Barnes says he regrets getting Bush into Texas Air National Guard in 1968

Houston Chronicle ^ | 8-27-04

[ambrose]

Aug. 27, 2004, 11:25PM

Barnes says he regrets getting Bush into Texas Air National Guard in 1968

By R.G. RATCLIFFE

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Former Democratic Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, in a video posted on the Internet, says he is ashamed that he got President Bush and other young men from important families into the Texas Air National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam.

Barnes, a supporter of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, in the past has not personally discussed his role in getting Bush into the Guard. He previously said in a statement that he recommended Bush for a pilot's position at the request of a Bush family friend.

Bush has denied entering the Guard in 1968 to avoid Vietnam service.

With controversy swirling around Kerry's service as a swift boat commander in Vietnam, Barnes' latest statements renew questions about Bush's military record but also about Barnes' motivation for telling his story.

"It is no surprise that a partisan Democrat is making these statements," said Bush spokeswoman Claire Buchan.

"This was addressed five years ago, and there's nothing new," she added.

The Barnes video was shot at a May 27 meeting of Kerry supporters in Austin.

"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," Barnes said. Barnes actually was Texas House speaker when Bush entered the Guard.

Bush's father at the time was a congressman from Houston.

"I got a lot of other people in the National Guard because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people."

Barnes told the crowd he came to seriously regret his actions recently after visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and seeing the names of men and women who died in the Southeast Asian conflict.

r.g.ratcliffe@chron.com

[ambrose]

It looks like Kerry/Media have decided that it is time to bring back the "AWOL" story...

Many different news outlets are running with this. Soon AP will do its own version and it will spread like a tumor.

[The Bandit]

Is this the same guy who said he witnessed Bush's records being destroyed?

[ambrose]

Nope.

[Willie Green]

because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people.

I wonder what ever gave him that idea?
Sheeeeeesh! What a crackpot!
Who ever heard of such a thing?

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

Kerry is a former Lieutenant Governor. Maybe someone could ask him what the most shameful thing he ever did in office was.

[cookcounty]

Uh, Bush's Texas ANG 147th Fighter Wing had ANG pilots IN Vietnam, IN F-102A's (W's aircraft) at the time W went in! Did this clown not know this?

[Mo1]

What a load of crap

How much ya wanna bet he got a call from Kerry too?

Kerry is doing the same thing he has done in past senate elections

[NYCVirago]

Barnes is a chair on Kerry's campaign finance committee, and is such a big fundraiser for the Dems that Daschle once referred to him as being the 51st senator. It's a bit more than him merely being a Kerry supporter.

[highlander_UW]

because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people.

I wonder what ever gave him that idea?

Actually, he's still doing it. No candidate is as wealthy as Kerry...of course he married into most of his money.

[Mo1]

Barnes is a chair on Kerry's campaign finance committee

Oh really?? ... and what 527 group filmed this video??

[Polybius]

It looks like Kerry/Media have decided that it is time to bring back the "AWOL" story... Many different news outlets are running with this. Soon AP will do its own version and it will spread like a tumor.

Kerry volunteered for something much less dangerous than flying jets............or so he thought.

Boston Globe, 6/16/2003: ........"I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a little-noticed contribution to a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing."......... But two weeks after he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission changed -- and Kerry went from having one of the safest assignments in the escalating conflict to one of the most dangerous.

Oooops.

Now what?

Boston Globe, 6/16/2003: ......... He requested and was granted a transfer out of Vietnam six months before his combat tour was slated to end on the grounds that he had earned three Purple Hearts. None of his wounds was disabling; he said one cost him two days of service and the other two did not lead to any absence. .........The bottom line is that Kerry could have remained but he chose to seek an early transfer.

[JoeSixPack1]

When desperation sets in, the straw grasping commences!!

[AmericanCheeseFood]

Kicking and screaming, Kerry is drug down the toilet with his swift boat stories in tow, his Campaign ship swirling down like so much fecal matter, with John Kerry reporting for dookie at the helm.

[oolatec]

"because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people."

Just like he is helping Kerry now! Go figure...

[ladyinred]

I heard on one of the talk radio shows to look for this sort of thing to start this week, and I see it beginning. This crap will go on through the convention it was said.

[Casloy]

because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people.

Well, thanks for admitting what we already know. You are corrupt bastard who will say or do anything to help you or your party hold on to power.

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

It's a darn shame Bush hasn't done anything notable since 1968, like liberating 50 million people in 2 of the most successful wars in the history of the world.

[claudiustg]

He should be ashamed that he's a pitiful partisan hack.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You just can't pet a rattle snake, can you?

The Facts about Bush and the National Guard - The Democratic charges fall apart.***Lost amid all the charges are the facts about Bush's time in the Guard. When did he serve? What did he do? Did he fulfill his responsibilities? Was he in Alabama? In the March 8, 2004, issue of National Review, Byron York investigated and found the answers.***