Live Thread: Ben Barnes and CBS Attempt Another Bush Smear (60 Minutes)

www.freerepublic.com | September 8, 2004

[Howlin]

Have at him!

[LPM1888]

Wasn't there a Vietnam lottery in 1971? If so, #4 would have been NOT do any of the above.

The draft lottery was an improvement over the previous system but that was still a factor in someones decision process. I seem to recall the highest number called was 125 but that may be high. The call level had been higher in 1970.

If we have to revert to a draft the old method has to be improved. Personally I believe the best approach would be to eliminate all deferrals for reasons not medically related. If your number comes up you go within 30 days, period. During times of a draft the only persons eligible for the Guard should be persons who have already served their commitment or were missed by the lottery in a previous year.

[BlessedBeGod]

Could you tell me where you got those stats so I can drive my liberal friends crazy with them? Thanks!

[rintense]

Nah, I'm just catching up on the thread! All this is sickening- mainly because the MSM is rehashing all of this AGAIN, recycled from 2000. They're attempt at combating the Swifties is obvious, yet they are completely immune and unchallenged.

[nonkultur]

even CBS employed a handwriting expert.

That is where my question is as well.
Col. Killian died in 1984. 60 Minutes consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believes the material is authentic. Robert Strong was a friend and colleague of Col. Killian who ran the Texas Air National Guard administrative office in the Vietnam era. Strong, now a college professor, believes these documents are genuine.

Was Robert Strong the expert, and Killian's adminitrative officer?

[Mo1]

Col. Killian died in 1984. 60 Minutes consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believes the material is authentic.

Ummm the memo is typed .. why would they need a handwriting analyst ??

[Howlin]

I think you are absolutely correct.

Plus, are there any OTHER memos that Killian wrote concerning Bush that didn't fit CBS' agenda?

[CedarDave]

Got them from Kozak on this thread, but saw them earlier today. A little research brings up these:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1209448/posts?page=49#49

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1185997/posts

Now go dazzle the darlings!

[kabar]

Thanks for the info. I am glad to hear it. Now Kerry has no excuse.

[BlessedBeGod]

Thank you so much !!!

[cyncooper]

Killian's initials and/or signature appear on most of the four memos. The analyst also was called upon to gauge the authenticity by presumably looking at style, stationary, etc.

CBS should have disclosed who gave them the documents and represented them.

I agree with Howlin that there are probably other memos on Bush as well as others but they weren't spinnable as negative (The only one in this group that looks hinky is memo 4 and that isn't about Bush directly so BD).

[CedarDave]

The memo's show that Killian was a little peeved at Lt. Bush after trying to get him more interested in performing AF duties at a time when young Bush had other interests. I too have written CYA memo's on subordinates and put them in the drawer. That doesn't mean their work wasn't acceptable or that they were slackers. When you're pissed at a worker under your supervision, you document it, but in this case it's not continual and other Killian reports showed a different picture. I think that if this is all they can come up with, it's nothing to worry about, but something to continue to be pissed off at.

[cyncooper]

To clarify my previous comment: Memo 4 does indeed mention Bush directly. What I meant was Killian writes of "pressure" about Bush, but not *from* Bush.

This memo cries out for the author to clarify but alas, he's dead. IMO CBS should not present it. It seems laughable to have to point out the obvious: Especially in light of their ignoring of credible and documented allegations about Kerry from living and breathing people that were with him in Vietnam or suffered at his hands (POWS in prisons).

Well, CBS is disgusting. No use in writing another memo about that!

[hole_n_one]

THE "New" CBS BUSH DOCUMENTS: Let's do some investigating

[GOPrincess]

I saw a couple posts at another site (that starts with "L," grin) and they say that Barnes became Lt. Gov. the year after Bush joined the Nat'l Guard. Is this true and does this undermine his story?

[hummingbird]

Dan is a TX Democrat at heart though he probably now votes in NYC. His daughter is a Democrat operative in Austin. He came from the Democrat city of Huntsville and graduated from Sam Houston State.

...and don't forget his little, creepy expressions - his Ratherisms - when he's in his downhome, folksy mood! Got his big national break covering a hurricane which is why we see news doofuses every hurricane, playing up every dramatic gust of wind while sporting their little rain parkas, trying to get airtime.

[GOPcapitalist]

I saw a couple posts at another site (that starts with "L," grin) and they say that Barnes became Lt. Gov. the year after Bush joined the Nat'l Guard. Is this true and does this undermine his story?

Yes, and yes. Barnes now seems to be backtracking and claiming that it was while he was Speaker of the House, but there are four problems with that claim.

1. Barnes is on video claiming that he used the Lieutenant Governor's office to get Bush in. He became LG in 1969. Bush enlisted in 1968.

2. The Speaker is not a statewide elected position like LG and had no official duty over the state militia (aka national guard)

3. The legislature was out of session for the year when Bush enlisted, meaning Barnes wasn't even in Austin.

4. Barnes appears to have spent 1968 in Europe working his other job - a UN envoy position he got from LBJ.

[hummingbird]

Sam Houston State is in Walker County...not hard to confuse the names. At any rate, East Texas is Yellow Dog but I think Dan-o made the transition from Yellow Dog to Red Dog many years ago....

[Rokke]

"On H&C, the dim guy commented on how many sKerry bumperstickers there were at the Pentagon. Now THAT is SCARY."

Many Pentagon employees have no other connection with the military other than they work in a building owned by the military. Most military people who work there commute on the metro or by bus. Believe me, John Kerry will get almost no support from military voters.

[hummingbird]

We are a nation of tinfoilers and conspiracy theorists.

"Present and reporting for duty!"

(Next time, give me a little more notice, mmkay?) <;^)

[GOPrincess]

Thanks for that great info!!