Fax# (212) 975-1998
Posted on 09/15/2004 8:31:30 PM PDT by The Bandit
CBS has a problem on their hands. They have this square peg they been trying to beat into a round hole and it just won't fit no matter how many times they beat it with a hammer. Instead of using a round peg they appear to have decided to replace their square peg with yet another square peg in hopes they can somehow force it to fit.
CBS has a name for their new square peg: Marion Carr Knox.
It is obviously clear that Ms. Knox is a perfect fit for the square thinking of CBS -- she considers Bush "unfit" and selected, not elected. And better yet for CBS, she agrees the memos genuinely describe Col. Jerry Killian's thinking at the time.
Not all is well with CBS' new square peg.
Knox claims she has been following the story since last week (Sept. 10) when the 60 MINUTES II broadcast aired, and on Friday she contacted the HOUSTON CHRONICLE wanting to tell her side of the story.
"What really hecked me off was when it was somebody on TV, associated with the White House, who said that all of this information was lies. And I got excited at the time because I knew that I had typed documents with this information because a person like Bush stood out from the others -- because of his association with his father," Knox said.
As of Sept. 11, no one from the White House had challenged or vouched for the memo's authenticity. So why did Ms. Knox really contact the Houston Chronicle? Perhaps because CBS needed help because of obvious signs that the memos were forgeries and were having trouble advancing the story that the memos contents were true regardless of the memos authenticity.
Last week, Knox said she had no firsthand knowledge of Bush's time with the Texas Air National Guard, although she did recall a culture of special treatment for the sons of prominent people, such as Bush and others.
She goes on to claim that she typed real memos just like the forged memos: "I typed memos that had this information in them, but I did not type these memos [forged memos]," she told the Drudge Report.
"The information in here [forged memos] was correct, but it was picked up from the real ones," she said. "I probably typed the information and somebody picked up the information some way or another."
Knox also claims that Killian kept memos for a personal "cover his back" file he kept in a locked drawer of his desk. Yet his widow and son say Killian never had such a file. Knox did not say why Killian would have a need for a "cover his back" file.
Even odder is the statement from Knox: "The information in these memos is correct -- like Killian's dealing with the problems." Looking at the memos there is no clear or apparent problems. Where are the imaginary problems? The flight medical exam? That isn't a problem because Bush was in AL and it was no where near his birthday in which flight medical's are scheduled around.
Perhaps Ms. Knox will be good enough to explain why - if these memos are true as she says they are -- why Bush was identified as "crew member on flight status" on his May 1973 medical examination?
It is convenient for CBS that such a savior as Ms. Knox could surface just in time to offer independent support of CBS' charges that the contents accurately reflect what Col. Killian really wrote and felt. Even more convenient for CBS is the fact their savior has no firsthand knowledge of Bush's time with the Texas Air National Guard!
So far CBS still does not appear to have any interests in those who personally knew Killian or worked closely with him. They did attempt to use one, a Gen. Hodges, but ended up turning against him after he revealed he was never shown the memos by CBS. So much of objective journalism at CBS. Now CBS claims Gen. Hodges misstates the facts but fail to mention exactly what facts (like there is many facts in the entire CBS story to begin with.)
Another CBS TANG officer, Robert Strong, offered nothing to the story CBS is attempting to advance, which made his appearance on 60-Minutes II puzzling.
Alarmingly absent from the CBS story is witnesses like his widow and son Gary or other guardsman officers who under Col. Killian. It is these people who hold the real keys to this entire story. Unfortunately for CBS Ms. Knox and other revelations that CBS might use to substantiate their claims are just another square peg that doesn't fit.
Did they fly her to New York for the interview?
I understand a reporter protecting it's news source but can news people protect forgers?
I don't think so.
Here will be their defense.
Prove these doc's are forged without a doubt.
Listen for "we will never know the truth"
"copy from a copy can never determine the truth"
blah blah blah The pundits have already started protecting us from the truth!
Wonder what happened to the word "served"? hmmmm Should be "who served under Col. Killian"
Huh?
Someone like Bush...begins with a B... hmm like maybe Bentson III.
What I keep saying every time I read the story :-)
Bath, Burkett, Barnes... all begin with B... Hey she's 86.
No. A reporter has no right to protect a source if that source has committed a crime and the reporter, by protecting the source, allows the source protection from prosecution. In this case, we talking about a federal crime because it is illegal to forge documents to influence a federal election.
Killians son told Sean Hannity that Knox was not his father's personal secretary, as has been previously reported. She was typing documents for a lot of people besides Killian.
Killian also said that she wouldn't have been privy to hearing the things she claims to have heard.
She sure doesn't like Bush, but I also think that this is her "15 minutes" of fame. Rather is playing the old bag like a fine violin trying to drum up some sympathy for himself and to validate his piece of garbage story.
Another interesting development are the two document experts that CBS consulted who told CBS they were definitly fishy, to say the least. One of these two requested additional documents to make comparisons, which CBS told her they had and would send to her. She never got the additional documents they were supposed to have sent her.
To me, this clearly shows that when this woman didn't tell them what they wanted to hear, they no longer had any use for her.
This is a huge credibility issue for them to have been ignorning not only key witnesses, but document experts who were telling them that this whole thing was a sham.
An investigation by Congress is not out of the question. That beginnings of that may have been put in motion today, with 39 officals signatures on the letter asking CBS to retract the story and provide their source of the forgeries, topped of with accusations of CBS attempting to influence a Federal Election.
Democrats of course, cried foul.
Well, for once I agree with them. This is about the foulest thing I've ever seen.
I wondered, what made his father so important back then; it was before he really came to power, IIRC. So, here's what I found from the bio of GHWB:
Bush was elected in 1966 to a safely Republican seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He gave up the seat in 1970 to run again for the Senate. He was defeated again, this time by Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, Jr. Shortly after his defeat, Bush was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (UN; 1971–72). In 1973, as the Watergate Scandal was erupting, Bush became chairman of the Republican National Committee. In this post, he stood by President Nixon until August 1974, when he joined a growing chorus of voices calling on the president to resign.
I don't think that him being the UN ambassador would have made Ms. Knox 'remember' Dubya getting special treatment. I think she's remembering what she WANTS to remember.
Lets keep the eye one the ball. If their fake there is nothing to the contents.
I' appreciate any old Texans with knowledge of Texas poltics to diiscuss how likely it would be for someone to be so impressed with the son of G H W Bush in the Teaxs of 1970. If I'm wrong I'll stand corected.
Knox: "Yes."
Rather: "How could that be?
Knox: "Hmmm, someone must have seen what I typed and duplicated it later."
What utter, shameful C-BS. Of course, instead of examining her like a decent reporter would on her blanket assertion that everything in the memos was true, Dan Rather glossed over the two biggest factual discrepencies that she pointed out:
1. General Stoudt had retired 18 months earlier and he was not a factor on base anymore. (Say goodbye to the whole "suger-coating" memo).
2. She specifically says that flight physicals would take place near the airman's birthday--not two months early.(Say goodbye to the flight physical direct-order memo, especially since a "direct order" wouldn't go out in this non-official memo form).
Now, am I missing something? What else does CBS have without these two smoking guns, even if the other two memos really are "accurate" retyped forgeries of Killian's CYA file?
I just hope that CBS quickly admits that all four memos are more recent than 1972, and therefore have fake signatures as well as several other incorrect details. This might allow this distraction to cool down. I think that we've gotten maximum advantage of it by now. CBS blinked. They brought on a woman that confused the situation but she also said she typed all of Killian's work on either an Olympia manual or a plain-old non-proportional Selectric. They let her tell the world that she was there and these documents that CBS relied on are fake.
My guess is, yes they will move to false witnesses and claim that the story is all that matters, the clue was in the CBS statement they were going to look in to the veracity (not the exact word). They were only interested in the vericating the story not authenticating the documents.
Rather is desperately trying to make the claim that while the documents may be questionable, their content remains true. Both the Killian story and Dan Rather's reputation have crumbled , and the 86 year old lady he's holding on to won't be able to save either. Let's hope Peter Jennings is next.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.