WTF:::: Burkett Readying Suit Against Network

[jefferson_dem]

Burkett Readying Suit Against Network

Bill Burkett, the man identified yesterday by CBS as the source of the controversial documents used in its September 8 “60 Minutes II” report questioning President Bush’s Air National Guard service, plans to sue the network, according to Mr. Burkett’s former lawyer, David Van Os.

For a dozen days, CBS aggressively defended the Dan Rather story against withering criticism from documents experts, conservatives and others who said it made use of phony documents. The report centered on purported memos by a now-deceased National Guard squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian. The memos, for Killian’s files, said that Mr. Bush disobeyed an order to undergo a physical and that pressure was brought to bear to “sugar coat” Mr. Bush’s Guard service.

CBS reversed its position yesterday. CBS News’s president, Andrew Heyward,released a statement calling the use of the documents “a mistake which we deeply regret.”

“Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic standard to justify using them in the report,” Mr. Heyward said. “We should not have used them.”

<SNIP>

http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getmailfiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/09/21&ID=Ar00102

[madfloridian]

1. Might be a great idea.....bring everything out in the open.

Give the whole thing bright sunlight for the world to see. I have always thought Burkett was pretty smart.

[BurtWorm]

21. I hate to disagree, but I disagree

This will keep what has become a tabloid story that is rapidly losing substance front and center on the cable news shows. Real, urgent reasons to dethrone Bush will get lost in the shuffle. Burkett should have waited until after the election to sue. This election should not be about memos, forgeries, medals and pulled strings primarily. It should be about Iraq, dead and wounded Americans and Iraqis, the increased threat of anti-Americanism, the outsourcing of jobs, the burden of healthcare costs, the inequities in the tax system, etc., etc., etc. On those issues, Bush is toast. For sure!

[crispini]

2. Hmmmm...

funny, Van Os has always struck me as sane. Hopefully he'll be able to talk Burkett out of this. What possible grounds would he have?

[knight_of_the_star]

4. I was thinking the same thing

Afterall, it seems like CBS would have grounds to sue HIM, not the other way around.

[madfloridian]

6. I am not worried. Read Van Os's website.

Trust Van Os and Burkett. These two are too smart to be foolish.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/candidates/candidate.php?district_id=50

And his homepage:
http://www.vanosforsupremecourt.com/
Karl Rove's Master Plan Started With the Texas Courts

[mhr]

16. Van Os Is A Backstabbing Bastard - PM Me For The Story

I would not trust this man ever.

Why Burkett got involved with him I'd like to know!

[jefferson_dem]

3. To me, this is the most important line in the story. No collaboration!

Asked about Mr. Burkett’s e-mail offers to help the Kerry campaign evaluate Mr. Bush’s Air National Guard service — reported by the Washington Post last week— Mr. Van Os said the offer was only to “help construct a President Bush service timeline” and “had nothing to do with the memos he had.” He said the Kerry campaign did not respond to Mr. Burkett’s offer.

[kokomo]

10. Burkett's Republican brother defends him....

Burkett doesn't seem deranged or as Tucker Carlson calls him, a "mentally unbalanced partisan"!

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/9720818.htm?1c

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0409/21/cf.00.html

Even Rush Limbaugh, in trying to slime everyone in the story (but Rovians) still reports that folks around Abilene respect the retired colonel.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_091704/content/truth2.guest.html

[AirAmFan]

19. 'A mentally unbalanced partisan?' Sounds like a description of Tucker Carlson,

not of anybody else. Nothing comes out of his mouth except White House talking points. And his tone is one of contemptuous disdain as he never lets Begala or anyone who disagrees with him get a sentence out before interrupting with another talking point. What would his uncle John Kennedy make of this nephew had he not been assaasinated? Tucker's whole political persona seems like an over-the-top phony put-on, designed to distinguish himself in an extended family of achievers.

[rocktivity]

5. Nobody forced Burkett to:

a) accept the documents
b) offer them to CBS
c) offer them to the Kerry campaign
d) lie about the source
d) interview with Dan Rather

So on what grounds does he have a lawsuit?

:headbang:
rocknation

[AlCzervik]

7. After looking at the editorial section of the sun

i'll wait until another source reports it to believe it.

[cheshire]

15. I posted this earlier, saw it on CNN I think. It's a possiblity.

[geek tragedy]

8. Mr. Burkett, your fifteen minutes are OVER. Go away.

Van Os is no longer representing the guy. Lucky for him.

All Democrats should stay away from this guy like a live hand grenade.

[bain_sidhe]

9. Curiouser and curiouser...

Mr. Van Os said Mr. Burkett has repeatedly maintained to him that he did not contact reporters or any political activists about these memos.

“He kept this under lock and key,” the lawyer said.

...
In late May, however, Mr. Burkett began getting calls inquiring about the memos from “national newspapers and TV,” said Mr. Van Os. The lawyer said Mr. Burkett told the reporters that he declined to comment or said he knew nothing about the documents.

How did the news organizations find out about the documents - and that Burkett had them - then? Maybe somebody who expected him to run to the press right away got antsy, and decided to push Burkett by leaking his name and the fact that he had "incriminating" documents to the news organizations?

[vetwife]

11. Buckhead aka McDougal Ken Starr's buddy is not returning

calls to the Atlanta Journal either !

[TA]

12. There's a lot more to this story than just the doc's

Watch it unravel, it may be very interesting.

[madfloridian]

13. Thanks. That is what I keep saying.

Rather is not a stupid man, Mapes is not a stupid lady. Burkett and Van Os are intelligent folks.

Let it play out.

[DancingBear]

28. Thanks for joining me on the island

I posted a while back that there still is another shoe to drop, and that I felt I was on an island re: these memos.

I still believe that to be the case.

Our small band of "believers" welcomes you!

[genius]

14. Can anyone link Stone to the documents?

[zulchzulu]

17. If anything, it's a sideshow to take away the Lacy Peterson trial story

I'd keep the damn thing in the cycle and get people to come on all the shows and talk about the REAL issue of the story...Dubya's pussy act.

Coach the people to do what Faux Snooze does.... "some people are more concerned about Bush's actual missing records and his obvious lack of serving the country like Kerry did..."

"...some people say that Bush has more questions to answer than Dan Rather about his own record or lack of it...."

[AlCzervik]

18. oh please, i live about 75 miles north of the Peterson people

i'm sorry about what happened to her but i cant take any more coverage and if you think cable over does the local news are on it all the time.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

25. Peterson should walk

Seriously... He's no threat to society--only to women who would get involved with him, which I'd call natural selection at work.

Anything to make the cops and repugs look like fools, is what I say.

[Junkdrawer]

20. Tell me again about this Burkett guy (with friends like this)...

Feeds Dan Rather fake memos...

Insists on talking to the Kerry Campaign first...

Then sues CBS....

:wtf:

[Killarney]

22. Ugh. He's suing for defamation of character

because CBS told him he'd be anonymous and that they'd expend effort and money to authenticate the documents before they went forward with the story.

:eyes:

[Viking12]

23. Should sue for breech of contract

There is a precedent for a source whose confidentiality has been broken by the press to sue, Cohen v Cowles Media (1991).

[Killarney]

24. But Burkett outed himself. CBS didn't out him. Right?

???

[Viking12]

27. Sorry, I should have made myself more clear

My response was from a legal strategy perspective and didn't address the specifics in the case. I don't think he has any ground for a defamation suit -- the truth is an automatic defense and there is no debate that Burkett furnished of the docs -- therefore a more plausible legal strategy would be breech of contract.

[okieinpain]

26. what happened to lucy.