WP: Democrat Says He Helped Bush Into Guard to Score Points

[kskiska]

By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 4, 2004; Page A02

A former senior politician from Texas has told close friends that he recommended George W. Bush for a pilot's slot in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War because he was eager to "collect chits" from an influential political family.

The reported comments by former Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes add fuel to a long-running controversy over how Bush got a slot in an outfit known as the "Champagne Unit" because it included so many sons of prominent Texans. Friends said that Barnes had recorded an interview for the CBS program "60 Minutes" that will address the question of whether Bush pulled strings to evade being sent to Vietnam.

Barnes, a longtime Democrat who works as a lobbyist and political consultant in Austin, has said that he is now "very ashamed" of helping "a lot of people who had family names of importance get in the National Guard." He made the statement during a meeting with John F. Kerry supporters in Austin on May 27, a video of which is now circulating on the Internet.

Friends said Barnes will expand on the remarks in his interview with "60 Minutes" while taking care not to contradict sworn testimony from 1999, in which he said that no member of the Bush family had directly asked him for help. Barnes was unavailable for comment yesterday.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60319-2004Sep3.html

[joanne]

1. Wont take more than 10 seconds

for the Repuke junk yard dogs to start their smear campaign.

[AlCzervik]

2. Hey WAPO, welcome to 2 weeks ago, thanks for digging in 99

great job! Just think if you did your job right maybe we wouldn't be in this mess.

[tedoll78]

3. Hooray!

I hope that this becomes the SBVT story for September, only now with real truth!

We all know how the media love to build-up a man and then see/help him fall. Perhaps Bush will be the fall guy? 90% approval and then, 'buh-bye!'

[Disturbed]

6. Test Scores

GW bush got the lowest test score allowed. Many got much hihger scores that didn't get in. Also, his police record was waived or not paid attention to. He marked the box, "No overseas duty", obviously to avoid Viet Nam, yet he said that he wanted to be a fighter pilot like his daddy was. This man is a complete phony.

[kskiska]

7. Isn't it odd that his test score was exactly the lowest score

allowed? Seems he probably scored even lower and when they noticed his name it was raised to pass.

[Crachet2004]

14. I think you are right about that. Wish a physical copy of the test were..

Extant.

[RobertSeattle]

4. Page 2 - Cool

Reminds me of the HONEST Powell Quote in his book:

"I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed managed to wangle slots in the Army Reserve and National Guard units... Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country."

- Colin Powell, "My American Journey"

[Iceburg]

5. FINALLY .....The CHICKENS come home to roost ...

Chicken in Chief!

[kskiska]

8. His reason for joining the Guard was he "wanted to fly planes."

If so, he could have just joined the Air Force and it would have been guaranteed he would fly planes.

[Ernesto]

13. Gee, that only cost us about a million bucks

cause the priviledged son "wanted to fly planes". Must be nice to be a rich playboy with no need for integrity..... I joined the Marines in '65 but the only planes I enjoyed were the choppers that hauled me to combat.

[Bozita]

9. "60 Minutes II" will air the segment with Barnes on Wednesday

IIRC

[Boredtodeath]

10. Palast: The Pay-Off

THE PAY-OFF

That's far from the end of the story. In 1994, George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas by a whisker. By that time, Barnes had left office to become a big time corporate lobbyist. To an influence peddler like Barnes, having damning information on a sitting governor is worth its weight in gold – or, more precisely, there’s a value in keeping the info secret.

Barnes appears to have made lucrative use of his knowledge of our President's slithering out of the draft as a lever to protect a multi-billion dollar contract for a client. That's the information in a confidential letter buried deep in the files of the US Justice Department that fell into my hands at BBC television.

Here's what happened. Just after Bush's election, Barnes' client GTech Corp., due to allegations of corruption, was about to lose its license to print money: its contract to run the Texas state lottery. Barnes, says the Justice Department document, made a call to the newly elected governor's office and saved GTech's state contract.

The letter said, "Governor Bush ... made a deal with Ben Barnes not to rebid because Barnes could confirm that Bush had lied during the '94 campaign."

In that close race, Bush denied the fix was in to keep him out of 'Nam, and the US media stopped asking questions. What did the victorious Governor Bush's office do for Barnes? According to the tipster, "Barnes agreed never to confirm the story and the governor talked to the chair of the lottery two days later and she then agreed to support letting GTech keep the contract without a bid."

And so it came to pass that the governor's commission reversed itself and gave GTech the billion dollar deal without a bid.

The happy client paid Barnes, the keeper of Governor Bush's secret, a fee of over $23 million. Barnes, not surprisingly, denies that Bush took care of his client in return for Barnes' silence. However, confronted with the evidence, the former Lt. Governor now admits to helping the young George stay out of Vietnam.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6807.htm

[Only Me]

11. Thanks for this post...I'm definitely gonna watch '60min.' nt

[kskiska]

12. Kick for Saturday

:kick:

[JoFerret]

15. Picked up by Bloomberg

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aQ9M6IUgcyTI&refer=top_world_news

[Skidmore]

16. Anyone ever thought of calling out Poppy and asking

him who he called?

[kskiska]

17. There are conflicting reports of when this will be shown

Is this on 60 Minutes tonight (Sunday, Sept. 5), Wednesday, or next Sunday? Does anyone know?

[Judi Lynn]

18. I've heard it's next Wednesday! Really should be great, too.

Heard it's already taped.

[roseBudd]

19. tonight and Wednesday