of helping President Bush get his National Guard slot, the story gets little play from the media.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/30/barnes_update/index.htmlAug. 30, 2004 | Faced with fresh news in the ongoing debate about the presidential candidates' military service during the Vietnam War, the media blinked this weekend, doing its collective best to ignore an embarrassing new revelation by the prominent Texas politician who says he landed President Bush a coveted pilot spot in the Texas Air National Guard during the height of the Vietnam War, and is now "ashamed" of his actions.
(snip)
The Associated Press did pick up the story of Barnes' highly embarrassing comments over the weekend, and the Washington Post ran a 300-word version of the wire story, as did the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Kansas City Star, and the Contra Costa Times. The New York Times, the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle ran their own, equally brief staff-produced accounts. (The Times' story was buried deep inside, next to a big takeout on GOP-connected Swift Boat Vets leader John O'Neill.) The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Contra Costa Times inserted a sentence or two about Barnes' comments into larger campaign trail dispatches. The Austin American-Statesman ran the longest story, at roughly 600 words. According to a search of the Nexis electronic database, those were the only major newspapers in the country that even mentioned the Barnes revelation.
On television, CNN made just a few passing references to Barnes' Guard comment on its chat shows, and one of those was by conservative pundit Robert Novak, who labeled it "Outrage of the Week" while managing to bungle central facts of the incident. Fox News stayed clear of the embarrassing development, as did ABC, CBS and NBC.
Given the press' past behavior, both in embracing the Swift boat allegations and in its lead-footed approach to the ongoing National Guard story, it's unlikely reporters will seize the initiative and further investigate the Barnes story. It's also worth noting that the Democrats haven't been aggressive in pushing the Barnes story to the media, either. (Imagine how GOP attack dogs would hype a revelation from a politician who pulled strings to get Kerry his medals.) On the off chance the media decides to pursue the Barnes story on its own, reporters might want to ask White House spokesman Scott McClellan about his effort to dismiss Barnes' Guard comment. "It is not surprising coming from a longtime partisan Democrat. The allegation was discredited by the commanding officer. This was fully covered and addressed five years ago. It is nothing new," said McClellan.
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"I'm very ashamed"
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/27/barnes/index.htmlThe former Texas official who got George Bush into the National
Guard apologizes for making sure that young men with important "family names" did not have to fight in Vietnam.
By Jeff Horwitz
Aug. 27, 2004 | Another bombshell in the battle over Vietnam service that has been raging in the 2004 presidential race exploded on the Web Friday. In a video originally posted on the Web by a pro-Kerry organization in Austin, Texas, Ben Barnes, a former lieutenant
governor of Texas, apologized for his role in getting a young George
W. Bush into the Texas Air National Guard while young men who were not from prominent or wealthy families "died in Vietnam."
"Let's talk a minute about John Kerry and George Bush, and I know them both," said Barnes in the video, which was filmed at a gathering of about 200 Kerry supporters in Austin on May 27. "I got a young man named George W. Bush into the Texas National Guard when I was lieutenant governor, and I'm not necessarily proud of that. But I did it. I got a lot of other people in the National Guard because I thought that was what people should do when you're in office, and you help a lot of rich people."
"And I walked to the Vietnam Memorial the other day," Barnes continued, "and I looked at the names of the people that died in Vietnam, and I became more ashamed of myself than I have ever been, because it was the worst thing I ever did, was help a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance get into the National Guard. And I'm very sorry about that, and I'm very ashamed, and I apologize to you as voters of Texas."
Barnes then condemned the Republican attacks on John Kerry's war service: "And I tell you that for the Republicans to jump on John Kerry and say that he is not a patriot after he went to Vietnam and was shot at and fought for our freedom and came back here and protested against the war, he's a flip-flopper, let me tell you: John Kerry is a 100 times better patriot than George Bush or Dick Cheney."
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Want to see the former boy wonder of Texas politics, former House
Speaker and Lt. Gov Ben Barnes tell how he is ashamed for helping George W Bush get into the National Guard back in the 60's? Follow the link and see the video.
http://www.austin4kerry.org/Barnes/index.htmVideo formats at
http://media.greaterdemocracy.org/
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