Posted on 09/20/2004 8:54:24 AM PDT by TheGeezer
Edited on 09/20/2004 9:07:32 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
My favorite line from that movie:
"Those aren't pillows!!!"
I hope they release a memo...
Turn on the shower and set beeber to "stune"!
Drudge is also saying the have an interview with "the source" of the memos that they're going to air. We know Rather was in Texas and Bill Burkett is all but confirmed as the source.
It will be quite interesting to see this interview. Will he make a full confession and explain his motives, or will he press the case that he was only "reassembling" documentation he was aware of but had gone missing.
I suspect the latter. And if CBS lends any credence to that explanation, they might as well gut the newsroom and turn it into a Starbucks franchise.
I thought Dan wanted to make this announcement himself...???
Here it is from Drudge
STATEMENT FROM DAN RATHER:
Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.
Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.
But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.
Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
Another one?
"Pay no attention to the little blogger behind the curtain..."
"A third-rate forgery."
"I am not a kook."
"I will be resigning the anchorship..... "
Is it possible to get the mod to add a line to the title when the announcement is made?
FEDERAL WIRE FRAUD STATUTE
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343.
Summary - If you are found guilty of using Radio, Television or phone lines (including fax machines) to commit Fraud you can get up to 20 years in prison.
No wonder CBS may now claim they are the victims.
Rather's mea culpa
Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.
Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.
But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.
Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
GOP lawmaker calls for congressional investigation of CBS for Bush Guard service story
Originally published Thursday, September 16, 2004 NEW YORK (AP) -- A leading House Republican on Wednesday asked for a congressional investigation into disputed documents used by CBS News for a story examining President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard.
Some document experts have questioned whether a memo believed to come from one of Bush's commanders at the time was fake. The memo from Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, used by CBS in its "60 Minutes" report last week, indicated Bush didn't follow orders to take a physical and that Killian was being pressured to sugarcoat his performance ratings.
"We continue to believe in this story," said Betsy West, CBS News' senior vice president.
Rep. Chris Cox, R-Calif., sought an investigation.
"Despite the growing abundance of evidence that CBS News has aided and abetted fraud, the network has declined to reveal the source of the disputed documents," Cox wrote to the chairman of the House Energy Committee's subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet.
The letter asks Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., to "commence a subcommittee investigation into the continued use by CBS News of apparently forged documents concerning the service record of President George W. Bush intended to unfairly damage his reputation and influence the outcome of the 2004 presidential election."
CBS had no immediate comment on Cox's request.
Two experts hired by CBS News to examine the documents said Tuesday they could not vouch for their veracity. Meanwhile, a former secretary in the guard said Tuesday she believed the documents in question were fake, although they accurately reflected Killian's thoughts.
CBS News on Tuesday said Dan Rather's report did not rely on assessments made by the two examiners, and found it notable the secretary affirmed the content of the documents.
CBS said its story about Bush's guard service relied on much more than documents. But the controversy has raised credibility questions for the network news division and it's not certain if those questions will be definitively answered.
Questions were immediately raised about the documents' legitimacy, with some believing they were produced by a computer not available at the time.
Emily Will, a documents examiner from North Carolina hired by CBS, said she told the network before the report aired that she questioned handwriting in the documents she was shown and whether it could have been produced by a typewriter.
Her main concern was that she was not provided a known sample of the signature to use for comparison.
"Although I never told them, and I still would say the documents were definitely not authentic, I had some problems with the documents," Will told The Associated Press late Tuesday.
Will said she e-mailed a CBS producer and urged her the night before the broadcast not to play up that a professional document examiner had authenticated the papers.
Another expert hired by CBS, Linda James of Plano, Texas, told the AP that she raised concerns about signature samples.
"I really pressed that because I knew that other document examiners looking at the same documents would have a real problem authenticating these," she said.
CBS News said that Will and James played only a "peripheral role" in assessing the documents, and had seen only one of the four used in the report. Ultimately they deferred to another expert who has seen all four documents, Marcel Matley.
West said Will did not contact the network the night before the report aired.
"I am not aware of any substantive objections raised," she said. "She did not urge us to hold the story."
James told CBS News she needed to know more about the documents before rendering any judgments, West said. CBS said it contacted five document experts before the report aired and two since, and continues to report the story. In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Killian's former secretary, 86-year-old Marian Carr Knox, also questioned the documents.
"These are not real," Knox told the newspaper. "They're not what I typed, and I would have typed them for him."
Knox told the newspaper she did not recall typing the memos, but that they echoed Killian's views on Bush. She said he retained memos for a personal "cover his back" file he kept in a locked drawer of his desk, but she was not sure what happened to them when he died in 1984.
When contacted Tuesday at her Houston home, Knox's son, Pat Carr, told The Associated Press his mother did not wish to elaborate on her comments to the newspaper.
CBS News spokeswoman Sandra Genelius said CBS did not believe Knox was a documents expert and that the network believes the documents are genuine.
"It is notable that she confirms the content of the documents, which was the primary focus of our story in the first place," Genelius said.
First lady Laura Bush was the first in the GOP campaign to say the latest documents were probably forged.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the first lady was speaking for herself and that Bush felt no need to further address questions about his National Guard service. The White House has not come to any conclusions about the documents and is not investigating them, he said.
oh, Danny Boy,
I am just waiting on pins and needles as to what your upcoming stmts will be. Since you so UNREALIBLE! I will take anything that comes from Main Stream Media as a grain of salt.
I still want to know why they are planning to interview from the culprit. CBS should have apoligized to the President also.
Game, set, match...
Too little too late. Credibility zero.
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