Posted on 09/21/2004 1:36:35 AM PDT by kattracks
CBS News President Andrew Heyward and anchorman Dan Rather yesterday acknowledged what everyone outside broadcast headquarters knew for much of the past two weeks: The "60 Minutes" gotcha that purported to prove George W. Bush's military malingering never should have been aired.Messrs. Heyward and Rather, finally, had no choice but to abandon their staunchly defended report because it had long since been discredited as based on forged memos. Even so, Heyward and Rather still have not come fully clean with the American public. Their formal statements were masterpieces of evasion. Neither took due responsibility for the blunders that damaged the credibility of CBS News. Instead, they blamed an unstable, disgruntled former National Guard officer for making patsies of them.
The network said Bill Burkett "deliberately misled the CBS News producer working on the report," and Rather said, "I find we have been misled on the key questions of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers." While both statements were undoubtedly true, they were still startlingly incomplete.
News organizations fall victim to fraud. More often than not, it happens when someone fails to abide by standards established to protect against being had. There's now plenty of evidence that Rather and his crew made errors that will shock journalism students for years to come. Yet it was only when interviewed by Channel 2's Marcia Kramer that an obviously shaken Rather last night admitted: "I didn't dig hard enough, long enough, didn't ask enough of the right questions." Well, duh.
The mea culpas were in keeping with CBS' attempts to defend the broadcast in the face of an onslaught of challenges, including warnings from its own experts not to rely on the documents. Rather called those warnings "fair criticism." CBS says an independent panel will review the network's handling of the story. The findings will be made public. They're likely to be scathing, which may explain why Heyward and Rather have not been more forthcoming.
What Bush should tell the UN
Mr. Secretary General. Distinguished fellow members of the world community of nations.
Well, God knows why I'm standing here before you today. I might as well be talking to the wall. You're the people who didn't mind a bit that Saddam Hussein paid absolutely no attention to 17 of your formal resolutions. You're the people who would have cheerfully allowed him to ignore 17 more. You're the people who couldn't be bothered to so much as raise an eyebrow over an oil-for-food swindle so obvious it might as well have had a neon sign on it.
And you're the people who just sit there and let Iran poke you in the eye with a stick whenever you mutter anything about how deeply concerned you are about those uranium enrichment programs.
And you're the people who are plainly going to let countless more thousands of suffering people die in Sudan for years yet while you appoint commissions and consider taking a meeting soon to think about threatening more sanctions. Which, of course, you're not going to do anyway because, after all, some of you sell arms to Sudan and - oh, never mind. Everybody knows all this already.
You're the people who've got criminal crackpots sitting on human-rights panels. You're the people who regularly condemn Israel for defending itself against madmen who have bombs strapped to their bellies. You're the people who would actually like nothing better than for there not to be Iraqi elections in January, am I right? Why don't you just admit it up-front, Kofi?
No, truthfully, I'm not expecting very much from you. But I'm here because you're the world body, put here to look after the better interests of the inhabitants of this planet. It was a nice idea. Darn shame it long ago got hijacked by a sorry bunch of do-nothings like you. The world deserves so much more.
By the way, hello to the several of you out there I know to be my good, dependable friends. "The coalition of the bribed and the coerced," as my statesmanlike campaign opponent likes to call you. Yeah, we're kind of outnumbered here in a crowd like this, aren't we? But we'll manage.
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Originally published on September 21, 2004
And don't forget to pay the parking tickets.
"I have just signed legislation outlawing the United Nations forever. The bombing starts in five minutes. Thank you, God bless, and good night!"
Does anyone remember CBS's role in announcing prematurely that Gore had already won the state of Florida last election night? It had the effect of sending all the panhandle republicans home and making it look like the state was much closer than it really was (which led to the whole recount fiasco). I know one of the the alphabet newsies announced first, but which one was it? If it was CBS, I think that makes the Rather story even more scary.
"Bush should tell the UN to pack their bags and be out of this country by sundown...."
Unlikely. But somewhat realistically, the UN ought to move closer to its idealogic center: Cairo? Paris? Ottowa? Stockholm?
The US political position is only a fringe minority.
So why host these pompous people, in kaftans and turbans, riding around in black limos?
Let someplace else carry the baggage for awhile. We've sure done it long enough.
Yeah. Who the Hell though it would be a good idea to build the UN in the USA? What a blunder and not very good planning. The world's trouble is not in the USA(as much as J Effin K would like you to believe) it is a little closer to say.... Paris! Lets Flush this toilet we call the UN to France. Let them pay the bills and let them take care of all the 3rd world dregs they call , What do they call them? I have heard ambassador to the UN, I think they are at the most representatives. Well that is not true either. If they were truely representing thier countries, they would be taking dirt showers, burning camel dung for heat, and picking nits out of each others hair for food!
So to make a short story long. Asta la Vista turds!
I can understand your anger with the Canadian government, and with the morons in central Canada that elect these buffoons, but PLEASE don't wish UN headquarters and its commensurate expense on TROC (the rest of Canada).
If the USA's gov't was elected the way our electoral system is set up, California and New York would elect the gov't, and the other 49 states would elect the opposition.
Send the UN to Belgium (a bunch of Frenchmen and Germans who hate each other slightly less than they hate their homelands) so they can drown in their own bile, while we conservative/constitutionalist/libertarians continue to live and work for the betterment of ourselves and our nations.
Perhaps we'll find it in our hearts to bail them out again, but I think that's a long ways off. For now.
Can you just imagine what the volumne of outrage would be if this had been a GOP story?
Facts are coming out that will make this the Democratic Party's "Watergate."
And there would be no doubt in the minds (and I use the term loosely) of the Lib "journalists" that Bush had perpetuated the whole thing.
That isn't very imaginative at all. How about ...
Remember last year when I told you to get your act together, or you run the risk of becoming irrevalant?
Well starting now, and continuing through November 3rd you people better pray and pay to whom ever you are able that John F-n Kerry gets elected as president.
Should I be re-elected, and all evidence points to the fact that I will, you need not show up here anymore.
The United States government shall advise you of your trial dates. Have a good day.
Put the UN in Brussels and move NATO to New York. End of problem.
That should work for a few years until we loosen the reins on NATO like we did with the UN. ;)
I'm for colonialism. What the Hell, we support half the world , or more, as it stands.
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