The latest chapter in the saga of "Rathergate" is that Lt. Col. Killian's 87 year old secretary, Marion Carr, has come out and proclaimed the documents as forgeries. In making that claim she gives very specific reasons, such as the typewriter used at the time, terminology, and date discrepancies.
The left and the mainstream media however, have ignored this and highlighted Mrs. Carr's claim that while the CBS documents are phony, their substance- that Lt. Col. Killian was under pressure to "sugarcoat" then Lt. Bush's records and cover-up his missing a physical - is nonetheless true. As we will show below, this diversion is a red herring. Unlike the specific reasoning for proclaiming the documents a forgery, her opinion as to the truth of their substance is not backed up by any specific fact.
First, we think all of us can picture someone like her. She's clearly a plucky elderly lady who is sharp and has no trouble speaking her mind. In this case she volunteers, to her credit, that President Bush was "selected, not elected", and that he is "unqualified" for the job. Kudos to her for her honestly, something noticeably absent, especially at CBS. Unfortunately for the left, it's that honesty that proves our point that she has no facts to support her claim of the underlying truth in the forgeries.
Clearly the effect of Mrs. Carr's forgery disclosures on CBS vanishing credibility are devastating. What we're going to show you is Mrs. Carr's belief as to the substance of those forgeries is pure speculation. Herein, we give you the "talking points" to throw in liberals faces when they try to divert your attention from the fact that the left got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
To begin with there are 2 places that we can find where Mrs. Brooks was interviewed. The first was with the Dallas Morning News.and the second was with Matt Drudge
After reviewing both interviews we have made a list of things Mrs. Carr stated to support her belief in the substance of the forgeries. Below we list her reasons, and show why none of them prove her contention to be anything but pure speculation.:
1. She did type "CYA" memos for Lt. Col. Killian that he kept in a personal file, which was locked desk drawer (Although she said she never typed a Bush-specific memo like the one shown by CBS) - DMN interview.
Rebuttal: Let's assume that she did type CYA memos for Lt. Col. Killian and such a personal file did exist and was kept in his desk drawer. How does she know then, that a memo she never saw (the one on Bush) even existed. She claims that Lt. Col. Killian didn't type - because he had her to do it for him. The only way she would know a Bush-specific document was in Lt. Col. Killian' personal file is if she saw it. She admits she's never seen such a memo, or handwritten notes from which other non Bush-specific CYA-type memos were prepared. Thus, the fact that Lt. Col. Killian may have kept such a file in his desk drawer - something his family vigorously disputes - it is of no consequence.
2. She claims that while the CBS memos are forgeries, they accurately reflect the information in the "real ones" (the CYA-type memos she said she typed for Killian) - DMN Interview
Rebuttal There is no possible way she could know this. Why? Simple - because she never prepared such a document in the first place. She never claims to have seen such a Bush-specific document from Lt. Col. Killian, so how in God's name could she know what the "real ones" contained. She makes no claim to having either seen the actual memo from which the CBS forgeries were made, or any handwritten notes from which CYA-type memos were transcribed. Her conclusion is false simply because the foundation from which it comes is pure speculation.
3. She claims the forged CBS memos may have been constructed from "memory" by someone who had seen Lt. Col. Killian's private file. - DMN interview. She makes the same claims in the Drudge interview, saying that "I GUESS is that someone...got a hold of the "real ones"
Rebuttal: Again, her belief rests on a collapsing house of sand. First, and most importantly, she has no knowledge whatsoever that a "real one" (a Bush-specific CYA memo) even existed in the first place. Notice her language. The memos "may have been constructed from memory" and "My guess is..". These are not words of someone with direct knowledge of anything. Further, she has no knowledge that that Lt. Col. Killian allowed anyone to see his private files where she claims CYA-type memos were locked away. Finally, she admits that she has no idea what happened to Lt. Col. Killian's private file when he retired (which was 5 years after she did). Accordingly, she is simply speculating as to where the forged memo information originated.
4. She claims that the information in the forged memos about Lt. Col. Killian's "dealing with the problem" (of the President missing a physical) is correct. - Drudge Interview
Rebuttal: Again, Mrs. Carr provides no proof other than her word that this is true. She does not say she spoke with Lt. Col. Killian specifically about Bush - or anyone else for that matter - missing physicals. For instance, her belief would be more credible if she said "Oh, I remember one day Commander X called and raised hell about what Lt. Col. Killian did when Bush missed his physical" or that she recalls Lt. Col. Killian having to deal with superiors (or other influential individuals) that contacted him specifically about President Bush. She offers literally nothing specific to back up her claims. She does state the general rules for physicals and the excuses given by pilots for not getting them (i.e. the flew commercially and couldn’t get them immediately), but she does not tie any of this to President Bush specifically, other than that she remembers the "yak-yak" when he was there. What does she mean by "yak-yak"? The contention that he got in the National Guard because of his connections -just as she claims Sen. Benson's son and other wealthy individuals did, or the "yak-yak" about a missed physical and pressure from above? We don't know either, because she doesn't say.
5. She claims that it was General Staudt, not Lt. Col. Hodges that was applying the pressure to Lt. Col. Killian to whitewash Bush's record concerning his not taking the physical. - Drudge Interview
Rebuttal: No one bothered to ask her how she knows this. Did she get a phone call for Lt. Col. Killian from Gen. Staudt specifically about the President’s not taking his physical? Was there a memo from Gen. Staudt to Lt. Col. Killian specific to President Bush? Did she remember Lt. Col. Killian expressing frustration over the pressure he was getting, or mention it to her in any way? No. She simply claims there was pressure, but gives nothing to support that charge, and even says that Gen. Staudt "MUST HAVE" put pressure on Lt. Col. Killian. Note the important words "must have". A person with direct knowledge would have said Gen. Staudt DID put pressure on Lt. Col. Killian. Until she offers something specific, her claim is worthless. Again the Killian family hotly disputes that anything like this could have happened given the good relationship the two men had.
6. We hate to sound like Bill Clinton, but the terms used here by Mrs. Carr are extremely important - specifically the term "This"
In the Drudge interview she claims to have gotten upset when someone from the White House (she doesn't say who) said the information in the CBS documents were lies. She said what made here really excited was that "I had typed documents with this information and because a person like Bush stood out from the others - because of his association with his father". The word "this" is important here because the "this" she's referring to is the Bush-specific CYA memo. However, in the neither interview does she ever claim that she typed a Bush-specific CYA memo, only that she had typed "documents like this". Again the words "documents like this" is crucial. She is referring to typing general CYA memos. At no point does she say "I typed a document specific to President Bush's not taking a physical and Killian getting pressure to "whitewash" the records.
Again, we're not saying Mrs. Carr is lying. In fact she seems to go out of her way to be specific as to what she did or didn't do. It takes a careful examination of her words to determine that while she is very specific as to why the memos are forged, her belief as to the truth of their substance is purely speculation. Try again guys, the next big forgery is just right around the corner somewhere. Better luck next time.
crushkerry.com
Hadn't Gen. Staudt retired by that time?
>> Again, we're not saying Mrs. Carr is lying.
Okay, then I will say it. She is a left-wing, extremely partisan, hack who is lying her ass off.
Well I will! She was lying when she said the other pilots talked about Bush missing drills, "they didn't like it". NO way would those guys bad mouth another pilot in front of the Old Man's secretary! In jest maybe, but military people, especially officers do NOT discuss such things that might get repeated to the boss, or that might sound disloyal to the unit.
The old gal reminded me of Newt Gingrich's Mother, when Connie Chung "chatted her up" and duped her into adding something extra to the interview. This woman might have typed up memos for her boss, but this is the same boss she said, "had fun with Bush", "liked him".
Dan coaxed and cajoled, and he lead her into the answers he had already prepped her to give. She was well prepared, which I suspect is what took so long today! Did you notice how she prefaced her most critical statements with "I want to say.....", or "I want to tell you......". The statements that followed that preface were always nasty digs at Bush, things that cannot be proven, aren't even relevant. We know she hates Bush, thinks he was "selected not elected", said he wasn't fit to lead, so those "extra" things she "wanted to say", were invented.
I think CBS/Rather is banking on the fact that republicans won't badmouth this little old lady, that they will be hurt in the polls if they do. She is perfectly willing to be used by CBS, but CBS was so blatantly editing out the other comments she has made to Texas newspapers. I'm willing to bet that as she was prepped for this taping, her story got progressively more negative toward Bush.
I've known mean old women like this, haven't you? They love to dish the dirt and that's what she was doing with Dan. Guaranteed, if Bush were a democrat, her tale to Dan would have been the exact opposite in tone.
Pompous, arrogant Dan Rather! I give it one news cycle before this performance tonight is thoroughly discredited by the media.
Rather spent 4 years working on this story. Why??? Becasue he wanted to discredit G. W. Bush. I'd say, Rather is even more obsessed with bringing down the president than this little old woman.
If she never typed the memos, there were no memos in the "private file" re: Lt. Bush. Therefore, there was nothing for anyone to "reconstruct" from memory. Or am I missing something here?