Dan Rather - UPDATE from Bernie Goldberg

http://www.bernardgoldberg.com ^

[kcvl]

Bernard Goldberg says CBS investigation on page 130 - Mary Mapes knew in advance that George Bush volunteered to go to Vietnam and so did Dan Rather!

Bernie was just on Bill O'Reilly

[Tallguy]

They said that Mapes knew but don’t know if she told Rather or not.<.I>

Resorting to the "incompetence defense" so soon?

[null and void]

I think most people on Free Republic knew it!

We just couldn’t get anyone to listen to us!

Yeah.

Yeah, I had a nice long talk over lunch today with a professional colleague who made the mistake of making a disparaging comment about "birthers"...

[tapatio]

Mapes is a POS, political hack...bitch. I am sick and tired of these lying media crap hacks...they could all go to hell! Sorry...I am pissed!

You took the words right out of my mouth!

[Tallguy]

The F-102 was a pure interceptor. Because it couldn’t really perform the fighter-bomber mission it was of little use. Once the USAF realized that there weren’t going to be swarms of MiGs flying over South Vietnam the few that were over there were withdrawn.

[kalee]

bttt

[Lancey Howard]

Nothing surprising about this.

I remember this scandal like it was yesterday. While “investigating” for their hit piece, these two Democrat operatives, Mapes and Rather, also made it a point to dismiss or totally ignore anybody from those National Guard days who had anything positive to say about Bush. Mapes and Rather were as sloppy as they were in orchestrating their miserable hit piece only because they (and CBS) had gotten away with this kind of political smear campaigning on behalf of their party for decades.

Thank God for Free Republic, talk radio, and the internet.

[Reagan Man]

>>>>>... the Air Force decided that the jet he flew wasn’t air worthy enough to be flown in Viet Nam.

YES, very true.

[kilowhskey]

Lieutenant Bush was an F-102 driver. The ‘102, like the B-36 before it, was designed for a threat which never materialized. Small numbers of them found their way to RVN, but they were 3-woods in a 9-iron environment.

[True Republican Patriot]

George W. Bush was a Supersonic Fighter Pilot who flew the F-104, known as the Flying Coffin! Out of 700+ built, appr. 300+ were in Fatal Crashes with their Pilots loosing their Lives! LURCH KERRY couldn’t figure out how to run a 40 ft Patrol Boat at 18 Knots! Pilots NEVER want to be Infantrymen, whats the big deal?
Now We got OBOZO who probably never registered for the SS until a few years ago and its clear He HATES AMERICA!We dont even know where the Hell OBOZO was bornand how many Nations he is a Citizen of! or what his real name is?and here’s Bernie dredging stuff up from 2004! It was all over FR at the time how G.W. Bush wanted to fly in Nam and volunteered to Fly there. Why wouldn’t he, the F-104 had a 50 % chance of Killing him every time he strapped himself in, even if it was for a Sunday Afternoon Training Cruise:-)

[True Republican Patriot]

The F-104! George only wishes he can get a chance to take the controls of an F-22 Raptor! and hoping he does as soon as we get this Jerk outa the office now referred to as TOTUS:-)

[Bullish]

Yeah, what you said!

[usmcobra]

It was a very hard jet to fly with an insane landing speed like all true delta wing aircraft but that is not what got it withdrawn from Vietnam.

Parts did, it was being phased out already and there were not enough spares to keep them flying at a combat tempo.

[Quilla]

Thank God for Free Republic, talk radio, and the internet.

and Buckhead!

[org.whodat]

F22, ROFLOL, I don’t think it had been built at that time. LOL, But good try!! During the time, we had F-100, F-102, and F4, ertc The F111 came about 66 early 67, but george didn’t fly it.

[usmcobra]

George Bush never flew F-104’s.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

“Thank God for Free Republic.....”

All the more reason to get this gosh-darned FReepathon over with.

America needs us!!!

[tanknetter]

The F-102 was a pure interceptor. Because it couldn’t really perform the fighter-bomber mission it was of little use. Once the USAF realized that there weren’t going to be swarms of MiGs flying over South Vietnam the few that were over there were withdrawn.

Not true. The F-102 was a pretty stable platform and had a latent air-to-mud capability with the 2.75" unguided rockets it carried (ostensibly for shooting Soviet bombers out of the sky using salvo fire). To wit:

"However, the Deuce was adapted for close air support starting in 1965. Delta Daggers armed with unguided rockets made attacks on Viet Cong encampments to harass enemy soldiers, and the aircraft's heat-seeking air-to-air missiles were even used to lock onto enemy campfires at night. Though the F-102 had not been designed for this type of combat, the plane was surprisingly effective and pilots often reported secondary explosions coming from their targets. An Aviation Week article of the period credited the 509th FIS, an F-102 squadron stationed in Vietnam, with destroying 106 buildings, damaging 59 more, sinking 16 sampans, and destroying one bridge during 199 sorties over the course of 45 days. The manufacturer Convair proposed a series of upgrades to build upon these promising results and further improve the design's ground attack capabilities, but the concept was dropped due to Air Force funding constraints."

More info here

[Freddd]

Dan Rather volunteered to go to Nam?

[True Republican Patriot]

Pardon Me! I screwed up, they were F-102s! Sure changes the story, Gosh! Ny deepest apologies!

[Richard Kimball]

Dan Rather washed out of the Marine Corps. He never finished basic. He did join the Army National Guard during the Korean conflict. I find it funny that he attacked both Quayle and Bush for joining the reserves when the nation was at war.