[Use It Or Lose It]

Perhaps this has been asked and answered, but I don't remember hearing/seeing it anywhere:

Rather said Mary Mapes has been working on the story for four-plus years, yet Emily Will (document expert) said she received the documents over the Labor Day weekend.

The inference is that CBS was working on a story for a very long period of time without having their documentation verified until last week? Am I missing something?

[Diplomat]

You're not missing a thing, it's an obvious inside job.

[Biblebelter]

That is the kind of fog that the MSM used to get away with. That is simply old fashioned spin which is ludricous given the facts. What they meant to say is that they have been looking for the opportunity to take Bush down for years, and this seemed like their last best chance to take their shot.

[DB]

Mary Mapes has been digging for dirt on this story for years is what's being reported. Its been her pet project/obsession.

[There's millions of'em]

The inference is that CBS was working on a story for a very long period of time without having their documentation verified until last week? Am I missing something?

I'm pretty sure you have it correct. However, we don't know what else they may have or think they have on this subject. The "big shock" is that CBS has had one of their super star teams digging for dirt for 4+ years on President Bush.

One might expect they would at least ask sKerry to sign the 180.

[Rocko]

If Burkett created it, he likely did so recently, and crumpled the paper to make it seem retrieved from a trash can before he faxed it to CBS.

[TommyDale]

I think a more realistic explanation would be "Mary Mapes has been trying for four or five years to come up with a way to make this a story."

It has already been reported that the Kerry Campaign and/or the DNC had these documents 6 weeks ago. I suspect they "used" Burkett since everyone accepts the fact that he is an official nut case, and planted them with him. He then worked with Democratic operatives in Texas and sent the documents from the very same Kinko's that Dan Rather's daughter attended political meetings with her organization.

[cyncooper]

The inference is that CBS was working on a story for a very long period of time without having their documentation verified until last week? Am I missing something?

Mapes hasn't been "working" the story for four year. We've heard that all day. It's simply cover to explain why the story always pops up during a George W. Bush election campaign. You're not missing anything.

[Wolfstar]

Am I missing something?

No, you got it right, except that she was working on it for five years without turning up anything. In other words, she and Rather refused to believe anything positive. They just knew there had to be something damaging out there, and they were going to keep at it until they found it. That's not simple bias. That's obsession, blind partisanship of a deeply disturbing nature, and a complete misuse of their positions in journalism.