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."
LOL! Good analogy!
Someone on another thread in the past day or so was talking about Ann Richards bringing this up when W ran for Gov of Tx, so that may have something to do with the story predating W's presidential run. Just a guess.
That's no more ridiculous than them saying they didn't talk about the CBS broadcast.
Great Analogy! Don't Play Texas Hold 'em with a champ!
Okay, since the "mainstream media" seems extremely S-L-O-W in pouncing upon these kind of advent news items, it's time for the FR Rathergate Project to kick into full gear in recapping all of this so we can keep putting this into the lap of CBS affiliates, CBS sponsors, CBS 60 Minute Advertisers, and the "mainstream media."
CBS has trashed their news reputation over a story about somebody blowing off a military physical while in the reserves 35 years ago.
Bears repeating. Twice. In italics and bold. CBS News is now a nest of immature, partisan, idiots.
"There is a very strong risk that this president is irreparably damaging his credibility," says Joe Lockhart, a former spokesman for President Clinton.
Democrats say it may be too late. Lockhart says, "The clock is ticking on this guy."
What did the kerry campaign now and when??
"Cleland said he gave Burkett's name and phone number to the campaign's research department."
I thought the original story was that Cleland told Burkett to call the campaign. This is different-- or am I misremembering?
Oh really? Well, you'd never know, because his "effective speech" got lost in the CBS documents story. Now, I know that Kerry was just doin' his best to jump out in front of the President's speech before the UN tomorrow. But I haven't seen much about it on the news tonight. Until you, so handily brought it up.
Kerry's speech was all over the media. That is where I saw parts of it.
Sounds like a job for our NY Freepers. Can someone track Mapes' address & perhaps NY Freepers can FREEP her neighborhood w/proper signs? We need more specific media events highlighting Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Rathergate players.
MASSIVE COLLUSION BETWEN CBS, DNC AND THE KERRY CAMPAING-MSNBC
Sounds like a job for our NY Freepers. Can someone track Mapes' address & perhaps NY Freepers can FREEP her neighborhood w/proper signs? We need more specific media events highlighting Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Rathergate players.
Any producers out there who can tell us how long it takes to put together a video like "Fortunate Son"?
TV clips of Freepers harrassing Mapes, a non public figure, won't sell well with swing voters. Give it up.
You know, Hillary has been awfully quiet. I haven't seen her since this all started:)
Rush disected it this afternoon.
And what might have been the subject of their conversation? The only thing Burkett has talked about, to anyone who would listen, has been Bush's guard records that he ostensibly saw being destroyed. And why the sudden activity now? Because the records were "found".
Sorry, I don't know how to post a hyper link or whole article: what follows is from USA Today article from 20 minutes ago, new names! SVP Betsy West and screamin Howard Dean!
Yeah Baby!
"At Burkett's request, we gave his (telephone) number to the campaign," said Betsy West, senior CBS News vice president
"My interest was to get the attention of the national (campaign) to defend against the attacks," Burkett said, adding that he also talked to former Georgia senator Max Cleland and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean during the past 45 days. "Neither the Democratic Party or the Kerry campaign had anything to do with the documents," he said.
Since our softball media has forgotten the art of hardball questions when it comes to the big corporate media or the Democrats, I suggest you personally e-mail this question as a prompter to all key mainstream media.
Part of the FR School of Bloggerism's new responsibilities is to retrain mainstream media's poor peripheral vision brought on by wearing blinders for too long.
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