Posted on 09/12/2004 3:37:13 PM PDT by wagglebee
NEW YORK -- A principal source for the CBS story about President Bush's National Guard duty 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 then Governor Bush ordered records sanitized to protect the Boss, Newsweek reports in the current issue.
Typed memos from the early '70s suggesting officers were pressured to give Bush special treatment and "sugarcoat" increasingly negative evaluations were a central part of the CBS report.
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," report Chief Political Correspondent Howard Fineman and Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff in the September 20 issue of Newsweek.
Fellow officers say Burkett 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," said Dennis Adams, a former Guard colleague. The White House, through Communications Director Dan Bartlett, called Burkett a "discredited source."
Newsweek also reports that a hard-core group within the John Kerry campaign is setting up a new "oppo" squad aimed at countering what they perceive as Republican-backed smears against Kerry. Tentatively called Sealords II -- Kerry's Mekong Delta mission in Vietnam was known as Sealords -- the group has a $1 million budget and will be housed at the Democratic National Committee, where, one of its members says, the mission will be "message, debate prep, attack, attack."
Something just occurred to me: this is Sunday. 60 Minutes night. Wonder what they'll be covering. Not the memo thing, I'll bet. I wonder if Old Dan will even be ON tonight.
Two nervous breakdowns, and he finds (or forges) 25-year old records. A crank.
Notice the counterttack: Kerry needs an 'oppo' team to battle the 'smear Kerry' campaign. Hm... wasn't this article supposed to be about the source of the 'smear Bush' documents?
Dan is over at BJ's house in Chappaqua celebrating the complete sabotage of the sKerry campaign. Bubba's still on bedrest, so they only have two bimbos coming over.
Yeah, Mapes found Burkett impressive enough to fly to Texas to meet with him, but found absolutely nothing of value in John O'Neill and his book "Unfit For Command".
Gimme a friggin' break.
Gosh, I'll bet John McCain is soooooooo proud.
Sealords II? LOL! What a bunch of mindless pantywaisted puffery.
Do you suppose that Kerry, McAuliffe, McCain or Carville will ever condemn this pro-Kerry attack group? Shyeah...pigs might fly, too.
LOL and I wonder how many of us are going to watch 60 Minutes for the first time in years just to see.
This is going to require guns one day if it continues....down the road.
But of course it's the eviil Republicans, Karl Rove, and most importantly George Bush are keeping the Vietnam war alive.
Ptooey!
. . . Bush tricked sKerry and CBS with phony documents that Karl Rove created . . .
It's all very predictable when you look at it from the perspective of a raving lunatic!
The train wreckage of Kerrys campaign is starting to reveal new horrors that will upset even the most stalwart persons stomach.
Get the body bags!
Kerrys probably going to flip out as soon as his SEALORDS II crew starts making him drop to the teens as far as percentages go.
And Bill Burkett is a Texas Democratic Party shill and heavyweight wannabe. 2002 Party Chair letter and more - http://www.geocities.com/stoutdem/bb525.html
2004 Dem candidate for Supreme Court Justice Van Os is/was his attorney against the Guard and Burkett is working faithfully on the current campaign.
http://www.vanosforsupremecourt.com/
That's the point I've been trying to make - you don't settle these things with lawyers, you settle them with guns.
INTREP
How could the guy find 25 year old fraudulant documents made with word for windows?
The more dillusional democrats become, the more reason NOT to vote for them.
Now, they can't even find a credible scape goat.
Kerry should be made by the press to release all of his military records, his divorce records (like the Republican Senatorial candidate in Illinois was), and his wife's tax records.
I remember hearing Rather say that his source was "unimpeachable." So in Dan's mind this disgruntled ex-guard member has more credibility than Killian's wife and son. CBS just manipulated the rest. CBS is a disgrace!
Don't forget about the prenuptual agreement with the ketchup lady.
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