Can you prove that it didn't happen?
Posted on 11/09/2005 5:29:44 PM PST by wagglebee
RUSH: Okay, gotta hear this. We got a lot more sound bites of this, but this is the money sound bite. Brian Ross today talking to Mary Mapes of CBS says, "After 12 years of defending him, CBS and Dan Rather later admitted they couldn't vouch for the authenticity of the documents, Bill Burkett's documents, and that they should not have been used and the story should not have aired. Do you," Mary Mapes, "still think the story was true?"
MAPES: The story? Absolutely.
ROSS: This seems remarkable to me that you would sit here now and say you still find that story to be up to your standards.
MAPES: I'm perfectly willing to believe those documents are forgeries if there's proof that I haven't seen.
ROSS: But isn't it the other way around? Don't you have to prove they're authentic?
MAPES: Well, I think that's what critics of the story would say. I know more now than I did then, and I think -- I think -- they have not been proved to be false yet.
ROSS: Have they proved to be authentic, though? Isn't that really what journalists do?
MAPES: No, I don't think that's the standard.
RUSH: No, she doesn't think that's the standard! Do you understand what you just heard? Mary Mapes, Dan Rather's producer, 60 Minutes II: no, the standard is not on us to prove they're authentic. What she's saying is the standard is on critics to prove that they're not. She can take anything she wants, put it on the air, without authenticating it, without verifying it, and it's up to critics to disprove it. Now, I think what's going on here, I don't think she's that far out when it comes to all these people in the mainstream press. I think this is the way they look at things. I really do! It's up to the critics to prove this is not true. That's why Rather is out there still saying he wishes he could pursue the story. He still believes it's true even though the documents may be forged. He still thinks the story is true because nobody's proven the story isn't true even though they've proven the documents are forgeries, which Mary Mapes still can't admit. I mean, this is a true basket case in front of your eyes.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I'm going to finish the sound bites here. She was on her first interview since being fired. She maintains in her 60 Minutes II story on the Bush National Guard service that it was true, that no one's proved the documents were not authentic. She sat down with Brian Ross, investigative journalist at ABC News, and we played one sound bite, but we've gotta total of (counting) ba-da ba-da ba-da ba-da ba-da -- a little Bruce Babbitt talk there -- four of them. Here's the first. Brian Ross says, "CBS fired Mary Mapes earlier this year. She's not been heard from until now. She's unrepentant and defiant, refusing to accept membership in the journalism hall of shame."
MAPES: I loved that job, loved it wildly, and suddenly there were pictures of me on the Internet; they were saying mean things about me, saying that I was an angry, man-hating feminazi. I had people driving by my house and taking pictures. I have a little boy, seven years old, and --
ROSS: What did you tell him?
MAPES: I didn't tell him much.
RUSH: Okay. Brian Ross then says, "Mary Mapes was the woman behind the scenes. The producer who researched, wrote, and put together Dan Rather's 60 Minutes report on President Bush's National Guard service, a report which Rather and CBS would later apologize for airing."
MAPES: Friendships were destroyed, trust was abandoned, and it was a very, very dark time. It was a very dark time. I mean, it was like having a little mini-witch hunt within the corporation.
ROSS: And at the heart of that was Mary Mapes.
MAPES: Yes. Yes. That's true. I know.
RUSH: That's true, that's true. They're all in denial. They're all in denial. She didn't do anything wrong, she didn't violate any standards, story is still true, she was a victim of a witch hunt. Another bite here -- and, by the way, Mike, get that little parody that we had done about her calling Joe Lockhart, because that's the one thing that she says that she regrets but we don't have that audio, but I'm still going to use that. Here's the next bite. Ross says, "This is nothing to do with bad journalism, Mary?"
MAPES: I don't think I committed bad journalism. I really don't. I don't think I've done a good job for 25 years, woke up on the morning of September 8th and decided to commit professional hari-kari.
RUSH: You've been doing it your whole career, you just got caught. You've been doing this kind of journalism. Obviously, this is good journalism. She's been doing it her whole career and she just got caught at this. That's what I mean by "their monopoly is over." They don't get away with this stuff anymore, and here's the money bite. This is the money bite, this is the pièce de résistance. Brian Ross says, "At the heart of the controversy were documents CBS said came from the files of President Bush's then National Guard commanding officer." He plays the Rather video, saying, "Now news about CBS News, and the question," and then Ross says, "After 12 days of defending him, CBS and Dan Rather later admitted they couldn't vouch for the authenticity of the documents and that they should not have been used and the story should not have aired. Do you," Mary Mapes, "still think these stories are true?"
MAPES: The story? Absolutely.
ROSS: This seems remarkable to me that you would sit here now and say you still find that story to be up to your standards.
MAPES: I'm perfectly willing to believe those documents are forgeries if there's proof that I haven't seen.
ROSS: But isn't it the other way around? Don't you have to prove they're authentic?
MAPES: Well, I think that's what critics of the story would say. I know more now than I did then. And I think -- I think -- they have not been proved to be false yet.
ROSS: Have they proved to be authentic, though? Isn't that really what journalists do?
MAPES: No, I don't think that's the standard.
RUSH: No, of course not! Proving your story is true, proving the documents are authentic, that's not the standard. The critics have to prove that what we're putting on the air is not true. She's just let a big cat out of the bag here. This is standard operating procedure, if you ask me. How about Michael Isikoff, Korans being flushed down the toilet down at Club G'itmo? No evidence; just one source. (paraphrasing) "Well, it's up to them to prove it didn't happen. Prove that it didn't happen. You go prove it didn't. My story says it did!" No, it's not up to me to authenticate these documents. It's not up to me to make sure that they're genuine. No, no, no! It's up to the critics to prove that they're not."
Which the critics have done, by the way. She still refuses to acknowledge that. She said that one of her few regrets, folks, in handling the story, one of her few regrets was her phone call to a member of Kerry's presidential campaign staff prior to the broadcast. Now, of course, the fact that ABC doesn't identity who it was in their own story I find amusing. It was Joe Lockhart, and he wasn't a member of Kerry's presidential campaign staff. He was one of the top dogs -- and Mary Mapes called what's-his-face, Lockhart, asking him to call Burkett. She said, "I wish to God I hadn't done it because I think it was so wildly misinterpreted." She says she made the call "only as a way to gain favor with her source, who provided her with the documents."
Yep.
She still thinks there no problem with the first part of the TANG story, where Rather had on Ben Barnes, former Texas House Speaker, who said he helped get Bush in the Guard. Ben Barnes, a neighbor and fund raiser for Kerry, who contradicted his own previous sworn testimony. Barnes own daughter later stated her father lied.
Nope, nothing wrong with that.
Mapes is delusional and the book is headed to the remainder pile as we speak.
She's coming up soon on H&C. Don't expect anything but softballs from Larry.
Screw France..
They certainly will toss Mapes nothing but softballs.
Can you prove that it didn't happen?
I think they're talking to Bernie Goldberg, not Mapes. The only way she'd ever appear on H & C would be if Colmes alone serviced (ummm, interviewed) her on tape.
And they found a big one.
Criswell bump!
One day she will be proven right!Oh shit. We already know she's right.
Go Mary Go...we know it was the truth.
Yup. She basically told the world that CBS makes stuff up and airs it. It's SOP.
Don't hold your breath awaiting a statement. They still haven't disclosed the chain of custody of the fake memos.
It's not in this transcript, but Mary said she's hunting down the memo sources. Another indictment of the CBS modus operandi.
Is this woman just the girlfriend from hell or what?
How can we get the "proof" to her. We had lots of it right here on FR. Anybody have the best post on that?
What's good for the goose--!
As long as that is their stated position, they have an "out" if they're caught. They can say "Shazam! We were fooled! We were lied to!" instead of spending alot of time and money checking those pesky facts.
Do a Google search on Mary Mapes/Seattle/Police/KIRO and you 'll find some links to a story she produced while employed at KIRO where she (through her reporter husband) charged the police killed a man needlessly. By the grace of God, another reporter was on site (unbeknownst to Mapes) who set the story straight. And what did she do? Moved on to Dallas with her husband (another "journalist").
Carpet-bagging, lying, scoundrel. How can she live with herself?
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Does the Bloviator take those, too?
I thought his preferred poison was provided by pocketsful of pain pills?
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