taken
as a genuine governmental record;
Would be interesting to get a prosecutor's view on this.
Or any atty really.
see posts 60 and 63.
Sure looks like they broke Texas law....
Gotta wonder what an atty would think of that.
Looks good to me! Unfortunately, I am not a lawyer!
How low do you have to be when even the DNC turns up it's nose??
http://www.texaspopulists.com/
David Van Os then gave a rousing speech about the need to reactivate the base of our state Party and what must be done to revitalize it. He discussed the potential upcoming Communication Workers of America (CWA) strike against SBC, due to SBC’s insistence that the union concede on some health care benefits. He attributed the decline of the Texas Democratic Party to the Party neglecting to organize its base, while pursuing the “mythological swing vote”, resulting in a “continuing spiral of losses”. David encouraged us to look to our legacy of great leadership from past Democrats such as Harry Truman, Ralph Yarborough, Glen Maxey, James Stephen Hogg and Jim Hightower, leaders who ran as populists, not away from that tradition.
Our featured speaker was Jim Hightower, who spoke of his mixed emotions as he watched our Congressional Democratic leadership in Washington.
......................................................
Bill Burkett's lawyer, Van Os/..Part of the Molly Ivins Texas dem "progressives"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Texas-Democrats/message/7278
Fellow Progressive Populist Caucus Members:
Our brother, Bill Burkett is under siege by the Carl Rove smear machine. Bill
is a charter member of the PPC and our friend.
Best regards as always . . . Penny
Regards . . . Penny
But I don't know if it is going to result in changes for the better. I feel that part of Dan's delusion is he thinks he's impartial on the air, even though he is obviously consumed by his bias.
Call me cynical, but I think news organizations will see his inadmission to tilting to the left as Rather's downfall, not his acceptance of bad data. I suspect they will just continue to become more openly partisan...so if you are conservative, you will watch one channel, liberal another.
And the 'facts' will rarely surface in such an environment. Instead it will be all about personalities like Carville or "Bow-Tie Boy" or whomever and how well they can "spin" and "slam", not about events. We already see so much of this now. Soon, the news will be 24 hour campaign commercials.
WTH ever happened to "reporting"?
The first time I looked quickly at the picture, I thought it was Tim Russert.
Love the MSM feeding frenzy!
Everyone ganging up on CBS and Dan Rather – not because he’s a fraud, but because they want the market share. I don’t really care why, I just like that it is happening.
You got that right. It's so juicy even the media that normally protects lefties are going for the jugular.
Burkett needs to be subpoenaed in any case. Last time I checked forgery was still a crime in the good ol' US.
Awesome comment by Staudt. A real Texan, like GW.
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