The other shoe just fell…. and I can’t say I’m shocked by this… I’ll bet you’re not, either. AP says today: [1]:
“NEW YORK – At the behest of CBS, an adviser to John Kerry (news – web sites) said he talked to a central figure in the controversy over President Bush (news – web sites)’s National Guard service shortly before disputed documents were released. Joe Lockhart denied any connection between the presidential campaign and the papers. Lockhart, the second Kerry ally to confirm contact with retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, said he made the call at the suggestion of CBS producer Mary Mapes.”
…
Kerry ally Max Cleland, a former Georgia senator, also said he had a brief conversation last month with Burkett, who told him he had information about Bush to counter charges against Kerry’s Vietnam War service. Cleland said he gave Burkett’s name and phone number to the campaign’s research department.
…
Lockhart said Mapes asked him the weekend before the story broke to call Burkett. “She basically said there’s a guy who is being helpful on the story who wants to talk to you,” Lockhart said, adding that it was common knowledge that CBS was working on a story raising questions about Bush’s Guard service. Mapes told him there were some records “that might move the story forward. She didn’t tell me what they said.”
That’s it, then. This is no longer a case of CBS screwing up and getting out of it by way of apologizing…. by way of this news. This is well beyond CBS, and the DNC claiming innocence. We’ve moved on to a new level; Rather’s attempt at groveling doesn’t cut it, anymore. Nor does the DNC’s playing stupid. Niether is going to work anymore.
This goes directly to CBS being a willing party to fraud in cooperating with the DNC and or the Kerry Campaign to throw an election by means of falsified documents.
The argument they originally tried to sell just went past the experation date. That being that CBS didn’t know these documents were false. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to sell had the connections between the Kerry Campaign, CBS and Bukett not been shown… and I suspect there are more levels of contact exposure to come…. this ain’t even started yet.
This is political dirty tricks on a scale unknown previously in American history… and certainly on a criminal scale…. all brought to us by the Democrats.
Amazing to see how low the Democrats have sunk.
I’ll follow up on this tommorrow. I’ve had a long day, today, and I’m going to bed.
Update:9/21/04 Captain Ed has more [2]on this today. So does Blogs For Bush [3], and PowerLine [4]