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."
Well, I'll just throw in the mix that Sandy Berger hired Joe Lockhart last January when the FBI started investigating his document theft.
sKerry camp did this, pure and simple. Many of us have been maintaining that with a great deal of (tenuous) evidence since about 36 hours after the story broke. The response has often been derision. Yet, we were right.
ROTFLMPO.
So the "objective" investigative reporter, after finding out about memos she thinks just might sink the Bush reelection hopes innocently contacts Lockhart to tell him that her source has some "advice" for the Kerry campaign. Lockhart, of course, "cannot recall" whether or not the memos were discussed. Right. Of course. Perfectly normal behavior from a non-partisan independant reporter determined not to show favoritism and a principled member of the Kerry Campaign. How dare anyone question their motives. Outrageous. Nothing to see here. Move along.
The Boston Globe guy may have said that Burkette wasn't a reliable source--BUT how do they explain this:
( Boston Globe Archives, 2004-09-10 )
THE GLOBE SPOTLIGHT TEAM HAS SCORED ANOTHER BULL'S-EYE WITH ITS REPORT ON GEORGE W. BUSH'S VIOLATION OF HIS CONTRACT WITH THE GOVERNMENT FOR SERVICE IN THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD, AND HIS STAFF'S SUBSEQUENT EGREGIOUS DENIAL AND MISREPRESENTATION OF THE FACTS (PAGE A1, SEPT. 8).
The Globe article was timed to coincide with CBS and USA Today. Mapes wouldn't have given her "scoop" to rival media so it had to be the Kerry campaign or DNC.
Late to this thread, sorry. But there's a curious observation on another thread here (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1222002/posts) that could lead us to some answers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36908-2004Sep20.html
In interviews, Burkett accused the Guard of failing to provide him with proper medical treatment, as a result of which he became partly paralyzed and had a nervous breakdown. He told author Moore that, in desperation, he saved himself from death by taking a dose of cattle penicillin that turned out to be three times the correct dosage for his body weight.
For Burkett, attacking Bush, posting Internet messages and giving media interviews have become such an all-consuming passion that he has had little time to tend to his ranch. As reporters began gathering outside his modest one-story house on the Texas scrub last week, neighbors complained that Burkett's cattle were roaming across their land.
Interviewed over the weekend by CBS, Burkett acknowledged that he had "misled" the network by simply "throwing out a name" when asked to reveal the source of the documents. He insisted that he had not forged the documents and that he had urged CBS producers to investigate their authenticity before using them in a broadcast.
Michael Dobbs sheds new light. This just keeps getting wackier. Cow Penicillin? Burkett tells CBS to check for authenticity before airing?
CBS's 'impeachable source' overdosed on Cow Penicilin and told them to check the documents authenticity before airing. 'Impeachable'?
You couldn't make up a crazier, more convulted, twisted, ridiculous chain of events if you tried.
I didn't see in the first fifty, so I have to say it...
I question the timing of this.
OMG.
Here's Bush's answer to whatever Kerry says about Iraq:
"Senator Kerry says he has a new strategy for Iraq. It's the Confusion Strategy. He takes so many postions that it confuses the enemy and the enemy doesn't know what the United States will do."
Where did it go?
***Case closed
Not yet .. yes the dots are connecting .. but in a court of law it won't hold up .....need a few more dots
or search for "New twist in Memogate; LGF reader "adie" with curious observation. "
Joe sure does get around
Are there any Freepers out there with connections at a TV station that ran the Dems ad? We need a hard date on when they received the spot with the Rathergate material in it.
I have no idea ..
"In an age of terrorism, [voters] are not going to leave the president that is in office and go to someone who they doubt has the steady hand of experience," said Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, Missouri Democrat, in a conference call with reporters yesterday.
Et tu, Richard.
Coelho, Gebhardt? Can Howard Dean be far behind? Man, the knives are out for all the Dems to settle some grudges.
Re: "Kerry is NY today.
And I heard that Jacques Chirac is also in NY, but was flying back to Paris tonight."
Kerry was probably trying to arrange for exile in Paris
Gephardt's turning? Gotta hurt. Well, Kerry did pass him over for Edwards. I think Gephardt got the better deal.
I will credit him with this- Gephardt was one of two in the Dem debates that defended his vote on Iraq and took the war seriously. Joe was the other. That is why they were defeated.
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