Posted on 09/10/2004 9:35:30 PM PDT by kattracks
CBS has been blown off stride by its own bombshell, joining several major news organizations that trusted the network's claim that it finally had the goods on President Bush.
All were essentially bested by Internet bloggers.
Led by anchorman Dan Rather, CBS reported in a "60 Minutes" broadcast Wednesday that it had obtained four old memos asserting that Mr. Bush did not fulfill his National Guard obligations three decades ago — lobbing the claim just as Sen. John Kerry was continuing to sink in public-opinion polls.
NBC, ABC, the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Boston Globe and others pounced on the story, heralding it as the smoking gun that would once and for all discredit Mr. Bush.
"[He] failed to carry out a direct order," The Post noted flatly in a front-page story Thursday, citing "documents obtained by CBS" as its source.
Much of the media had "no reticence about plowing forward and repeating CBS's loaded charges that they proved President Bush received preferential treatment and disobeyed an order to complete a physical," Brent Baker of the Media Research Center, a media monitoring group, said yesterday.
The enthusiasm for "Memogate" paled, however, before the persistence of suspicious Internet bloggers and the increasingly powerful amplification loop of alternative press organizations.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
| the persistence of suspicious Internet bloggers and the increasingly powerful amplification loop of alternative press organizations.
They could accidentally on purpose forget to credential CBS News, and instead give their slot to one of the bloggers. |
As another Freeper observed, "Al Gore is going to regret creating the Internet".
Actually, the Swift Boat Vets have been "out there" for four months. They called a press conference in early May, at the National Press Club in Washington D.C....and were greeted by a massive yawn. The MSM didn't even bother to show up.
Creating the TV commercials was the only way they could reach a solitary soul.
CBS doesn't have the originals.
Truth and the real issues are so devastating to the Kerry campaign that it would make no sense to muddy the water.
Hodges has already flipped...says CBS pressured him...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1212815/posts
I believe they do not have true originals. I believe they were given copies only.
If they did, you could look at the impact, etc. on the paper.
Perhaps Dan needs to put some ice on his wound.
"Some of those people have Rather's home phone number."
I'm sure some even know his frequency.
Ted Baxter is good. I got an image of Les Nessman (WKRP in Cincinnati) dropping a live turkey out of a helicopter.
It's been said that the White House had these papers from CBS for 24 hours before it went to air....NEVER PLAY POKER WITH PRESIDENT BUSH!!! He'll let you bet all your chips then call.....
Correct,CBS supposedly only has copies.
The enthusiasm for "Memogate" paled, however, before the persistence of suspicious Internet bloggers and the increasingly powerful amplification loop of alternative press organizations.
sorry, actually had meant to say "2-3 months"....
I have a question for you? Is it possible that some pro-Bush person or group put those memos together in the hopes that it would get some legs, only to have the legs knock out from underneath it?
I've seen this question, or some variant, several times in several different places. Drives me nuts. Why? Because it doesn't matter who did the forgeries, if CBS were actually doing their job they would have been caught before they were put on the air!
These are really, really, really stupid forgeries. CBS had to seriously want them to be true. Anyone planting on them would have to be relying on CBS wanting them so bad that they wouldn't check them. And that's even more stupid than the forgeries.
Bloggers..... who'da thunk? I've heard that word several times today both on Radio AND TV..... bloggers.... a funny word that had no meaning at all a short time ago. Remember "software"? That funny word brought about some BIG changes in just about everything. We'd all heard of "hardware", but what the hell was "software"? Hmmmm.... bloggers.
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The White House could do something really cool here, although it would be Bush's style to wait until after the election to do it.