Posted on 09/10/2004 7:18:05 PM PDT by quidnunc
Dan Rather's defense (courtesy of Glenn Reynolds) of his 60 Minutes accusations against the Bush National Guard record, coupled with this CBS Press Release (hat tip: Roger Simon) may indicate the direction in which story is developing. When caught in an ambush the first two rules are to exit the kill zone and lay down a curtain of return fire so you can make your getaway. Both the Rather interview and the CBS Press Release suggest that the network is trying to move the controversy onto broader grounds. They will refocus the question onto George Bush's National Guard record and will support it with evidence interviews, collateral research etc that their opponents have had little access to and therefore be unable to criticize. In particular, Dan Rather listed out four questions which are probably going to be the strongpoints of the new redoubt: the most important are whether GWB disobeyed a direct order, whether he performed to standard, whether he made his physical.
By leaving the kill zone of fonts, kerning and proportional spacing and rallying on their new position CBS achieves two things. The near effective fire raining down on them will be transformed into far ineffective fire, simply because its Internet critics will need a whole 12 hours to start raising new questions about the additional CBS allegations. By covering their repositioning with intensified attacks on GWB they will with any luck, restart a stalled story and reclaim the offensive.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at belmontclub.blogspot.com ...
ping to #38
Their father/husband has been intimately involved in what amounts to a "national scandal" (CBS certainly claims so).
Yet, the family has no confidence in the legitimacy of the documents nor the validity of their contents. The deceased is being used by another party, under what can only be called suspicious circumstances.
I'm thinking that discovery would yield some very interesting findings.
And I'm thinking the family should be investigating their options in this regard.
As serious as lying about Christmas in Cambodia? Hmmmm...
"My hunch is that there a lot of letters and emails sent to CBS and their advertisers"
That's how we win. Rather and CBS don't care what you think, but their sponsors do!!! CBS can try to change the subject all they want, but they cannot escape the realities of the market. If faced with significant economic damage vs. Dan Rather resigning, what do you think the stockholders will do? If Rather is forced to step down - CBS loses. Game, set, and match. Write the 60-minutes sponsors!
No. There is no standing for descendents to sue for the defaming of a dead ancestor. Indeed, the claim of defamation is up close and personal. Wrongful death claims for example involves financial hurt and loss of consortium.
Thanks for the response.
Until they can answer those questions, I wouldn't say a single damn word other than showing what biased frauds they are.
GREAT IDEA!
Would love for someone to ask dan rather why he thinks President Bush has signed a release of his records, all of them, and KERRY will NOT RELEASE some 180 pages or so of his MILITARY RECORDS?
Now THERE is a story!
Oooops....forgot...dan has an agenda!
But we can still send these questions to the CEO of CBS.
interesting article on defaming the dead:
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20040312.html
We need to coordinate our efforts in FOCUS. I've been thinking that we might accomplish more by focusing on one sponsor of Dan R. at a time until they drop him. Start a letter, call campaign directed at a sponsor until they surrender.
Absolutely right. Allegations about what George W. Bush and Dick Cheney did in the 60s and 70s might have had an effect in the 2000 election, but this time they have been President and Vice-President for the past four years. It's as if the Democrats have some sort of learning disability in this area.
The trotting out witnesses they've interviewed angle can't work either because Killian's son has revealed that they interviewed his mother, himself, and others who worked in their father's unit (Killian's son stated he provided many names to CBS), but they wouldn't air anybody they deemed to be a Bush supporter.
The former CBS exec on O'Reilly's show (with Tony Snow tonight) actually stated as a matter of fact that 60 Minutes would routinely ignore anybody they deemed a Bush supporter. The arrogance was stunning, and I've seen plenty this election cycle.
All this after they trotted big time Kerry supporter Barnes out, who quickly was discredited by his own daughter.
The more they try to pressure Bush to answer questions raised by forged documents, the more they shoot themselves and Kerry in the foot.
Bernie Goldberg will be selling many more books, and a sequel to Bias and Arrogance should be in the works.
Just what we need, a new tort for tort lawyers to mine. :(
The DNC and their spokespeople have been laughed at all day today. They are stuck on talking points that are no longer "operative".
Linda Vester's audience laughed at Micheal Meehan today when Linda asked about Teresa "idiot" comment. Meehan launched into the talking points and when the audience started laughing he was SHOCKED! The look on his face was absolutely priceless.
Tony Snow's interview with some Dim girl, don't know her name, was more of the same. She made a fool of herself.
Then, Robert Reich, who spouted the same talking points, was slammed by Hannity and Bob Bennett.
The DNC and CBS have been caught completely off guard. They have their story and are sticking to it but it ain't workin!
bttt
bttt
The MSM is now in an Orwellian twilight zone where truth and honesty don't matter and their only goals are the manipulation of information to further their poltical agenda. I'm absolutely stunned by their behavior. Where's Walter Cronkite when we need him to tell his old network to clean up their act?
And mine was one of them. I went to cbsnews.com and followed the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page. I wrote my letter in the complaint form and blasted CBS, Dan Rather, CBS affiliates and CBS sponsors. I told them I would make it a point to boycott their sponsors. I told them they failed miserably in their responsiblity for fair and responsible journalism.
What surprises me is they fail to recognize that these are the very reasons cable news has taken over in the ratings and the big 3 are dying. The reality is, CBS sucks. And the majority of Americans know it. Long live fox news.
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