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."
"The president isn't telling the truth on Iraq. We, on the other hand, will not recall what the truth is."
I think we need Dr. Richard Kimball to keep looking for that "one-armed man".
I wish Sean or Laura would have replied,"About forged documents in your possession"?
"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.
Bill and Hillary win either way. If Kerry were somehow to win, Bill would look like some sort of kingmaker (as he portrays himself to already be). If Kerry loses, Hillary is out front for the nomination in '08, and he wields power from behind the scenes, much as she did in the Oval Office during the first Clinton administration.
Bush just needs to respond, in a gravitas mode. They are no magic bullets for Iraq.
Mr. Kerry accused Mr. Dean of being "all over the lot" on the Iraq war, saying he himself has been in favor of toppling Saddam "all along." But as recently as Dec. 11, Mr. Kerry was touting his own antiwar credentials.
"For months, Howard Dean has been going around the country saying, 'What are all these other people doing who voted for the president's war? I'm the only guy who was against it,' " Mr. Kerry said on CNBC's "Capital Report."
Mr. Kerry voted for the resolution that authorized Mr. Bush to use force to oust Saddam, but he voted against spending $87 billion on troop support and the reconstruction of Iraq, a contradiction that he has spent weeks explaining to Democratic voters.
Mr. Kerry told an audience in Florida last month that he voted against the troop funding to "send a message" urging Mr. Bush to build a broader coalition — essentially securing the approval of France and Germany — and work more closely with the United Nations.
"But oh, no, this president rushed to war," Mr. Kerry told Florida Democrats on Nov. 20.
Yet yesterday, Mr. Kerry assailed Mr. Dean for his statement that the United States needed U.N. permission before taking action in Iraq.
"Perhaps it reflects inexperience, but for Howard Dean to permit a veto over when America can or cannot act not only becomes little more than a pretext for doing nothing, it cedes our security and presidential responsibility to defend America to someone else — a danger for both our national security and global stability," Mr. Kerry said.
On the morning Saddam's capture was announced, however, Mr. Kerry suggested on "Fox News Sunday" that a broader U.N. coalition could have located Saddam faster than the Army's 4th Infantry Division did.
Not yet .. yes the dots are connecting .. but in a court of law it won't hold up .....need a few more dots
Re: CBS and the 'unimpeachable source'.
Mapes had been on the story for five years and didn't know that Burkette was not an "unimpeachable source"???
Puh-leeeze don't insult our intelligence.
When some conservatives called CBS an extension of the DNC, I thought they were using hyperbole. Now it seems that the CBS-DNC link has been exposed to the whole world.
Forget about bias. CBS is corrupt.
This CBS scandal has shown why Campaign Finance Reform laws are so flawed. The liberal mass-communication media can attack President Bush without any limits, while the President only can defend himself with a limited budget.
Kerry was already torpedoed last night by the French foreign minister, I believe, who said that there still would be no conceivable situation in which France would send peacekeeping troops into Iraq (they already help to train the new Iraqi police forces).
Unbelieveable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Routine - provided of course that the pesidential adviser is a Democrat.Liberalism is simply the natural negative, superficial proclivity of "objective" journalism. Celebrities, journalists, and liberal politicians simpy sail down the propaganda wind of journalism, getting along and going along.
CBS arranged for meeting with Lockhart
By Kevin Johnson, Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — CBS arranged for a confidential source to talk with Joe Lockhart, a top aide to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, after the source provided the network with the now-disputed documents about President Bush's service in the Texas National Guard.
John Kerry aide Joe Lockhart, shown here in 1998, chatted with a former Texas National Guard officer, whose number CBS provided.
AP
Lockhart, the former press secretary to President Clinton, said a female producer talked to him about the 60 Minutes program a few days before it aired on Sept. 8. She gave Lockhart a telephone number and asked him to call Bill Burkett, a former Texas National Guard officer who gave CBS the documents. Lockhart couldn't recall the producer's name. But CBS said Monday night that it would examine the role of producer Mary Mapes in passing the name to Lockhart.
Burkett told USA TODAY that he had agreed to turn over the documents to CBS if the network would help arrange a conversation with the Kerry campaign.
The network's effort to place Burkett in contact with a top Democratic official raises ethical questions about CBS' handling of material potentially damaging to the Republican president in the midst of an election. This "poses a real danger to the potential credibility of a news organization," said Aly Colón, a news ethicist at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.
"At Burkett's request, we gave his (telephone) number to the campaign," said Betsy West, senior CBS News vice president.
CBS would not discuss the propriety of the network serving as a conduit between its partisan source, Burkett, and the Kerry campaign. “It was not part of any deal” with Burkett to obtain the documents, West said, declining to elaborate.
But Burkett said Monday that his contact with Lockhart was indeed part of an "understanding" with CBS. Burkett said his interest in contacting the campaign was to offer advice in responding to Republican criticisms about Kerry's Vietnam service. It had nothing to do with the documents, he said.
"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.
Lockhart said he phoned Burkett at the number provided by CBS. Lockhart also said that subject of the documents never came up in his conversation with Burkett. Lockhart said the conversation lasted just a few minutes. "It's possible that the producer said they had documents," before his conversation with Burkett, he said...
...The White House said CBS' contact with Lockhart was inappropriate. "The fact that CBS News would coordinate with the most senior levels of Sen. Kerry's campaign to attack the President is a stunning and deeply troubling revelation," said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director.
Well that is why Kerry just talks about missing allies, but never mentions the name France or Germany. Maybe he meant Portugal or something.
"how he, or Mapes, felt it was professionally ethical (on her part) for him to follow up on a lead...
These people have no ethics. Seriously.
"you have to care about appearances in the first place..."
They expect not to be caught. Or, if they are, they can stonewall it till after the election in which case they don't care how they look.
Kerry is becoming Dean, IMO. It's the only place he has left to go.
And if you can think of a war or a national policy toward another country's freedom that Kerry has been in favor of, let me know.
As far as I'm concerned, the speech he made today was just a rewrite of the speech he made on Senior Day at Yale when he trashed Lyndon Johnson. In fact, that's what his entire career has come to be.
Lady Macbeth: All the perfumes of India won't wipe out Hillary's fingerprints in this caper.
Kerry is NY today.
And I heard that Jacques Chirack is also in NY, but was flying back to Paris tonight.
Do you think Kerry will soon say that he spoke to some leaders in NY?....
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