"THEY ARE REAL! I TYPED THEM UP RIGHT HERE! WHY WON'T THE MASSES BELIEVE ME???????"
Posted on 09/14/2004 2:26:24 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
His credibility under attack, CBS News anchor Dan Rather on Monday again stood by his report raising questions about President Bush's military service during the Vietnam War era.
Amid the controversy, Bush travels today to Las Vegas to address the National Guard Association, made up of 45,000 members and veterans of the branch in which he served.
Rather devoted more than three minutes of his "Evening News" broadcast Monday to defending the documents he used in a "60 Minutes II" report last week that concluded Bush received preferential treatment in the Texas Air National Guard.
A draft of the president's speech today doesn't mention the ongoing controversy, a Bush-Cheney campaign aide said. Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry is scheduled to speak to the National Guard Association on Thursday.
Rather first raised the new questions about Bush's Guard record Wednesday. By Friday, a variety of sources were suggesting the documents he relied on — represented as copies of memos from the personal files of the late Col. Jerry Killian, Bush's squadron commander in Texas — might be forgeries. Critics said the documents showed characteristics of having been created by a computer word processor, not the 1970s-era typewriters in use when they were purportedly written.
Rather first responded Friday by saying the documents came from "what we consider to be reliable sources," and he interviewed experts he said helped authenticate the documents.
Questions mount
But questions continued over the weekend, and on Monday during his "Inside Story" segment on the "CBS Evening News," Rather revisited the question, interviewing a "technical consultant" and a software designer who said the format and typeface of the documents were consistent with the typewriters of the time.
Rather broadly acknowledged criticism of the documents.
"But CBS used several techniques to make sure these papers should be taken seriously, talking to handwriting and document analysts and other experts who strongly insist the documents could have been created in the '70s," Rather told viewers as video of an unidentified man examining enlarged versions of the documents was aired.
Rather said CBS had asked the White House several questions about Bush's service, including whether a friend of the Bush family used his influence with the Texas House speaker to get Bush into the National Guard, whether Bush refused an order to take a required physical and whether he was suspended for failing to perform up to standards.
Rather quoted a White House spokesman as saying, "As you know, we have repeatedly addressed these issues."
He ended his report by saying, "These direct questions have not been fully, completely answered. The Bush-Cheney campaign always points out the president received an honorable discharge. What's in the '60 Minutes' report, CBS believes to be true and believes the documents are authentic."
The documents at the center of this latest skirmish in an old war indicate Killian was pressured to "sugarcoat" Bush's annual evaluation and that Bush failed to take a physical "as ordered" and discussed with his commander how to get out of drills early.
The same day as Rather's initial report, The Boston Globe reported that Bush, despite pledging to do so under threat of being called to active duty, did not fulfill his military obligations after he moved from Houston to Massachusetts and then to Alabama during his Guard stint.
After the CBS broadcast, the media echo chamber — including an energized band of "bloggers" who post personal journals to the Internet — reverberated. Late Wednesday and into Thursday, several bloggers questioned the validity of the CBS documents. The Web enthusiasts pointed out that the spacing and type font of the documents could be produced by Microsoft Word, but not by a 1970s-era typewriter.
Major print and television news outlets picked up the story, and "proportionally spaced fonts" became buzzwords among cable TV commentators.
On Friday, The Washington Post quoted experts who questioned the authenticity of the CBS documents. The Post reported that Killian's widow called the documents "a farce."
Also Friday, The Dallas Morning News reported that the officer named in one memo as exerting pressure to "sugarcoat" Bush's military record was discharged a year and a half before the memo was written. And various reports have pointed to inconsistencies in titles and other details in the documents.
Rather defends story
Rather stood by his story on his Friday night newscast. "If any definitive evidence in the contrary of our story is found, we will report it," he said. "So far, there is none."
On Saturday, a former National Guard commander who helped CBS authenticate the documents told The New York Times he didn't think they were genuine. Bobby Hodges told the paper that CBS didn't show him the documents, but read them to him over the telephone.
"It drags CBS' credibility a notch," said Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. "Inasmuch as Dan Rather is the face of CBS News, there's a dent in his armor of honor."
Even first lady Laura Bush has joined the fray, saying in a radio interview Monday that the documents are likely forgeries "and I think that's terrible, really."
The controversy has brewed a new blog — Rathergate.com — which calls for Rather's resignation.
More established news sources question whether CBS, which has repeatedly refused to disclose the source of the documents, has done enough to acknowledge it might have been duped by forces unknown.
"It may be that CBS is the victim of a whopping journalistic hoax, besmearing a president to bring him down," New York Times columnist William Safire wrote in his nationally syndicated column, published Monday in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Safire concluded with a direct address to Rather: "Hey, Dan: On this, recognize the preponderance of doubt. Call for a panel of old CBS hands and independent editors to re-examine sources and papers. Courage."
— Staff writer Ken Herman and the Washington Post contributed to this article.
Another site that's been around for a long time:
It would be so great if Bush had Killian's son introduce him.
Did you see CBS news last night, or the video on this story? After showing his new "experts," Rather had questions for the President regarding his TANG service. I'm thinking that the President may have a few questions for old Dan.
As in, "You've been smoking the jimsonweed again, haven't you, Dan?"
I am not wise enough to know what I really want. Half of me wants the President to stay above this fray, stay on message and go about winning re-election. The other half of me wants the President to take this opportunity to do something even bigger...landing a big blow in the even more important culture wars.
If the President directly denounces CBS's story as a politically motivated forgery by biased media, it will force MSM scrutiny. And Rather's story will collapse like a house of cards, along with CBS's credibility. It will also call into question other MSM credibility to a much larger group of people. He has the option of adding media bias to the major political issues of the day. That will not likely help him in this election...it would earn him the undying enmity of the left stream media. But it would be very good in the long term.
My prediction: Bush will not attack.
Hey DannyBoy - how about you "have questions for Kerry regarding his Vietnam records?"
Quite a commentary on the current state of credibility of CBS that a screw-up of this magnitude only drags CBS' credibility "a notch."
My exact thought! I do hope that Bush addresses this - don't think it would be smart to say nothing.
I am not sure. I am not sure if I even want him to. In essence, he would be putting his election at risk to win a longer term issue.
But that said, for all the times Rather has used the word 'Courage', this President has it. He has political courage like I have never seen before...not even Reagan had this much. Afghanistan was politically risky...Iraq was a political loser, but the right thing to do. He originally campaigned by not only touching, but grabbing the third rail of politics, SS reform. Rather may say courage a lot more often then President Bush, but President Bush has more of it than any major figure I can think of. I am not sure that he will deem it wise to do so, but if he does, you can bet President Bush has the courage to follow through.
goodmorning,
my thoughts are the same,however after the election is the time to clean house.
a huge win on our side will be a justifiable mandate.
GODSPEED!
Students at Rather's Alma Mater to Protest His Reporting.
Dan Rather--a journalism graduate from Sam Houston State Teachers College, which has since renamed itself to Sam Houston State University and named its journalism school after him--is one of his school's most famous alumni.
But not everyone there is a fan of his. The university's College Republicans group tells RatherBiased.com that it is going to be protesting the CBS anchor outside of his eponymous campus building.
"We are protesting his lazy reporting and the false documentation he has provided against George W. Bush," the group emails. "Please keep us in your thoughts tomorrow as we let Rather know that he is wrong and we do NOT support him. With luck, we will get a few news stations out here."
True. But then again, by Bush ignoring the obvious cB.S. memos, he does not give them any credibility, even a remote bit.
Did the documents come from Barnes? If so, how did they make their way to Dan Rather? Was Robin Rather the conduit, either for Barnes or for some unknown party? If so, then Dan Rather's seemingly inexplicable conduct suddenly makes sense. If the disclosure of certain facts could be expected to cause his daughter severe damage, what father would not risk everything he had to attempt to insulate her?
Now that makes sense!!
...or the 80's or the 90's. I thought Kerry topped the scale for arrogant. It's a friggin' tie.
Extremely interesting choice of words. Most journalists would have used several techniques to ensure the documents were genuine.
Or it may be that Dan Rather and the Editorial staff at CBS are a bunch of partisan hacks who are trying to influence the outcome of an election, and are prepared to sacrifice their credibility to do it.
Has Kerry addressed the National Guard yet? I'd heard that he was scheduled to, but can't remember exactly when.
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