Ex-Lawmaker Says He Helped Bush Avoid Vietnam

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Ex-Lawmaker Says He Helped Bush With Guard
By BOBBY ROSS JR

DALLAS (AP) - Former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes said he is ``more ashamed at myself than I've ever been'' because he helped President Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the Texas National Guard so they could avoid serving in Vietnam.

``I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard ... and I'm not necessarily proud of that, but I did it,'' Barnes, a Democrat, said in a video clip recorded May 27 before a group of John Kerry supporters in Austin.

Barnes, who was House speaker when Bush entered the Guard, later became lieutenant governor.

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 critical of Bush, sent out e-mails calling attention to it just days before the GOP National Convention starts in New York.

Bush joined the National Guard in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, and served until 1973. He has said he received no special treatment.

Barnes said he became ashamed after walking through the Vietnam Memorial and looking at the names of the dead.

``I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because it was the worst thing I did - help a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance get in the National Guard,'' he said. ``I'm very sorry of that and I'm very ashamed of it and I apologize to the voters of Texas for that.''

Barnes told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview Saturday that the video ``just speaks for itself.'' He declined to answer specific questions about what role he had in helping Bush, but he said he may have more to say next week.

Both Bush and his father, the former president, have said they did not ask for help in finding the Guard opening.

``It is no surprise that a partisan Democrat is making these statements,'' Bush spokeswoman Claire Buchan told the Houston Chronicle. ``This was addressed five years ago, and there's nothing new.''

Five years ago, Barnes found himself at the center of questions about Bush's Vietnam-era service when the then-Texas governor emerged as the Republican presidential front-runner.

At that time, Barnes' lawyer issued a statement saying Barnes had been contacted by the now-deceased Sidney Adger, a Houston oilman and friend of Bush's father, who was then a congressman. Adger asked Barnes to recommend Bush for a pilot position with the Air National Guard and he did, that statement said.

``Neither Congressman Bush nor any other member of the Bush family asked Barnes' help,'' according to the 1999 statement

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you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
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[likearock 2]

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Wayne

[Kennedy 0]

There, that subject fits quite a bit better, doesn't it.

Or is it ok to smear people who served because some two-faced democrat has an attack of conscience about doing a "favor" for someone who never asked?

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
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[jimbarry 0]

It should be no surprise to anyone that well-connected people found ways to avoid service in the 60s. Clinton himself used tactics and legal gymnastics to stay out of service that would have scored him very highly in Athens. (even excluding the crap 'debunked' by snopes) And had plenty of people at home watching his back to boot. Just like Bush, just like Quayle...

This is not a one-sided issue. Dems and Reps had their hands in creating and using huge loopholes in the rules.

IMO, anytime my nation decides, after a real assessment of need and reasoned debate, that a draft is necessary, then it must include ALL of its citizens who are of able body and mind to do it. Male or female, rich or not, students or not, spouses/parents or not, connected or not, conscientious objectors or not (find alternate service). If anyone has a problem with including everyone in this pool, then that would probably indicate that we're not ready to declare a draft to be necessary.

[penniless 0]

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IMO, anytime my nation decides, after a real assessment of need and reasoned debate, that a draft is necessary, then it must include ALL of its citizens who are of able body and mind to do it. Male or female, rich or not, students or not, spouses/parents or not, connected or not, conscientious objectors or not (find alternate service).

like that will ever happen.

[billvon 3,120]

>IMO, anytime my nation decides, after a real assessment of need
> and reasoned debate, that a draft is necessary, then it must include
> ALL of its citizens who are of able body and mind to do it.

But that might cause senators and congressmen to be reluctant to declare war, if their sons and daughters might be killed! And where would we be then?

[kallend 2,150]

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It should be no surprise to anyone that well-connected people found ways to avoid service in the 60s. Clinton himself used tactics and legal gymnastics to stay out of service that would have scored him very highly in Athens. .

It's actually VERY difficult to win a Rhodes Scholarship. I don't think Clinton's deferment was in any way improperly obtained.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[sundevil777 102]

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I don't think Clinton's deferment was in any way improperly obtained.

True, but he did, however, write about his opinion of the military. I think many were right to take offense at his characterization.

So he still avoided the draft.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[jimbarry 0]

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It's actually VERY difficult to win a Rhodes Scholarship.

I said it was easy? Clinton's avoidance of military service extended far beyond his rhodes scholarship.

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I don't think Clinton's deferment was in any way improperly obtained.

And he, like Bush, received preferential treatment. Bush's connections to get him the texas ang assignment were also not improper. Shady and unethical in both cases? Probably. But not illegal.

But Kerry stepped up and served. And that deserves respect. But my point (contrary to the implication of this thread's title) is that service avoidance was not a partisan issue. It was a class issue. I thought most of us knew that already.

[kallend 2,150]

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It's actually VERY difficult to win a Rhodes Scholarship.

I said it was easy? Clinton's avoidance of military service extended far beyond his rhodes scholarship.

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I don't think Clinton's deferment was in any way improperly obtained.

And he, like Bush, received preferential treatment. Bush's connections to get him the texas ang assignment were also not improper. Shady and unethical in both cases? Probably. But not illegal.

But Kerry stepped up and served. And that deserves respect. But my point (contrary to the implication of this thread's title) is that service avoidance was not a partisan issue. It was a class issue. I thought most of us knew that already.

Maybe I misremember, but I though Clinton's background was distinctly working class and Bush's was distinctly privileged class. They have no "class" in common. Some might say they have no class at all....

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[jimbarry 0]

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Maybe I misremember, but I though Clinton's background was distinctly working class and Bush's was distinctly privileged class. They have no "class" in common. Some might say they have no class at all....

I don't think you're misremembering. I think maybe just not fully considering what 'class' can mean in america.

People aren't stuck in the same class they're born into, like in some other countries. People can jump classes from one generation to the next. (i can't believe i'm needing to explain this to another american.) And in clinton's case, he was from humble beginnings personally, but his boys nation, georgetown degree, his rhodes scholarship amongst other achievements made him a local hero and there were plenty of people back home in positions of power willing to watch his back. So even at draft age, he'd already achieved a class status which gave him advantages that the typical lower-class arkansan didn't have.

So you don't believe class played any role in service avoidance in the 60s? CCR's "Fortunate Son" is one of my favorite songs. Please don't tell me it's a lie...

[kallend 2,150]

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So you don't believe class played any role in service avoidance in the 60s?

I don't believe I said that. I said I didn't believe that Clinton and Bush shared the same class background.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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