Who Are CBS's Sources?

RatherBiased.com ^

[RatherBiased.com]

Who Are CBS's Sources?

In a new attack book to be released Tuesday by Doubleday entitled The Family : The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, author Kitty Kelley launches a broadside against the President George W. Bush, his wife, and his family. The book, which the White House has denounced as "garbage," features allegations such as a younger George W. Bush snorting cocaine at Camp David while his father was president.

Over at the liberal grassroots site IndyMedia, Pablo Kristophoros says that the disputed memos cited by CBS are in the book.

"The full details of George Bush's military service are in the new book by Kitty Kelley by the good offices of the Texas Veterans for Truth. This group has offered a large monetary reward for anyone who served in the Alabama Air National Guard with George W. Bush, but there have been no takers. There is a wealth of details in the 736-page book, and one of the over 800 sources is the Texas Veterans for Truth. Killian's memos and other information are there. The CBS memos are real and the proof is in the details."

In a memo to CBS affiliates last week which RatherBiased.com has obtained, the network said the disputed documents "were provided by unimpeachable sources."

In a report last week, the conservative magazine The American Spectator said that CBS's documents were possibly given to it by the Democratic National Committee.

Meanwhile in the most recent edition of Newsweek, reporters Howard Fineman and Michael Isikoff claim that one of CBS's main sources is a former TANG officer:

"Where did the documents come from? CBS won't say. But the trail pieced together by Newsweek shows that in a sulfurous season like this one, the difference between obscurity and power is small, and anyone can get a hearing. A principal source for CBS's story was Bill Burkett, a disgruntled former Guard officer who lives in Baird, Texas, who says he was present at Guard headquarters in Austin in 1997, when a top aide to the then Governor Bush ordered records sanitized to protect the Boss. Other Guard officials disputed Burkett's account, and the Bush aide involved, Joe Allbaugh, called it 'absolute garbage.' Burkett may have a motive to make trouble for the powers that be. In 1998, he grew gravely ill on a Guard mission to Panama, causing him to be hospitalized, and he suffered two nervous breakdowns. He unsuccessfully sued for medical expenses.

"Still, in theory, Burkett may have had access to any Guard records that, in a friend's words, 'didn't make it to the shredder.' Fellow officers say he wasn't a crank, but rather a stickler for proper procedure--a classic whistle-blower type. Burkett was impressive enough to cause CBS producer Mary Mapes to fly to Texas to interview him. "

Some Democrats are saying that the whole thing is a Republican setup. The Kerry campaign says it did not have anything to do with the documents.

Of course, with the book coming out on Tuesday and CBS remaining mum (for now) on who its sources were, only time will tell who is correct.

Hat tip: Templar Pundit

[weegee]

the network said the disputed documents "were provided by unimpeachable sources."

Well we all know that Bill Clinton couldn't be "impeached".

[RatherBiased.com]

Of course, I am not necessarily saying that they are correct. Newseek just ran a speculation about the source of the documents, and we are doing so as well.

[weegee]

Heads have to roll over this much as they did at the Mirror in England when fake photos of "prisoner abuse" were published (British soldiers urinating on men).

[CyberAnt]

This guy worked for Martin Frost .. you can't get much more partisan than that.

[weegee]

So web-based news sites are "good" according to the liberal establishment except when they are conservative news sites?

[NYCVirago]

IndyMedia has been a pretty reliable source of information for this book. They seem to have some fairly good connections within the publishing business. It's a liberal site, of course.

No, they haven't been, and the indymedia guy never directly claims to have received a review copy of the book. Please read the Daily News article I posted a link for -- most of the stuff that indymedia is claiming is in the book is *not* even mentioned in that article. And that article also specifically adds that there's nothing new in the Guard stuff -- if it quoted from those memos, it would have been mentioned. Besides, Texas Veterans for Truth just formed in the past week or two; how could they possibly be listed as a source for the book when they didn't exist when the book was written?

I want to see Dan Rather brought down as much as you do, but this indymedia source is not credible; all he's doing is recycling unproven rumors floating around on the internet.

[CyberAnt]

Well .. don't tell Bob Barr because he's convinced Clinton was impeached.

[NYCVirago]

Of course, I am not necessarily saying that they are correct. Newseek just ran a speculation about the source of the documents, and we are doing so as well.

I'm sorry to be a pain on this, but this guy is not credible. The book will be out on Tuesday -- we will know soon enough if those memos are in the book. But I don't think they are, if the Daily News article is of any indication, and I don't think it does our side any good to regurgitate rumors that have not been proven.

[Howlin]

Don't do that to me at this time of night!

[fuzzy122]

You're the one that started up all this dot $h!t again!
BTW: How many did you see? P.S. Keep up the great job!

God Bless

Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122

[Howlin]

"Some"........I saw "some".......LOL.

[hershey]

Kelley's produced yet another big, fat, full of lies and smears dud. Her tv persona is RATHER clever, though. Perky, smiles all around, innocent little girl voice. Why she'd never write anything libelous. No lies would ever pass through those pink rosebud lips.(Except for those stuffed in her other books.) Thoroughly discredited and in the gutter where she belongs.

[yoswif]

The abbreviation OETR in the 18 AUG 73 memo looks like a blood trail to track down the source of these forgeries and those involved in the fraud scheme. It should be OER (officer efficiency report). OETR wasn't listed at a site for military abbreviations. A google search for OETR and Texas Air National Guard but not Bush showed zero results. Find the first documented usage of OETR and you should be pretty close to the source of the documents.

[Mo1]

"Some"........I saw "some".......LOL.

I'm still seeing them and I hope this posts makes sense cause I can't see what I'm typing

Gawd that hurt my eyes .. LOL

[fuzzy122]

I'm still seein' 'em and the picture is no longer on my screen. I need sleep.

Goodnight!

Beam me up, Scotty!

Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122

[RatherBiased.com]

You're right. It's not credible. It's speculation, just like Newsweek:

"in theory, Burkett may have had access to any Guard records that, in a friend's words, 'didn't make it to the shredder.'"

Yes, we incorrectly stated that he had also received an advanced copy of the book.

I appreciate your concerns.

Only time will tell.

[fuzzy122]

Stop you're killin' me.

Sparkling water out my nose! Sheez!

[LibWhacker]

Did a Google search. There was only one hit, dated September 2000. Although it mentions an annual evaluation, it doesn't appear to mention the CBS memos. It's hard to believe that if tompaine.com ever posted the memos in question they would have archived this four year old article but not an article that links to the CBS docs. The only other alternative I can think of is that it's archived but that the html page linking to the documents doesn't mention Killian by name. But that also seems unlikely.

[NYCVirago]

You're right. It's not credible. It's speculation, just like Newsweek:

That's my point, and thanks for changing your site's info. If the book contains what this indymedia clown claims, there's no problem in running those allegations about the memo. But I'm just not buying it yet, simply because if even half those other allegations he regurgitated were in the book, it would have made the Daily News article about it. Newsweek can get away with the document speculation, but our side can't. It's a double standard, but that's the way it is, as Walter Cronkite would say.

[Beckwith]

This is obviously a well-orchestrated multimedia attack on Bush. In a matter of less than one week:

1. Barnes is interviewed by Rather.
2. Rather releases the forged documents.
3. The forged documents are in a book that was put to bed months ago.

Coincidence, I think not.