LIVE THREAD – 7th Annual FReep Against Liberal Media Bias & the White House Correspondents Dinner

Free Republic ^ | April 30, 2005

[Howlin]

The DC Chapter has begun its "7th Annual FReep Against Liberal Media Bias." The FReep is outside White House Correspondents Association dinner.

CSPAN Listing: “White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. President George W. Bush and comedian Cedric the Entertainer speak. 9:30PM.”

[Howlin]

Oh, thanks. I meant to go look for that!

[Howlin]

I really think Dan Rather should get a BIG award, but in my heart, I'm dying for the "Captured G.I. Doll" story to get something, too.

[leadpenny]

When Matt Drudge was on Washington Journal yesterday he was showing Brian Lamb the laptop gadget he uses to update his site from anywhere anytime. He may have even updated it during the show. He is a guest of Wes Pruden and the Washington Times table and I have a hunch that he will be doing something live during the dinner.

[deport]

Bush, celebrities headline annual dinner

WASHINGTON It's time for much of official Washington to let its hair down.Tonight's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner will feature a mix of political insiders and Hollywood elite.

It's usually a glamorous affair at a Washington hotel, headlined by the president's speech and awards for some reporters. The dinner will include the usual mix of Cabinet members and two Supreme Court justices.

But there's a dash of celebrity as well. Goldie Hawn, Richard Gere, L-L Cool J and Jane Fonda are among the stars invited by some news organizations, along with this year's Super Bowl quarterbacks -- New England's Tom Brady and Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The annual dinner began in 1914 as a bridge between the White House and its media corps. Presidents since Calvin Coolidge have attended.

---

Reuters - Fri Apr 29, 4:50 PM ET

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks during a rare prime-time news conference in the East Room of the White House, April 28, 2005. The U.S. Secret Service has asked for the race of guests attending a media reception with Bush before the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday. REUTERS/Jason Reed

Why would the race of the attendees be asked?.... any idea.

[Mo1]

Thanks for the ping

[RonDog]

Free Republic's Faux News Awards First Place Winner (by a landslide):
CBS News for the Sixty Minutes II broadcast on Sept. 8, 2004 that used forged documents to attack President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service...

See also, from:

Post 47 and RaTHergate
- The story of how CBS was caught perpetrating a hoax on the American People
Intellectual Conservative ^ | 17 September 2004 | by David M. Huntwork
Posted on 09/17/2004 10:47:05 AM PDT by Jim Robinson

The story of how CBS was caught perpetrating a hoax on the American People.

Poor Lt. Col. Killian died in 1984 but I believe he would be surprised at the stir he created some twenty years after his death. On the evening of September 8th, CBS's 60 Minutes II dropped what they considered to be a (rather convenient) "bombshell" regarding President Bush's service in the National Guard. Directly contradicting Defense Department records showing that in 1973 Lt. Col. Killian praised Mr. Bush's performance and approved his honorable discharge, four memos from Killian impugning the service of Bush during those years were produced with much fanfare. According to CBS, they consulted a handwriting analyst and document expert who believed the material to be authentic.

Few have published the origination of the chain of events that led up to the implosion at CBS and the stripping of all credibility from Dan Rather. The now famous Freeper Post #47 appeared just hours after the CBS expose on the online community www.FreeRepublic.com.

Post # 47 To: Howlin

Howlin, every single one of these memos to file is in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman.

In 1972 people used typewriters for this sort of thing, and typewriters used monospaced fonts.

The use of proportionally spaced fonts did not come into common use for office memos until the introduction of laser printers, word processing software, and personal computers. They were not widespread until the mid to late 90's. Before then, you needed typesetting equipment, and that wasn't used for personal memos to file. Even the Wang systems that were dominant in the mid 80's used monospaced fonts.

I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old.

This should be pursued aggressively. 47 posted on 09/08/2004 8:59:43 PM PDT by Buckhead

A few hours earlier another alert Freeper had posted this just minutes after the CBS story aired. Already, the now obvious doubts about the Killian memos were raising a few eyebrows in the blogger community:

To: Howlin

WE NEED TO SEE THOSE MEMOS AGAIN!

They are not in the style that we used when I came in to the USAF. They looked like the style and format we started using about 12 years ago (1992). Our signature blocks were left justified, now they are right of center...like the ones they just showed.
Can we get a copy of those memos?

107 posted on 09/08/2004 5:19:00 PM PDT by TankerKC

The Minneapolis lawyers who run Powerlineblog.com were quickly notified. Two of the blog's readers directed their attention to post #47 on a FreeRepublic.com thread. That day's post on powerlineblog can be viewed here.

After that, the rolling snowball quickly became an avalanche. Several other major blogs, including www.Instapundit.com, quickly seized on this historic breaking story.  Less than twenty four hours after the initial Freeper posts, Drudge did what Drudge does best with the headline "Bloggers drive hoax probe into Bush memos..." 

CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

[Mo1]

but in my heart, I'm dying for the "Captured G.I. Doll" story to get something, too.

LOL!!! .. I forget about that story

[gopwinsin04]

Is Jane reporting for the Hanoi Tribune?

[prairiebreeze]

Both Gail Murphy and Media Benjamin came over to talk to our FReepers for about a half hour each.

Talk or screech? Looking forward to continued updates, BUMP!

[mdittmar]

Lot's of good stuff tonight.

FReep 'em good!

[StayAt HomeMother]

Those who can't get CSPAN might looking for the White House Correspondent's Dinner at 10 on MSNBC.

[Txsleuth]

Is it going to be LIVE on MSNBC tonight?

[RonDog]

The U.S. Secret Service has asked for the race of guests attending a media reception with Bush before the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday. REUTERS/Jason Reed

And, here is the REST of that story, from www.reuters.com:

...The Secret Service said it routinely asks for information about the race of people who are going to be in close proximity to the president.

"It's nothing to do with racial profiling. We wouldn't tolerate any racial or cultural bias in these types of matters," Tom Mazur, spokesman for the Secret Service, said.

But he said he did not know whether race information had been requested for this reception in previous years.

The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting Bush and his family, "routinely" asks for five "identifiers" of people who will be near the president to run through a criminal data base, Mazur said.

The five factors -- name, date-of-birth, Social Security number, gender and race -- are used to search the database "in a most timely and effective manner," he said.

"When the president travels or has events, this is information that is routinely requested," Mazur said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House had not requested the information on race, and it was a law enforcement matter...

[prairiebreeze]

That redhead on the left of the camera screen is distracting. Sometimes she moves out of the way then head hairdo pops back in camer range.

[Bahbah]

I'm watching this. It's pretty funny. There's a sort of a roped off area for I guess "celebrity watchers", there are a bunch of ladies in evening dress who look like they don't walk in heels very often. It's kind of a hoot.

[leadpenny]

Guests arriving. Live on C-SPAN now.

[prairiebreeze]

Note to self: preview is your friend

head = her

camer = camera

[leadpenny]

This is the kind of thread you find out who doesn't have a life.

Saturday night wathing people mill around on C-SPAN.

Present!

[Bahbah]

Most of the women who can walk in heels have dates. LOL. This is too funny. I need to do something productive, but I've been working in the yard all day and I'm exhausted.

[leadpenny]

wathing and watching.