CBS'S BIG BLUNDER? (Credits Free Republic)

New York Post ^ | 9/10/04 | JOHN PODHORETZ

[kattracks]

September 10, 2004 -- THE populist revolu tion against the so- called mainstream media continues. Yesterday, the citizen journalists who produce blogs on the Internet — and their engaged readers — engaged in the wholesale exposure of what appears to be a presidential-year dirty trick against George W. Bush. What the bloggers and their audiences did was call into profound question the authenticity of four documents proudly trumpeted by CBS News in a much-heralded investigative report on Wednesday night's edition of "60 Minutes" about the president's National Guard service in the early 1970s.

These were "previously unseen documents . . . obtained by '60 Minutes,' " the network bragged Wednesday night on its Web site. Their author, supposedly, was Bush's squadron commander, Jerry Killian, who died 20 years ago.

They "include a memorandum from May 1972," CBS reports, "where Killian writes that Lt. Bush called him to talk about 'how he can get out of coming to drill from now through November.' " A document dated "18 August 1973" complains that Killian is being asked to "sugar coat" Bush's record. "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job," the document says.

Liberals went wild with glee about the story, especially after the onslaught on John Kerry's Vietnam record by his fellow Swift-boat veterans.

Kevin Drum, the most talented of the left-wing bloggers, wrote: "This story is a perfect demonstration of the difference between the Swift-boat controversy and the National Guard controversy. Both are tales from long ago and both are related to Vietnam, but . . . in the National Guard case, practically every new piece of documentary evidence provides additional confirmation that the charges against Bush are true."

[snip]The Minneapolis lawyers who run powerlineblog.com were on the case early. Two of the blog's readers directed their attention to a note left on an Internet bulletin board on the freerepublic.com Web site, the 47th posting on the topic there. Post No. 47 pointed out that there was something off about these documents from the 1970s: The spacing between the letters and the words was proportional, and only a few IBM electric typewriters could achieve that effect back then.

Excerpt

[Darlin']

If it gets any better I know I won't be able to stand it. My thanks to everyone who had a part in bringing this forward and especially to you keen-eyed three. LOL. I am convinced that no one, not even conservative bloggers, would have questioned the authencity of this scam had it not been for FR. This incident will have long ranging effect and MSM best take heed.

[George Smiley]

Podhoretz nails with a ball-ping hammer.

Is this a typo (s/b "ball pein") or some sort of painful online neologism?

[ELS]

Thanks for the links.

[TOUGH STOUGH]

"From the lies of Ben Barnes to the apparent forgeries of who-knows-who-did-it — why has "60 Minutes" exposed itself in this way?

We all know why. Its producers and others in the media think George Bush deserves to be beaten up now because of the beating administered to John Kerry in August. In some weird way, the editors and producers believe this is fairness at work."

Precisely. If you're going to be vindictive, you had better get it right!

[tdadams]

Charles Johnson, who runs the wonderful littlegreenfootballs.com, simply typed one of the memos over using Microsoft Word's New Times Roman font and, lo and behold, the document came out exactly identical to the one on the CBS site, down to the letter spacing.

Wow, this is extremely damning. As Bill O'Reilly says, "What say you, CBS?"

I'm very curious what explanation is forthcoming from CBS. It looks like they're really in a corner, with very red faces.

[petercooper]

Great work!

[Calamari]

The number 47 should be retired from use on all future threads!

[TOUGH STOUGH]

Excellent work by you, Buckhead and Howlin. Truly awe inspiring!

[danamco]

These were "previously unseen documents . . . obtained by '60 Minutes,' " the network bragged Wednesday night on its Web site. Their author, supposedly, was Bush's squadron commander, Jerry Killian, who died 20 years ago.


And this is the best they have! CBS is going down the drain.

Let's pretend that the documents were real, which they are not, how would anyone be able to get their hands on them? Would the break in Mr. Killian's former or present residences??

[Lee'sGhost]

"I want to know who consciously exploited a dead man to smear out Commander in Chief."

I tried to start that concept as a separate thread yesterday and unfortunately it was yanked by a moderator who said it was info already being discussed in existing threads. Trouble is, this subject needs its own momentum. There needs to be a constant drum beat to find the culprits. A thread dedicated to this concept, bringing FReepers talents and resources together on one thread, might just have the impact that was created by the thread that exposed the fraud in the first place.

But that's just me.

[Phantom Lord]

They should have credited your screen name along with the post number. When do you start doing interviews on TV?

[danamco]

"I hope CBS can get sued."

Where is The Great One (Mark Levin) when you need him??

Their affiliates station 610 AM WIOD here in South Florida has just gone into high gear with covering the hurricane Ivan (3 days away) blocking out the usual Glen Beck show. So they will probably also dump Rush Limbaugh at noon?
They are very good at CYA and repress "free speech." They don't want the voters to hear anything about cbs' forgeries of documents in favor or john "forgery" sKerry!!!

[tdadams]

If these are indeed proven to be forgeries, Dan Rather will have forfeited any perceived credibility he has. If he's not forced to resign, he should do so out of his own sense of propriety (assuming he has any).

[prognostigaator]

expand & write for us

[stainlessbanner]

Let's retire your number on FR: 47

[flaminco]

TankerKC's post is gone.

[AmericanInTokyo]

FUNNY THING IS, BACK WHEN THE IBM SELECTRIC WAS KING OF THE AMERICAN OFFICE ENVIRONMENT (AND SOME OF US PRIVATELY WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO OWN ONE) NEVER IN OUR WILDEST DREAMS COULD WE IMAGINE A SCATTERING OF NON-JOURNALISTS OUT THERE IN AMERICAN 'FLYOVER' COUNTRY, NOT ONLY TAKE ON, BUT TAKE DOWN THE POWERFUL CBS, 60 MINUTES, DAN RATHER AND WHOLE MAINSTREAM MEDIA CABAL.

NOW THAT'S LIBERTY, TECHNOLOGY, PROGRESS AND PEOPLE POWER!

[prognostigaator]

'FLYOVER' COUNTRY

bump

[P-Marlowe]

TankerKC's post is gone.

That was my Bad. Here's TankerKC's post.

[starvingstudent]

I have to say that this is, by far, the coolest thing i've seen since Saddam looked up from his hole. WAY TO GO FReepers. I was listening to Hewitt yesterday and he was referencing FR a lot. You guys are awesome and i'm glad to be a part of it.