Posted on 09/25/2004 9:48:52 AM PDT by FlyLow
First the Smear...
"Tonight, a CBS News/60 Minutes exclusive: New information on President George W. Bush's record in the National Guard. Newly discovered documents spark new questions....Good evening. There are new questions tonight about President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard in the late 1960s and early '70s, and about his insistence that he met his military service obligations. CBS News has exclusive information, including documents, that now sheds new light on the President's service record. 60 Minutes has obtained government documents that indicate Mr. Bush may have received preferential treatment in the Guard after not fulfilling his commitments." -- Dan Rather opening the Sept. 8 CBS Evening News.
"Memos written by the President's squadron commander Colonel Jerry Killian suggest Mr. Bush ignored a direct order to appear for a physical in 1972, and that a year later Killian was being pressured by superiors to 'sugar coat' Mr. Bush's record....The documents and [Democrat Ben] Barnes' claims have given new life to charges President Bush got favorable treatment to both get in the Guard and get out." -- John Roberts on the September 9 CBS Evening News, hours after reports those "memos" might be forgeries.
...Then the Stonewall
"The story is true. The story is true....I appreciate the sources who took risks to authenticate our story. So, one, there is no internal investigation. Two, somebody may be shell-shocked, but it is not I, and it is not anybody at CBS News. Now, you can tell who is shell-shocked by the ferocity of the people who are spreading these rumors." -- Dan Rather in a sidewalk exchange with reporters on September 10, denying rumors that CBS had launched an investigation to determine if the "memos" were forged.
"Today, on the Internet and elsewhere, some people, including many who are partisan political operatives, concentrated not on the key questions of the overall story, but on the documents that were part of the support of the story. They allege that the documents are fake....The 60 Minutes report was based not solely on the recovered documents, but on a preponderance of the evidence, including documents that were provided by what we consider to be solid sources and interviews with former officials of the Texas National Guard. If any definitive evidence to the contrary of our story is found, we will report it. So far, there is none." -- Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News, September 10.
Dan's Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
"Powerful and extremely well-financed forces are concentrating on questions about the documents because they can't deny the fundamental truth of the story. If you can't deny the information, then attack and seek to destroy the credibility of the messenger, the bearer of the information. And in this case, it's change the subject from the truth of the information to the truth of the documents. This is your basic fogging machine, which is set up to cloud the issue, to obscure the truth....Over the long haul, this will be consistent with our history and our traditions and reputation. We took heat during the McCarthy time, during Vietnam, during civil rights, during Watergate. We haven't always been right, but our record is damn good." -- CBS's Dan Rather as quoted by the New York Observer's Joe Hagan, September 15.
"I don't back down. I don't cave when the pressure gets too great from these partisan political ideological forces." -- Rather to the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, in a September 16 article.
"Anybody who knows me knows that I am not politically motivated, not politically active for Democrats or Republicans, and that I'm independent. People who are so passionately partisan politically or ideologically committed basically say, 'Because he won't report it our way, we're going to hang something bad around his neck and choke him with it, check him out of existence if we can, if not make him feel great pain.' They know that I'm fiercely independent and that's what drives them up a wall." -- Rather as quoted by USA Today's Peter Johnson and Jim Drinkard in a September 17 article.
No Doubts About Dan's "Thrust"
"We shall continue to aggressively investigate the story of President Bush's service in the National Guard and the story of the documents and memos in Colonel Killian's file....We do feel it's important to underscore this point: Those who have criticized aspects of our story have never criticized the heart of it, the major thrust of our report, that George Bush received preferential treatment to get into the National Guard, and once accepted, failed to satisfy the requirements of his service. If we uncover any information to the contrary, rest assured we shall report that also." -- Dan Rather concluding a Sept. 15 60 Minutes interview with Marian Carr Knox, Killian's secretary, who said she doubted that CBS's memos were genuine, but nevertheless "the information in those is correct."
CBS Lectures Irresponsible Laura
John Roberts: "The President has yet to weigh in on new documents about his National Guard record made public last week by 60 Minutes. But in a radio interview, First Lady Laura Bush became the first White House insider to publicly doubt their authenticity." Audio of Laura Bush on Radio Iowa: "You know, they probably are altered and they probably are forgeries." Roberts: "However, Laura Bush offered no evidence to back up her claim, and CBS News continues to stand by its reporting." -- CBS Evening News, September 14.
Experience: CBS News
"Document and handwriting examiner Marcel Matley analyzed the documents for CBS News. He says he believes they are real." -- Dan Rather on the September 10 CBS Evening News.
vs.
"There's no way that I, as a document expert, can authenticate them." -- Quote from Marcel Matley in a September 14 Washington Post story by Howard Kurtz and Michael Dobbs.
Blame Bush's Staff, Not CBS's
"If we had gotten back from the White House any kind of red flag, raised eyebrow, anything that said, 'Are you sure about this stuff?', we would have gone back to square one. The White House said they were authentic, and that carried a lot of weight with us." -- 60 Minutes Executive Producer Josh Howard as quoted in a September 18 Los Angeles Times story by Josh Getlin, Elizabeth Jensen and Scott Collins. The White House was only shown the "memos" a few hours before CBS aired their story, and did not vouch for them.
Rather's Battle with Reality
"Do I think they're forged? No." -- Dan Rather discussing the "memos" he had already apologized for using, as quoted by Jeff Zeleny and John Cook in the September 21 Chicago Tribune.
A Rule Against Bias -- Who Knew?
"A top Kerry campaign official now says Mary Mapes, the producer of the 60 Minutes story, put him in touch with Bill Burkett, the former Texas Air National Guard officer who provided the documents to CBS News....CBS News said in a statement, 'It is obviously against CBS News standards to be associated with any political agenda.'" -- Bill Plante on the September 21 CBS Evening News.
Did Karl Rove Smear His Boss?
"So the Killian documents come out and are almost immediately questioned by a lawyer with Republican ties and are distributed to other news organizations without comment by the White House and they suddenly have one of their principal endorsers retract his endorsement. How many rats do you smell?" -- MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Countdown, Sept. 13.
"A lot of Democrats suspect this was a set up, something set up by Republicans. So there's a lot of suspicion going around on all sides." -- ABC's George Stephanopoulos on the September 10 Good Morning America.
Let's Get Back to Bush Bashing
"The truth is, while Kerry may have taken a hit in the polls as a result of the largely bogus criticism of his war record, Bush, as the incumbent, is not as vulnerable -- even if the accusations are more credible....The breathless debate over typewriter fonts last week shifted the debate away from Bush's questionable record." -- Time's Amanda Ripley in the September 20 issue.
Kerry a Hero, Bush a Hypocrite
"One guy went to Vietnam and the other guy didn't. The guy who went most likely could have avoided going, but didn't. The guy who didn't go made it clear he had no interest in fighting a war he says he supported. To the extent that any of this matters all these years later -- and I'm not sure any of it does -- that's really it." -- Aaron Brown on CNN's NewsNight, September 8.
Forgery Not as Bad as Swift Vets
"CBS will end up, if they are wrong, as it appears to be, apologizing for their mistake, and we will wait a long time before various cable channels and Fox apologizes for the Swift Boat ads and the commentary on their channels, which turned out not to be true." -- Margaret Carlson on CNN's Capital Gang, Sept. 18.
Maybe Time for a Career Change?
"A serious journalist can't run with a story without confirmation. Two sources at the absolute minimum....This is how your narrator made it through Watergate. If I'd gone off half-cocked, if I'd gotten my facts scrambled, if I'd run with unconfirmed leads, I'd be selling insurance right now." -- Dan Rather in his 1994 memoir, The Camera Never Blinks Twice,
I didn't see the crime committed on 60 Minutes that night. Is there a way to watch it on the internet?
I was just at abcnews.com and there is story where CBS 60 minutes nixed a story on rationale about going to war as it was too close to election...instead aired the NG memo stuff. Gota love the irony and the fact they don't see it is just futher proof of MSM 'in the box' thinking.
What? Where is the "impeccable source" quote?
Hmmm....
What makes Rather-boy think anyone would be dumb enough to buy insurance from him.
bump
Margaret Carlson. I'd forgotten how hideous she is...
Here are some LIB pundants for you to write:
George Stephanopoulos, thisweek@abc.com
Nedra Pickler, npickler@ap.org
Ron Fournier, rfournier@ap.org
Bill Schneider, bill.schneider@turner.com
Candy Crowley, candy.crowley@turner.com
Howard Kurtz, kurtzh@washpost.com
Judy Woodruff, deirdre.walsh@turner.com
Tom Hannon, CNN Political Director, tom.hannon@cnn.com
Wolf Blitzer, wolf@cnn.com
Ron Brownstein, ron.brownstein@latimes.com
Chris Matthews, hardball@msnbc.com
Tim Russert, mtp@nbc.com
Tom Brokaw, nightly@msnbc.com
Elizabeth Wilner, NBC Political Director, world@msnbc.com
New York Times, nytnews@nytimes.com
Howard Fineman, howardfineman@aol.com
Cokie Roberts, croberts@npr.org
UPI, politics_desk@upi.com
Dan Balz, balzd@washpost.com
Dana Milbank, whitehouse@washpost.com
Ceci Connolly, washingtonweek@pbs.org
Gwen Ifill, washingtonweek@pbs.org
I sure would not buy insurance from Dan Rather. I guess his only option is to retire.
It gets better. It looks like the "big story" that CBS bumped was hinky as well and they would have faced a similar critique from the blogosphere and elsewhere. The core of the story was that the decision to invade Iraq was in part based on forged documentation regarding "yellow cake uranium". Turns out that CBS ignored some very simple evidence showing that the decision to take out Saddam predated the forged docs and thus could not have been based on them.
Whadda buncha maroons.
This really shows the incompetence and unprofessionalism of many in the media today. There is nothing, repeat---nothing that the Swift Vets have said in ads or the book that has been unsubstantiated by the media or the Kerry campaign.
Furthermore, the Swift Vets consist of 250+ men ranging in rank from (Rear Admiral to E-2) who collectively hold scores of bronze stars and purple hearts, and other decorations.
The most interesting forgery point is the part about Bush not residing at 5000 Longmont #8 for several years at the time of the Memo dated May 4, 1972. I note that in the copy released by the White House they have inked over that address. This address was still used in the Reserve Order (Personnel Data Change Order) reassigning his as an Executive Support Officer which came from Denver in March of 1974. The Bush’s payroll report for the third (calendar) quarter of 1973(which could only have been generated on or after 10/1/73) listed Bush’s check address as #4, 2910 Westheimer, Houston, TX 77006. His Retirement Credit Summary Dated January 30, 1974 also shows the Westheimer address. Something seems fishy.
A LITTLE BOY SETS DAN RATHER STRAIGHT-
.....Dan Rather of CBS news was seated next to little Tommy on the plane when Rather turned to the boy and said, "Let's talk, I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passengers.
Little Tommy, who had just opened his book, closed it slowly, and said to Rather, "What would you like to discuss?"
"Oh, I don't know" said Rather, "How about? Should we keep Bush as president or elect Kerry?"
"OK" said Little Tommy, "That could be an interesting topic but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow and a deer all eat grass. The same stuff. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out flat patties, and a horse excretes clumps of dried grass. Why do you think that is?"
"Jeez" said Rather, "I have no idea."
"Well then," said Little Tommy, "How is it you feel qualified to discuss who should run this country when you don't know sh_t?"....
EXCELLENT...will distribute!
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