Posted on 09/20/2004 5:32:23 PM PDT by Dont Mention the War
Posted on Mon, Sep. 20, 2004
NEW YORK - At the behest of CBS, an adviser to John Kerry said he talked to a central figure in the controversy over President Bush's National Guard service shortly before disputed documents were released.
Joe Lockhart denied any connection between the presidential campaign and the papers. Lockhart, the second Kerry ally to confirm contact with retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, said he made the call at the suggestion of CBS producer Mary Mapes.
"He had some advice on how to deal with the Vietnam issue and the Swift boat" allegations, Lockhart said Monday, referring to GOP-fueled accusations that Kerry exaggerated his Vietnam War record. "He said these guys play tough and we have to put the Vietnam experience into context and have Kerry talk about it more."
Lockhart said he thanked Burkett for his advice after a three to four minute call.
Lockhart said he does not recall talking to Burkett about Bush's Guard records. "It's baseless to say the Kerry campaign had anything to do with this," he said.
CBS News apologized Monday for a "mistake in judgment" in its story questioning Bush's Guard service, claiming it was misled by the source of documents that several experts have dismissed as fakes.
Burkett admitted this weekend to CBS that he lied about obtaining the documents from another former National Guard member, the network said. CBS hasn't been able to conclusively tell how he got them, or even whether they're fakes or not.
Kerry ally Max Cleland, a former Georgia senator, also said he had a brief conversation last month with Burkett, who told him he had information about Bush to counter charges against Kerry's Vietnam War service. Cleland said he gave Burkett's name and phone number to the campaign's research department.
Kerry spokesman David Ginsberg said nobody in the campaign's research department followed up on Burkett's offer of information.
Lockhart said Mapes asked him the weekend before the story broke to call Burkett. "She basically said there's a guy who is being helpful on the story who wants to talk to you," Lockhart said, adding that it was common knowledge that CBS was working on a story raising questions about Bush's Guard service. Mapes told him there were some records "that might move the story forward. She didn't tell me what they said."
As I posted in another thread, President Bush hasn't even completed his fourth year yet. Obviously! lol.
I seem to remember someone saying that CBS has been working on this OVER 6 years, Somewhere else, I read SIX years.
How long before becomming president did Bush express his intentions to run?
This certainly looks fully premeditated to me.
DU must be in full meltdown, trying to find the Karl Rove connection.
You missed one....kerry is a goner. :)
Excuse, dah-ling.....it's Tur-rayyyyyyy-zah. I think she's the long-lost evil sibling of the Gabor sisters :-)
And Dandy Don is warming up his pipes as we speak : "Turn out the Lights the campaigns over"
They're turning on each, now that one of their own's blood is in the water. A shark feeding-frenzy, for sure.
Really. Don't you just know everyone is watching their backs in Kerry's war room? The long knives are out.
I don't think Lockhart did anything wrong. He was given a lead, and pursued it. What's wrong with that? Mapes obviously is unprofessional, unethical and partisn in her MO. If CBS does not bounce her, that will be another CBS scandal.
perhaps until now her crediblity has not been questioned, but apparently there are some out here in her former stompin' ground in the Pacific NW who question her motivation.
John Carlson, a conservative talk radio host on KVI, has stated on the air several times to say that shes very agenda driven.
GWB decided to run in 1999.
Mapes has supposedly been working on this for five years.
My Minnesota math says 2004-1999=5.
Lockhart is linking the Kerry campaign to this. Not too bright.
Thanks for the reminder. I forgot about football.
George W. Bush was pegged as a rising star since he beat Ann Richards. Maybe even earlier. Some, like myself, had our eye on him to run for President early on. I knew he was going to be the nominee for the Reps in 2000 a few years before he made moves to signal he'd run.
Dems obviously suspected the threat he represented as well.
"These people in the DNC and CBS, so pampered by unaccountable collusion for years, have not a clue of the new environment that now envelopes them."
I believe this is an important dynamic playing itself out here. The initial responses to the forgery charges reveal a total disconnect with 2004 reality. Old bug-eyed Joe thinks it's still 1996.
Honestly. It couldn't have been this bad in Hitler's bunker! They'll soon tire of fending off one another, and curl up in their corner, sucking thumbs, curling their hair, and waiting for this election to be over~
Rules #1/2/3, whatever a Lying Rat says it is the complete opposite! Translation: There is a definite connection between the campaign and the papers.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Mapesd has beenon it for 5 years, the story was around for years before that --- Ma Richards tried to use it when Dubya ran against her for Governor.
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