Posted on 09/14/2004 7:51:16 PM PDT by ambrose
Posted on Tue, Sep. 14, 2004
Reports Fuel Doubts on CBS Bush Story
DAVID BAUDER
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Two experts hired by CBS News to examine records of President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard told ABC on Tuesday that they could not vouch for the documents' veracity. Meanwhile, a former secretary in the guard said she believed the documents CBS used were fake, although they accurately reflected the thoughts of one of Bush's commanders.
As questions continued about Dan Rather's report on "60 Minutes" last week, CBS News on Tuesday said it did not rely on assessments made by the two examiners quoted in the ABC report, and found it notable the secretary affirmed the content of the documents.
"We continue to believe in this story," said Betsy West, CBS News' senior vice president.
CBS said its story about Bush's guard service relied on much more than documents. But the controversy has raised significant credibility questions for the network news division and it's not certain if those questions will be definitively answered.
CBS says the documents from one of Bush's commanders, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, indicated Bush didn't follow orders to take a physical and that Killian was being pressured to sugarcoat his performance ratings. Bush's father was a Texas congressman at the time.
Questions were immediately raised about the documents' legitimacy, with some believing they were produced by a computer not available at the time.
Emily Will, a documents examiner from North Carolina hired by CBS, said she told the network before the report aired that she questioned handwriting in the documents and whether it could have been produced by a typewriter.
She told ABC that she e-mailed a CBS producer and strongly urged her the night before the broadcast not to use the documents, and that other experts would raise the same questions.
"I did not feel that they wanted to investigate it very deeply," Will told ABC News.
Another expert hired by CBS, Linda James of Plano, Texas, told ABC that "I did not authenticate anything and I don't want it understood that I did."
CBS News said that Will and James played only a "peripheral role" in assessing the documents, and had seen only one of the four used in the report. Ultimately they deferred to another expert who has seen all four documents, Marcel Matley, and who continues to back up CBS' account.
West said Will did not contact the network the night before the report aired.
"I am not aware of any substantive objections raised," she said. "She did not urge us to hold the story."
James told CBS News that she needed to know more about the documents before rendering any judgments, West said. CBS contacted five document experts before the report aired and two since, and continues to report the story, the network said.
Killian's former secretary, 86-year-old Marian Carr Knox, also questioned the documents in an interview with The Dallas Morning News.
"These are not real," Knox said in a story posted Tuesday on the newspaper's Web site. "They're not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him."
Knox told the newspaper she did not recall typing the memos, but that they echoed Killian's views on Bush. She said he retained memos for a personal "cover his back" file he kept in a locked drawer of his desk, but she was not sure what happened to them when he died in 1984.
When contacted Tuesday at her Houston home, Knox's son, Pat Carr, told The Associated Press his mother did not wish to elaborate on her comments to the newspaper.
CBS News spokeswoman Sandra Genelius said CBS did not believe Knox was a documents expert.
"We believe the documents, which were one part of the `60 Minutes' story, to be genuine. It is notable that she confirms the content of the documents, which was the primary focus of our story in the first place," Genelius said.
First lady Laura Bush was the first in the GOP campaign to say the latest documents were probably forged. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said: "There are serious questions that are being raised and they should be looked into" by the media.
Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, McClellan said Bush felt no need to further address questions about his National Guard service and that the public wants the candidates to talk about the future rather than the past.
He said the first lady was speaking for herself. The White House has not come to any conclusions about the documents and is not investigating them, he said.
Okay folks... Ready, Aim.......
Looks like a lot of CBS employees besides the captain are going to go down with the USS Rather.
Say it ain't so! /sarcasm>
UH didn't Matley say he only examined the signature on the one memo? I thought I remember hearing or seeing that in print.
Its not only the end of Dan Rather, its the end of Dan Rathers.
In a tiny little paper called the Washington Post this morning.
So is this the first report that conveniently neglects to
mention that the secretary is stridently anti-Bush, but
does report her "recollection" of the memos' general
content being true even if she didn't type them?
That this would happen was predicted when the first
{complete} reports hit today.
Of course they do! So much that they failed to exercise any kind of journalistic diligence before going public with it. But CBS saying they "belive in this story" doesn't make it true, and completely sidesteps the REAL issue of forgery.
Yup. Matley indeed said that he only looked at one document.
CBS is getting caught in its own web of lies.
Knox is a Bush hater....shows up on another thread.
The danger is that some handwritten notes come to light.
Flight physicals are not an absolute order. There's leeway with when, where, why.
Personal notes reflect the ups and downs of a year. As much as there are times when a boss jots down a note to self about someone screwing up, he also jots down notes to remember about them doing well. You add them up at the end of the year and you write your report. When Killian wrote Lt Bush's report he called him an excellent aviator.
Personal notes aren't meant for public consumption. They cannot be put into context. The context is that Killian gave Lt Bush an excellent rating.
Estimated days to CBS meltdown over their fraudlent laden story = 2. Tick...tick...tick...
West said Will did not contact the network the night before the report aired. "I am not aware of any substantive objections raised," she said. "She did not urge us to hold the story."
The way this thing is going, we'll be seeing the actual email soon.
The MSM is not up to "snuff". The cannot keep pace with the NEW Media.....As soon as it's in print or on film it's already outdated and uaually old news. Long live FreeRepublic!
Very interesting, this does corroborate part of "he did keep personal files" aspect of the fabrication SeeBS is trying to pull off.
My gut tells me, Marian Carr Knox knows more than she willing to tell.
Someone should check her financials for a large DNC deposit
"UH didn't Matley say he only examined the signature on the one memo? I thought I remember hearing or seeing that in print."
Of course you are correct. CBS has reached the point now where they have told so many lies, it's impossible to keep their story straight. It's reached the tipping point!
This is what she told ABC tonight:
"He did have complaints about Bush. Bush missed his physical and went off to Alabama with none of the paperwork, I remember Killian talking about that," Knox said. "But it wasn't in memo file."
Hey, CBS: Nobody cares about Bush in the National Guard except rabid Bush-haters, and they don't need convincing. However, we all care about CBS lying to us. We've known for years that you are biased. Now we know you are biased liars. And stubborn liars also.
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