Posted on 09/15/2004 8:21:02 PM PDT by Mr_Mary_Jo_Kopechne
1) Rather mentions Ben Barnes in the opening and fails to disclose Barnes' ties to the Kerry campaign, misleading people who did not see the original piece
2) Rather made no mention of Amy Barnes' (Ben's daughter) statements that her father's statements on the 60 Minutes piece are politically motivated
3) In Rather's introduction, he says: "The woman who describes herself as Colonel Killian's right hand during much of the 1970s, Marianne Carr Knox, Colonel Killian's secretary, flew to NY this afternoon to tell us she believes the documents we obtained are not authentic. But, there is yet another confusing twist to this story. She told us, she believes what the documents actually say, is exactly as we reported." I find this last sentence to be a ludicrous, nonsensical statement. To paraphrase "Knox tells us that we accurately reported the falsified documents".
4) Neither Rather nor Knox disclosed Knox's political affiliation, nor was there mention of Knox's earlier statements to the press that Bush was "selected not elected" and unfit for the Presidency. Rather calls her a "credible voice".
5) Rather neglected to question Knox on the fact that Staudt was long gone by the date of the memo referring to him
6) Knox put no dates on any of the statements she made, and Rather asked her from no timeline
7) Knox mentions twice that other pilots who knew Bush was not fulfilling his obligation Knox - "his time there, it seemed the other fellows were, I am going to say this, sort of resentful for his attitude." Rather - "and what was his attitude" Knox - "well, that he really didn't have to go by the rules" Rather - "he didn't really have to go by the rules?" Knox - "it seemed that way to me"
and then later
Knox - "it was sort of gossip around there... about what he was getting away with" Rather - "what Lt Bush was getting away with, they were snickering about that?" Knox - "well the other officers, and I guess there was even a resentment"
Why have none of the pilots or officers come forward? Her memory is apparently good enough to know that the content of each memo is "correct", she should be able to recollect at least one person who observed Bush's alleged behavior, and Rather should have asked her for names.
(As an aside, the left apparently thinks that 250+ swift vets who served with Kerry but not on Kerry's boat are not credible, but hearsay of pilots that served with Bush delivered by a secretary with a known partisan bias is credible?)
8) Killian's wife and son say he kept notes on scraps of paper, but Knox claims that the memos are part of some personal journal. Rather fails to challenge this discrepancy. Also, Knox says it is more or less a personal journal. How many people have secretaries type their personal journals, aren't these usually hand written, especially by someone like Killian as he is described by his family?
9) Knox says "For instance, with the physical. Every officer knew, that at his birthday, he was supposed to have that flying physical." However, the first two memos discussing the orders for Bush to get the physical are dated 2 months before Bush's July birthday. Is it common practice for commanding officers to be this proactive? Rather does not ask.
10) Rather asks her if Bush got in on the basis of preference, her unchallenged response is "I am going to say that he did. I feel that he did." Rather asks if she feels this way because there were other politically connected people in the Guard at the time, and Knox answers yes. Rather fails to ask if her opinion is based on anything more tangible she might have read, seen, or heard.
Rather's last statement speaks volumes to his complete loss of journalistic integrity - "those who have criticized aspects of our story have never criticized the heart of it, the major thrust of our report, that George Bush received preferential treatment to get into the National Guard and once accepted, failed to satisfy the requirements of his service." This statement should be added to Journalism 101 textbooks in a chapter called "how not to disgrace yourself as a journalist". This claim fails to recognize that the "heart" of the story is built on a foundation of forged documents and a Democrat politician who is involved in the Kerry campaign, and therefore it is just as faulty as the foundation on which it is built. Addressing the story built on faulty evidence gives credence to that story, which it does not deserve. Or as the old saying goes "I will not dignify that with a response".
This is my first post, please forgive or move if it qualifies as vanity.
Darlin' you are perfectly fine.
You mean the "Bush Was Selected Lady"??? (BWS Lady)
Who paid for her trip to NYC?
Follow the money; follow the crime.
Nicely done!
Name 5.
Add:
but hearsay of pilots that served with Bush delivered by a secretary with a known partisan bias is credible?)
UNNAMED PILOTS!!
Rather is going to be a laughing stock for generations if he sticks with this line.
In the story, Rather says she flew to New York. I remember hearing that and thinking, "doesn't he mean we (CBS) flew her to New York?"
Where is this woman from?
Some effort needs to be done to contact squadron mates of Bush and counter this (C)BS.
kudos.
UNCOMFORTABLE
I listened to that "report". It seemed to me that rather was leading her on for the answers. I think that rather as well as the woman are a bunch of !@#$%^&*. I won't say what I really want to because I try not to swear. But I am really getting steamed over this. I also don't want to get banned.
I didn't want to actually watch that crap, but I knew that some brave souls here would for me. Do you think that this woman who they flew up to NYC, who said that the memos are fake, do you think that 60 Minutes now will start backing away from these forgeries or did Dan Rather even talk about that?
I still want to know if CBS paid Burkett for the forged documents?
Knox said she didn't type these memos but Rather never asked her if she had typed any memos similar to these regarding Bush. She did say she would have typed them differently but the main question, "did you ever type memos like these about George W. Bush?" was never asked or answered.
Like most left wing journalists, Rather started with a conclusion and worked his way backward.
Very well done, sir. Thought provoking.
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