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| Think CBS will ask him about this? Nah. | ||
| 2004-09-08 | ||
| From NRO - Kerry Spot: A CONNECTION THE KERRY CAMPAIGN WOULD PREFER WAS GLOSSED OVER Tonight on CBS News' 60 Minutes II, Ben Barnes, a Democrat and the lieutenant governor of Texas in 1968, "will explain his role in securing for the 22-year-old Yale graduate Bush a coveted place in the state's Air National Guard." Ben Barnes has raised more than $500,000 for John Kerry's presidential campaign, according to no less a source than CBS News!
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 You know, now that I think about it, what's really funny about this story is that (if it's true) the Democrat Texas Speaker helped a Republican Congressman get his son a safe berth (if it was) in the TANG, along with (the book says) the sons of Lloyd "Democrat" Bentsen and John "Democrat" Connally and several black members of the Dallas Cowboys (who no doubt vote Democrat now). So what is the lesson here? 1) The Democrats are every bit as corrupt of the Republicans. 2) Them rich people take care of their own (and their football team). 3) Bush got out of Vietnam! If I were John "Rich Democrat" Kerry, I don't think I'd count on that last lesson to be the one to sink in. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-09-08 3:48:55 PM |
| #4 What actually happened in 1968 is that a close family friend of the Bushes telephoned Ben Barnes, then the speaker of the Texas House...This friend told Barnes that Congressman Bush's son needed a spot in the Texas Air National Guard. Barnes called the general in charge of the Texas Air National Guard, Brigadier General James Rose, and recommended George W. for a pilot position. From Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose, 2000, Random House, New York. This is on page 4 of this book, which, as you'll note, was published in 2000. Barnes testified under oath about this because he was subpoenaed in a civil trial in 1999. Y'see, by this time Barnes was "top lobbyist" for GTECH, a private company which runs the Texas State Lottery. The plaintiff was the former executive director of the lottery, who alleged Barnes had arranged with (then Gov.) Bush to have him fired, and this was a quid pro quo for keeping quiet about how Bush got into the TANG thirty years before. The book goes on to say It's a story with more subplots than a Mexican telenovela... No kidding. Look, folks, by the time that you get to alleging that so-and-so knew somebody-or-other who may have spoken to someone-else about something thirty years before, your story's pretty much dead as a mackerel. Oh, and the denouement to this story? There ain't one. The trail, such as it is, stops cold. Feller named Sid Adger, who could have spilled everything, had conveniently died in 1996, just three years before the civil trial. I question the timing... |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2004-09-08 3:39:01 PM |
| #3 More on Ben Barnes here: Under Oath, Barnes Testified He Had No Contact With Bush Family Concerning National Guard. "Ben Barnes, then the speaker of the Texas House, said in 1999 that Sidney Adger, a Houston businessman and longtime friend of the Bush family whose son also won a slot in the 147th, had asked him to help get Mr. Bush into the Guard. Mr. Barnes, who acknowledged a role only after he was questioned under oath, also said that he had spoken to the head of the Texas Air National Guard on Mr. Bush's behalf, but had no contact with anyone in the Bush family. And there is no direct evidence that Mr. Bush's family pulled strings to get him into the 147th. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-09-08 2:58:19 PM |
| #2 Well, Barnes was somebody in Texas politics before becoming Lt. Governor - he was apparently Speaker of the House in Texas at one time. Someone with influence, you know. Nevertheless, this story is being sold with the half-lie that he was Lt. Governor at the time of Bush's entry into the ANG. Not too swift. And the fact that he's a Kerry moneyman is definitely a knife between the ribs of his credibility. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-09-08 12:35:30 PM |
| #1 His story has too many hole sin it to float. #1 Bush entered the guard in 1968, a full year before BB became Lt Gov. This guy is also a Kerry staff member. Did CBS apply for 527 status? They should! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-09-08 12:11:39 PM |