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.
"MOMMY! DAN RATHER WINKED AT ME!!! WAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAH!"
They are bullies and they need to be confronted because bullies will only cease when someone bigger than they come against them. I have a theory that these media bullies who seem to care nothing about truth and seem to care a lot about the dictators in the world actually do like the dictators because they are bullies, too. I left the Democratic party when I realized that the ideology was actually one where the government became dictatorial, handing out as it sees fit and not allowing natural human ability to prevail. And, any means of achieving this was deemed acceptable..We are seeing this much played out at the moment.
Just called WJZ in Baltimore but had to leave a message. Was very polite and pointed out that I reproduced the "memos" on my own PC and wanted them to present a story that shows the errors in cBS's reporting.
Compiled a list of the corporate sponsors for 60 Min II from the link http://s91935771.onlinehome.us/.
Sprint 888-322-3961
Splenda 800-777-5363
Pepcid 800-755-4008
Novartus - 800-742-2422
Morgan Stanley 866-742-6669
Merck 800-755-4008
Kleenex (Kimberly-Clark Professional) 888-346-4652
KIA 800-333-4542
Infiniti 800-662-6200
The Home Depot 800-430-3376
Estee Lauder 877-311-3883
Cingular 800-331-0500
Campbell's 800-257-8443
Aventis 800-633-1610
UPS 800-742-5877
Call and politely inform them that due to cBS's biased reported and their support for it that I'm not going to choose their brands or purchase their stock unless they stop advertising with cBS.
It's not a matter of courage. It's a kind of "turn the other cheek" Christian thang. There is no need for Bush to attack Rather. People know Bush. He has faith.
And these attacks are against Bush. If Blather was attacking Cheney or H.W. Bush or anyone else he would be right in the middle of it. But defending yourself only admits that you feel vulnerable. Besides, Dubya is on offense not defense. Maybe he is too confident.
IMHO
Barnes, Rather Daughter Co-sponsored Dem's Fund-raiser.
September 12, 2004
Ben Barnes, the Democratic lobbyist and former lieutenant governor of Texas who was featured prominently in the 60 Minutes report that triggered the Memogate controversy, was the co-sponsor of a fund-raiser for a liberal district attorney in Texas along with Dan Rather's daughter, Robin, an Austin-based environmental activist.
According to the web site of Ronnie Earle, district attorney for Travis County, Texas, Ben Barnes and Robin Rather were among a the small group of sponsors for an October 3, 2000 fund-raising event for Earle's reelection campaign.
In 2001, Dan Rather was the keynote speaker at a Travis County Democratic Party event. He spoke there at the behest of his daughter.
Given the closeness of the Travis County, it's very likely that Ben Barnes was at the event.
To which Rather would respond:
"Hey Bill: I already made a semi-limited hangout. Now I'm in my stonewll mode in order to let CBS News twist slowly in the wind. What's the frequency, Bill?"
For Immediate Release:
February 6, 2004
For information contact:
Ted Burton, 512-476-4368, ext. 306
Robin Rather Joins EnviroMedia's Growing Research Department
Founding CEO of Mindwave Research named Director of Research
(AUSTIN) - Austin-based Tuerff-Davis EnviroMedia Inc. is teaming with Robin Rather to expand the agency's in-house research department.
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these papers should be taken seriously
experts who strongly insist the documents could have been created in the '70s
Lots of wiggle room in their defense, I'd say...
I tend to agree. And don't just stop with they are forgeries. State with clarity that the information contained in them is false also.
For some reason, they have haveen reluctant to do that. It could be staying above the fray or it could be something more.
For the sake of clarity, they need to be crystal clear in denouncing the documents AND the information they bear.
LOL
I can't say that enough: ANY mention of Vietnam, however subliminal or oblique, favors Bush, because Francois has based his entire campaign on Iraq/WOT-by-proxy of Vietnam. He has no other issue. Bush knows this.
It explains that the MSM has now abandoned "objectivity" and makes no bones about it because it figures---FROM A MARKET STANDPOINT---that it has already lost the "conservatives" to Fox and talk radio and the internet. So its sponsors likely have already also made that calculation.
"My prediction: Bush will not attack."
If the press askes Bush to defend what was written in the memos, my bet is he'll say "The memos are fake".
Joe sixpack says, "Why doesn't that Kerry guy talk about something besides Vietnam or these memos?" He may not be smart enought to go through the steps to follow Kerry's "Vietnam-is-how-I-would-deal-with-Iraq/WOT" logic, but intuitively, which is how many Americans vote he senses this.
we need to get past this ....this is what the DEMS want..a side track.....EXPOSE KERRY, Bush can defend himself!!!
this new article about kerry's silver star ...has longer legs regarding the truth about kerry, but press is killing time on this ALREADY BELEIVED TO BE A FORGERY....
**** this is a no brainer...DNC wants Bloggers consumed on this, so swiftvet, and Truth about KERRY DIRECTLY doesn't get presssed *****
Anybody here believe that the Prez would send his wife out to lie for him? I'm not one of them...
It's getting tedious hearing this called a "hoax" like it's some kind of joke perpetrated against poor Dan. It's a fraud clearly perpetrated by Dan.
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