Posted on 03/04/2005 7:47:11 AM PST by Valin
LETTERMAN: ...Now, the credibility, the v[e]racity of documents do comes into question and then what happens?
RATHER: Well, a panel was appointed by CBS News to...
LETTERMAN: An independent panel?
RATHER: An independent panel.
LETTERMAN: Is this a big thing for a network news organization to have endured?
RATHER: I think the answer to that is yes, yes. Richard Thornburgh, former attorney general who was in the Nixon administration, says the bushes are good friends of his, both president one and two [B]ush. He headed the panel. They took the better part of four months, spent several million dollars, some people say as much as $5 million, and came out with a report which I've read, thought about, absorbed it, take it seriously and move on and carry it with me in my work. Among the things, they concluded a lot of things, many of them not compl[i]mentary about my work. They concluded that whatever happened and whatever you thought about it, it was not motivated by political bias and they said that, although they had four months and millions of dollars, they could not demonstrate the documents were not authentic, that they were forgeries. They said they couldn't make that conclusion. They also encouraged CBS News to rededicate itself to aggressive investigative reporting when warranted and not let this discourage them from doing so. That's a summary, a short summary. This panel report is big enough, you know, if you want to read it, it's I don't know, big enough to make a door stop.
LETTERMAN: I need a door stop.
(Laughter) so let me go back to two points. They said, one, it was not motivated by political bias?
RATHER: That's right.
LETTERMAN: So CBS News and yourself and others cleared of that, and that seemed to be a great point of criticism, did it not, that there was political bias here, that...
RATHER: People had their own political motivations and agendas, and some people who didn't have that, who were asking the question. That's one reason the panel was appointed. That was one of their conclusions.
LETTERMAN: That charge has been erased by the fact-finding committee?
[RATHER]: That was their conclusion.
LETTERMAN: Did not exist. That evaporated. Secondly, they could not prove the documents were false. They could not prove they were true and accurate, but they also could not prove they were false
RATHER: That's correct.
LETTERMAN: That's a push right there.
RATHER: Some people would not regard it, but you've summarized it correctly. They had a lot of other findings. Those were among the findings.
It was amazing to watch; Dan looked like he was sitting on an electric chair.
Now there's a pleasent image.
Who decided to use forged documents in bringing President down?
FReepy minds want to know!!!!
ping!
No one broke the law because "journalists" can get away with about anything.
No one lied? O.K., how about someone intentionally misled?
And it took Buckhead, FReepers, and other sites 90 minutes to figure it out. LOL!
"Dave, I've been a reporter for a long time. Let me tell you, I've never heard anyone say that forgery is against the law. Happens every day. It's not illegal. And another thing, when I say something which is untrue, it doesn't mean I'm telling a lie. I figure most people know that, but if its news to people, well, I'm in the News biz."
'Nobody Broke the Law, Nobody Lied'
That's not the frequency anymore Kenneth, the ratmedia can't cover for you anymore!
Just for a second there...
OMG, is there a resthome somewhere waiting for Dan.
Four more nights!!!
David Letterman is a major suckup. No wonder he wasn't good enough for the Tonight Show. Shameless.
So you're working on this story for five years with Ms. Mapes, Dan. What was the hurry? Why couldn't you wait a few more months?
Was there some pressing need to air this "news" story? Some outside force, or maybe an important event, that put pressure on you to air it in a hurry? Gosh, whatever could it have been? :-p
Rather is yesterday's stale old bread. What goes around comes around. I remember Rather screaming at and insulting George Herbert Walker Bush, then v.p. I've detested Rather since then.
Nice to be around to see and read it when what goes around comes around.
Wow, he's still denying absolutely conclusive proof that they were typed up in Microsoft Word AND the criminal implications thereof. Not to mention that the report did NOT exonerate CBS of political bias, nor would it be credible if it did so since the report was paid for by CBS and has every appearance of a cover-up.
In fact, they did break the law and they did lie.
"although they had four months and millions of dollars, they could not demonstrate the documents were not authentic, that they were forgeries. They said they couldn't make that conclusion. "
Oh, brother! Maybe we need an investigation of incompetent investigations?
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