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Wow: CBS News President and WH Official Tied to Benghazi Scandal Are Brothers
Townhall ^ | May 11, 2013 | Guy Benson

Posted on 05/11/2013 2:20:19 PM PDT by Rennes Templar

One of the mainstream media journalists whose pursuit of the truth has been truly tenacious and nonpartisan is CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson. Her tough reporting has made life difficult for everyone from Hillary Clinton to the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans. She's also been relentless on the Obama administration's Fast & Furious gun-running scandal -- and, of course, Benghazi. As we mentioned this week, Attkisson's tough investigative journalism is starting to bother unnamed CBS News executives. Here's Politico's scoop, in case you missed it:

But from where Attkisson is sitting, there are actually two Goliaths, one of which is almost entirely absent from the Post profile. The second Goliath is CBS News, which has grown increasingly frustrated with Attkisson's Benghazi campaign. CBS News executives see Attkisson wading dangerously close to advocacy on the issue, network sources have told POLITICO. Attkisson can't get some of her stories on the air, and is thus left feeling marginalized and underutilized. That, in part, is why Attkisson is in talks to leave CBS ahead of contract, as POLITICO reported in April. Farhi mentions "internal conflicts" in the final paragraph, though he seems to dismiss them. The "internal conflicts" are indeed real -- Attkisson is still eyeing an exit, according to sources -- and provide important context for today's piece.

My analysis of this report was highly critical of CBS News. The network appears to be penalizing one of its best correspondents because she's doing her job too aggressively. Conservatives quickly imputed a political motive to CBS News' internal drama, but the Daily Caller has uncovered a connection that suggests there's a striking personal angle to this controversy, as well:

The brother of a top Obama administration official is also the president of CBS News, and the network may be days away from dropping one of its top investigative reporters for covering the administration’s scandals too aggressively. CBS News executives have reportedly expressed frustration with their own reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, who has steadily covered the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya since late last year...On Friday, ABC News reported that the Benghazi talking points went through 12 revisions before they were used on the public. The White House was intimately involved in that process, ABC reported, and the talking points were scrubbed free of their original references to a terror attack. That reporting revealed that President Obama’s deputy national security advisor, Ben Rhodes — brother of CBS News president David Rhodes — was instrumental in changing the talking points in September 2012. ABC’s reporting revealed that Ben Rhodes, who has a masters in fiction from NYU, called a meeting to discuss the talking points at the White House on September 15, 2012.

Well then. "CBS News executives" are wringing their hands that Sharyl Attkisson maybe "wading dangerously close" to advocacy on Benghazi. It's now entirely reasonable to ask if the top executive at the network may be "wading dangerously close" to a massive conflict of interest. Is David Rhodes trying to protect his brother -- who's just been revealed to be knee-deep in the Benghazi cover-up -- by muzzling and marginalizing a problematic journalist within his news division? Kudos to the Caller for shining the spotlight on that relationship, but it's amazing that no one connected those dots sooner. How many people in the elite MSM orbit are aware that Ben and David Rhodes are brothers? And they definitely are brothers, by the way; The New York Times confirmed that fact in a glowing profile of the younger Rhodes in March:

The son of a conservative-leaning Episcopalian father from Texas and a more liberal Jewish mother from New York, Mr. Rhodes grew up in a home where even sports loyalties were divided: he and his mother are ardent Mets fans; his father and his older brother, David, root for the Yankees. “No one in that house agreed on anything,” said David Rhodes, who is now the president of CBS News.

If Sharyl Attkisson continues to be relegated to the sidelines, or is even shown the door, at CBS News over her Benghazi coverage, the public must demand full disclosure about David Rhodes' role in that decision-making process. The Rhodes brothers' familial tie may be a bizarre, irrelevant coincidence. It's possible. But it's not a leap to suggest that this reeks of corruption and collusion.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: benghazi; benrhodes; cbs; cbsnews; davidrhodes; libya; mediatreason; obama; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; progressiveagenda; progressivemovement; propaganda; waronterror; wh
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The Rhodes brothers - stranger than fiction.
1 posted on 05/11/2013 2:20:19 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
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To: Rennes Templar
The Saturday Night Massacre was the term given by political commentators to U.S. President Richard Nixon's executive dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus on October 20, 1973 during the Watergate scandal.

If CBS fires the reporter, will anyone else walk out the door? Probably not.

2 posted on 05/11/2013 2:23:12 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: Rennes Templar; Old Sarge; NorthernCrunchyCon; UMCRevMom@aol.com; Finatic; fellowpatriot; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

3 posted on 05/11/2013 2:24:36 PM PDT by narses
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To: Rennes Templar

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! SeeBS.


4 posted on 05/11/2013 2:25:22 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (America is the root cause of violent crime in Mexico. - Barack Hussein Obama Jr.)
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To: Rennes Templar

Ben Rhodes, who has a masters in fiction from NYU

So, a guy who majored in fiction writing reworked the talking points!

you can’t make the sh** up.


5 posted on 05/11/2013 2:25:44 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: FlingWingFlyer

CBS. inventor of fake but accurate reporting.


6 posted on 05/11/2013 2:26:46 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: Rennes Templar

And their sister is probably Hillary’s girlfriend.


7 posted on 05/11/2013 2:29:28 PM PDT by Toespi
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To: glorgau

LOL!!


8 posted on 05/11/2013 2:29:30 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker
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To: glorgau

You can’t make fiction out of this fiction.


9 posted on 05/11/2013 2:31:38 PM PDT by Rennes Templar (If guns kill people, how come no one dies at gun shows?)
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To: Rennes Templar
It's now entirely reasonable to ask if the top executive at the network may be "wading dangerously close" to a massive conflict of interest.

Attkinsson takes on TOTUS, NO film at 11.

10 posted on 05/11/2013 2:32:08 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (3 guns when you only have one arm? "I just don't want to get killed for lack of shooting back")
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To: Rennes Templar

You don`t have to be a Rhodes scholar to figure out that this is a conflict of interest.


11 posted on 05/11/2013 2:32:36 PM PDT by bunkerhill7 (("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione.))
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To: Rennes Templar
Would you Rather know the truth or would you Rather CeeBS?
12 posted on 05/11/2013 2:34:03 PM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" is more than an Army Ranger credo it's the character of America.)
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To: Toespi

And their other brother Rocky packs fudge with Ben and Jerry.


13 posted on 05/11/2013 2:35:48 PM PDT by TigersEye ("No man left behind" is more than an Army Ranger credo it's the character of America.)
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To: justiceseeker93; null and void; LucyT

14 posted on 05/11/2013 2:42:32 PM PDT by Brown Deer (Pray for 0bama. Psalm 109:8)
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To: Rennes Templar
The biggest question in the end will be "who came up with the YouTube video idea?"

Was it the guy with the degree in fiction (Rhodes) or was it Her Heinous Hillary?

Can't wait to find out.

15 posted on 05/11/2013 2:43:21 PM PDT by what's up
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To: Rennes Templar
All in the family.


16 posted on 05/11/2013 2:43:46 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Rennes Templar

Nepotism among the news media and the White House staff. No wonder news gets kept off the air. Nepotism cannot be allowed. There should be policy at CBS to prevent it.


17 posted on 05/11/2013 3:00:19 PM PDT by Rapscallion (People died. Obama lied....to win the election and bankrupt the US..)
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To: Rennes Templar

How cozy.


18 posted on 05/11/2013 3:10:23 PM PDT by apocalypto
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To: Rennes Templar

He must have gotten an MFA in the NYU Creative Writing Program.

I know it well, and used to know Sharon Olds and E.L. Doctorow well. It began as a part of the NYU English Department, but got too big for its britches and split off into an independent program.

http://www.cwp.fas.nyu.edu/page/people


19 posted on 05/11/2013 3:14:11 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: apocalypto

For me the Press Conference by the families of the Navy Seal VI team at the National Press Club at the same time Congress was holding it’s inquiry on Thursday revealed a bigger story of treason than Bengazi. I watched 3 hours of that and cried my eyes out, remembering how we promised our Viet Nam Vets that we would never let our troops suffer as they did. Yet we are doing it again. I am heartsick. If you haven’t watched the video, please do so. It’s important that you do and that you help spread the word to other Americans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqtJrJ40Cio


20 posted on 05/11/2013 3:20:26 PM PDT by WVNan
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