Mickey Kaus on Liberal Conspiracy Theory re CBS Docs (involves Freeper Buckhead)

Kausfiles ^ | 9/11/04

[ambrose]

Patterico shoots down a promising pro-Kerry Web conspiracy theory--namely that the potential forgery of the CBS Bush guard documents was spotted so quickly on the Web that the person who spotted it ("Buckhead," poster #47 at Free Republic) must have been tipped off in advance. That would suggest that any forgery was planted, presumably by pro-Bush forces. But it seems this whole theory, promoted in this morning's ABC News Note, was based on a misreading of time stamps by ABC. In reality, Buckhead had a couple of hours to come up with his post--something he confirms in an email to Patterico.... ABC has corrected its mistake (without withdrawing the now seemingly groundless insinuation). NPR hasn't corrected the error, according to Patterico, and David Brock's Media Matters still posts it. ... P.S.: Media Matters might want to decide if a) the documents are authentic, as argued at the top of their Web page or b) the documents are forgeries planted by Republicans, as argued at the bottom of their Web page. Lawyers are allowed to plead in the alternative, but a) and b) can't both be true, and the evidence for each of those propositions is also evidence against the other one. 1:10 A.M. Pacific Time (that's 4:10 to you, Ambinder)

[ambrose]

ping.

[airborne]

You are a major player in the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy! Who would've known?

[Dog]

Hey you are becoming a scourge to the LIBERALS.....keep up the good work...

[goldstategop]

All my posts have been in PT since I live in CA and I still post in that format when I travel out of state on vacation. Our mainstream media journalists are apparently too lazy to check a simple time date stamp on a post before conjuring up feverish visions of a vast right wing conspiracy machination afoot.

[L.N. Smithee]

P.S.: Media Matters might want to decide if a) the documents are authentic, as argued at the top of their Web page or b) the documents are forgeries planted by Republicans, as argued at the bottom of their Web page. Lawyers are allowed to plead in the alternative, but a) and b) can't both be true, and the evidence for each of those propositions is also evidence against the other one.

David Brock's Media Matters should be called Menial Splatters. Brock is still full of bitterness, bitterness that causes him not to think clearly. Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck have taken a few minutes recently to marvel at how wrong Brock goes out of his way to get things wrong just so he'll have something to say.

But hey, I'm sure that Kerry moneybaggette Susie Tompkins Buell pays Brock better than Bob Tyrrell did.

[goldstategop]

Media Matters tack on the memos is eerily familiar since they take the position its both true AND if false, a GOP conspiracy. Looks like they've taken lessons in Kerryspeak. You know, its too good a thing so why not come down on both sides of the issue at the same time? Somewhere, Kerry is beaming in approval.

[Casloy]

Buckhead is a member of the vast right wing conspiracy. I want to know how he got that stain on Monica's dress. Uhh, well, maybe not.

[12B]

If we have another Baby, I guess we're pretty much obliged to call it Buckhead. Hope it's a boy.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Lawyers are allowed to plead in the alternative, but a) and b) can't both be true, and the evidence for each of those propositions is also evidence against the other one.

BAWAAAHHAAAA#####

[stands2reason]

LOL!!! You oughta make that into a tagline.

[stands2reason]

Dude, when are you gonna sleep?

Seriesly, you done good.

[snooker]

Now this is truly funny. So Free Republic is Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (VRWC) ground zero. OK I can dig it.

Who woulda known ... we have a secret agent in our midsts. Where can I get my VRWC secret agent badge? Do they come with decoder rings? I feel left out.

[Caipirabob]

Buckhead and Howlin are now official members of the VRWC? Jeez, I'd better get their secret decoder rings out to them pronto. The frequency is 19.44 MHz and the password is "plunder".

BTW - thank you all for the most hilarious meltdown I've ever watched amongst the rats.

[Enterprise]

"BTW - thank you all for the most hilarious meltdown I've ever watched amongst the rats.

Ain't it the living truth? It's like the guy who tries to heave a grenade and it slips and falls at his feet. Major Malfunction!

[edwin hubble]

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

The frequency is 19.44 MHz and the password is "plunder".

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Buckhead is going to be on all the talk shows and even in the history books, trivia games and poly-sigh courses! And we were there :-)

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Congratulations! You Vast Rightwing Conspiracy decoder ring, along with a matching pair of cuff-links, is in the mail!

[TomGuy]

The spin will be:

Rather--'I stick by my guns; the documents are not fake; they are real; but if they are fake, Karl Rove planted them.'

[Timm]

Good grief. Tipped off in advance? Yeah, because the plan all along was to tap out a quick forgery from a PC, then get it through weeks of vetting in a major news department, and see it featured ridiculously on a prepared 60 Minutes segment. *Then*, since the forgery's telltale signs were so obvious, the forgery story would be picked up by other major news outlets in a few hours after single post on FR.

Anyway, if journalists are already trying to pin *fake* memos on Bush, CBS is going to have to do better than to say it's not really the documents they're authenticating, but the opinions they contain.