Posted on 09/27/2005 5:44:14 AM PDT by RatherBiased.com
Mary Mapes, the CBS News producer fired for her role in Memogate, has come out with her new book, Truth and Duty : The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.
In it she mentions some encouraging words from Dan Rather, offering his support for her in her darkest hour.
I knew I could count on Dan. In tough situations, he became fightin Dan, someone who told us all to never back up, never back down, never give up, never give in. I was glad to hear from him and reassured by his reaction to all of it.Dan told me he was confident in the story and that he was lucky to work with me. He signed off by saying something that had become a shorthand for us over the years: F-E-A. That was code for F---Em All, a sentiment that needed to be expressed from time to time in any newsroom. Dan was too much of a gentleman to say the real thing---at least most of the time. But he knew that when I was under deadline or work pressure I was hard put to find any sentence that couldnt be improved by the liberal use of the f-word. At this point, I deeply appreciated the sentiment.
Mapes also claimed that the first criticism of the documents appeared before 60 Minutes had even ended and before the documents were put up on the CBS website. But the forum hosting the criticism was from the West coast, with an earlier timezone.
Mapes also demonstrated what could be a lack of knowledge about just what it was people were criticizing. She referred to "peripheral spacing" appearing on some typewriters, when the actual term was "proportional spacing."
Within a few minutes, I was online visiting Web sites I had never heard of before: Free Republic, Little Green Footballs, Power Line. They were hard-core, politically angry, hyperconservative sites loaded with vitriol about Dan Rather and CBS. Our work was being compared to that of Jayson Blair, the discredited New York Times reporter who had fabricated and plagiarized stories.All these Web sites had extensive write-ups on the documents: on typeface, font style, and peripheral spacing, material that seemed to spring up overnight. It was phenomenal. It had taken our analysts hours of careful work to make comparisons. It seemed that these analysts or commentators---or whatever they were---were coming up with long treatises in minutes. They were all linking to one another, creating an echo chamber of outraged agreement.
I was told that the first posting claiming the documents were fakes had gone up on Free Republic before our broadcast was even off the air! How had the Web site even gotten copies of the documents? We hadnt put them online until later. That first entry, posted by a longtime Republican political activist lawyer who used the name Buckhead, set the tone for what was to come.
There was no analysis of what the documents actually said, no work done to look at the content, no comparison with the official record, no phone calls made to check the facts of the story, nothing beyond a cursory and politically motivated examination of the typeface. That was all they had to attack, but that was enough.
Within a few minutes, I was online visiting Web sites I had never heard of before: Free Republic, Little Green Footballs, Power Line. They were hard-core, politically angry, hyperconservative sites loaded with vitriol about Dan Rather and CBS. Our work was being compared to that of Jayson Blair, the discredited New York Times reporter who had fabricated and plagiarized stories.
Free PR...cant beat it!!
FYI..Rather was interviewd live last night on C-span by Marvin Kalb, and was asked about "Buckhead" and the memos...Rather continues to believe the memorandum are real..he said so several times..the interview is being reaired sometime this afternoon on C-span..dependign on when the Congress in meeting..YOu amy want to check the schedule and ping the others...regards.
Rather and Mapes were given the bums rush out of CBS, Kerry went down to ignominious defeat and that psycho Bush hater in Texax (Burkett?) is off on the happy farm for all I know. Oh and the NY Slimes is laying off workers and is now dealing with Geraldo-gate.
On the other hand Bush was re-elected and FreeRepublic is bigger and stronger than ever.
Truth is, Mary, you lost and you suck. Now deal with it.
Additionally, here's a link to the CBS story.
Not surprisingly, all the docs are gone.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/08/60II/main641984.shtml
"It had taken our analysts hours of careful work to make comparisons. It seemed that these analysts or commentators---or whatever they were---were coming up with long treatises in minutes."
It's an IQ thing.
I probably won't be able to tune in but will put out your info.
:^)
This may be off point, but I had to laugh when I read this passage.
So if two MSMers are having a conversation, and the conversation ends, one of them is considered to have "signed off"?
BWAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!
These people take themselves far, far too seriously...
"Journalism" has always been the last resort for the terminally stupid.
Those unable to hack it in any real intellectual pursuit; the bottom of the gene pool; those with very high self-esteem and no smarts.
Personally I would be embarrassed to not know the difference between "peripheral" spacing (whatever that might be) and proportional spacing, no matter what profession I am in. and then compound the ignorance by publishing it in a book!
They brought out the Lysol for site sanitization this time...
Caught in their lies and they still don't get it..
"This Mapes woman is exceptionally stupid. How did she ever get a job with even CBS?"
Y'got me. Her willful self-deception is remarkable, even for a leftist, even for a leftist journalist. Dan Rather is a "gentleman" because he only rarely uses the "F" word in the newsroom?? FreeRepublic.com is "politically angry"?? Oh, heavens, we wouldn't want any political anger, would we, Mary? Her five-year crusade to bring down President Bush resulted in a well-deserved, humiliating, public dumping by CBS. And she's STILL congratulating herself on the TANG "scoop".
I do so love to see the lying leftists going down. :)
No, Mary, what you and Danny Boy did was worse. Blair's stories were far more truthful, they probably had happened to somebody, Blair just didn't bother to find out. Your crap wasn't "plagiarized" it was TOTALLY MADE UP!
I was hard put to find any sentence that couldnt be improved by the liberal use of the f-word
And a skank.
Ping!
Dan Rather is clearly delusional. Leftists don't seem to let the facts get in the way of their opinions.
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