Texas official regrets allowing Bush to enlist in National Guard

Knight Ridder ^ | 8/27/04

[Oztrich Boy]

Barnes is just another dimwit looking for 15 seconds of fame...ok, 5 seconds.

Oh no, he's a lobbyist who has invested a lot of money into Kerry and is trying to protect that investment.

[faithincowboys]

Wonder what web of connections this boob Barnes has with the Kerry campaign and the DNC.

[dread78645]

for cryin out loud... he was the son of the HEAD of the CIA!!!

Uhmm, ten years into the future. Geo. HW Bush was DCI for the last year of Gerald Ford's admin.

[lonestar]

From "Mother Jones"--

State and Town Austin, Texas.

Total Donated $65,040.

Party D

Barnes was once a rising star in Texas Democratic politics, becoming a state representative at age 21. Later, he was elected lieutenant governor with 2 million votes, a Texas record. After he was involved in a bribery and stock fraud scandal in the early 1970s, however, he never held public office again. He was involved with a number of banks and thrifts that were mentioned during the S&L crisis, and forced into bankruptcy when the Texas thrift industry cratered in the late 1980s.

[Captain Peter Blood]

I think Kerry actually volunteered for active duty, but then again Bush tried to volunteer for active duty also he just did not get called up.

[adam_az]

EXCLUSIVE: The Dirt on Ben Barnes Claims about Bush and the Air National Guard
http://blogspirator.blogspot.com/2004/08/exclusive-dirt-on-ben-barnes-claims.html
Free Republic thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1201549/posts



EXCLUSIVE: The Dirt on Ben Barnes Claims about Bush and the Air National Guard (Part 2)
http://blogspirator.blogspot.com/2004/08/exclusive-dirt-on-ben-barnes-claims_29.html
Free Republic thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1202419/posts

[GOPcapitalist]

There's more to this story than the media let on. See the dot-dot-dot in the middle of the quote by Barnes? If you watch the video Barnes says:

"I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard WHEN I WAS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF TEXAS and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it."

So what does this mean? Bush enlisted in the national guard in May of 1968. Barnes was not elected Lieutenant Governor until that November.

[GOPcapitalist]

Either Barnes is a lying sack of dog waste or the lazy "journalist" who quoted him is. I tend to believe both.

You are correct on both counts. There's a video of Barnes' full statement and the part that got left out by the reporter (the "dot-dot-dot" in the quote) is key. Those dots should be filled by "when I was Lieutenant Governor of Texas." That's a big problem for Barnes though - Bush enlisted in May of 1968 and Barnes didn't take office as Lite Guv until 1969!