Texas official regrets allowing Bush to enlist in National Guard

Knight Ridder ^ | 8/27/04

[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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[EllaMinnow]

How low will they go?

[vbmoneyspender]

Where can I donate ammo to the mainstream media so that they can keep shooting Kerry in the foot?

[Just mythoughts]

LOL

Keep digging JFKerry there a huge pit ahead of you with your name on it.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

How low will they go?

So low that they'll have to look up to look down.

[Indy Pendance]

Desperation. The dems are pathetic.

[Jagdgewehr]

Lower than snake sh*t in a wagon rut.

[snooker]

But I thought his 'daddy did it'.

They can't keep a story straight for 3 days.

[Endeavor]

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.

[Ramius]

hehehe... you funny.

[Dane]

How low will they go?

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.

[lowbridge]

"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".

The DNC needs to fire their script writers. This statement didnt sound believable in the least.

[afnamvet]

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.

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

[Miss Marple]

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.

[RightthinkinAmerican]

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.

[MOgirl]

Hello,

My goodness, it took them THIS long to uncover this little gem? I'm impressed...not! BTW, where was this guy during the last 4+ years each and every time that the media and dems brought up the Guard/AWOL fairy tale?

Glad to be here, MOgirl

[Northern Yankee]

Oh this is rich...

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!)

[buzzsaw6]

>Texas official regrets allowing Bush to enlist in National Guard

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.

[Whispering Smith]

Go Swift Boat Vets. Skewer that SOB.

[RightthinkinAmerican]

Bye, bye, arsehole.

[Dane]

Not as low as chickenhawk George Bush refusing to fight for his country

Sheesh Maureen it's 8:30 Eastern Time. Have a good time at happy hour?

[afnamvet]

Lower than whale caca in the Mariana Trench.

[Lucky Dog]

Not as low as chickenhawk George Bush refusing to fight for his country.

I am not sure I get your point. Would you care to expand on this?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Interesting what the see as a legitimate story. Anyway, who cares. We've always known which side KnightRidder was on.

[PhiKapMom]

LOL!!! That is something to say he is one of the biggest Texas crooks ever -- that's really bad.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Bye bye troll. Get back under Clinton's desk.

[austingirl]

My thoughts exactly. I notice no one in the MSM mentions that Kerry asked for a deferral, was refused and decided to enlist so he could pick his service before he was drafted.

[Stentor]

Not as low as chickenhawk George Bush refusing to fight for his country.

It's wild. They keep popping out like zits on Prom night.

[upchuck]

It amazes me that we continue to fight over a bunch of silly stuff that happened 35-40 years ago.

IMHO, we'd be a lot better off discussing all the stuff that's happened since.

Oh, wait, in sKerry's case that would be a blank piece of paper.

Nevermind... and speaking of minds that are never...

[sport]

How did George Bush refuse to fight for his Country?

What did you do?

[Captain Peter Blood]

He probably learned his trade and was a protege of the Infamous Bobby Baker, onetime henchman of LBJ.
Anyone remember him????????????????

[lawgirl]

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.

uh huh. jerks.

[7.62 x 51mm]

Buh-bye, subhuman troll garbage!

[federal]

LOL!!! That is something to say he is one of the biggest Texas crooks ever -- that's really bad

There has never been a dirtier politian from Texas than Lyndon Baines Johnson.

[sport]

It's wild. They keep popping out like zits on Prom night.


29 posted on 08/27/2004 5:33:05 PM PDT by Stentor

I like that!

[7.62 x 51mm]

LOL! Get out the flesh-colored zit cream!

[Dog Gone]

Can't get much more pathetically transparent than this.

[Let's Roll]

And at the time wasn't that unit still being rotated to Vietnam and didn't GWB volunteer to go?

[Doogle]

...ok John..excuse me Mr Kerry..ok ok..now here is step #2

you may remove your shoe laces and shoes
open wide
insert foot
chew vigorously


Doogle

[sweetliberty]

"How low will they go?"

When they reach hell, they'll keep digging.

[Eva]

So??? Kerry tried to get out of serving by going to grad school in France. He couldn't get into grad school in the states because his grades were too low. But Kerry apparently waited to long to apply, because they didn't let any one leave the country once they were made 1A.

[ninonitti]

I loved the job Robert Caro did on him.

[raised by wolves]

Maybe GW got some bad information from the leftwing activists like Tom Hayden, and actually believed what hippies and yippies were spewing back then, and he didn't want to burn down any Vietnamese orphanages. Kerry heard the same BS, and said, "send me."

[coconutt2000]

There has never been a dirtier politian from Texas than Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Hey, I was born in a hospital named after the guy... You don't think they have a cure for that do you?

[okie01]

There is a reason why Ben Barnes is practicing law in D.C.

Because, in Texas, Ben Barnes is a known liar.

Bill Clinton, without the finesse...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Can you spell W - H - O - R - E - ?

[Inge C]

Kerry and co will 'REAP WHAT HE SOWS"!

[Delta Dawn]

To express this in layman's terms, what you are saying is that GWB had to 'EARN' his wings. They just don't hand them out to anyone, even if your daddy is a public official or not.

[crazyhorse691]

ER, Mr JFK, if I could interrupt your nervous breakdown for a moment. Please answer the question on when you will be releasing all of your military records. Please refrain from drooling all over the place... and please quit mumbling "its Bushs fault. Its Bushs fault" everytime you open your mouth.