August 30, 2004

Former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes: "I'm very ashamed"

You think there is freedom of the press in this
country? You think our "journalists" are non-partisan
in the appetite for scandal? Wake-up or lose this
Republic. The Emperor has no uniform...But the "US
mainstream news media," in particular the major
network and cable news organizations, refuse to
acknowledge that a naked chickenhawk deserter is
posing as Commander-in-Chief of the US
military...Another name for the John P. O'Neill Wall
of Heroes: former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes...Get out
the vote, subscribe to Salon, throw your TVs into
Boston harbor, follow John Zogby's tracking poll for
the "Battleground" states, do your Electoral College
math, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mekong Delta) is leading
in this national referendum on the CREDIBILTIY,
COMPETENCE and CHARACTER of the increasingly unhinged
and incredibly shrinking _resident...There is an
Electoral Uprising coming in November 2004, and
whether it is thwarted or not, we are on the verge of
*unCivil* war in America, and we need a Lincoln...JFK
is that man...

Jeff Horwitz, Salon: 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."

Cleanse the White House of the Chickenhawk Coup, Show
Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)


http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/27/barnes/

Former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes: "I'm very ashamed"
The 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."

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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."

The video of Barnes was filmed by Todd Phelan and Mike
Nicholson, organizers of a political group called
Austin4Kerry. Phelan is currently an organizer for the
Travis County Democrats. The video first appeared on
the Austin4Kerry Web site on June 25, but was widely
overlooked until Friday. The video also includes a
separate interview conducted by the same two
filmmakers in which Barnes speaks with admiration
about Kerry's valor.

Phelan and Nicholson recall they were surprised by the
candor of Barnes' remarks while they were filming him
at the rally. "To be honest with you, my eyes lit up
instantaneously," Phelan told Salon. "I looked at
Mike, he looked at me, and it was like 'Did he just
say that?'" But at the time, said Phelan, they did not
think the video would create a stir. He suggested that
the video suddenly became a Web phenomenon because of
the heated swift boat controversy that has been fanned
by supporters of Bush.

Barnes' story about Bush and the Air National Guard
first broke in 1999 as the then Texas governor was
mounting his first campaign for the presidency. Bush
insisted at the time that neither he nor his father
sought Barnes' assistance. "I can tell you what
happened," said Bush. "Nothing happened. My Guard unit
was looking for pilots and I flew for the Guard. I'm
proud of my service and any allegation that my dad
asked for special favors is simply not true ... I
didn't ask anybody to help get me to the Guard
either."

Barnes said at the time that it was a wealthy Bush
family friend, a Houston oilman named Sidney Adger,
who came to him with the request to help the younger
Bush.

[Note: Barnes' speech can only be viewed on Salon
using Windows Media Player. If you do not have it, you
can download it for free here.]


salon.com


Posted by richard at August 30, 2004 08:58 AM