'Memogate' scapegoat was a messenger who erred(hysterical read)

Seattle PI ^ | 01/19/05 | ROBERT L. JAMIESON JR.

[Pikamax]

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

By ROBERT L. JAMIESON JR. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

President Bush takes the oath of office for the second time tomorrow.

When he raises his right hand, I will be thinking about the relationship between top people in power and messengers who have something to say about them.

I'll have journalist Mary Mapes in mind.

Mapes grew up in Western Washington -- in the Skagit Valley -- to a bloodline of strawberry farmers who believed in doing the right thing. Her kin helped maintain a Japanese American family's Mount Vernon-area farm during World War II after Japanese Americans were rounded up and shipped off to internment camps.

She worked for KIRO/7, where she used reportorial punch to fight for Seattle underdogs. Her careful moxie earned her the chance to go to CBS News.

Mapes, 48, is known for having scooped the competition with photos of the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prison abuse scandal last year. But her name has become sullied because of her story about Bush's National Guard Service.

[Neanderthal]

"Since she was not born, one can make the assumption that perhaps it was her father who did the good deed."

It must have been her grandfather. Her father was probably a kid during WW2.

[melbell]

it was at a dairy farm, actually, and they had it that way (at that point) for a good long time. They used it as like a visual aid or what-not for school groups that would come.

It was really cool, if not really gross.

I think that originally happened was that the cow had to have some surgery on one of its stomachs, and instead of closing it fully, for some reason they put in a plexiglass type "window" there. I'm not sure why, but it makes for fun stories! :) In fact, had I not seen the cow, alive, with my own eyes, I would not have believed it.

[Jaysun]

I think that originally happened was that the cow had to have some surgery on one of its stomachs, and instead of closing it fully, for some reason they put in a plexiglass type "window" there. I'm not sure why, but it makes for fun stories! :) In fact, had I not seen the cow, alive, with my own eyes, I would not have believed it.

Interesting. I wonder if they can do that with humans? That would be a neat trick on the beach.

[melbell]

"Interesting. I wonder if they can do that with humans? That would be a neat trick on the beach."

At that point, would one have to bathe in Windex? or 409 Glass Cleaner?

[Maria S]

"It must have been her grandfather. Her father was probably a kid during WW2."

Nah, more like her father or uncle. She's probably between 45-50.

[thegreatbeast]

Crack is wack, Robert! Put the pipe down! Put the plug in the jug! Go to rehab and come back and start slow with a newspaper route. Make amends and cut up your membership card to the NABJ.
More important, if the broadcast had involved unsustainable allegations about John Kerry, would the repercussions have been as severe? I suspect not.

When you have a clean and sober mind, Robert, you will realize how out of it you were in asking such a stupid question. This was during an election cycle, Robert, just weeks out from November 3rd. Your imaginery friend, that daughter of the soil, Ms. Mapes was trying to "take out" a president. If your brain wassn't fevered by illicit substances, you would have discerned this in the citations of her emails.
Humble yourself, Robert, and ask for help. We'll pray for you.

[Ditto]

It must have been her grandfather. Her father was probably a kid during WW2.

Hard to tell. Assuming some sort of normal generational progression, he could have been a kid, could have been a teen, could have even been a married adult. She's 48 years old. Dad could be anywhere between 65 and 100 years old today.

[Neanderthal]

"Nah, more like her father or uncle. She's probably between 45-50."

She's 48, so born about 1956. If her father was 30 when she was born, he would have been born about 1926. That would make him about 15 when WW2 started and 19 when it ended. A kid, probably. Not worth investigating further, per CBS reporting manual.

[King Prout]

pretty damn liberal.

[Mr. Lucky]

Actually, Dr. William Beaumont performed that very procedure on Alexis St. Martin in 1822. St. Martin managed to "accidentally" shoot him self in the stomach, blowing a gaping hole. dr. Beaumont dressed the wound, assuming the patient would shortly die. The wound never healed, but the patient thrived, living to the ripe old age of 86. The Doctor spent much of his career performing all sorts of digestive studies on the fellow.

[infowarrior]

It must have been her grandfather. Her father was probably a kid during WW2."

Nah, more like her father or uncle. She's probably between 45-50.

If she were 50, she would have been born in 1954-1955, a full decade after the end of WW2. If her father were older than say 30 at the time of her birth, then odds were he waas likely overseas in WW2, serving as many American men did, and therefore wouldn't be around to caretake a detained Japanese-American family's farm. I think the odds are it WAS her grandfather who did that...

the infowarrior

[BJungNan]

bttt

[EDINVA]

what does that make the Mapes family, politically speaking?

within a day, her father came out and condemned what she did with the Bush memos. Apparently they are not what anyone would call "close."

[Rodney King]

Her kin helped maintain a Japanese American family's Mount Vernon-area farm during World War II after Japanese Americans were rounded up and shipped off to internment camps.

In other words, they farmed on the peoples land while they were interned and unable to protest the trespass.