"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Bombshell?

Did Bush use his power as Governor of Texas to cut a backroom deal covering up the truth about his National Guard service? Still Unreported: The Pay-off in Bush Air Guard Fix

Greg Palast is a BBC journalist, and a fairly good one. Whether he can get any traction in the American Newsmedia is an open question.

The story breaks down like this:

  • 1968: then Lt. Governer Barnes pulled some strings to get Bush into the cushy (and hostility-free) Texas Air National Guard (TANG)
  • 1994 Bush became Governor in a close race, in which he'd explicitly denied having strings pulled to get into the TANG
  • Barnes, at this time, is a corporate lobbiest who's working for GTech, which is running the Texas Lottery
  • GTech is under investigation from the FBI for corruption and in danger of loosing its lucrative contract
  • Bush spoke to the head of the lottery commission and the commission reversed itself, giving GTech a no-bid contract.
  • Barnes got $23 million for landing the contract. Bush was able to "put to rest" any questions about his TANG service.

are a changin'. Barnes is singing like a canary to anyone who'll listen that he got Bush into the TANG, and Palast has memos from the Justice Department, so if enough people decide to pay attention here the truth will out.

And again, it's not the crime; it's the coverup.

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