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Slime Time Live (Possible clue to source of CBS Story)
Newsweek ^ | Sept. 20 issue | Howard Fineman and Michael Isikoff

Posted on 09/12/2004 12:26:09 AM PDT by 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...

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 60minutes; cbsnews; elections; forgery; isikoff; killian; memogate; napalminthemorning; rathergate; reddog; reddogpublicists; tang
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"...A principal source for CBS's story was Bill Burkett.."

Groan!...I wonder if he has a word processor?

1 posted on 09/12/2004 12:26:11 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Anti-Bubba182
Bill Burkett Is The Looney Left's John Birch Society - Loves to Claim That Republicans Spend Money Like Drunken Sailors While Conquering The World
2 posted on 09/12/2004 12:35:19 AM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Anti-Bubba182
I wonder if he has a word processor?

As I understand it, EVERYONE in the Air National Guard has one.

3 posted on 09/12/2004 12:36:53 AM PDT by VisualizeSmallerGovernment (Question Liberal Authority)
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To: VisualizeSmallerGovernment

"I've sat in total grief for the past three years, watching the institutions of America being spent as if they were lottery winnings.

...

As I said, a UN vote would not stop GW Bush from attacking Iraq. Nor will anything else. And weapons of mass destruction will be discovered in great quantities; but the entire affair will stink to high heavens because it will be as staged as the White House press conference you just viewed.

The human death toll will publicly not be mentioned, yet in truth, it will far exceed 120,000. Our vast size and force will quickly break the back of any Iraqi resistance, yet we will not break their spirit. This is a society which has learned to live in troubled politics. They will go about their business while seething inside. There will be small uprisings, but they will quickly be crushed. The emotion and anger that we will have built will spill over into other countries and meld like an alloy with other problem areas of the Middle East, becoming a deeper seated problem. We will have insured that America's dynasty is nearing an end.

While GW Bush will be cast as a conquering hero by his political team and accepted by the population as such, history will treat him as Napoleonic. Bush will reach a new lofty level of acceptance by first fear and then staged triumph. Those who waited too long to gain their voice will lose their voice again.

America will over pledge economically in order to establish this new footprint; but the economic worth will not go to offset our fiscal investment, or to the Iraqi people. Iraq will be stripped by the vanquishers; the major corporations, who will then control not only the assets, but the cash flow. Their names will be Mobil, Exxon, Halliburton and the likes." - Bill Burkett


4 posted on 09/12/2004 12:38:29 AM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: VisualizeSmallerGovernment

That's right. They've been using Micorsoft Word since 1972 or before.


5 posted on 09/12/2004 12:39:56 AM PDT by BykrBayb (5 minutes of prayer for Terri, every day at 11 am EDT, until she's safe. http://www.terrisfight.org)
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To: Southack
Could it possibly be that he was the source of the Memos, though the article does not directly say so?

They have a lot of chips riding on this.

6 posted on 09/12/2004 12:40:17 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Anti-Bubba182

Bill Burkett??

Not only is he a yellow dog dem .. he's a nut case who's be after Bush for some time


7 posted on 09/12/2004 12:40:26 AM PDT by Mo1 (Why is the MSM calling the Vietnam Vets and POW's a suspected group??)
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To: VisualizeSmallerGovernment
"...As I understand it, EVERYONE in the Air National Guard has one."

...And in 73 as well.

8 posted on 09/12/2004 12:41:13 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Southack
history will treat him as Napoleonic.

A military genius who changed the entire course of history?

9 posted on 09/12/2004 12:41:25 AM PDT by VisualizeSmallerGovernment (Question Liberal Authority)
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To: Southack

got a source for that burkett quote, which is dynamite as far as motive goes?

Interesting, too, to contarst the obvious venom in that quote with Newsweek's description of him as a straight-arrow whistleblower type.


10 posted on 09/12/2004 12:42:30 AM PDT by Kiss Me Hardy
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To: Mo1

I can't believe they went with this guy!


11 posted on 09/12/2004 12:42:52 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Southack
Rumors about the memos had circulated in the Democratic Party and media circles for weeks; in fact, CBS had used their existence to help persuade Barnes to talk. He told Democratic friends before the "60 Minutes II" broadcast that if documents the network was hunting for were found—and were authentic—"the election is over."

I wonder if this wasn't what Susan Estrich was talking about in that horrid column she did last week.

12 posted on 09/12/2004 12:42:59 AM PDT by Howlin (What's the Font Spacing, Kenneth?)
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To: Mo1

Texas.

Ben Barnes.
Bill Burkett.
Bill Moyers.
Paul Begala.
John Moore.
Dan Rather's daughter.
Dan Rather.

And plenty more where that comes from.


13 posted on 09/12/2004 12:44:15 AM PDT by Howlin (What's the Font Spacing, Kenneth?)
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To: Mo1

Not very exciting if it is him. Unless, of course, they can trace him having recent meetings with Kerry or McCauliffe associates. Now that would be exciting!


14 posted on 09/12/2004 12:44:25 AM PDT by jimboster
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To: Kiss Me Hardy

c#2


15 posted on 09/12/2004 12:44:44 AM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Howlin

Their #1 export isn't necessarily their #1 crop.


16 posted on 09/12/2004 12:45:41 AM PDT by BykrBayb (5 minutes of prayer for Terri, every day at 11 am EDT, until she's safe. http://www.terrisfight.org)
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To: Southack

sorry, it's late. I'm excited and shouldn't have that last drink.


17 posted on 09/12/2004 12:45:50 AM PDT by Kiss Me Hardy
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To: Howlin

Take a look at this site. I was trying to find
the provenance of AFM 35-13 using google, and found the
sites below.

They are lefty sites, which refer to the documents
MONTHS ago, and in one case, YEARS ago...

August 2004:
http://www.talkaboutinvestments.com/group/misc.invest.stocks/messages/880901.html

April 2004:
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2004/04/21/who-da-man/

Feb. 2004:
http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/003279.html
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=3261

Which has this text:
Chris,

Yeah, this aspect of the story may die. But the media has a sense right now that there's stuff in the records that Bush doesn't want people to see, and they'll continue to follow that thread.

This document got posted over at Atrios's site, and it has a couple of interesting things. First of all, there was another guy (James Bath) who got suspended the month after Bush for refusing to take his physical. He's been linked to Bush before, but what interested me was this bit:

"Off[icer] will comply with para 2-1, AFM 35-13. Authority: Para 2-29m, AFM 35-13."

Anyone know what this means? I assume it has something to do with the regulations they violated, but googling on the reference (and I also tried assuming that it means Air Force Manual) turned up nothing.

The words This Document are hypertext.
The words linked to Bush are hypertext, and lead to
this site:

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Hatfield-R-091901/hatfield-r-091901.html

which contains the text:

Like his father before him, Dubya founded his oil business with the financial backing of investors, including James R. Bath, a Houston businessman whom Dubya apparently first met when they were in the same Texas Air National Guard unit. (Interestingly, both Dubya and Bath were both suspended from flying in August and September 1972, respectively, for "failure to accomplish annual medical examination.")

This is PRE Kerry, PRE election, even PRE 9-11-2001
smearing of Bush...
Could this be why Rather is saying the facts are genuine?
(Can't vouch for the authenticity of the allegations
about Bath. But they sure would make tempting material
for Rather to chance typing up a 'contemporary copy'.

Any thoughts?

Also, any way to save these sites so they don't disappear
down the memory hole?


18 posted on 09/12/2004 12:46:09 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: BykrBayb

This is a death match between the Dems in Texas and W.


19 posted on 09/12/2004 12:46:53 AM PDT by Howlin (What's the Font Spacing, Kenneth?)
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To: Howlin
"Rumors about the memos had circulated in the Democratic Party and media circles for weeks; in fact, CBS had used their existence to help persuade Barnes to talk."

That's *such* propaganda! You can't get Barnes to shut up, nor Burkett for that matter!

1 Full Legislative Day Left Until The AWB Expires

20 posted on 09/12/2004 12:47:09 AM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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