Texans for Truth, CBS, documents

OK, so here goes. Here is the transcript of the CBS interview with Ben Barnes, the Texas Dem who said he pulled strings back in the day to get Bush into the national guard. Just an excerpt:

BEN BARNES: This is about what the truth is. About the time in which I served and the role I played. Sid Adger (PH), a friend of the Bush family, came to see me and asked me if I would recommend George W. Bush for the Air National Guard. And I did.

And I talked to a Gen. Rose, who was the commander of the Air National Guard. I don't know whether my recommendation was the absolute reason he got in the Guard. He was a Congressman's son. He graduated from Yale. He was a person that would have been eligible.

But there was a long list of people waiting to be, or hoping to be a candidate for the Air National Guard, and for the Army National Guard. That was one route that young men had to go to-- or that was available to a very special few to-- be able to avoid being drafted and being able to avoid going to Vietnam. Although some National Guard people later went to Vietnam.[...]

DAN RATHER: Well, I used the phrase "preferential treatment." Perhaps I shouldn't have. Would you describe it as that? A request for preferential treatment? Or how would you describe it?

BEN BARNES: Oh, I would describe it as preferential treatment. There were hundreds of names on the list of people wanting to get in the Air National Guard or the Army National Guard. I think that would have been a preference to anybody that didn't wanna go to Vietnam that didn't wanna leave. We had a lot of young men that left and went to Canada in the '60s and fled this country.

CBS also interviewed White House communications director Dan Bartlett. I can't find the transcript on CBS, but John Marshall has it. Here's a weird bit, where Bartlett seems to try to deny that two official documents say what they say:

Q: It's interesting when you talk about Ben Barnes, because I wasn't even talking about that. I was talking about these documents. What about these two official documents signed by [Lt. Col.] Jerry Killian is rumor and innuendo?

DAN BARTLETTT: Well, it's impossible for anybody to read the mind of a dead man. Jerry Killian writes memos to himself in this file --

Q: I'm not talking about the memos to himself. I'm talking about the two official documents.

DAN BARTLETTT: The two official documents that notified that he did not take the flight exam, which is exactly -- it is explained in your document that he did not take the flight exam because he was going to Alabama in a non-flying capacity because, in Alabama, they weren't flying the same plane that President Bush was trained on.

Q: But what about these two documents is rumor and innuendo?

DAN BARTLETTT: Well, again, the surfacing of these charges by many people who have partisan purposes behind it, the ads that are coming that denounce President Bush -- Ben Barnes, who has spoken to your program about his alleged involvement in President Bush's entry into the National Guard -- all of these things are coming out now, as they do every year when President Bush goes through an election. But these documents state exactly what we said, and that is President Bush didn't take the flight exam because he was going to a unit that didn't fly his plane. And in that very document you're showing it says that he was working out with the staff to find a unit that he could train with, but it was going to be in a non-flying capacity.

Q: Dan, you said it's interesting the way that these things suddenly surfaced during an election campaign. Should these have not been part of the record that the White House released of the President's military service earlier this year?

DAN BARTLETTT: Well, in fact, my understanding is that is a part of another person's personnel file, Jerry Killian's. That is not the President's personnel file. He only has control over his own files that he has ordered for the full release, and we have fully released every document that the Department of Defense has regarding President Bush's service.

Q: But these are two official memorandums. Any idea of why these would not be in the record?

DAN BARTLETTT: I can't explain why that wouldn't be in his record, but they were found in Jerry Killian's personal records themselves, is what I've been told. But it reaffirms exactly what President Bush said. Everybody knows President Bush didn't take his flight exam. After flying for 400 -- more than 500 hours in the cockpit, President Bush, after his fourth year in service, asked for permission to go in a non-flying capacity to Alabama. There was not reason for President Bush to take a flight exam if he wasn't going to be flying.

Not very communicative for a communications director is he? The two documents (all PDFs) that they're referring to were written by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, and are from May 4, 1972 (which orders Bush to take the physical) August 1, 1972 (which contains the sentence, you'll see, "I ordered thats 1st Lt. Bush be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to UAF/TexANG standards and failure to meet annual physical examination (flight) as ordered."). The second of which suggests that Bush was grounded not only because he didn't take the physical, but that he failed to "to perform to UAF/TexANG standards," which the White House hasn't mentioned previously.

The other two new documents are from May 19, 1972 and August 18, 1972. Both are summaries of conversations. The 1st is between Lt. Col. Killian and Bush ("He [Bush] has this campaign to do and other things that will follow and may not have time. I advised him of our investment in him and his commitment... I told him to I had to have written acceptance before he would be tranferred, but think he's talking to someone upstairs" -- and he ain't talkin' about God there). The 2nd contains a totally indeciferable paragraph:

Staudt has obviously pressured Hodges more about Bush. I’m having trouble running interference and doing my job. Harris gave me a message today from Grp regarding Bush’s OETR and Staudt is pushing to sugar coat it. Bush wasn’t here during rating period and I don’t have any feedback from 187th in Alabama. I will not rate. Austin is not happy today either.

which is explained somewhat in the Bartlett interview. If you read through the interview, it's really hard to take Bartlett seriously, in my opinion, mostly because he keeps saying the same thing over and over again ("it's impossible for anybody to read the mind of a dead man" -- is it really? When the dead man is talking about your guy's "failure to perform to UAF/TexANG standards" I don't know if we have to do a lot of mind reading to figure out what he thought).

For what it's worth, the Bush campaign must be scared, because Ed Gillespie sent out a frantic email today to the Bush campaign email list which America Blog reprints the text of. (And which contains an obvious lie, as Josh Marshall points out -- Barnes' story is actually the same as what he said 5 years ago.)

Those are the docs. All in all, it doesn't look too good for the Bushies, but I'm sure this won't be the last we've heard of this matter. *sigh*

-- Michael

Comments

[ronnie]

Taking all this at face value, I find it amazing that Dan Blather gives all this TV time to a guy who gave a political favor, but is spiking the Swift Boat Vets story. Is he a reporter or an agent of the Kerry campaign?

[d meyers]

Michael,

with regards to the Rather interview you cannot actually take it seriously can you? So I heard today that the FEC is making Dan Rather register as a 527 and CBS is going to be fined for in kind political contributions to the Kerry campaign.

so let's see, the CBS news divisions gives million dollar air time to former cabinet secretary Paul O'Neil, to Richard Clark (fraud), Joe Wilson (documented liar) and not Ben Barnes (the worst of the bunch). Did I happen to miss the interviews given to John O'Neil????

Lets recall the standard Rather and all the others used to try and discredit SBVT, they were, oh my god, initially funded by a Texan, oh the horror. And this Texan actually donated a few thousand dollars to one of Bush campaigns.. I can't handle the horror. And this guy actuall knew Karl Rove....ahhhhhgggggggg..

So Ben Barnes is:
1. Former DEMOCRAT Lt. Gov of Texas
2. Huge fund raiser for Kerry for Pres, one of the big time fund raiser that get special titles
3. Host delegate party at Kerry convention
4. Speaks at Kerry rallies...
5. Testified UNDER OATH contrary to what he tells Rather

AND RATHER DOESN'T ASK ABOUT ANY OF THIS???

The level that one of the biggest news agencies has sunken is truely amazing...

Finally, Barnes has absolutely no credibility so I don't believe a word he say. Would I be surprised if somehow GW got a sweetheart assignment because of his connections?? Of Course Not. Is it shocking to anyone that people of privilege get breaks?? Just how in the hell did Al Gore, son of powerful Al Gore Sr, get assigned to be a freakin' reporter in Vietnam for the Stars and Stripes... Gee, how many low class, poor kids got that kush assignment.

Anyone with a millionth ounce of integrity should view the Rather interview as the bottom of all bottoms..

As far as the other reports released what I understand is Bush failed some tests... And the story is what??? So please explain what these documents prove? He failed to meet some flying standards... OK, so what is the issue?

Months and months ago Bush gave permission to the Pentagon to release all files they have on him.. So whose fault is it if the Pentagon releases files late??

OH BY THE WAY, JUST WHEN WILL KERRY GIVE PERMISSION TO PENTAGON TO RELEASE ALL HIS FILES? OR DOES THIS ONLY APPLY TO REPUBLICANS?

[d meyers]

so fiction writer Kitty Kelly is coming out with a book and NBC is giving her THREE STRAIGHT DAY on the Today show (I cannot recall anyone in the history of the Today show getting three straight days) that claims Sharon Bush (ex-wife to Neil) told her GW did cocaine in the 80's at Camp David.

And what does Sharon Bush have to say about this?

"President Bush's former sister-in-law denied yesterday that she had given author Kitty Kelley any information about allegations of past drug use by Bush.

Sharon Bush is quoted in Kelley's forthcoming book about the Bush family as making one of the allegations, and Kelley's editor said in an interview Tuesday that she had provided "confirmation" for the information.

But Sharon Bush, who is divorced from the president's brother Neil, said in a statement: "I categorically deny that I ever told Kitty Kelley that George W. Bush used cocaine at Camp David or that I ever saw him use cocaine at Camp David. When Kitty Kelley raised drug use at Camp David, I responded by saying something along the lines of, 'Who would say such a thing?'

"Although there have been tensions between me and various members of the Bush family, I cannot allow this falsehood to go unchallenged."

Looks like the NBC Today show will join CBS and being fined by the FEC for illegal contributions to the Kerry campaign...

And one wonders the big media's ratings are in a nose dive.

[d meyers]

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, the sands of time continue to slide by since:

"Today marks the one-month point since Sen. John Kerry last answered questions from reporters traveling with him on the campaign trail.
The last time the Democratic presidential nominee took questions from them was Aug. 9 on the edge of the Grand Canyon, when the small traveling press pool accompanying him was allowed to ask eight questions.
And the last time Mr. Kerry held a full-fledged press conference where he faced questions from the entire corps of national reporters covering his campaign was Aug. 2 in Grand Rapids, Mich. He took two questions then. "

So Kerry, WHY ARE YOU HIDING FROM THE PRESS?

[d meyers]

Something to throw into the mix regarding GW's service in the National Guard. I am not saying it is the end all but it does shed some light on Bush's service

http://www.hillnews.com/york/090904.aspx

[here's what's left]

1. Former DEMOCRAT Lt. Gov of Texas
2. Huge fund raiser for Kerry for Pres, one of the big time fund raiser that get special titles
3. Host delegate party at Kerry convention
4. Speaks at Kerry rallies...

oh, i don't think there's any question that he's a partisan, and that this whole thing is partisanly motivated. i'm not sure if that makes it untrue, necessarily, but certainly no one can or would deny that barnes is a big kerry supporter. at least he's honest about it, unlike the swifties.

5. [Barnes] Testified UNDER OATH contrary to what he tells Rather

Yeah, actually, that's not true, Ed Gillespie was lying about that. Barnes said exactly the same thing in his sworn testimony. Go back and look it up.

Months and months ago Bush gave permission to the Pentagon to release all files they have on him.. So whose fault is it if the Pentagon releases files late??

Everytime I have an impulse to think you're reasonable, d, you say something like this. It was the White House that produced the same 4 documents last night. How is it that you accuse Kerry of hiding something, but not the White House, after the White House has been very clear that they released all of the documents?

Ronnie, coming into the fray, says this: Taking all this at face value, I find it amazing that Dan Blather gives all this TV time to a guy who gave a political favor, but is spiking the Swift Boat Vets story. Is he a reporter or an agent of the Kerry campaign?

I find the suggestion that the media somehow spiked the SBVT story to be so shocking as to be beneath reply. You'd have have to be living in a cave to think that.

But there's a larger point here. Which is that you guys will cry "liberal media!" whenever something is reported on that you don't like. Is your memory so short that you don't remember the extensive media attention given to the SBVT ads? That was the reason the story went on so long anyway. Remember how small the ad buy was (only in 5 swing states), yet every major news outlet reported on it, more than half the voting public had seen the ads by the end of it? Now they're reporting the equivalent story, and you're crying "liberal media"?! C'mon guys. Let's be serious here.

[d meyers]

"'60 Minutes' Documents on Bush Might Be Fake"

Now this is interesting. Can't wait to see what turns out about this. We will have to wait and see

See http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200409\POL20040909d.html

correct me if I am wrong, but according to the above article: "The documents came from the "personal office file" of Bush's former squadron commander Jerry B. Killian, according to Kelli Edwards, a spokeswoman for "60 Minutes," who was quoted in Thursday's Washington Post. Edwards declined to tell the Post how the news program obtained the documents.
"

I believe this Killian is dead so cannot confirm the authenticy of them...

Look, ABC, CBS, NBC world news tonight will eventually cover something. Tell me if any of the major news shows not on cable did anything on SBVT... Let's remember Dan Rather is CBS News and I am still waiting for Dan Rather/60 minutes to spotlight any book that is pro Bush.

Ben Barnes is so partisan why the hell would Dan Rather devote segments on this guy? Might as well have brought in James Carville to tell a tall tale... would Dan Rather ever have a segment on 60 minutes in which he invites Ralph Reed to let Reed make some accusations about Kerry? Of course not.

[here's what's left]

i don't know what Rather's reporting on SBVT has been, but if you want to find out, go ahead. if you and ronnie want to assert that Rather is liberal because he covered one story more thoroughly than the other or something, you have to show some evidence of that. But I don't think either of you will.

if the docs are fake, they're fake. we'll see. i don't know who would be stupid enough to fake them, and why CBS would be stupid enough to run with fake documents. but the white house seems not have questioned the authenticity of the documents.

Ben Barnes is so partisan why the hell would Dan Rather devote segments on this guy? Might as well have brought in James Carville to tell a tall tale... would Dan Rather ever have a segment on 60 minutes in which he invites Ralph Reed to let Reed make some accusations about Kerry? Of course not.

um, James Carville didn't get Bush into the national guard. Ralph Reed didn't get Kerry into the national guard. Ben Barnes did get Bush into the national guard. As I said, Barnes is most certainly partisan, but that doesn't make his story untrue. And at least he has the grace to admit his partisanship, unlike John O'Neill and his friends. If you want to decide that it is untrue _because_ he's partisan go right ahead. That just shows that you're partisan.

For what it's worth, I think the white house has not actually disputed Ben Barnes' story that he spoke to Sid Adger. In fact, I think Bush wrote Barnes a note at some point thanking him.

[dmeyers]

RE: Forged Documents???

HWL,

I tell you what, this story is demonstrating the power of the blogosphere. It has been quite a rousing 6 or so hours on the internet. I never new there were so many experts in typesetting, typewriters, etc, etc.

It is going to be a blast sitting back and watching where this story goes... One thing is for sure, CBS better start answering some questions, like:

Where did they get the docs?
What did they do to authenticate them?
Who did they use to authenticate them?

A vacuum of information by CBS gets filled real quick on the internet...

Let's sit back and have some fun watching this...

[d meyers]

"Everytime I have an impulse to think you're reasonable, d, you say something like this. It was the White House that produced the same 4 documents last night. How is it that you accuse Kerry of hiding something, but not the White House, after the White House has been very clear that they released all of the documents?"

SO WHERE IS YOUR APOLOGY?? The White house were given the 4 documents by the White House and then they distributed them to other media outlets... DOESN'T SOUND LIKE HIDING ANYTHING

So when is it exactly is Kerry going to release ALL HIS MILITARY RECORDS?

so when is Kerry going to actually take questions from the PRESS? 40 days and counting