Posted on 09/09/2004 10:31:38 PM PDT by kattracks
Edited on 09/09/2004 10:55:58 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
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.
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"As is standard practice at CBS News, the documents in the 60 Minutes report were thoroughly examined and their authenticity vouched for by independent experts," CBS News said in a statement. "As importantly, 60 Minutes also interviewed close associates of Colonel Jerry Killian. They confirm that the documents reflect his opinions and actions at the time."
The White House distributed the four memos from 1972 and 1973 after obtaining them from CBS News. The White House did not question their accuracy.
I love the graphic! Nice work, very direct.
Look at the views so far of this thread!!!
Way to go Howlin and other very very smart people who are heroes in New Media!
CBS'S BIG BLUNDER? (Credits Free Republic) ^
Posted by kattracks
On News/Activism ^ 09/10/2004 1:31:38 AM EDT · 361 replies · 11,559+ views
New York Post ^ | 9/10/04 | JOHN PODHORETZ
We've sure come a long way in 30 years, from the days when we had to wait 2 weeks for our National Reviews to dissect the MSM, weeks after the fact. We were just lonely voices in the MSM wilderness then....
Now we have the internet and FR, and we can take down a CBS lie in 12 hours!
It was addressed to Howlin. I can't remember who though. Just read some of the threads and you'll find it.
Now FR and NRO are my two favorite sites for instantaneus news.
I read the following on the Kerry Spot, and could easily be persuaded that the "CBS documents" are part of an onchestrated, integrated DNC campaign. How does it read to you?
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Also, from today's Globe:
For the second day in a row, the Democratic National Committee held a conference call with reporters on newly disclosed documents about Bush's service, with Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Richard Klass, a retired US Air Force colonel, repeatedly questioning the incumbent's ''character" and ''honesty."
''If the president will lie about this, will he lie about how we got into Iraq, for example?" Harkin said. ''This goes right to the heart of the character and the truthfulness of the current occupant of the White House."
A group of veterans in West Virginia, organized by the Democratic National Committee, also held a news conference yesterday to challenge Bush's Guard record, and veterans in Pennsylvania and Ohio plan to do the same today. More are planned in other battleground states, Howard Wolfson, Democratic National Committee adviser, said yesterday. He said criticism will continue almost daily, ''at least until Bush himself answers these questions about his service directly." Last spring, Kerry said that he would not question Bush's decision to serve in the Guard instead of going to Vietnam but that he would challenge the president on whether he had fulfilled his Guard obligations.
Earlier this week, the Globe reported that Bush had failed to meet specific training requirements required in documents he had signed in 1968 and 1973 as a member of the Texas Air National Guard. On Wednesday, CBS News broadcast an interview with Texas lobbyist Ben Barnes who said that in 1968, when he was speaker of the Texas House, he had helped Bush gain entry into the Guard at the urging of a Bush family friend. Barnes, now a fund-raiser for Kerry, said he had helped many other sons of prominent Texas families join the Guard so that they could avoid being sent to Vietnam.
---snip---
Not mentioning anything about the questions about the documents' veracity is pretty bad. But give the Globe a bit of credit for mentioning this:
Yesterday marked one month since Kerry held a news conference with reporters traveling with him, despite pledging in August that as president he would hold ''a press conference at least once a month to talk to the nation about what I'm doing, because I don't have anything to hide." Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter denied that the candidate was avoiding the media at a time when polls are going against him.
In other words, conservatives read, analyze, and respond in an appropriate, highly educated manner.
I'm the one who posted it last night.
I already corrected my mistake by acutally posting Howlin's post mentioning "Duckhead" and someone else.
-Eric
Rush is now saying that the DNC had the files and gave them to CBS!
Typewriter I - CBS
Typewriter II - JVK
ABC-TV News - Blows up Chevy PUs
AP - BooGate
? Miami woman TV reporter threw objects during a riot to create an incident ?
=
-- I need some help on this one:
*CBS-TV News - ? staged and videotaped fake "live" war scenes or other news scenes ?
-- *(reminiscent of the applied scamming power of the MSM)
bttt
Brilliant analysis. I learned something interesting and illuminating. Thanks!
HAHAHAHAH! TOO FUNNY!
Yes it would have but you, Howlin and TankerKC got the ball rolling. An observation on your part has turned into a giant snowball rolling down Mt Everest. Thanks to all of you.
"call into profound question"
Profound? Huh? Questioning a liar isn't profound.
It's a play on the line used on billboards for chicken resturants: "Chicken: THe Other White Meat."
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