Slime Time Live (Possible clue to source of CBS Story)

Newsweek ^ | Sept. 20 issue | Howard Fineman and Michael Isikoff

[Anti-Bubba182]

Sept. 20 issue - The rap on Mary Beth Cahill, ... is the wrong person to guide the fortunes of Sen. John Kerry during this hypernasty political season. Maybe so, but hers was among the first congratulatory calls Ben Barnes received ....

.....Where did the documents come from? CBS won't say. But the trail pieced together by NEWSWEEK shows that in a sulfurous season like this one, the difference between obscurity and power is small, and anyone can get a hearing. A principal source for CBS's story was Bill Burkett, a disgruntled former Guard officer who lives in Baird, Texas, who says he was present at Guard headquarters in Austin in 1997, when a top aide to the then Governor Bush ordered records sanitized to protect the Boss. Other Guard officials disputed Burkett's account, and the Bush aide involved, Joe Allbaugh, called it "absolute garbage." Burkett may have a motive to make trouble for the powers that be. In 1998, he grew gravely ill on a Guard mission to Panama, causing him to be hospitalized, and he suffered two nervous breakdowns. He unsuccessfully sued for medical expenses.

Still, in theory, Burkett may have had access to any Guard records that, in a friend's words, "didn't make it to the shredder." Fellow officers say he wasn't a crank, but rather a stickler for proper procedure—a classic whistle-blower type. Burkett was impressive enough to cause CBS producer Mary Mapes to fly to Texas to interview him. "There are only a couple of guys I would trust to be as perfectly honest and upfront as Bill," says Dennis Adams, a former Guard colleague. The White House, through Communications Director Dan Bartlett, called Burkett a "discredited source." Indeed, Bush strategists are convinced—or have convinced themselves—that the issue will backfire on its purveyors...

[Anti-Bubba182]

I think Isikoff is probably correct that he is a major source and it would not suprise me if that included the memos, although the article does not say so. My view of Bill Burkett is as a possibly obsessed person who might provide the material CBS was so keen to get.

I don't see that CBS has ANY interest in revealing their source, especially if it is one like this. If they dump on him, they dump on themselves. His medical problems and long history as a dogged Bush basher are well known.

[piasa]

well, Open Society Institute is George Soros.

[rolling_stone]

If he was in the Guard in that time period (68-73)IF, then he should have known the format...hmmm when was he in the guard if he came later after format changed, then...maybe he would not know the ealier format...

[grey_whiskers]

Not sure, I'm a newbie.

BUT...I was trying to establish that the
documents referring to AFM 35-13 have been
around for awhile.

The last website I gave predates 9-11-2001 and
refers to the AMF35-13 and the physical.

My question is: was someone ELSE discharged for
not taking a physical, and they tried a clumsy
forgery to put Bush's name in those documents;
when that didn't work they typed it up on MS Word?

[Mo1]

well, Open Society Institute is George Soros

Like I said .. I can't remember why I saved those google searches in my Burkett folder ..

Maybe Shermy can help tell if there is a connection the the two

[conservative in nyc]

Burkett's been trying to Slime President Bush's TANG service since the last eleciton. He's been quoted by many news organizations, claiming that Dan Bartlett and the Bush team "cleansed" the Texas National Guard archives of damaging materials in preparation for President Bush's run for the White House.

In fact, there's evidence that Bill Burkett and his cronies hired "Red Dog Publicists" at Talion.com to try to push the Bush is AWOL story in conjunction with the Bush DUI story in November 2000.

Despite protestations to the contrary on their website, talion.com seems to be a front for DNC opposition research. One of the principals of talion.com (their website is down now; the record was conveniently last changed on 9/10), Bev Harris, is currently pushing the electronic voting machines may be hacked story on the Internet. This seems to be a DNC-backed effort to cast doubt on the vote in Florida before it even occurs.

[piasa]

did Kerry get treated for a mental disorder?

Yes- he had once been treated for grain-shock. It's similar to shell-shock, only grain-shock results from having a cache of rice explode in close proximity to an ass. It's been known to incapacitate the ass for at least forty minutes and make it a clingy, dependent pathological liar for life.

[counterpunch]

This article seems to attempt three primary functions:

1) lend some nominal credibility to the fraudulent memos (suggestion that these could possibly be files that survived a mythological "cleansing").

2) revive the already discredited sotry of said mythological cleansing (if for no other reason than to further muddy the water).

3) most importantly, to throw off the scent from the bowels of the Democrat party (so if all else fails, it looks like the work of some kook working independently from the DNC).

I'm not buying it.

[CyberAnt]

Anybody who has a bone to pick with the Bush family is a candidate for the dems to use to further their agenda. We know how this works.

[piasa]

I'd have to agree.

[rolling_stone]

http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003249.html#more

Interview with Burkett

[conservative in nyc]

I've been looking in vain for prior versions of the CBS forged memos on the Internet as well. I think the links you posted are to President's official records received in connection with the press and Martin Heldt's 2000 FOIA requests for the President's National Guard records. The reason listed in those documents for the President's removal from flight duty was failure to take a physical, not both his failure to do so and the failure to conform to regulations.

[nonkultur]

another, this guy is nuts
click here

In January of 1998 and what seems like a full lifetime ago, I was stricken by a deadly case of meningoencephalitis. I was returning from a short duty trip to Panama as a team chief to inspect the hand over of Ft. Clayton to the Panamanians. I had been 'loaned' from the senior staff and state planning officer of the Texas National Guard to the Department of the Army for a series of these special projects after angering George W. Bush by refusing to falsify readiness information and reports; confronting a fraudulent funding scheme which kept 'ghost' soldiers on the books for additional funding, and refusing to alter official personnel records [of George W. Bush].

George W. Bush and his lieutenants were mad. They ordered that I not be accessed to emergency medical care services, healthcare benefits I earned by my official duty; and I was withheld from medical care for 154 days before I was withdrawn from Texas responsibility by the Department of the Army, by order of the White House.

[rolling_stone]

from the link I posted before...

At that point I remember General Scribner saying that people downtown were coming out and they were going to do a book, and Bartlett and Hughes were coming out, and he'd been told to get all the files together and go through them and kind of clean them up a bit. And George said, well, what are you finding? And he says, well, he says he's been through it, and I'm paraphrasing all of this, he says, obviously lots of people have been through it, you know, there's just not as much here as I'd expected, mostly old press releases and that sort of stuff.

I'm standing there on one foot and another, very uncomfortable with this situation, I knew I'd been guided here and I knew why at that point. I was standing right next to the trash can. I mention that only for one reason, and that is my own alibi to my own conscience. I believe if I'd been one step away from the trash can I would not have done what I did, I would have been forced to make an obvious decision.

Instead I looked down into the trashcan. Underneath most of the trash — the trash level was within two inches of the top — I saw that the trash on the bottom was basically packing cartons, I do remember that there were a couple of elastic type straps and that sort of thing, and on top there was a little bit of paper. And on top of that pile of paper, approximately five-eighths of an inch thick, and Jim wanted me to estimate the number of pages and I said probably between 20 and 40 pages of documents that were clearly originals and photocopies. And it wasn't any big deal, I looked at it, it was a glance situation, and it made no sense to me at all except at the top of that top page was Bush, George W., 1LT.

And I look back at it now and I know I was troubled that those documents were in the trashcan. I did ruffle through the top six to eight pages.

[rolling_stone]

another one from 2000 when he tried to get things rolling again..

"....Alluding to the questions raised by Senators Bob Kerrey and Daniel Inouye at a press conference last Thursday, Burkett said, “In answer to Senator Kerrey's comments, finding the answer to this issue is very simple. The Bush campaign staff can simply provide the pay records and detailed retirement points records for Lieutenant Bush. Until that is done, everything else is purely speculation as to when and where George W. Bush was during his obligation period. A unit technician’s personal notes about duty performance is not official. Handwritten and scribbled notations are also not official. The pay records, however, simply specify without a doubt and officially, when Lt. Bush performed ordered duty and that the US Air Force paid him for it.”

Said Burkett, “Mr. Dan Bartlett was responsible for assembling the military files for the media's review. He is also the point man to the questions on this issue. Why has Mr. Bartlett not compiled and shared these critical pieces of the Governor's military service record? Was it an omission of the Freedom of Information Act file or does it not exist? I am sure that the Pentagon would be happy to quickly access the Air Force Reserve personnel files in order to clarify this issue for the American public. It would be a disaster to withhold this basic information until after an election and then again hold the American presidency hostage with lawsuits, investigations and inquiries for his [Bush’s] term....."



http://www.onlinejournal.com/bush/110400Starr-Conover/110400starr-conover.html

[maryz]

I don't know of Kerry being treated for any mental disorder (though IMO he should have been!), but his first wife did suffer from serious depression. I believe that Kerry left her during that time. I forget whether she was hospitalized for it.

[conservative in nyc]

Think like the DNC. The 60 Minutes piece was part of the opening salvo in the new incarnation of what they call "Operation Fortunate Son". Imagine that the documents are taken on their face value as a bombshell. Just how do you think 60 Minutes would follow the revelation?

With an interview with the person who provided them the records. And what would he have to say? He rescued the records from the trash when President Bush had his files purged in 1998.

They tried to run with this story in 2000. Burkett and his cronies even hired a publicist from Talion.com to push it in late November. One of the principals of that firm is now pushing a book on how the electronic voting machines may be hacked, a DNC scare the Floridians theme.

I smell a rat.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

Electronic voting machines can definitely be hacked, as established in the recent Venezuelan recall election. The question is, how will the hacking be prevented, rather than, can it be done. If you have an election observer like Jimmy Carter, of course, the answer is :"no way Jose!"

[Howlin]

Open Society Institute is George Soros.

It's getting kind of incestuous, isn't it?

[rolling_stone]

They tried to run with this story in 2000. Burkett and his cronies even hired a publicist from Talion.com to push it in late November. One of the principals of that firm is now pushing a book on how the electronic voting machines may be hacked, a DNC scare the Floridians theme.

I smell a rat.

Seems to me it would be logical if Burkett had these "documents" in 1997 he would have released them during the 2000 election period...when he was doing all his showboating...to not release them then but to release them now makes them immediately suspect to me...

if he is the source of the "docs" what possible reason could he have for releasing them now but not in 2000?

..it's as if he failed in 2000 and needed more ammunition in 2004 to get his story/revenge across...

Yes something smells, but I am not sure which rat it is..to many of them scurrying around...I would imagine a visit by the FBI is in order first to Rather then backwards to the source..(is Burkett set up as the fall guy?)...someone needs to shine some light on this subject...I imagine at least a couple of old boys are worried about now..