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."
Oh my. Well, I do believe that the crap is hitting the fan, no?
Yeah, he got hamstrung by the French. He forgets that France/Germany/Russia have their own strategic aims for the Middle East, and that that doesn't include helping us to attain any sort of so-called "legitimacy" for our actions against Iraq.
"Is it too gruesome to post an Arkancide watch?"
Gruesome, yes. Premature, No.
Yea yea .. and his Foreign Policy Adviser Dr. Rice, was on FNC tonight saying how we need to fight the terrorists there and not at home
Does any of this sound familiar???
It should because Bush is ALREADY doing this stuff
The only trouble with the Mapes calling the DNC scenario in September is that Burkette was posting on the internet back in August that he'd finally cut through all the layers in the Kerry campaign and got to ex-Sen. Max Cleland with some 'counterattack' information.
Like Occam's Razor, the most logical solution is that the DNC (unimpeachable source)told Mapes that Burkette had come up with the docs.
I can't see Mapes standing up for Burkette as an unimpeachable source if she's been on this story for five years. Burkette is notorious as a disgruntled Bush hater.
Well maybe Kerry and I agreed on Bosnia and Kosovo, I don't know. I favored Clinton's wars there whole heartedly (I and hoplite were about the only Freepers who said so, without equivocation and consistently). Maybe Kerry did too.
I want to write this to CBS does anyone have higher up email addresses.
I am not sure you understand why you're so much in the wrong. I read that Dan called himself a victim. I read that Dan said that the memo story mistake was understandable because the White House didn't have any response to the fake documents you showed them. I read that you thought the important aspect of the story was not that it was based on forged evidence but rather that some aspect of the forged documents resembled actual fact. I read that you checked your facts and stood by your story. I read that you checked again and still stood by your story. I read that Mary Maples was a very good producer and therefore was beyond reproach. I read that Mary called her friend Joe Lockhart so he could listen to a man who wished to take down the president.
And now I read that you are apologizing for the story. HOW CAN WE ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY WHEN YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ALL THE THINGS YOU DID WRONG.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-09-20-cbs-documents_x.htm
interesting, now Howard Dean is in the mix. I like Bartlett's response. IT IS STUNNING!:
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.
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.
I wonder if Kerry has trashed Clinton because the troops are STILL there.
LOL! I don't want him to resign until the night of the elections. After he has to announce that GWB has won a 2nd term and the Pubbies have kept both the House and the Senate.
Then I want him to crawl off the set in defeat and humiliation knowing he helped in the Dems defeat.
He's become too valuable to our side now to have him resign. With him out there every day he stays the story and JFK has no chance to get his message,(whatever it is?), out.
August 11 Nashville Radio Broadcast Hints Democrats Knew of Coming Memos
This has been in the works for a while. And a LOT of people knew about it. This was as meticulously planned and coordinated as the 9/11 attacks. Just executed by people who must be quite a bit more stupid than terrorists.
Add Howard Dean to your list of Kosovo war supporters.
Does anyone know how Kerry felt about the Kosovo/Serbia bombing campaign in '98?
And I wonder if there is snow in hell........
Criminal acts would also include interstate transportation of those documents.
Someone call the F.B.I. (Fumblin' Bumblin' Idiots)
Here's my thought, Commish: I don't trust Coelho, even though he's been sputtering about Mary Beth and Shrummy for a month now. Coehlo could be trying to cause the focus to wander off the Lurch cadre, particularly Lockhart/Mapes thing. Did it seem like Coehlo was off the reservation tonight?
One can imagine Lockhart/Sasso/McAwful would love to find a cut-out dupe/amateur forger in the DNC basement (and up the degree of separation from Lurch). Because the alternative is that this tar baby gets stuck to Lockhart, and by default, Bubba.
And Bubba can't have that if he wants to inject his fat ass into this election after the debates. "Gee, Mr. Former President, what do you think about your former lackey holding two jobs at once, with CBS and the Kerry campaign?".
"The Kerry campaign is not expected to be fair and balanced, but CBS is."
Indeed. Lockharts's "3-4 minute coversation" with Burkett is by itself unobjectionable. Of course, that's why he copped to it so readily.
What it leaves open is how much he was involved in procuring the documents, coordinating with the 60 Minutes show, what he knew and when he knew it, as the saying goes.
Realistically, Lockhart is a senior communications guy and had to have serious knowledge about the whole set-up with CBS.
I.e. his hands are dirty, we just don't know the facts to indict him. Yet.
Maybe. But she may committ Seppuku for the sake of CBias and Kerry's campaign.
I doubt we have to wonder...
I'm excited about Lockhart being involved.
I can't wait to see who's next.
If there is a God in heaven, it will be that dreadful Tad Devine!
John Kerry's foreign policy adviser Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute, author of "Democratic Realism: the Third Way", points to the exemplary nature of the 1999 " intervention in Kosovo". It was "a policy consciously based on a mix of moral values and security interests with the parallel goals of halting a humanitarian tragedy and ensuring NATO's credibility as an effective force for regional stability".
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