[megatherium]

Rather and company believe what they are reporting about Bush, in their heart of hearts. So they were easily gulled by some opportunist with some fake memos. Or some dimwit of a democrat tried to manufacture "proof" that Bush didn't complete his National Guard service, or maybe some clever opponent of the democrats wanted to dilute any other evidence that Bush didn't complete his service. (That's what they're saying at DU, of course.) Who would that clever opponent be? A Karl Rove operative? A Nader operative? A Hillary operative? <laughing>

[Bonaparte]

"So they were easily gulled..."

They were not gulled, not duped, not taken in. They were pointedly warned by at least 2 of their own document experts that these memos were highly questionable. CBS knew very well that they were perpetrating fraud on their viewers. When Rather first reported on the memos, he said CBS had "thoroughly investigated" and cited the document experts to buttress his claims. He lied and that's obvious.

Nobody at CBS was deceived, hoaxed, tricked, duped, gulled, spoofed, hoodwinked, hornswoggled, flimflamed, diddled or suckered.

CBS tried to pull a fast one and got caught. Period.