Posted on 09/23/2004 11:36:41 PM PDT by kattracks
September 24, 2004 -- CLINTONISTA-turned- John-Kerry-strategist Joe Lockhart's account of his role in Memogate boils down to this: I did not have National Guard conversations with that man, Mr. Burkett. Even though Lockhart called Bill Burkett at the request of CBS producer Mary Mapes, who had alerted him that Burkett was providing records that Dan Rather planned to use to accuse President Bush of shirking National Guard duty.Lockhart's "I did not" claim may well turn out to be more truthful than ex-boss Bill Clinton's denial of sex with Monica Lewinsky. But if so, then Lockhart has gone from a very hard-nosed political player to a lazy old softie.
Imagine you're Lockhart and you've just become a top strategist for the struggling Kerry effort, brought in to shake things up and get the campaign into "fight back" mode. Then imagine that a producer calls with a hot tip and phone number and says please call this guy who's being "helpful" and has some dirt on Bush's Guard records that CBS is planning to use in a big Dan Rather story.
"She basically said there's a guy who is being helpful on the story who wants to talk to you," Lockhart told the Associated Press, adding that Mapes also spoke of records "that might move the story forward. She didn't tell me what they said."
So Lockhart calls this guy after being told he has the dirt that just might shift the 2004 race in Kerry's direction — yet Lockhart claims he didn't ask a single question about the mystery memos.
Zero curiosity? Really?
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
BTTT
How in the world does the DNC explain their adds containing reference to the forged memos, adds undoubtedly manufactured pre-Rathergate?
This Mary Mapes is sitting on the key to Rathergate. She has been working on this "case" for nearly 5 years. She has a theory of the case. Memos suddenly appear to support her theory. She either typed them or knows who did IMHO.
I believe Lockhart has said he talked to Burkett for only 3-4 minutes. Are we ever going to get a look at the phone records? If they were to show a much longer conversation, that would speak volumes.
And are we going to get a look at phone records of the conversation between Lockhart and Mapes?
Is anybody going to be put under oath with the possibility of criminal perjury prosecution? If not, we're never going to get to the bottom of any of this.
Who TOLD cBS that burkett 'had' these documents? He didn't have them at the time of the Hardball interview which prompted 'Lucy' to seek him out. So SOMEONE in the sKerry campaign had to have told them he had them. Or ben barnes told them he had them...same thing..dnc/sKerry paw prints on this one.
You can say a lot in 3-4 minutes when you have nothing to talk about except some memos that you "found".
MORE:
Of course there's another theory. Suppose Mary Mapes had already given Lockhart a heads-up about the story and told him not to worry about the memos because he'd get them as soon as it aired. Then Lockhart had less need to quiz Burkett.
Lockhart didn't have much choice about 'fessing up to calling Burkett, since Burkett was about to blow the whistle and reveal that himself.
And by the time Lockhart did 'fess up, the memos were known frauds and it was vital for Team Kerry to skedaddle as far away from Rather as possible. No campaign wants to look as if it's in cahoots with a fraud against the other side.
Lockhart didn't respond to calls yesterday. But clearly a key Memogate question is finding out just what Mapes and Lockhart said to each other. And why Lockhart showed such curious incuriosity when he followed Mapes' tip to call Burkett.
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