Posted on 09/21/2004 5:37:42 PM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The CBS television network was forced onto the defensive again as fresh revelations emerged concerning a critical report it broadcast on President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s National Guard service in the 1970s.The network said the producer of the report, Mary Mapes, put a source for the CBS story in touch with a senior aide to the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) before its broadcast.
CBS News said Tuesday that White House communications director Dan Bartlett had accused it of coordinating a political attack against Bush with the Kerry campaign.
Kerry campaign aide Joe Lockhart said Mapes put him in touch with Bill Burkett -- a key source used by CBS in its report which cast doubts on Bush's National Guard service -- but that they did not discuss documents Burkett gave CBS.
The documents, which CBS has said it can now not authenticate, were allegedly written by Bush's commanding officer in the Texas National Guard in the 1970s. They suggested political pressure was being exerted to "sugar coat" the future president's service record.
"She (Mapes) gave me his (Burkett's) number ... he gave me some advice on how to respond to the swift boat smears against John Kerry," Lockhart said, refering to attacks on Kerry's own military record, in a report aired by CBS Tuesday.
Lockhart said he and Burkett did not discuss the documents which have put CBS on the defensive over its news gathering amid claims they were faked.
"The Kerry campaign had nothing to do with these documents. There's nothing to this story," Lockhart said.
"It is obviously against CBS news standards to be associated with any political agenda. As to what actually happened here, it is one of many issues the independent review will be examining," CBS News said in a statement.
If any one with one ounce of brains believes lockhart, I've got some ocean front property in Death Valley to sell them.
I was reported in another thread here that some Kerry campaign literature from April 2004 had some verbatum quotes from one of the forged memos. Given this...
The Kerry had the documents in April.
The Kerry campaign decided to use them in an after-the-RNC hit piece.
The Kerry campaign did not want the documents to come from the Kerry campaign.
Someone in the Kerry campaign saw Burkett on Hardball and decided he could be duped into delivering the documents to the media.
At this point things proceed exactly as Burkett describes: Phone call from Lucy, mystery man delivers documents with instruction to copy and destroy.
Burkett tries to contact the Kerry campaign but is rebuffed. The campaign is trying to keep him out of contact so that no one will tie him to them.
Rather says that CBS got a tip that Burkett has the documents. He claims CBS went to Burkett for the documents.
Burkett sees this as his opportunity to contact the Kerry Campaign. He makes a deal with CBS. He gives them the documents and CBS puts him in contact with someone higher up in the campaign.
The campaign contact calls Burkett for a very short conversation - not about the documents.
There was a news story on TV or newspaper about a Colonel in the National Guard who said that George Bush did not get special treatment to get into the guards. I need a link.
Same story on ABC radio news following Rush today.
As the story goes Joey, your ass sucks buttermilk.
Rush has the tight track on this. Neither Blather nor CBS have indicated any anger toward Bill Burkett, a proven liar who has admitted that he deliberately lied to them on Memogate. That suggests (and I believe it) that Blather and CBS know the actual source of the forged memos and are desperately trying to conceal the actual perpetrator of this scandal.
This leaves one to two conclusions:
1) The perpetrator was Rather daughter, Robin (which I doubt), or
2) The perpetrator is someone in the Kerry campaign. My suspicion is James Carville; it is his type of stunt.
Even if no one in the Kerry campaign was involved in creating the documents, they're still culpable. Follow me on this one.
Forging the signature of an officer on a fake document is a Federal crime. Using the document to influence an election, which both CBS and the DNC (with their Fortunate Son video) did, is a Federal crime.
Make no mistake that if the tables were turned and the RNC or the Swift Vets used such a doc, the press would be making exactly this connection. This story is much more serious than the MSM seems to indicate. They keep talking about whether or not Rather is discredited. That is not the issue.
And what lawyer in his right mind thinks that Burkett has a snowball's chance in hell of prevailing in his law suit? Hmmm...Could it possibly be that this law suit is just cover, to try and put a lid on the whole affair - at least until November? "I'm sorry, we can't talk about that while the matter is in litigation..."
I have no doubt that the Kerry campaign is up to their elitist, snobby butts in this. That's why I named Carville. It reeks of his thought processes and hatred of Bush. I believe that he is Mr. Big who came up with the plan because this scandal could have broken anytime BEFORE Carville, Begala and Lockhart joined the Kerry campaign.
But it didn't. And who was the Kerry insider who spoke with Bill Burkett? Why none other than Joe Lockhart!!
A coincidence? I think not.
I was going to suggest that you change the work "verbal" with the synonym "oral"... But it does not need to be said.
If the MSM feels that Kerry is beyond rescue, they will certainly keep going.
Typical liberal Bush hater who will so anything to smear him.
Why is CBS still using the public airways?
I asked the FCC about that and received the following reply:
"Although the FCC licenses broadcast stations, we have virtually no
control over the content of what they broadcast. "
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