Ex-Honcho: I Got Bush Into Guard
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| Sat, 08-28-2004 - 12:52pm |
(CBS/AP) In a video posted on the Internet, former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, a Democrat, says he is ashamed that he helped President Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas Air National Guard in 1968 so they could avoid serving in Vietnam.
"I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard when I was lieutenant governor of Texas, and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it," Barnes said in the 45-second video, which was recorded May 27 at a meeting of John Kerry supporters in Austin.
Barnes, who was House speaker when Mr. Bush entered the Guard, later became lieutenant governor.
He said he became ashamed after walking through the Vietnam Memorial and looking at the names of people who died.
"I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because the worst thing I did was get a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance into the Guard and I'm very sorry about that and I apologize to you and the voters of Texas," Barnes said.
President Bush has denied that family influence got him into the Guard.
"With controversy swirling around Kerry's service as a swift boat commander in Vietnam, Barnes' latest statements renew questions about (Mr.) Bush's military record, but also about Barnes' motivation for telling his story," the Houston Chronicle says in its Saturday editions.
"It is no surprise that a partisan Democrat is making these statements," Bush spokeswoman Claire Buchan told the Chronicle. "This was addressed five years ago, and there's nothing new."
The video was posted June 25 on the Web site www.austin4kerry.org, but didn't get much attention until Friday, when Jim Moore, an Austin-based author of books about Mr. Bush, sent out e-mail messages calling attention to it, The New York Times reported in its Saturday editions.
It was the first time Barnes, a Kerry supporter, has discussed at length his role in getting Mr. Bush into the Guard. In 1999, he said he recommended Mr. Bush for a pilot's position at the request of a Bush family friend.
"I got a lot of other people in the National Guard because I thought that's what people should do when you're in office: You help a lot of rich people," Barnes said.
© MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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I'm just curious... would this honestly still be your opinion if it was Kerry instead of Bush?
*Please do not flame or attack me, call me a "Bush-hater", "unsupportive of our troops" and the like. Thanks! :-)
"Without music, life is a journey through the desert"...
Renee ~~~
Renee ~~~
Kerry is right to call them the dishonest liars they are and get on with it. He has issues to talk about, the Bushies prefer to keep the focus on anything But the issues. Anyone heard how Bush plans to get us out of this war he rushed into by "mistake" - now there's something worth investigating.
Welcome to the board, righton2004.
You think it's good enough for Bush to open his military records, but Kerry shouldn't have to? Isn't he the one who's running on his military experience? Isn't he the one who said,
Renee ~~~
Guess next you'll want us to believe he fulfilled the five year obligation as well?
ROFLMSAO
Kerry specifically challenged George Bush...which is why Bush has done nothing but PRAISE Kerry's military record, because he knows if "he brings it on", that he will be kicked all the way back to Crawford with his tail between his monkey legs.
Honestly, yes-I never made much of an issue about the Clinon draft avoidance scandal, until now. I find it very ironic that I have never heard any Dems saying Clinton was unfit to be president based on the fact that by his own admission (via his letter) his family used influence to keep him from serving entirely. Bush DID stand the chance of being sent to Vietnam as a fighter pilot, unlike Clinton, yet he is being portrayed by some as a draft dodger while those same folks give Clinton a pass. It still IS my opinion regarding Kerry-personally I don't even care if he did get his purple hearts for the most minor of self-inflicted wounds-in my book anyone who volunteers to serve and gets wounded has my respect and gratefulness. What I care most about is his testimony about being illegally ordered into Cambodia, which has turned out by his own admission to be false. I don't like liars, especially not when they have been sworn to tell the truth. I don't like those who lie or exaggerate in order to besmirch our country or our soldiers. But I don't question Kerry's military service, only what he did when he came back.
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