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You are here: Home / And You Thought I Was Kidding

And You Thought I Was Kidding

by John Cole|  February 16, 20044:34 pm| 13 Comments

This post is in: Democratic Stupidity

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You thought I was joking when I outlined the other day how Kevin Drum was meme-u-facturing regarding Bush’s military records being scrubbed. Kevin has another long-winded post up, and from that post, Atrios concludes:

I think we can say with increasing confidence that the Bush military records were, to some degree, “scrubbed,” in violation of federal law. If true, that’s probably a much more damaging story than whatever they were trying to cover up in the first place.

Of course, who does Atrios link back to? Why the Calpundit’s specious bullshit, of course. The Mighty C on the Wurlitzer indeed. Let’s check out the Calpundit’s post:

First, let’s review his claims:

He accidentally overheard a telephone conversation in 1997 between Joe Allbaugh, Bush’s chief of staff, and General Daniel James, Adjutant General of the Texas National Guard. Allbaugh told James that Karen Hughes was preparing a biography and needed information on Bush’s military service, and then added, “We certainly don’t want anything that is embarrassing in there.”

The next day he heard a similar hallway conversation. General James told General John Scribner that Bush’s people were coming out, and General Wayne Marty added, “and make sure there’s nothing in there that’ll embarrass the governor.”

Ten days later, Burkett’s friend and fellow guardsman, George Conn, led him to the base museum, which was run by General Scribner. Once there, Burkett saw a trashcan sitting on a table, and when he looked in he saw 20 to 40 pages of documents with George Bush’s name on them.

At the time all this happened he mentioned his concerns to three fellow guardsmen: George Conn, Harvey Gough, and Dennis Adams.

That is it. No evidence. No paperwork. One man’s word (David Brock, anyone?). Nothing that any reasonable human being would hang his hat on- but then again, we aren’t dealing with reasonable human beings. The reason Kevin had to write such a long post on this issue is because most normal people would come to the conclusion that there simply is no there, there. But not our intrepid Bush-hater. Let’s watch him finesse this so that it becomes believable and useful enough that he can push it off into the mainstream. No wonder this is such a long post by Kevin- this will take some work.

Kevin lays the groundwork for the manure he is about to shovel:

Unlike the basic National Guard story, which has been fuelled largely by odd discrepencies in the documentary evidence, there is no documentary evidence regarding Burkett’s story. We just have his word for it, and needless to say, all the people he has accused of cleaning up Bush’s records vigorously deny it.

To judge the truth of Burkett’s story, then, all we can do is ask certain questions: Is Burkett’s story internally consistent? Has it stayed consistent over time? Do other people corroborate it? Does Burkett have a track record of telling the truth? Does he have any axes to grind?

The short answer is that I think Burkett is probably telling the truth.

No mention that the reason people may be denying the story vigorously is because it is false, but then again, Kevin believes the charges. In the fantasy world of ‘moderate’ Democrats, that really is all that matters, isn’t it? But on to Kevin’s guidelines for corroboration.

Meme Guideline #1-“Is Burkett’s story internally consistent?”

I am assuming Kevin used statistical terminology to give this horse-shit a patina of objectivity and respectability, but really, internal consistency has nothing to do with the charges. What Kevin means is that no part of his story contradicts any other part. In KEvin’s words:

Burkett’s full story is here, and as far as I can tell it’s internally consistent. No part of his story seems to be directly contradicted by any other part.

Surprise, surprise! Using the power of magic, we have magically created a false criterion and, Voila!- we passed it! The rest of the Calpundit’s piece really is as insultingly stupid as this, but since for some odd reason, people respect his drivel, I shall labor on with my analysis.

Meme Guideline #2- “Has his story stayed consistent over time?”

Shorter Calpundit- “Enough for me! Impeach Bush!”

Longer Calpundit- Oh. Who Cares. Go read it yourself.

At any rate, I find this rule for corroboration to be particularly amusing. Apparently, no one has ever repeated a lie in the history of mankind, and if they had, according to these rules, it would no longer be a lie (particularly if no part of the lie contradicts any other part of the lie, as according to the 1st guideline).

For example, when I was 4, I said “The sky is purple.” According to our intrepid sleuth Mr. Drum, if I repeat that every year for several years, why- it becomes factesque!

Meme Guideline #3- Do other people corroborate Burkett’s story? Other evidence?

Here the Calpundit really swings for the bleachers:

Generally yes:

– Harvey Gough told me on Friday that Burkett told him in 1997 “that folks from downtown had been over to Mabry, they came over

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13Comments

  1. 1.

    Charlie (Colorado)

    February 16, 2004 at 4:52 pm

    The best part is that while Kevin claims Burkett’s story is “internally consistent” it’s not consistent with the fact that the records they mentioned were never stored where Burkett claimss he saw them being “cleansed”, and would have been transferred to Colorado and microfiched 15 years before Burkett claimed to have seen them.

  2. 2.

    Matthew

    February 16, 2004 at 5:12 pm

    Well said. I’ve been reading Kevin blog for a few months. I use to see him as a moderate and fair minded left winger. Not any more. I think this investigating reporting thing went to his head. When all his time and effort investigating didn’t lead to the conclusion he was looking for he just fudged it. The tinfoil hat folks are praising him like he’s the next Woodward or Bernstein. It

  3. 3.

    Delta Yankee

    February 16, 2004 at 5:25 pm

    I hereby confirm you said Kerry applies whipped cream to his employees nipples. I guess that’s it. Confirmed! Send out the press releases!

  4. 4.

    Bill Hobbs

    February 16, 2004 at 5:41 pm

    thanks for the link – but once they read you there’s not much more I can add. You did the fisking of Drum’s piece that I aspired to do.

  5. 5.

    Ricky

    February 16, 2004 at 8:43 pm

    This just in: Kobe Bryant says he didn’t do it and that he’s a Democrat. Kevin Drum wonders why we’re wasting taxpayer dollars prosecuting someone for political reasons.

    This just in: The guy selling $20 rolexes on the sidewalk is a democrat. Kevin Drum discusses the fantastic bargains.

    This just in: We only have the government and random video to show that we actually have Hussein in custody. Kevin Drum is skeptical and demands an independent investigation led by Cynthia McKinney & Barbara Lee to find out why Bush lied and fabricated the arrest.

    I smell a series of blog posts.

  6. 6.

    Robert Crawford

    February 16, 2004 at 9:44 pm

    The Silmarillion is also “internally consistent” but that doesn’t mean it’s not fiction.

  7. 7.

    Armchair Pundit

    February 16, 2004 at 10:24 pm

    Great post.

    For a look at Burkett’s “credibility” check out Media Research Center at:
    http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20040216.asp#4

  8. 8.

    "Edward"

    February 16, 2004 at 11:30 pm

    What’s amazing is that Calpundit’s first post on Burkett indicated that Burkett didn’t pass the “stayed consistent over time” standard:

    “When he clarified his remarks in his press release in 2000, why didn’t he tell the story he’s telling now? It’s pretty sensational, and surely deserved an accusing finger.

    Burkett said of the scrubbing, “For most soldiers at Camp Mabry, this was a generally known event.” If that’s true, why hasn’t anyone else come forward to confirm his story?”

    Drum should have stuck with his first impression which is that Burkett is a complete flake.

  9. 9.

    Greyhawk

    February 17, 2004 at 12:50 am

    “For example, when I was 4, I said “The sky is purple.” According to our intrepid sleuth Mr. Drum, if I repeat that every year for several years, why- it becomes factesque!”

    Well John, in the Democrat world I believe it does.

  10. 10.

    Phelps

    February 17, 2004 at 4:41 pm

    When I read this the first time, I thought “Burkett” was Jug Burkett (who wrote “Stolen Valor”.) I had a ‘say it ain’t so, Joe!’ moment.

    Given that Jug Burkett is someone who really is an expert on military records fraud, he is more the type we should be looking to on this. Unfortunately, being a veterans activist, he is a friend of Bush 41 and therefore obviously a liar in the eyes of the left.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. HobbsOnline says:
    February 16, 2004 at 5:40 pm

    Holes

    Kevin Drum desperately wants to believe Dan Burkett, who claims President Bush’s aides sanitized Bush’s National Guard records a few years ago, even though Burkett’s credibility has taken a beating recently. Drum’s long and boring post claims to be an…

  2. Cold Fury says:
    February 18, 2004 at 8:54 am

    That’s gotta hurt

    Don’t miss John Cole and Bill Hobbs beating certain Lefty bloggers (for their desperate thrashing about trying to manufacture legs…

  3. JunkYardBlog says:
    February 18, 2004 at 11:18 am

    BLAH BLAH BUSH WAS AWOL BLAH BLAH FREAKIN’ BLAH BLAH

    Twin takedowns of the left’s point-man on all things AWOL (except Johns Kerry and Edwards, who haven’t shown up for Senate votes in ages). First, John Cole. Then, Bill Hobbs. Then bask in the warmth of smoldering Calpundit crediblity, burned…

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