Posted on 02/18/2005 3:32:05 AM PST by johnny7
The recent resignation of CNN's news director, Eason Jordan, after his outrageous remarks about our military at an international forum were reported on the Internet, is only the latest in a series of media scandals, of which Dan Rather's forged documents were just one. Media bias does not consist in having liberal or conservative opinions but in how you do your job -- or don't do it.
One document whose authenticity is not likely to be questioned by the mainstream media is the honorable discharge on Senator John Kerry's web site. Yet who in the major media has investigated why that honorable discharge is dated during the Carter administration, when Kerry's military service ended years earlier? This is the same media that spent months investigating George W. Bush's military record and, even after key allegations were revealed to be based on forgeries, continued publicizing rumors and innuendoes. They didn't stop even after the President signed Form 180, opening all his military records to the public. But who in the major media has asked why John Kerry would need to be issued an honorable discharge during the Carter administration, years after leaving the navy, unless his original discharge was less than honorable?
One of Jimmy Carter's first acts as President was to issue an order granting amnesties to draft dodgers who had fled the country during the Vietnam war and also allowing an upgrading of military discharges that had been less than honorable. There is more to this than simply a strange date on an honorable discharge. The covering memo refers to U.S. Code Title 10, sections 1162 and 1163. Anyone who bothers to read those sections will discover that they are about unusual circumstances for issuing discharges from the military services. Senator Kerry never signed Form 180 to make all his military records public, as President Bush had done -- and the media didn't press him to do so. Even after Kerry's widely publicized role as a war hero was challenged by numerous men who had served with him in Vietnam, the media remained totally uninterested in checking out his record.
This gross double standard is the real media scandal, even more than the forged documents, which were after all the responsibility of just one network and one program. Maybe there is a perfectly innocent explanation for Senator Kerry's late-dated honorable discharge during the Carter administration. But no explanation has been asked or given, even though there may also be a not so innocent explanation.
What is well known is that, during the Vietnam war, John Kerry went to Paris on his own and engaged in discussions or negotiations with representatives of the country with whom we were at war, even though he was still an officer in the naval reserve. That raises legal questions about unauthorized personal diplomacy which naval authorities may not have overlooked as generously as the media did, and which could have affected the kind of discharge that Kerry received. One of the few people in the media who has shown any interest at all in Kerry's military records has been Tim Russert of "Meet the Press." He asked Senator Kerry on April 18, 2004 if he would "make all your records public." Kerry indicated that his records were already public, that people "can come and see them" at his headquarters.
But recently, on January 30, 2005, when Tim Russert again raised that question and asked "Would you sign Form 180?" -- the form that Bush had signed to open all his military records -- Kerry started off on a tangent before Russert interrupted him to repeat that same question. This time Kerry said, "Yes, I will." He will? He had already done so last year, if you believe what he said then. But will the media call him on it if he doesn't follow through now? Don't bet on it. This is not about the past or ultimately even about Kerry or Bush. It is about the future of this country. A gullible public learning only what is filtered to them by a biased media is not a hopeful sign for the future of a democracy.
Some of the public have begun to wake up but more need to do so. Many in the media also need to wake up to what they are doing, or failing to do, when their politics taints their work.
Should the REAL discharge and not the whitewashed one be revealed and kerry be removed from the senate, should he be allowed the senate retirement?
I wouldn't take that crap Tim!
I think it will. When the 'rat party and what's left of the MSM wants to take Kerry out of contention in '08. He still thinks he will get another chance but his arrogance has blinded him to the fact that the ABB campaign was it....
No, if it wan't released last fall, it won't be released now. (Unless Hitlery needs it in 2008).
even so...I would love to know if he was striped of his 'real' medals and given a bad report....it just seems so funny to me that he won't sign the 180...if you have nothing to hide, sign the form...
"One document whose authenticity is not likely to be questioned by the mainstream media is the honorable discharge on Senator John Kerry's web site. Yet who in the major media has investigated why that honorable discharge is dated during the Carter administration, when Kerry's military service ended years earlier? This is the same media that spent months investigating George W. Bush's military record and, even after key allegations were revealed to be based on forgeries, continued publicizing rumors and innuendoes.
They didn't stop even after the President signed Form 180, opening all his military records to the public.
But who in the major media has asked why John Kerry would need to be issued an honorable discharge during the Carter administration, years after leaving the navy, unless his original discharge was less than honorable?"
Rove Credits Swiftvets With 'Energizing' Bush Vote (Thank You Karl Rove!)
"...Rove recalled that his uncle had done several tours of duty in Vietnam.
I've never been able to think of Colonel Verhi as somebody who would have
'raped and pillaged in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan,'"
a reference to Kerry's 1971 Senate testimony where he accused Vietnam veterans
of committing widespread atrocities."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1345603/posts
Can anyone name 1 so called MAIN Stream Right Wing Media
personality
(we know Russert on tv and Imus on radio from the Left have)
that has asked,
in 2005,
these questions?
"Asked Kerry when he will sign Form 180.
Or why Kerry is still in the US Senate.
This is in violation of
U.S. Constitution Amendment 14 Sec 3
Or when Kerry will set the record straight
on his false testimony in April 71"
BUT he's still attacking President Bush in '05
Kerry Trashes Bush in Baghdad Jan '05
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1315333/posts
Kerry: Bush Still Hiding His Guard Records Feb '05
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1341323/posts
Way to go, Dr. Sowell!
Did anyone hear on CSPan that Zell Miller will give the SwiftBoat members an award at 8:30 PM tomorrow night????
Yeah and Zell is going to make a speech---wouldn't miss it.
Sowell’s article talks about something that literally drives me crazy and his point about the biased media being a threat to democracy is right on target. We just went through an election where a guy who ran on his military service did not sign the 180 to release all of his military records. Still no one from the media is going to look into this issue.
Should Kerry even become a player again in national politics, the GOP must run ads directly charging Kerry with a dishonorable discharge. Any fallout from this will be negligible if by some chance it is wrong, but the odds are that Kerry’s service was not honorable.
BTTT!!!!!!!
bump!
Remember when Baghdad Bob was on TV saying the Americans were not in Baghdad about the same time we could see our tank at the river bridge?..
Blogs and forums are like that..they expose quickly and there are many linkings..spreading the word. MSM is really upset when their gatekeeping doesn't work.
It is harder to get a military record, however.
I don't know that we will ever get John Kerry's whole record and see all exposed...
SIGN THE 180, KERRY!
It's getting past the point of bias - it's now become 'believe it or screw!' - I can't watch it anymore without blowing a gasket. It's an insult to anyone with half-a-brain!
I don't know about anybody else, but I quit watching
Main Stream Right Wing Media
and listening to Main Stream Right Wing Radio
shortly after Nov 3.
I couldn't understand how the so called
Main Stream Right Wing Media
could say things like
"Senator Kerry was gracious in his concession speech..."
"Senator Kerry was so honorable..."
Etc
Thanks for the ping!
Thomas Sowell is one of the best.
Gee. And all the Big Wheels at the NYT, Boston Globe, WA Post, etc., just can't kinda, you know, spare the resources to, uh, "out" their golden boy. What tainted pieces of trash are the MSM.
It's up to us to keep this skeleton ponging around the blogosphere until a form 180 settles the issue.
.
Kerry defeated Ed Brooke, the only black elected senator at the time. This was in 1978, when Jimmy the Weasel was prez. Carter made sure to cook up an honorable discharge for his pal Johnny Boy, then he got back to doubling the size of the federal judiciary, etc....
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