LA TIMES: No Disputing It: Blogs Are Major Players (FreeRepublic.Com & Buckhead Mentioned!)

The LA Times ^ | Sept. 12, 2004 | Peter Wallsten

[West Coast Conservative]

These days, CBS News anchor Dan Rather and his colleagues at the network's magazine program "60 Minutes II" are enduring an unusual wave of second-guessing by some of the public and fellow journalists.

For that, they can thank "Buckhead."

It was a late-night blog posting by this mystery Netizen that first questioned the validity of documents Rather cited Wednesday as proof that George W. Bush did not fulfill his National Guard duty more than 30 years ago.

Buckhead refuses to further identify himself, other than dropping hints that he is a male who lives on the East Coast — preferring to proclaim that the scramble to verify the contentions in his posting marks an extraordinary achievement for a medium that has operated more as an underground world of ideological venting than a source of legitimate news.

But Buckhead is vehement about one thing: He acted alone when he posted, to the conservative website FreeRepublic.com, what was widely believed to be the first allegation that the CBS report relied on documents that could have been forged.

"Absolutely, positively, on my own, sitting at my computer in my bedroom just before midnight — but not in my pajamas," he wrote in an e-mail exchange with The Times. "But once I posted the comment to Free Republic I was no longer working alone, and that is the real point of the story about the story about the story."

That story began Wednesday, 19 minutes after the "60 Minutes II" broadcast began, when another FreeRepublic poster, TankerKC, noted that the documents were "not in the style that we used when I came into the USAF…. Can we get a copy of those memos?"

[Shortstop7]

Awesome! Thanks so much for this site. Worked great.

[js1138]

http://www.flounder.com/bush.htm

[nutmeg]

Do NOT miss this one ping!

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Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[nutmeg]

Do NOT miss this one ping!

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[nutmeg]

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[Shortstop7]

Did that really happen? The LA times tried to sue the Freepers?

Wow.......when did that happen? Can you post a link, I'd love to read it.

[Shortstop7]

Well said, Rose! You said it well. I'm a relative newbie, but I come here to read.....and find out the latest news.

What a great group of people. Congrats to Buckhead and howlin.

[Interesting Times]

"But apparently the entire thing was cooked up by a couple of amateurs on Free Republic. The speed with which it moved was breathtaking."

I understand that rabbits appear really fast to turtles.

[lainde]

bttt

[Watery Tart]

Bookmarking timeline....

[JLS]

Of course the LATimes could actually do some journalism and probably find out who Buckhead is, but know why not just repeat some silly Dim theory.

[NYCVirago]

What does it matter as long as the information is accurate. We sure as heck don't know who's doing what at CBS! And look how screwed up they got it. We 'amateurs' got it right!!

Exactly. The media doesn't seem to see a problem in us not knowing who provided these fraudulent documents to CBS. When the media stops publishing stuff from anonymous sources, then they'll have a right to complain.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Los Angeles Times No Disputing It: Blogs Are Major Players.

MORE LINKS

I'd Rather Be Blogging CBS stonewalls as "guys in pajamas" uncover a fraud.

***……………. If it turns out that the Killian memos are indeed forgeries, the Internet will have played an invaluable role in exposing the fraud much faster than the 18 months Mr. Camacho had to twist in the wind. Free Republic, a Web bulletin board, raised early warning signals about the memos within hours of last Wednesday's "60 Minutes" broadcast. Powerlineblog.com, a site run by three lawyers, reposted those comments, which were amplified by indcjournal.com. Then design expert Charles Johnson, who blogs at littlegreenfootballs.com, retyped one of the memos using Microsoft Word and showed them to be a perfect typographic match.

A defensive Dan Rather went on the air Friday to complain of what he called a "counterattack" from "partisan political operatives." In reality, traditional journalism now has a new set of watchdogs in the "blogosphere." In the words of blogger Mickey Kaus, they can trade information and publicize it "fast enough to have real-world consequences." Sure, blogs can be transmission belts for errors, vicious gossip and last-minute disinformation efforts. But they can also correct themselves almost instantaneously--in sharp contrast with CBS's stonewalling. *** FR post

When C.redibility is B.asically S.uperficial

[Freedom2specul8]

Sounds like they are fearmongers to me..

[Gracey]

ping

[Freedom2specul8]

Did ya see this? Ya gots to love it!!

[TxBec]

cool :)

[GummyIII]

Thanks, Kim!! Didn't see.... MORNIN'!!

[antonia]

On- line is not a rabble of bloggers, we are members of a democracy, more democratic then ever democracy was concieved before. Our only tool for establishing our creditability is proof of truth. Stripped from the online community is hierarchy, appearances, institutional educational background, and even cumulative wealth. All that is left, is to make one's self interesting and readable by offering the information given in an interesting format, and with proof that it is correct. There is no room for even charisma on- line, just the facts stated clearly and precisely.

The Democratic heirarchy has never been able to wrap their minds around this. Hence even Jamie Gorlick was quoted as saying; "I'm enormously impressed," said 9-11 Commisioner Jamie Gorelick, "that lay people with no powers of subpoena, with no access to insider information of any sort, could put together a very powerful set of questions and set of facts that are a road map for this commission. It is really quite striking. Now, what's your secret?"