[Libloather]

...Rather finally stopped denying that the documents were bogus and admitted the story was a mistake.

Rather Dan - the biggest dope in 2004, continuing into 2005! WAY TO GO DAN!

[USNBandit]

The last statement I heard him utter was that the authenticity of the documents could not be proven. I don't recall him ever admitting the documents were fakes.

[ken21]

dan rather's been doing dan rather for decades and getting by with it.

no, the network did not fire him. why?

because that would make it look like he was responsibile and the network at fault.

in order to avoid that perception, he'll retire later this year.

perception is reality.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[uncbob]

The hell with CBS's investigation I want an arrest by the DOJ

[Bommer]

Independant panel is a joke. Want to get the truth out in less than 60 minutes? All Powell has to do is say on the Friday before the NFL playoffs that all of CBS programing is completely off the air until Viacom produces an honest and truthful report on the incident that satifys the FCC. CBS would have the report out faster than crap through a goose!

[blackdog]

Mary mapes 60 plus page letter explaining herself in a righteous context is one hell of a lot of 'splainin. By nature of circumstance, a 60 page defense of one's actions is a confession. That's why we have a fifth amendment right in the courtroom. Some day that 60 page mess may come home to haunt her. It may migrate from the confines of an employer/employee relationship into a criminal matter and there is not a damn thing she can do to prevent it.

[Elvis van Foster]

One of two things is happening. Thornburgh is using that Utah professor as a technical adviser. And CBS is aping government bureaucracy that they adore, with a case of the slows.

[carlr]

Don`t expect much.It will be more of the same "mistakes were made,no malicious intent,blah,blah,blah"
Expect a complete whitewash,possibly a low level sacrifice and the equivalent to the most horrible penalty imaginable in the work world,suspension with pay.

[SouthTexas]

Hey, it's a new year, time for a new clock!!!!

Let the countdown begin.

It is a non issue for CBS, they are off the front page. Expect nothing to happen.

[Democracy In Iraq]

Check out this short video commentary on 60 Minutes and the MSM:

http://www.angelfire.com/film/coolcaddy/Crumbling/download.html

These are exciting times. Not only are we witnessing the birth of democracy in places where it was thought to be impossible to exist, but we're also witnessing a historical sea change in the way we get our news, and a breaking free from the tyranny of a handful of powerful networks and print media.

[fhayek]

If CBS New had a story about Republicans faking Memos to trash Democrats, they would have a full blown investigation, complete with story in a matter of days. Here, all they have to go down the hall and interview their own employees. They could at least give us something.

[Brilliant]

They will definitely release this investigation before Dan leaves. The last thing they want to do is remind him that he ever existed after he's gone.

[Jeff Blogworthy]

Meanwhile, no one seems to notice that Sandy Berger has gotten off scot-free also.

For the curious:

Like "hopscotch", this word for "without incurring any penalty" has no connection with frugal Scotsmen. In 12th-century England, a "scot" or "sceot" was a municipal tax paid to the local bailiff or sheriff (the word came from an Old Norse cognate of "shoot"/"shot", and meant "money thrown down").

The word "scot-free", which is recorded from the 13th century, referred to someone who succeeded in dodging these taxes. Later, the term was given wider currency when "scot" was used to mean the amount owed by a customer in a tavern: anyone who had a drink on the house went "scot-free". This "scot" was reinforced by the fact that the drinks ordered were "scotched", or marked on a slate, so that the landlord could keep track of how much the customer owed.

[OldFriend]

There will never be a public accounting of this blatant attempt to defeat President Bush.

CBS chose it's investigators well.

[woodb01]

Wow!! To me this is actually good news!

Here's why, this delay shows that what was discovered has been so damaging, and so troubling that they can not and will not make anything public without some minimal measure of internal correct, and scrubbing the report.

This also leads me to believe that the damaging stuff is being reported up the food chain so that even if the public never finds out, old Andrew Hayward's getting an earful and the rest of the board of directors is probably very angry...

HOWEVER, maybe we should start a campaign that notes any misleading statements in that report could constitute violations of Sarbanes Oxley... Now THAT would be fun...

Re-Designed (stage 1) ANTI-DNC Web Portal at ---> http://www.noDNC.com

[mewzilla]

Note to affiliates: Still twistin'....

[DustyMoment]

Indeed, Mary Mapes, the story's producer, reportedly delivered a "60-plus-page defense" of the piece to investigators . . . .

IMO, Mapes has managed to alter the focus of the investigation and has gotten the "memogate" investigation team to investigate whether or not Bush's NG service is a real story or not. I also don't believe that SeeBS has any intention of taking any punitive or corrective action on the investigation "results" and the whole thing is a dog and pony show intended to hush up Rather's/SeeBS' critics long enough for the furor to die off.

It took bloggers about an hour to expose the false nature of the story; it wouldn't take us 3-1/2 months to determine whether proper journalistic procedures were carried out prior to vetting the story.

For those holding their breath waiting for a giant expose resulting from SeeBS' internal investigation, you can go ahead and breath again. SeeBS has announced its results with Rather's "retirement" from his anchor chair. But, make no mistake, he will still be pulling the strings on whichever marionette they get to replace him.

[oldbill]

You guys just don't understand the free market system.

This "investigation" is being carried out by a law firm, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham (http://www.klng.com/)which just so happens to have one of the investigation leaders, Richard Thornburg, as a member of the firm. It is entirely funded by CBS.

These K street law firms get like $400/hour. Why should they hurry this investigation when it pays off at that rate. And what gets released is under the client, CBS's, total control, as they are the purchaser of the lawyers product.

Expect a whitewash type "mistakes were made" conclusion, with no details or specificity, like what questions were asked of what witnesses.

If they really wanted an accurate result, they should have turned all the money over to Freepers and turned them loose.

[bray]

Imagine what DNCixty Minions would be doing if Haliburton had Stonewalled a Forgery this long???

Pray for W and Our Troops

[TruthWillWin]

Wasn't the panels report supposed to be released on December 10th? Silly me, I thought that was 12-10-2004. Perhaps it was to be released in 12-10-2005,6,7 or what ever.