Tuesday, September 21, 2004
No Patsy, just Nutsy?
USATODAY.com - CBS backs off Guard story:
I'll start with a disclaimer. It's possible that "Lucy Ramirez" is real. There are actual Lucy Ramirez's in the world, and even in Houston (and even Phar, Texas.) And there is nothing to prevent a (nother) nutter in the world from sending Burkett a packet of forged memos about Bush's guard service. Burkett was certainly a "name" in that story and would seem to me a natural attractant for that sort of thing.
HOWEVER,
If Burkett is capable of pulling Conn's name out of thin air, Burkett is capable of grabbing another out of his mental directory.
And, I was struck by the over-elaborate CYA nature of Burkett's story.
The story seems half confabulation and half trying to explain away the cookie crumbs on his face, that someone might have spotted on hidden camera.
Side note -
This was of interest to me:
I had suspected he might have a post-encephalitic epilepsy, but this is the first time I've seen in print any actual evidence of it.
I'll start with a disclaimer. It's possible that "Lucy Ramirez" is real. There are actual Lucy Ramirez's in the world, and even in Houston (and even Phar, Texas.) And there is nothing to prevent a (nother) nutter in the world from sending Burkett a packet of forged memos about Bush's guard service. Burkett was certainly a "name" in that story and would seem to me a natural attractant for that sort of thing.
HOWEVER,
If Burkett is capable of pulling Conn's name out of thin air, Burkett is capable of grabbing another out of his mental directory.
And, I was struck by the over-elaborate CYA nature of Burkett's story.
Burkett said Ramirez told him she had seen him the previous month in an appearance on the MSNBC program Hardball, discussing the controversy over whether Bush fulfilled all his obligations for service in the Texas Air Guard during the early 1970s. "There is something I have that I want to make sure gets out," he quoted her as saying.
He said Ramirez claimed to possess Killian's "correspondence file," which would prove Burkett's allegations that Bush had problems as a Guard fighter pilot.
Burkett said he arranged to get the documents during a trip to Houston for a livestock show in March. But instead of being met at the show by Ramirez, he was approached by a man who asked for Burkett, handed him an envelope and quickly left, Burkett recounted......
Burkett promised to provide telephone records that would verify his calls to Ramirez, but he had not done so by Monday night
After he received the documents in Houston, Burkett said, he drove home, stopping on the way at a Kinko's shop in Waco to copy the six memos. In the parking lot outside, he said, he burned the ones he had been given and the envelope
they were in. [emphasis added. SW]
The story seems half confabulation and half trying to explain away the cookie crumbs on his face, that someone might have spotted on hidden camera.
Side note -
This was of interest to me:
"One session ended when Burkett suffered a violent seizure and collapsed in his chair."
I had suspected he might have a post-encephalitic epilepsy, but this is the first time I've seen in print any actual evidence of it.
