CBS stands by Bush Guard story (Bush to address National Guard today)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | September 14, 2004 | MARLON MANUEL

[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.

[rabidralph]

I think the president prefers to stay out of the way and let his opposition collect more rope to hang themselves with. I'm all for that. It's his last campaign and it's the dims last chance to try and smear the president. Once they play all their cards, they will have distracted themselves from the issues that matter, John Kerry will still be talking about Vietnam and the president will cruise to re-election.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Kerry And The Killing***....In an exclusive, The Point has obtained this document from U.S. Navy archives (you can see it here). The pertinent section reads:

"PCF 94 beached in center of ambush in front of small path when Viet Cong sprung up from bunker 10 feet from unit. Man ran with weapon towards hootch. Forward M-60 machine gunner wounded man in leg. Officer-in-charge, LTjg Kerry, jumped ashore and gave pursuit while other units saturated area with fire and beached placing assault parties ashore. Kerry chased VC inland behind hootch and shot him while he fled -- capturing one B-40 rocket launcher with round in chamber."

So there you have it. The official record written by John Kerry supports what the critics have alleged rather than the John Wayne Kerry version the Massachusetts liberal has been telling....***

[Williams]

Rather quoted a White House spokesman as saying, "As you know, we have repeatedly addressed these issues."

And this Rather considers a mortal sin, the fact that the White House has answered all these questions over the years. And didn't want to get involved with Rather's latest make believe story. Dan rather is not a serious journalist, never has been. He's an aging and petulent left wing jerk.

[VoteHarryBrowne2000]

It may in fact be useless to contact the sponsors but what alternative do we have? To do nothing? To wait for another lie to be manufactured and then another? If we want to maintain our liberties and our country then we have to act. The acts can be small like talking to someone who is misinformed or misguided to help them understand that is going on in America. To make a few phone calls, even if futile, will be making a David versus Goliath statement. If there are enough David's in this country we can and will overcome this pox on our nation!

The liberal intelligentsia has infiltrated our universities and our media, not to mention our federal government agencies like the State Department. The only recourse we have is to act as consumers and as citizens. We can organize and protest and vote. We still have some free political speech left to us, let's use it before it's gone too!

[motzman]

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.

Even if Dan was a "victim", he's had ample opportunity to correct the hoax, and has not. He's complicit. He's covering for someone. His daughter's fingerprints are all over this. (IMHO)

[Mamzelle]

Bush shouldn't attack.

He should just make a little jest about it. Play it for a small laugh, a chuckle to be enjoyed and forgotten about .

Ra^th has a Texas-sized grudge against the Bushes that he has indulged many times in public, and in Austin. I wouldn't blame GW a bit if he directed a funny little jab Danny's way.

[airstrike]

I think you're right, not a hoax but a creation of Dan Rather. He is too eager to bring down Pres Bush and his judgement got clouded. Rather once wrote a book and he should have remembered at least the title - "The Camera Never Blinks".

[reformedliberal]

There is no reason to attack. This story has one purpose: to force W to deny the charges. Then, the Old Media could make W's denial the story and pick it apart letter-by-letter.

W can go about his business as POTUS and getting re-elected. The bloggers and increasingly, the majority of what is left of the credible media, will take CBS down along w/this bogus story.

This isn't going to end. They are setting up the scenario for the next 4 years of attacking the POTUS and threatening impeachment every chance they get. We have several more election cycles ahead where diminishing the power of the Donks is going to have to be the main agenda.

Yesterday I spoke with an Evangelical very active in her faith and in her church. She knows no one who is going to buy any smears against W this time around. People are turning off their TVs and not listening to the slime. Most of them are very aware that they were rolled on the DUI in 2000. "Fool me once........."

[Mach9]

You do make sense. Might it have been McPeak, tho--former SecAF who's doing ads for JFK?

[The_Victor]

MEMO

TO: Dan Ra^ther

SUBJECT: Holes, Pits, Craters, Hollows, Wells, ect...

Dan,

Quit digging.

[Condor51]

Might it have been McPeak, the--former SecAF who's doing ads for JFK?

That I'd doubt. McPeak would know the proper AF acronyms and abbreviations - which were not used in the fake memos.

Personally I like the fake PO box used "34567", that's a hoot. Too bad they didn't use I812, that would have been equally amusing.

[sweetiepiezer]

George W is here today to address them and John F. Kerry is here on Thursday.
I hope the National Guard boos Kerry.

[Cboldt]

Personally I like the fake PO box used "34567", that's a hoot.

The PO Box has been discussed at length here on FR. Here is a document from Bush, released in February this year. Page 9, Box #16 ...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/bushdocs/6-Reassignments_Spilt_Training.pdf <--

And another source ... (one page, same document, Box #16) ...

http://www.cis.net/~coldfeet/doc7.gif <-- Clickit

[Tribune7]

The docs are forgeries but just for an interesting intellectual exercise let's suppose they weren't.

Mr. Rather what's the big deal if Bush snuck out of TANG a little early?

Rater: It speaks to his character.

So what?

Rater: It shows he's irresponsible. That he can't be trusted witht he nuclear football.

Well, why was this not a consideration with Clinton? His bodyguard was accusing him of smuggling cocaine for Pete's sake. State police said he was using them to procure women.

Rater: They were clearly kooks and screwballs. You can't take the words of kooks and screwballs seriously. Right, Kenneth. Kenneth. I have the frequency. Courage.

[Mach9]

Other Air Force types WOULD know--McPeak, I'm not so sure. But I didn't mean McPeak individually/personally--how about one of his admin folks (who, by the way, would have no more idea of how Killian wrote personal memos than Killian's wife). Not only that McP should have an axe to grind with the AF, anyway.

[LS]

That's fine, but I think it's ineffective. We have the template in front of us, and it is free enterprise. The media failed the consumers, so an alternative was created under it's very nose and is now beating it.

In education, this will be slow, but the wave of the future is private, mostly on-line universities. These are growing by leaps and bounds. The main problem is the accreditation process, which the mainstream Us control, but there is even a way around that. As I say, this will take time, but God revels in patience.

[Condor51]

Ok, I see the two docs with po box 34567, however I thought it was debunked.

[Cboldt]

Ok, I see the two docs with po box 34567, however I thought it was debunked.

Not that it matters, there are many indicia of forgery, but the charge is that the TexANG never used a PO Box in its letterhead.

But, PO Box 34567 did belong to the 111st FIS in that era.

[Billie]

Anxious to hear how Bush's speech is received at the NG - and WHY does kerry always have to copycat President Bush's audiences?

I can't believe he even has the courage to address these groups. He's in denial, I guess, about the way the military feels about him.

[1Old Pro]

My prediction: Bush will not attack.

He'll make a j0ke about Rather, I just don't know where or when, but he will.