Bush's entrance into the National Guard.

Ben Barnes the man who claims to have gotten Bush into the National Guard lacks credibility.

His story �is clearly the Kerry campaign�s response to the Swift Vets controversy,� noted one source quoted by the American Spectator. It is an attempt to undermine President Bush�s credibility in the same way that testimony by 254 of Kerry�s fellow Swift boat veterans undercut his carefully-cultivated Kennedy-esque image of honor and heroism during the Vietnam War.

In multiple re-tellings since 1999, the details of Barnes� story have changed several times. Its gist is Barnes� claim that when he was the Democratic Lt. Governor he intervened to get Republican Houston Congressman George H.W. Bush�s son George W. into the Texas Air National Guard (alongside the sons of Governor John Connally and Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Democrats). Barnes now says he is �ashamed� of this. Trouble is, George W. Bush began the first of six years� service in the National Guard in 1968, but Barnes did not become Lt. Governor of Texas until 1969. Barnes has acknowledged that no member of the Bush family sought his help, but claims he was approached by a Bush family friend (who died three years before Barnes began telling his self-serving story).

Because Barnes� tale rests solely on his word, how good is his word? Given his long past of shady dealings, the shipwreck of his career on scandal, and the changes and inconsistencies of his story, Barnes appears to be less than a credible witness.

More doubt is raised by this partisan Democrat�s motives. Barnes promoted an earlier version of his story in 1999 and 2000 in a clear attempt to damage the presidential campaign of George W. Bush. And Barnes apparently has had the same aim in reviving this story, long ago discredited by an investigation by the liberal Los Angeles Times, in 2004. As CNN reported in 1999, �the Los Angeles Times said it found no evidence that either Bush or his father, former President George Bush, had personally tried to influence or pressure anyone to get the younger Bush a place in the Texas Guard.�

Ben Barnes has a large vested interest in the outcome of the 2004 election. He is a co-chairman of John F. Kerry�s 2004 presidential campaign. Barnes, as CBS News reported in June 2004, has made bundled contributions of more than $500,000 to Kerry�s campaign. Barnes owns a home near his friend Kerry�s home in Nantucket on the Massachusetts shore.

For many years Barnes and the lobbying firm he founded in Austin, EntreCorp, have made many millions of dollars by acting as the go-between bringing special interest groups and companies together with highly-placed Democrat officeholders. The Center for Responsive Politics has listed Barnes as the third largest all-around Democratic donor in America 1999-2004. So influential and important is Barnes to the Democratic Party, as this column reported last January, that Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle has nicknamed this fat cat money man and lobbyist �the fifty-first Democratic Senator.�

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I watched this on 60 minutes last night, then I flipped to Fox News who said, "Who cares what happened 30-35 years ago?" And I couldn't help but think, "Well you sure seemed to care about Kerry's Vietnam record!" Fox is a huge bunch of hypocrites.

The credibility gap is at the Whitehouse. They lied 6 ways to Sunday to get us into the war in Iraq.

A total waste of money, young peoples lives, and focus of the Nation. It also has created more terrorists than were eliminated in Afghanistan.

Bush passes a so-called prescription drug coverage bill, and Seniors get the shaft. It is a total SELL OUT to the big pharmaceutical companies.

Bush ran out on his service NOT IN VIETNAM where REAL GUNS AND BULLETS were used, but in ALABAMA, supposedly his daddy needed his help.

DUMP CREDIT CARD REPUBLICANS AND THEIR MORAL BANKRUPTCY AS THEY SELL THEIR CHILDRENS FUTURE SO THEY CAN LIVE HIGH ON THE HOG.

If you like CORRUPTION & LIARS vote for GEORGE WEASEL BUSH and STICK THE DICK CHENEY in 2004.

note: LIBERAL in the NeoCon dictionary, anyone who tells the TRUTH.
.

yo,
folks should check out the thread concerning the likelihood that the 60 minutes docs were forged.

I think Republicans like to justify NOT voteing for a war hero by saying he is NOT a war hero.
Kerry was 4 months under fire in Vietnam, maybe exaggerated a little to go home early but is more morally corrupt than a Bush who got his daddy to help him not have to go at all!

[edit on 9-9-2004 by elaine]

Originally posted by elaine
I think Republicans like to justify NOT voteing for a war hero by saying he is NOT a war hero.
Kerry was 4 months under fire in Vietnam, maybe exaggerated a little to go home early but is more morally corrupt than a Bush who got his daddy to help him not have to go at all!

[edit on 9-9-2004 by elaine]

Maybe exaggerated a little? sounds like he lied. He lied about Cambodia, he either lied about being burning houses down, killing cattle, and killing civilians or he is a war criminal. He lied about having a combat V on his medals, He lied about throwing his medals away, he lied about not being at the KC meeting of the VVAW meeting where he participated in discussions about assissinating U.S. Senators. He lied about meeting with Madame Binh in Paris. Either he lied when he was running for congress when he stated that he would give UN control over the US military or his is what he says, an Internationalist. You call this a little exaggeration? You claim that Bush had his Daddy's help, even the guy making the charges said in court documents that it was not his family. The is a partisan attack and you did not read my original thread, because if you did then you would not claim that his dad pulled strings. Even the liberal LA Times said that this was bogus.