Posted on 08/27/2004 5:23:25 PM PDT by ambrose
Posted on Fri, Aug. 27, 2004
Texas official regrets allowing Bush to enlist in National Guard
BY PETE SLOVER
Knight Ridder Newspapers
AUSTIN, Texas - (KRT) - On a videotape posted on a pro-Kerry Web site, former Texas Lt. Gov. and House Speaker Ben Barnes for the first time publicly took credit and apologized for helping President Bush secure a Vietnam-era slot in the Texas Air National Guard.
"I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard ... and I'm not necessarily proud of that," Barnes, an Austin lobbyist and John Kerry supporter with a lucrative Washington practice, said on the tape. "It was the worst thing I did, was help a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance get into the National Guard. And I'm very sorry of that and I'm very ashamed, and I apologize to you as the voters of Texas."
Barnes could not be reached for comment Friday.
The apology adds a new layer to a role Barnes acknowledged in 1999. During Bush's first presidential run, Barnes confirmed in a written statement that he had, at the request of a Bush family friend, contacted a Guard official to ask that Bush be allowed to enlist. The statement came after The Dallas Morning News revealed the sequence of events.
Bush and his family said they never requested any such help from Barnes, and Barnes has never said the Bushes contacted him about the matter.
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How low will they go?
Where can I donate ammo to the mainstream media so that they can keep shooting Kerry in the foot?
So low that they'll have to look up to look down.
Desperation. The dems are pathetic.
Lower than snake sh*t in a wagon rut.
Ben Barnes is one of the biggest crooks Texas politics ever saw, and that's saying something. He's also a democrat (shocking!). I wouldn't believe anything he said.
hehehe... you funny.
They're democrats, hell even hell is not low enough for them.
At least in the last sentence of the article the AP basically acknowleges that this guy is a publicity seeking crackpot.
The DNC needs to fire their script writers. This statement didnt sound believable in the least.
Barnes is just another dimwit looking for 15 seconds of fame...ok, 5 seconds.
You may shortly be fvisited by the Viking Kitties. I am not inclined to tolerate denigration of National Guard service, particularly when it involved flying a plane which had a high fatality rate.
Keep with the army crap, dims, you're FAR weaker there than we are. Gosh, they're stupider than I thought. As long as they keep it an issue, the spotlight is on them and what the media doesn't want people to know.
Why not apologize for being used as a Kerry Hack while he's at it?
Or how about apologizing for compromising his integrity for political purposes once again?
He didn't mention that Bush had the highest proficiency rating in his Texas ANG unit, now did he?
What a sap.
Maybe he should apologize for being from Texas while he's at it! (Let the good people of texas just rip him apart!)
What a pompous ass! GWB had to pass the ASVAB, a physical and meet the intellectual quals for flying to get the gig he got. Then, he had to get through UPT and upgrade training for fighters. This self-important SOB is just another fart in the wind, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Go Swift Boat Vets. Skewer that SOB.
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