Posted on 09/23/2004 6:22:26 AM PDT by Leofl
Quoting U.S. Criminal Code, Chapter 63, Section 1343, New York Times columnist William Safire went straight to the heart of the CBS Rathergate scandal, writing, "At the root of what is today treated as an embarrassing blunder by duped CBS journalists may turn out to be a felony by its faithless sources."
Writing in Wednesday's New York Times, Safire noted that the statute holds that "Whoever, having devised any scheme or artifice to defraud transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both."
Safire contends that law applies to those who "conceived a scheme to create a series of false Texas Air National Guard documents and append a photocopied signature to one of them."
Says Safire, that person "then helped cause the fraudulent file to be transmitted by means of television communication to millions of voters for the purpose of influencing a federal election" – which he adds is "no mere 'dirty trick' but a potential violation of federal law."
Safire writes that it must be revealed:
Who was the forger?
Did others conspire with him or her to present an apparent government document - with knowledge of its falsity and with intent to defraud, which is a felony in Texas?
Who was meant to to benefit from the forgery and how? While admitting that the feds and the courts "have no business forcing journalists to reveal sources," Safire argued that there is no ethic that requires a journalist to protect a source who lied.
Accordingly, he wrote, Dan Rather went to the Texas ranch of his source and telecast Bill Burkett's admission to having falsely "thrown out the name" of someone who gave him the false evidence, adding that his real source was some hard-to-find mystery woman named Lucy Ramirez.
Safire speculates that in return for his fake documents the Bush-hating Burkett got "coveted access to someone high up in the Kerry campaign."
Burkett was able to reach Kerry's ally former Sen. Max Cleland, to "plead for access to higher-ups so as to launch a 'counterattack' on Bush, who was benefitting from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on Kerry's war record. Cleland, he says, confirmed getting the call and said he told Burkett to try the Democratic National Committee. ..."
When Burkett's call to DNC headquarters was not returned, he then asked CBS producer Mary Mapes to help him get the top-level Kerry access he craved.
Prior to the "60 Minutes" telecast, Mapes or some other "60 Minutes" staff member got Burkett what he wanted - a call from Joe Lockhart, the newly hired former Clinton press aide. With the number generously supplied by CBS, Safire recalls that Lockhart called Burkett. "We don't know what was said," Safire wrote, adding that "the call from on high was payoff in itself."
Safire wonders what CBS should do now. He suggests that:
The network should release Rather's interview with Burkett in its entirety, including the outtakes.
Mary Mapes, at the center of all this, should be allowed to speak to reporters.
Viacom should use its vast resources to track down the possible original sources, who likely have engaged in criminal conduct. Appointing independent reviewers should not be a device to duck all others' questions, Safire argues, saying that this is U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's trick to stonewall his Oil-for-Food scandal.
"Conservatives," he adds, "should stop slavering over Dan Rather's scalp, and liberals should stop pretending that noble ends justify fake-evidence means. Both should focus on the lesson of the early '70s: From third-rate burglaries to fourth-rate forgeries, nobody gets away with trying to corrupt American elections."
Frankly, I'd also like to see the rest of the documents rumored to be in their hands. They are probably just a phoney-looking, but it might give us more of an indication of what their ultimate scenario was going to be--and clues to who might have created them.
Why?
Anyone who says that Dan Rather did not knowingly engage in electoral fraud is either lying or naive.
CBS hmmm... Criminal Broadcasting System
I can't believe that the NYT let Safire print this column! Maybe there is some sanity left over there after all.
I would like to see the other two documents and would like to know why they were not included in the broadcast. Where are they and why hasn't anyone seen them?
Mary Mapes should definatly do some time in jail for this. It is highly unlikely that she did not know these docs. were fake before the program aired.
If anyone ever does get punished it will be the poor jerk that got paid $25.00 for typing up the "memos" from someone elses notes.
Come on! This GOES ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP -- and you know it!
The DNC had clips from 60 minutes II spliced into 'fotunate son', which if I'm not mistaken hit the web only a day or two after the show aired.
Certainly 'Fortunate Son' took considerable time to create. And knowing the Dems never release an ad without focus group testing and tweeking, it suggests the DNC had access to the sixty minutes video before the time of air. This would mean direct co-operation between CBS and DNC.
Has anyone looked into this?
Mr Safire, some one also needs to ask former Gov Howard Dean what was the content of the phone call he had from Bill Burkett.
I find it odd that so few connect the dots..Cleland, Lockhart, Dean, Cahill and Ted Kennedy, Burkett and Ben Barnes..all Dems connected to either the Kerry camp directly or to Texas Dem party. This smells of Watergate coverups.
Strange too is no mention of Cameron Kerry's 'watergate' breakin of his brother's rival during John Kerry's first run for Congress. EagleTribune.com But there was another, seldom-mentioned element of his 1972 run for 5th District congressman: the wild and wooly nature of the primary election that featured a Watergate-type break-in involving Kerry's campaign staff.
Kerry's younger brother, Cameron, and his campaign field director, Thomas Vallely, were arrested one day before the primary for breaking into a Lowell basement where telephone lines were kept for both the Kerry and DiFruscia campaigns. Their offices were on the same block.
I've seen two referenced to this phone call CNSNEWS.COM Burkett's history with the Kerry campaign and Democratic National Committee also includes phone conversations with former Georgia U.S. senator Max Cleland and former Vermont governor Howard Dean, both of whom are campaigning on Kerry's behalf.
NY POST Burkett said he wanted to advise the Democrats on how to respond to the questions being raised about Kerry's own military record. To that end, he also was able to get former Sen. Max Cleland, a Kerry confidante, and ex-presidential candidate Howard Dean on the phone over the last 45 days.
Gail
Member of the pajama clad brigade
Millington, TN
I agree, why?
Remember when Dan Rather pointedly asked the President to:
"With respect, answer the questions" when he was still prosecuting the president on the basis of those FAKE Texas Air National Guard memos?
Safire's point to the libs is well taken though:
"liberals should stop pretending that noble ends justify fake-evidence means."
How weird is the liberal mind!?!
Martha is having to go to jail for far less than this!
If Enron execs and Martha Stewart deserve jail time so does Rather.
Gillespie has been asking that very question. Yesterday he insinuated that there was coordination between the 60 Minutes II piece and the Fortunate Son ad. I think the RNC is definitely looking into that
Here the guy is caught, after years of lying to and manipulating the American public under the guise of anchorman, colluding in a falsification of evidence in order to throw yet another election to a political party that is slowly destroying this country, FINALLY he's caught red handed...
and we're wrong for wanting an example made of him?
Safire can stuff it.
Why?
Because there are much, much bigger fish to fry. The Democratic campaign apparatus is up to their necks in this scandal - and it is a scandal. My instinct is that it not only goes high in the campaign organization, but that it is far deeper than anyone suspects - more contacts, more shared "documents", and more Kerry staffers with CBS and other MSM sources on their cell phone menus. Watching Dan Rather squirm may be emotionally satisfying (okay, it is), but keep your eyes on the ball here - the need to lay bare the incestuous relationship between the Democrat party and the mainstream media. Besides, we can do it in our pajamas.
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