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

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.

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.

"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 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.

My Favorite post for dims and trolls
who slither in here each day.
And the Lame Stream media
who find the real news on Free Republic,
then rewrite and spin the truth.

JOHN KERRY
CLICK HERE TO SIGN FORM 180

BUSH SIGNED FORM 180

WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?
WHAT IS YOUR SECRET?
WHAT DON'T YOU WANT
AMERICA AND THE PRESS TO KNOW?

E-Mail this story AND links to the media today.

John Kerry directly contributed to the lies of the anti war movement AND caused deaths and injuries
to US Military serving in Vietnam AND
directly caused deaths from injuries at home AND countless suicides because of his false testimony.

John Kerry is not fit to be elected dog catcher let alone President of the United States.
ANYONE who votes for Kerry AFTER knowing this data
is guilty of covering up John Kerry's war crimes!

John Kerry, director of the Vietnam Veterans against the War,
testified before special session the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
April 22, 1971

KERRY GAVE TESTIMONY BASED UPON FALSE INFORMATION
THAT KERRY KNEW AHEAD OF TIME TO BE FALSE!

September 6, 2004 -- **BREAKING** In Yesterday's Lies: Steve Pitkin and the Winter Soldiers, Scott Swett tells the story of a former VVAW member and participant in the Winter Soldier Investigation who states that John Kerry and others pressured him to give false testimony about American atrocities in Vietnam. After more than 33 years, Pitkin is the first Winter Soldier "witness" to file a legal affadavit regarding that event...

My name is Steve Pitkin, age 20, from Baltimore. I served with the 9th Division from May of '69 until I was airvaced in July of '69. I'll testify about the beating of civilians and enemy personnel, destruction of villages, indiscriminate use of artillery, the general racism and the attitude of the American GI toward the Vietnamese. I will also talk about some of the problems of the GIs toward one another and the hassle with officers.

-- Steve Pitkin, Winter Soldier Investigation, February 1, 1971.

E-Mail and/or fax these url's to EVERYONE ASAP! Kerry MUST be exposed NOW!
PUT PRESSURE ON THE MEDIA TO COVER THIS BEFORE NOV 2nd

Steve Pitkin Story

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=YesterdaysLies1

Steve Pitkin Affadavit, August 31, 2004

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinAff

Steve Pitkin DD-214

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/graphics/PitkinDD214.jpg

Steve Pitkin WSI testimony

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinWSI

Steve Pitkin WSI video clips -- February 1, 1971 (4:16, 1.6MB)

http://www.wintersoldier.com/video/pitkin2.wmv

John F. Kerry
Timeline of a traitor.
Click Here

http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html

Guide to Local Media
Locate media in your zip code, gives you links to YOUR local media with phone, e-mail etc info.

Free Internet Fax Service
Free E-Mail to Fax from your computer, just fill in form on page , they do the rest.
Make sure you enter fax # like this 12025551212 (no spaces or -)

Is the number you want them to SEND FREE FAX covered?

Complete list of areas they SEND FREE FAXES to

Kerry's disrespect in 1971 to USA Symbols Video

Windows Media .......... Real Player .......... Quick Time .......... AOL

Ramsey Clark to Join Panel for Saddam’s Defense
arabnews press release 25 August 2004
NOTE :
Ramsey Clark is pictured below with Kerry and
Vietnam phony vet Al Hubbard
Who was head of the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War movement.

Al Hubbard Sgt., 22 Troop Carrier Squadron Aug. ’65-June ’66
- Al Hubbard, proven fraud who never set foot in Viet Nam.
The only Vietnamese he ever met was
when he was collaborating with the North Vietnamese in Paris
on the American Communist Party's nickel.

John Kerry's explanation:
"He (Hubbard) simply exaggarated his particular position.
But nobody knew it at the time. And those things happen."

Free online version of
Kerry's "The New Soldier"
You can read it online right now.

Kerry hopes everyone
in the USA gets this book!

NEW:
“Without question,
we were held captive longer
because of the anti-war people,
the Kerrys, the Fondas and Haydens,
the names we knew over there -
they encouraged the enemy to hang on.”
Excerpt from “Stolen Honor” website
- Leo Thorsness
Former Vietnam POW
CLICK HERE

Jane Fonda tells the student audience at the Michigan State University in 1969:

"I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope,
you would pray on your knees, that we would someday become communist."

Joe Moore, Can Tho Airfield 550th Signal Company

Copy and paste the links to everyone you know.

Steve Pitkin Affadavit, August 31, 2004

http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/staticpages/index.php?page=PitkinAff

John F. Kerry Timeline of a traitor

http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html

Kerry's disrespect in 1971
to USA Symbols Video

Windows Media
http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/medals.wmv

Real Player
http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/medals.rm

Quick Time
http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/medals.mov

AOL
http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/medals.mpg

Send this url for the online "The New Soldier" version

http://ejsmithweb.com/fr/newsoldier/

Send this url for the Stolen Honor website

http://www.stolenhonor.com/

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