The other shoe drops: Burkett claims he gave 'info' to Kerry Campaign..

[Junkdrawer]

On Edit: As posters have said, the article says "information", not "memos". Yet.

Ex-Guardsman: I Contacted Kerry Campaign

1 minute ago

By KELLEY SHANNON, Associated Press Writer

AUSTIN, Texas - A retired Texas National Guard official mentioned as a possible source for disputed documents about President Bush (news - web sites)'s service in the Guard said he passed along information to a former senator working with John Kerry (news - web sites)'s campaign.

In an Aug. 21 e-mail to a list of Texas Democrats, Bill Burkett said after getting through "seven layers of bureaucratic kids" in the Democrat's campaign, he talked with former Georgia senator Max Cleland about information that would counter criticism of Kerry's Vietnam War service. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the e-mail Saturday.

"I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. (Cleland) said counterattack. So I gave them the information to do it with," Burkett wrote.

Burkett, who lives just outside of Abilene, wrote that no one at the Kerry campaign called him back.

...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040918/ap_on_el_pr/bush_guard_questions&cid=694&ncid=2043

I said on Wedsneday Rove would do this. So NOW do you believe this was a Rove plant from Day One?? :shrug:

[roseBudd]

1. No one from the Kerry campaign called him back

so he took it upon himself to contact CBS

[spotbird]

2. How is this bad if no one called him back? nt

[demfaithful]

36. It could get bad because

Burkett's lawyer, Van Os is a big key player in this. He is a big money man with very close ties to James Carville, Bill Clinton and Senator Max Cleland. Robin Rather, Dan Rather's daughter is a big democrat fund raiser in Texas. I only hope that they can't tie this to the Kerry campaign. If they do, it will be a scandal as big as Watergate.

I am worried that the tie between Robin Rather and Dan Rather will bring this to the Kerry people. Who joined the Kerry campaign lately? Lets see, Carville and the Clinton people. Everyone at the media is saying that Hillary is setting Kerry up to lose. She wants to run in 2008. This maybe or maybe not the case. I am beginning to see a pattern of Clinton's people possibly sabotaging Kerry.

Tell me that I am wrong. Please. My mother is a rabid Republican. She has been following this story day and night. I can't tell you how excited she is. As long as this Rather mess doesn't get tied into the Kerry campaign or the DNC, we will be OK.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

40. OMG.

Hillary as the evil manipulatress of Democratic Politics.

<yawn><scratch><fart>

[Carni]

42. YOU'RE WRONG

Dan Rather also is a part owner of a ranch with Donald Rumsfeld...
so if Rove's were to choose anyone to leak shit to, Dan would be his man.

WTF does Rather's daughter have to do with anything?

Thanks BTW for your 7th post.

[KittyWampus]

43. How Melodramatic.

[mzmolly]

47. LOL

"Watergate" LOL :eyes:

[RetroLounge]

48. Everyone at the media is saying...

...that Hillary is setting Kerry up to lose

I'm sorry, we here do not refer to Fox News as Media.

THanks for your 7 posts.

RL

[sundog]

50. And I'm sure you've been a lifelong loyal devoted Democrat

:eyes:

[Arkana]

52. LOL

I think you just outed yourself, pal. Carville and the Clinton people never joined the campaign.

[w4rma]

54. You're wrong. Totally off the handle wrong.

The con artists are out bigtime trying to defend the latest Bush scandal.

[troubleinwinter]

3. NO, Burkett does NOT claim to have given the docs to Kerry campaign

He says he provided them some "information". It is still not confirmed where the documents came from.

[Bozita]

10. right, the info could have been the contents

We've got to find out.

[Junkdrawer]

13. Thanks. Thread title corrected. n/t

[JI7]

4. no, he said he CONTACTED , but they did NOT call him back

[still_one]

7. problem is that is not how the media will present it

[IndianaGreen]

5. Burkett is a Democrat with a history of emotional problems

The Kerry campaign did not manufacture the CBS memos, although the same cannot be said about Burkett.

Burkett has a history of emotional problems and has a vendetta. We are making a mistake in embracing this man who is obviously seriously disturbed.

His e-mail should be proof enough that Burkett's grasp of reality should be questioned.

[still_one]

8. here is what burkett said in the Yahoo piece

"I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. (Cleland) said counterattack. So I gave them the information to do it with," Burkett wrote.

[IndianaGreen]

14. I don't believe that the Kerry campaign was involved in the CBS memos

I think that this is all Burkett's doing, and in the process he has managed to seriously harm CBS and Dan Rather's credibility. I am of the opinion that Burkett is on a personal crusade, but like Don Quixote, he has a few loose screws in his head.

We didn't need the CBS memos to know that Bush shirked his TANG duty, but with the manufactured memos that Burkett gave CBS, he has managed to cast doubt on all the other evidence about Bush.

[KittyWampus]

44. No One Knows Burkett Gave Any Memos To Rather

[Carni]

45. I know for A FACT

That the Kerry campaign didn't have jack shit to do with this and that they rejected the crack pots who supplied these memos.

[mhr]

6. Has Anyone Considered That Burkett May Be Working With Rove To Discredit

Rather and the democrats.

It just seems all to coincidental the way this thing has unfolded.

[blondeatlast]

15. P. J. O'Rourke, of all people, said it last night on "Real Time."

I kid you not--P. J. O'ROURKE.

And I've thought that since the story surfaced.

[Junkdrawer]

21. My guess is that Rove sent them to Burkett anonomously...

knowing that Burkett would make sure they found their way to the Kerry campaign and the press.

But it's only a guess.

[IndianaGreen]

33. Why hasn't Burkett come clean about that?

This guy Burkett is a loose canon, and he won't do anyone any good.

[rockchalk]

37. If Rove did it,

then he deseves the win. It would be one of the finest dirty tricks of all time. You've got to give credit where credit is due. Personally I think Burkett's just a nutcase with an axe to grind and did it himeself.

[RandomKoolzip]

51. Oh yeah! We all supported Hitler because of his strategic superiority, too

Being on the side of the angels has got nothing to do with it; it's all about "playing the game" better. Doesn't matter if the better "gamer" is a psycopathic fuck with a thirst for oil and genocide, as long as he "plots" well.

Jesus.

Credit will not be given.

[DoYouEverWonder]

53. Have you ever actually seen or listened to Burkett speak?

Or are you just making assumptions?

[Carni]

46. Yeah I have considered it

Frankly I find it plausible... and have for weeks.

[Teaser]

9. A good thread to let die

Folks, just take a pass on posting on this.

[still_one]

11. Now the real issues will not be discussed

[troubleinwinter]

12. Read the article... it's just spin

[still_one]

16. I know

but this is what should be the headlines:

Report: Blair was warned of Iraq chaos
Officials believed war was a ‘grudge match,’ paper says

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6035053/

[Catt03]

30. I am going to take action

Call, fax and email Jim Dyke, RNC Communications Director and offer him this:

"Jim Dyke inhabits the fantasy world of spin where George Bush pretends we haven't lost millions of jobs and everything in Iraq is coming up roses. He'd be better served getting answers from the president, not hurling baseless attacks." (David Wade, Kerry Campaign)

Don't forget to ask him about the draft
Medicare increases
THE debates....and anything else you would like an answer to.

Communications: RNC
Press, Media, Television, Radio
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

www.ap.org
KELLEY SHANNON
Associated Press Writer

[seabeyond]

17. one of the first day already said, kerry received the documents

and they thought they might be forgeies adn they didnt do anything with them

this is known

[Pirate Smile]

19. Where did you see that? I hope you are right.

[still_one]

23. link?

[seabeyond]

34. i cant link it

i simply read it. maybe it was the article from some rw article. was out the first day. saying dems werent involved in it. said it clearly. was posted on the board. dont remember anything in title to do a search. i am just thinking it was in that article that specifically stated dems werent involved

[jefferson_dem]

18. END OF STORY in one sentence --

"Burkett, who lives just outside of Abilene, wrote that no one at the Kerry campaign called him back."

Now...back to the ISSUES!

[still_one]

25. why did the article also print this:

In an Aug. 21 e-mail to a list of Texas Democrats, Bill Burkett said after getting through "seven layers of bureaucratic kids" in the Democrat's campaign, he talked with former Georgia senator Max Cleland about information that would counter criticism of Kerry's Vietnam War service. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the e-mail Saturday.


"I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. (Cleland) said counterattack. So I gave them the information to do it with," Burkett wrote.

it leaves uncertainty, and will not allow the real issues to be discussed!!!

[Arkana]

55. No kidding

Obviously they decided he was a crackpot and never called him back because they wanted nothing to do with him.

[Scorpious_Maximus]

20. Rove

This whole thing has rove's fingerprints all over it.


Sorry, I don't believe CBS would have done the story if the source was the Kerry camp.

Think about it people. :tinfoilhat:

[librechik]

22. Rate it down! This article is substandard propoganda! n/t

[Scorpious_Maximus]

24. Also in NYT

Texan Involved in CBS Report Tried to Help Kerry Campaign
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and JIM RUTENBERG

BAIRD, Tex., Sept. 17 - Bill Burkett, the former Texas National Guard officer who has been caught up in the mystery of how CBS News acquired memos that seem to question President Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service, unsuccessfully offered information and advice to help the Kerry campaign attack Mr. Bush, according to a posting Mr. Burkett wrote in an e-mail newsletter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/18/politics/campaign/18guard.html?pagewanted=print&position=

[Bleacher Creature]

41. Still need to do this!

The Freepers have it up on the Yahoo home page.

[Junkdrawer]

26. This story will die if and only if the memos are traced back to Rove...

Otherwise, they will fester and drag CBS and the Kerry campaign down with them.

And, believe me, no one hates this story more than me.

[DoYouEverWonder]

27. Listen to Burkett yourself before you pass judgment on him

He is a very articulate, well spoken elderly gentleman. Whenever I've heard interviews with him, he is always up front about his health problems.

He has been telling his story for a number of years and he has been consistent the whole time.

Here is an interview with Burkett from Pacific Radio that was broadcast on May. 2, 2003. It's about 10:40 into the broadcast.

http://www.pacifica.org/programs/peacewatch/030502_peacewatch.html

[madfloridian]

29. Yes, thank you. I have been trying to say that.

We don't know where this is going. Let it take its course. Quit panicking.

I posted an article by him last year. It was brilliant. Also Dan Rather is no dummy. Give it time.

[DoYouEverWonder]

31. It's sad to see DUers assume the worst about someone

because they've heard the Rove spin and believed it.

Just because Burkett is old and he admits to having had serious health problems, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with his memory or his intentions.

[madfloridian]

32. I have seen nearly panic here. Rather and Burkett are quite intelligent.

People need to stop it. Thanks, glad you feel that way. Let it work itself out.

[Leilani]

28. 6 weeks to go

& the story is Dan Rather, CBS, forgeries or not, Vietnam, crying children at political rallies, ripped signs, & on & on.

This is turning into one of the WORST campaigns in my life. Problem is, this election is so much more important than any I remember.

The Rove noise, spin, disruption is working, & the press is helping it along.

What a mess!

[DoYouEverWonder]

35. That's why we have to fight back

and debunk their crap as fast as they spit it out.

[Catt03]

I hear you

I feel the same way.

The immoral and unethical crap thrown out there is unbelievable.

I hate all of it.I am not disturbed about Kerry but about how the Republican Party has lowered the expectations of the citizens and turned them into caricatures of stupidity and ignorance offered up in mountain sized portions by the print media and cable television.

I really didn't know that people were so pliable and easily manipulated as they have been by Rove and Hughes with their searing hatred of all things Northern and democratic.

The Democrats have to win.

[Bongo Prophet]

38. The White House confirmed they were authentic, says CBS

This from Seeing the Forest blog, with LATimes story link here: (My first try at HREF links, so bear with it if I screw up...)


Edit: left in a http...
Note: if I did this right the STF comments will be bold.

Update - There's more to this story. Read WHY CBS went on the air with the documents.
John Roberts, the network's White House correspondent, called to report he'd just completed an on-camera interview with Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director. Bartlett, it appeared, had no quarrel with the authenticity of the documents.

That was the turning point.

"If we had gotten back from the White House any kind of red flag, raised eyebrow, anything that said, 'Are you sure about this stuff?' we would have gone back to square one," Josh Howard, the program's executive producer, told the Los Angeles Times in an interview Friday. "The White House said they were authentic, and that carried a lot of weight with us."

The story aired that night, and Dan Rather, the CBS News anchor, seemed to have scored yet another coup in his broadcasting career. Hours later, the roof fell in.

Critics, many of them Internet-based, immediately charged that CBS had relied on phony documents from a shadowy, unnamed source. Rather, 72, long a target for conservative critics, was again fending off allegations of liberal bias. A growing chorus of media observers voiced distress that CBS had hurried a story onto the air without fully checking the facts.

If not a set-up, maybe a bugged office, giving them advance warning? Take a look at this,

When time passed and Will heard nothing, she called CBS News the night of Sept. 7. She said she told her contact — whom she declined to name — "If you run this story, you'll get all sorts of questions from hundreds of document examiners." Will declined to say what if any reply CBS gave to her warning.

If someone was privy to that conversation...

But, as I said, we don't even KNOW that this document was forged. And, as I said, the REAL question -- the one with significance to the American people -- is, WHY DID BUSH STOP FLYING? It matters, because if the guy has an addiction problem, we need to know it.

[w13rd0]

39. Missing the point...

...the secretary confirmed that though she "hadn't typed those memos", she HAD TYPED MEMOS with the same content. WHERE ARE THOSE MEMOS? I certainly haven't seen them in any of the five document dumps the WH has done to disclose "everything". It's the cover-up as much or more than the actual priveledged treatment.

[nicktom]

57. I suspect the originals were destroyed ,

assuming they were in the TANG files. I saw the guy (former TANG officer} who claimed he witnessed the trashing of bush's records in 1997 on, I believe on Hardball Thursday (It was a replay from a interview earlier this year). I believe he is the same guy the right wing is now trying to tie to the Kerry campaign.

A part of me thinks CBS has bearly scratched the surface of, at least publicly, this story. Hopefully they are giving the talking heads enough rope to hang themselves.

If the Whitehouse had no objection to them on camera they are either original or they knew they were fake, counted on Buckhead to plant the seed and prepared their response team into action changing the subject to CBS and Dan Rather. As much as it pains me I often tune into Rush, Hannasleze and Larry Elder. For the past 6 or 7 days, for the ten or fifteen minutes I tune in to each show all they talk about is Dan Rather, CBS, and "Media bias".

Did anyone hear Joe Trippi on Countdown mention that in a E-mail he received, someone said that if you scan a 1972 document into a computer and print the document, that the computer would reformat the document into the current Word settings? Anyone know if that is true?

[Norman_Bates_Sr]

49. Rove Plant?

I am a little confused. I got here through the front door. It sounded as if It was predicted that Rove would claim it was a DNC plant about the alleged lies. So the truth can be predicted. WOW! You sure have their number! Keep throwing!:kick:

[Junkdrawer]

56. Yeah, and 20 mins. after the memos were posted by CBS, a top...

GOP lawyer, posting at the FreeRepublic under the pseudonym of Buckhead, notices that the font and spacing are all wrong for a 70s style typewriter. :eyes: