It’s time for you to stop talking to the press and to start talking to this man.
MORE: In a way, I am sorry I have made a joke about all this. When you read the USA Today link above, all you can wonder is what was going through the minds of the CBS producers when they trusted this poor man. It is certainly more than possible that Burkett is lying, but it couldn’t be more obvious he is a highly disturbed invididual. He has seizures. (Yes, I know those with seizures are not always disturbed, but in this case it comes with a whole host of other indications.) And yet the CBS producers decided to exploit him for their pathetic political ends. Those producers deserve whatever happens to them and more. And I hope it’s a lot. Besides being liars, they are morally repellent.
UPDATE: Well, it’s not Mark Geragos, but Burkett has evidently called his lawyer.
MEANWHILE: Michael has a good piece examining other legal implications of what is going on.
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19 Comments
1. Catherine:Aaack!
I have to say it: a person who has seizures is not necessarily a person who is highly disturbed.
Sorry to be Politically Correct Woman here, but I can’t stop myself!
(No seizures, but apparently no impulse control, either.)
Sep 21, 2004 - 9:02 am 2. Charlie (Colorado):(No seizures, but apparently no impulse control, either.)
I like those qualities in a woman.
Sep 21, 2004 - 9:05 am 3. Charlie (Colorado):On Fox, Evan Bayh just refused to admit he’d even heard anything about the who Burkett thing. He had no opinion, and he got right testy with the Fox interviewer for asking him about it.
Testy like I thought he was going to take the earplug out of his ear and walk off the set.
Sep 21, 2004 - 9:06 am 4. Charlie (Colorado):How did you happen to get a picture of Geragos from Der Spiegel?
Sep 21, 2004 - 9:08 am 5. rastajenk:CBS says it was “deliberately misled.” OK. Hmmmm…I wonder if ABC, NBC, Fox or anybody else was deliberately misled, too, but had the journalistic sense to not run with it. Most likely not; at least, no one has come forward yet. What a strange occurance. It’s almost as if CBS was involved in “sexing up” this right from the git-go. Tsk, tsk.
Sep 21, 2004 - 9:14 am 6. kimsch:In today’s Chicago Tribune, page 14, end of story continued from Page 1 “CBS Apologizes for Guard Story” the last two paragraphs:
“Before the story aired, Rather said he had interviewed Burkett about the documents and how he obtained them. Rather said his reporting on Burkett’s background was one of the reasons for confidence in the story.
“‘When we talked to people in his home community in Texas,’ Rather said, ‘even those people that didn’t like him said he’s a truth-teller.’”
Burkett a truth-teller? What planet does Rather live on?
Sep 21, 2004 - 9:32 am 7. Terry:I guess I want to make sure I have this straight-
CBS producer has been on this story for five years…
Burkett (a known partisan) contacts CBS – “I have incriminating documents…”
CBS acquires documents, then contacts Kerry’s campaign days before airing with a “heads up”…
Kerry campaign contacts Burkett…
DNC compiles “Fortunate Son” TV campaign…
Three hours before airtime CBS contacts Bush campaign…
I have to stop – this stinks to high heaven.
Sep 21, 2004 - 9:35 am 8. Charlie (Colorado):It’s almost as if CBS was involved in “sexing up” this right from the git-go.
Nah. y’think?
Sep 21, 2004 - 9:44 am 9. Brent Michael Krupp:FWIW, those seizures of his are almost certainly what neurologists call pseudoseizures, i.e. he’s full of crap. The whole “helping him to the couch” thing is a dead giveaway — that just isn’t how seizures work, but it is how pseudoseizures happen. They’re not exactly intentional fakery, but definitely a hysterical reaction to stress in some folks.
Yes, I’m a doctor, but no, I’m not a neurologist. I’m just trying to say that you shouldn’t feel guilty about doubting his “seizures”.
Sep 21, 2004 - 10:11 am 10. Tom Holsinger:If anyone from the Kerry campaign and/or the DNC incited or helped Burkett forge those memos, he should definitely check his life insurance, or immediately give three conflicting stories, all easily disproved perjuries, under oath about how he wrote them.
Sep 21, 2004 - 10:37 am 11. pdq332:None of us having met Burkett in person, I would think that his behavior at the very least suggests that he needs professional help. I think the man should be pitied. If he pulls a David Kelly on us, then CBS should be held responsible.
It’s looking more and more to me like CBS was trying to curry favor with a Kerry administration by taking advantage of this delusional man to stab at Bush. The more I learn about how CBS abetted Burkett’s probable mental illness, the more I think CBS are a bunch of rapists.
Personally, I don’t care if CBS ever comes clean. I will never watch CBS again and I will harangue and mock anyone who does.
Sep 21, 2004 - 10:45 am 12. J_Crater:Everytime I now see Burkett’s name, I begin to hear that song, “Waiting for the UFOs“, from Graham Parker’s album “Squeezing Out Sparks” in my head. That’s odd.
Sep 21, 2004 - 11:06 am 13. Catherine:Charlie
Thank you.
Sep 21, 2004 - 11:57 am 14. Catherine:pdq332
Wow.
You just voiced something that was nagging at me, but come into focus.
I didn’t see the interview, but the man looks stressed and fragile in the stills, and he is agitated in his online posts . . . and frankly I buy John Ellis’s Vast Left Wing Conspiracy theory of the whole affair.
CBS is using a vulnerable person they wouldn’t normally regard as “unimpeachable.”
Charlie
What’s up with Evan Bayh?
Sep 21, 2004 - 12:02 pm 15. Max Power:Bucket O’ Burkes isn’t the only one thats disturbed. Rather still thinks the documents are REAL. Checkout the quote on the spoonexperience blog. Classic Ratherese.
Sep 21, 2004 - 12:33 pm 16. Charlie (Colorado):Catherine, I’ve got to say I’m not sure. But it certainly seemed like he really didn’t want to have to discuss Joe Lockhart. He was very unhappy with the Fox guy for bringing up that question when he was supposed to be talked about the CIA director vote.
Sep 21, 2004 - 12:45 pm 17. Catherine:Charlie
Interesting.
Bayh is one of the Dems I like; he’s one of the very few who’s publicly given credence to the possibility that Saddam and Bin Laden were connected.
I’d love to know what’s going on with the Dems–the factions, who’s ready to shoot who, etc.
Sep 21, 2004 - 12:56 pm 18. Ivan Shagzlikadonki:This whole fiasco will soon spin out of control when the truth comes out about Max Cleland’s depth of involvement. Cynically the Kerry campaign used him to do the wet work counting on Mr. Cleland’s disability to shield him from criticism. Keep an eye on Mr. Cleleand, he’s the key. The fact is, Mr. Clelend doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Sep 21, 2004 - 2:10 pm 19. Terrye:I did not see the piece with Bayh but Rockefeller was the same way. The three little monkeys. hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
I like Bayh too, not just because he is from my state but because he has retained some modicum of sense in spite of the fact he is a Democrat. Lugar is for his part more than capable of constructive criticism of Bush in spite of the fact that he is a Republican. Hoosiers don’t care for hystrioniscs of any kind.
But I do think a lot of Dems are keeping distance, except for the strategists who just keep yammering about Bush being awol.
Sep 21, 2004 - 2:48 pm