Authenticity of note to 'sugar coat' Bush record is further questioned

AUSTIN – The man named in a disputed memo as exerting pressure to "sugar coat" President Bush's military record left the Texas Air National Guard a year and a half before the memo was supposedly written, his own service record shows.

An order obtained by The Dallas Morning News shows that Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt was honorably discharged on March 1, 1972. CBS News reported this week that a memo in which Col. Staudt was described as interfering with officers' negative evaluations of Mr. Bush's service was dated Aug. 18, 1973.

That added to mounting questions about the authenticity of documents that seem to suggest Mr. Bush sought special favors and did not fulfill his service.

Col. Staudt, who lives in New Braunfels, did not return calls seeking comment. His discharge paper was among a packet of documents obtained by The News from official sources during 1999 research into Mr. Bush's Guard record.

A CBS staffer stood by the story, suggesting that Col. Staudt could have continued to exert influence over Guard officials. But a former high-ranking Guard official disputed that, saying retirement would have left Col. Staudt powerless over remaining officials.

I just can't believe that Rather and CBS would try and justify their original position on the basis that the questions raised by the documents is more important than the authenticity of the documents.

If we are to follow their reasoning, the authenticity of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is not as important as the questions they raise. And unlike these documents, which are post probably forgeries, the Swift Boat Veterans have elicited at least three... three changes in three key stories first put forward by the Kerry campaign. (Cambodia, the first purple heart, and the actions of John Kerry on the Bay Hap river during his bronze star incident.)

I do believe that CBS has abandoned all journalistic integrity and secretly endorsed a Presidential candidate.

Email (why it is worded half way civil) to all in addy folder, with old media outlets included. Maybe they all need a little wake up call, like it will do any good.

"Folks, we are witnessing something creepy and slimy oozing out of a dark hole here. If the current phony Bush document story by CBS and Dan Rather is the gold standard for news delivered to us in America, we have a very, very real problem.

I notice all the other major media outlets in their arrogance are shielding Rather and CBS with no hard pursuit of the real truth.

Is this why the media hides behind the first amendment and haughtily pleads the fifth of no accountability every time there are questions as to their integrity?

This is putridly sick and disgusting, it is time to ask for the US congress to pass federal laws to govern such behavior, the media is untrustworthy."

EXCERPT of a related story:
General doesn't trust Bush memos' authenticity
CBS quoted Guard documents to him, but he didn't see them
10:50 PM CDT on Saturday, September 11, 2004
By PETE SLOVER / The Dallas Morning News

A former Texas Air National Guard general relied upon by CBS News to support the authenticity of memos about President Bush's military service said he never saw the memos before the show aired, and that he doesn't now believe they are authentic.
Retired Maj. Gen. Bobby Hodges of Arlington also said that one of the memos' references to undue pressure to "sugar coat" Mr. Bush's evaluations rings false. He said Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt did not interfere in Guard affairs after his retirement, 18 months before the date on the disputed memo.

A CBS spokeswoman said that, despite Gen. Hodges remarks, CBS 60 Minutes stands by the program aired on Wednesday.
"We believe the documents are genuine. We stand by our story and will continue to report on it," Sandy Genelius said.
Gen. Hodge's comments come amid other questions about the authenticity of four memos 60 Minutes relied on to show that the president received special treatment as a pilot in the early '70s, failed to carry out a superior's order to undergo a physical exam and was suspended from flying for failing to meet Air National Guard standards.
Typography experts have also raised questions about the memos, stirring a vigorous debate about whether they were computer-drafted on machines not available in the early 1970s.
< snip >

On Monday evening, a 60 Minutes producer called Gen. Hodges and read him over the telephone portions of the four memos allegedly written by the now deceased Lt. Col. Jerry Killian.
Gen. Hodges says that when he was asked to verify the memos, he believed that the documents were handwritten.
"Without seeing them, I assumed that they were hand-written notes from a personal file that Lt. Col. Killian (who died in 1984) may have maintained without anyone's knowledge," Mr. Hodges wrote in a statement he released on Saturday.
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