In Rush to Air, CBS Quashed Memo Worries

Washington Post ^ | 09/20/2004 | Howard Kurtz, Michael Dobbs

[jhouston]

In the early-morning hours of Sept. 8, Dan Rather was preparing to fly to Washington for a crucial interview in the Old Executive Office Building, but torrential rain kept him in New York.

White House communications director Dan Bartlett had agreed to talk to "60 Minutes," but only on condition that the CBS program provide copies of what were being billed as newly unearthed memos indicating that President Bush had received preferential treatment in the National Guard. The papers were hand-delivered at 7:45 a.m. CBS correspondent John Roberts, filling in for Rather, sat down with Bartlett at 11:15.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

How am I supposed to verify something that came from a dead man in three hours?

Kerry was able to deny the validity of "Unfit for Command" without reading a page of it.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[jhouston]

The good thing about this and the NYT story is that a lot of large metropolitan papers (e.g. Houston Chronicle) subscribe to the WP and NYT services and will reprint these throughout the country tomorrow in the Sunday morning papers.

[GraniteStateConservative]

We're collectively better at most everything than the WH staff.

[68skylark]

What a bizarre story. Thanks for the post.

[js1138]

Hey, Howard Kurtz and Michael Dobbs, an I know you're lurking -- this is as stupid as the BS that CBS put out last week. It won't fly.

I'm sure that a lit of the trivial details are correct. It has that glossy look and feel of the best fictional journalism, but the underlying thesis is that CBS fully expects to find the real OJ killer.

The problem is that the person or persons that forged the documents are the same people who have been pushing the story for two decades. The documents are fake and the people behind them are proven liars.

Keep it up and the Post will go down the drain with CBS.

[68skylark]

CBS is behaving just like the Clinton White House during the Lewinsky-Willey-Broaderick scandals -- deny, evade, argue, lie, stonewall, shift blame, act like a victim, then go back to the beginning and start over.

[CurlyDave]

As us. We did it.

Not exactly a fair comparison.

If this had been a national security issue, it may have been possible.

This was a political issue and if our President had used government resources to comment on it he would have been guilty of converting government money for his own personal use.

I don't think the intellectual power and speed of the internet has been recognized by anyone but daily participants in the phenomenon.

[knuthom]

"This gave us such a sense of security at that moment that we had the story," Howard said. "We gave the documents to the White House to say, 'Wave us off this if we're wrong.' " But Bartlett said CBS never asked him to verify the memos and that he had neither the time nor the resources to do so.

Wave us off this if we're wrong? If the White house had objected, Dan Rather would have been MORE sure he was on the right track.

[68skylark]

This must be a confusing time for the MSM -- they don't want to turn on one of their own family, but they don't want to be splashed with all the crap either. Time to choose, fellas!

[fightinJAG]

I love the question at the end about "as CBS been hoaxed." No, CBS fell short of every standard of journalistic integrity that exists.

The "kind of silly" guy is kind of silly. And they talk about Republicans being out of touch?

Finally, I am struck again by the fact that this was a non-story from the git-go. No one would have cared about a young lt who was transitioning out of the Guard missing a physical.

[counterpunch]

During the Republican National Convention in New York, Rather got a call from Ben Barnes, a onetime Texas lieutenant governor and veteran Democrat who has known the anchor, a former Houston TV reporter, for 30 years. Barnes said he was ready to say before the cameras that he had pulled strings to get Bush a coveted slot in the Texas Guard in 1968. Mapes had long been urging Barnes to tell his story.

On Friday, Sept. 3, the day after the convention ended, Mapes hit pay dirt. She told Howard her source had given her the documents.

Previously CBS told us that Ben Barnes came forward to give his testimony only after CBS has obtained these "documents".

But now we learn that Barnes -- Kerry's Texas campaign co-chair -- was the one who contacted Dan Rather.. a couple days before CBS recieved the documents!

Why is this significant?
Because that means Barnes saw the documents BEFORE CBS did. The source had to have shared the documents with the Kerry campaign first meaning it was the Kerry camoaign itself who most likely was the middle man in the hand off. At the very least the Kerry campaign co-ordinated it.

[mass55th]

"Rather: This is going to stain my career like..."

...like the stain in my drawers."

[traviskicks]

"So much of this debate has focused on the documents, and no one has really challenged the story. It's been frustrating to us to see all this reduced to a debate over little 'th's."


What is left of the story? What are the allegations? This CBS story is the shoddiest piece of journalism I have EVER SEEN. I cannot believe it. If I was the CEO of a company that were this incompetant I would fire the lot.

[savedbygrace]

After the show, one colleague asked an elated Rather whether he was sure the documents were real. "I have never been more confident of a story in my life," he said.

Bwahahahahahaha.

[rod1]

Yeah they rushed alright. FOUR YEARS trying to get this sorry story off the ground. More a desparation move by the libs supporting media. Good Work DAN
The post should stop trying to cover for a thoughtful (clearly stupid) and calculated move by CBS

[68skylark]

Exactly -- you nailed it. Everything they say no is just after-the-fact nonsense. They're trying to get their guilty backsides out of the mess they willingly fell into. So we get spin, lies and evasions.

[AlaskaErik]

As the days begin to blur for Josh Howard, he embraces the same logic: "So much of this debate has focused on the documents, and no one has really challenged the story. It's been frustrating to us to see all this reduced to a debate over little 'th's."

The memos are forgeries...get over it! The real story is why is CBS continuing to stand behind their story when no intellegent person in the country believes the memos are real. The real story is that CBS will continue to stand behind the story so they won't have to reveal their source, which would undoubtedly lead back to the DemocRATS.

[traviskicks]

It seems CBS is trying to blame the whitehouse.... UNBELIEVEABLE!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Kerry was able to deny the validity of "Unfit for Command" without reading a page of it.

And we saw how well that worked.

At some point the MSM is going to learn that, "No comment" from this White House means "Nice Rope. Would you like to borrow a chair?"