Maybe Dan already knew 'Kenny'.
Everyone has always wondered what in the heck, "What's the frequency Kenneth?" meant...
Rather is certifiable.
Posted on 09/19/2004 9:40:13 PM PDT by LibWhacker
After days of expressing confidence about the documents used in a "60 Minutes'' report that raised new questions about President Bush's National Guard service, CBS News officials have grave doubts about the authenticity of the material, network officials said last night.
Those officials, who asked not to be identified, said CBS News would most likely make an announcement as early as today that it had been deceived about the documents' origins, and that it was mounting an intensive news investigation of where they came from.
But these people cautioned that CBS News could still pull back from an announcement. Officials were meeting last night with Dan Rather, the anchor who presented the report, to go over the information it has collected about the documents one last time before making a final decision.
People at the network said it was now possible that officials would open a formal internal inquiry into how it moved forward with the report, which officials now say they are beginning to believe was too flawed to have gone on the air.
The report relied in large part on four memorandums purported to be from the personal file of Mr. Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, who died 20 years ago. The memos, dated from the early 1970's, said that Colonel Killian was under pressure to "sugar coat'' the record of the young Lieutenant Bush and that the officer had disobeyed a direct order to take a physical.
Mr. Rather and others at the network are said to still believe that the sentiment in the memos accurately reflected Mr. Killian's feelings, but that the documents' authenticity is now in grave doubt.
The developments last night marked a dramatic turn for CBS News, which for a week stood steadfastly by its Sept. 8 report as various document experts asserted that the typeface of the memos could have been produced only by a modern-day word processor, not Vietnam War-era typewriters.
The seemingly unflappable confidence of Mr. Rather and top news division officials in the documents allayed fears within the network and created doubt among some in the news media at large that those specialists were correct. CBS News officials had said they had reason to be certain that the documents indeed came from the personal file of Colonel Killian.
Sandy Genelius, a network spokeswoman, said last week, "We are confident about the chain of custody; we're confident in how we secured the documents.''
But officials decided yesterday that they would most likely have to declare that they were misled about the records' origin after Mr. Rather and a top network executive, Betsy West, met in Texas with a man who was said to have helped the news division obtain the memos, a former Guard officer named Bill Burkett.
Mr. Rather interviewed Mr. Burkett on camera this weekend, and several people close to the reporting process said his answers to Mr. Rather's questions led officials to conclude that their initial confidence that the memos came from Mr. Killian's own files was not warranted. These people indicated that Mr. Burkett had previously led the producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, to have the utmost confidence in the material.
It was unclear last night whether Mr. Burkett told Mr. Rather that he had been misled about the documents' provenance or that he had been the one who did the misleading.
In an e-mail message yesterday, Mr. Burkett declined to answer any questions about the documents.
Yesterday, Emily J. Will, a document specialist who inspected the records for CBS News and said last week that she had raised concerns about their authenticity with CBS News producers, confirmed a report in Newsweek that a producer had told her that the source of the documents had said they were obtained anonymously and through the mail.
During an interview last night she declined to name the producer who told her this but said that the producer had been in a position to know. CBS News officials have disputed her contention that she warned the network the night before the initial "60 Minutes'' report that it would face questions from documents experts.
In the coming days CBS News officials plan to focus on how the network moved ahead with the report when there were warning signs that the memorandums were not genuine.
Ms. Will is one of two documents experts consulted by the network who said they raised doubts about the material before the segment was broadcast. Another expert, Marcel B. Matley, said in interviews that he had only vouched for Colonel Killian's signatures on the records and not the authenticity of the records themselves. Mr. Matley said he could not rule out that the signatures were cut and pasted from official records pertaining to Colonel Killian.
In examining where the network went wrong, officials at CBS News were turning their attention to Ms. Mapes, one of their most respected producers, who was riding particularly high this year after breaking news about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal for the network.
In a telephone interview this weekend, Josh Howard, the executive producer of the "60 Minutes'' Wednesday edition, said he did not initially know who was Ms. Mapes' primary source for the documents but that he did not see any reason to doubt them. He said he believed Ms. Mapes and her team had appropriately answered all questions about the documents' authenticity and, he noted, no one seemed to be casting doubt upon the essential thrust of the report.
"The editorial story line was still intact, and still is, to this day,'' he said, "and the reporting that was done in it was by a person who has turned in decades of flawless reporting with no challenge to her credibility.''
He added, "We in management had no sense that the producing team wasn't completely comfortable with the results of the document analysis.''
Ms. Mapes has not responded to requests for comment.
Mr. Howard also said in the interview that the White House did not dispute the veracity of the documents when it was presented them on the morning of the report. That reaction, he said, was "the icing on the cake'' of the other reporting the network was conducting on the documents. White House officials have said they saw no reason to challenge documents that had been presented by a credible news organization.
Several people familiar with the situation said that they were girding for a particularly tough week for Mr. Rather and the news division should the network announce its new doubts.
One person close to the situation said the critical question would be, "Where was everybody's judgment on that last day?''
I am afraid this entire thing was a ploy to change the subject from the Swift Boat Vets to get the heat off Kerry. It took that story off the front burner.
But the swiftees aren't finished yet!
Should the rest of the world unite to stop the U.S.A.
At what point should the rest of the world think seriously about forming its own coalition of the willing and stop the American war machine.
That was one of the best SNL skits ever.
Cronkite ranked Jimmy Carter as the smartest president that he met. While he was polite enough to avoid direct criticism of Ronald Reagan, it was clear that he does not have a high opinion of Reagan's intellect. Cronkite claims he had a role in bringing about the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.
General Weyand presented this speech at the GEORGE CATLETT MARSHALL MEMORIAL RECEPTION AND DINNER for the Association of the United States Army Convention, held in Washington, DC on October 18, 2000 GEORGE CATLETT MARSHALL MEMORIAL RECEPTION AND DINNER Association of the United States Army Convention
Washington, DC October 18, 2000
"After Tet, General Westmoreland sent Walter Cronkite out to interview me. I was in Command of the Forces in the South around Saigon and below and I was proud of what we'd done. We had done a good job there. So, Walter came down and he spent about an hour and a half interviewing me. And when we got done, he said, "well you've got a fine story. But I'm not going to use any of it because I've been up to Hue. I've seen the thousands of bodies up there in mass graves and I'm determined to do all in my power to bring this war to an end as soon as possible." It didn't seem to matter that those thousands of bodies were of South Vietnamese citizens who had been killed by the Hanoi soldiers and Walter wasn't alone in this because I think many in the media mirrored his view. It was a far different situation for me than when I was in Korea with my Battalion. I had a fellow named John Randolph who was an Associated Press Correspondent. He literally lived with our Battalion and he wrote about the men in a way that was good for them. It raised their morale. He never undercut their effort nor maligned the cause for which they fought. He became like one of them. He was awarded the Silver Star for Valor for helping them retrieve wounded and dead from the field of battle under fire. When I was in Paris at the Peace Talks, it was the most frustrating assignment I think I ever had. Sitting in that conference, week after week listening to the Hanoi negotiators, Le Duc Tho and his friends lecture us. Reading from the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Herald Tribune, the Atlanta Constitution, NBC, CBS, you name it. Their message was always the same. "Hey, read your newspapers, listen to your TV. The American people want you out of Vietnam. Now, why don't you just go ahead and get out?" So finally a Peace Agreement was signed that everyone knew would be violated and with no recourse or hope of enforcement on our part.
Mapes is history...
And if Blather has any sense of loyalty to SeeBS,
he would resign...
From what I've read it may be that Burkett has brain damage and mental illness as a result of an attack of meningitis in 1998.
If anyone has evidence to the contrary, please explain.
I hope that we "mean-spirited" right wingers will not jump on the bandwagon when Dan and Mapes decide to bad-mouth the disabled Burkett.
Kerry keeps saying wonderful things about the UN and how he'd turn to them for help.
Now, the Oil for Food scandal is all over the news. LOL.
Maybe Dan already knew 'Kenny'.
Everyone has always wondered what in the heck, "What's the frequency Kenneth?" meant...
Rather is certifiable.
Those poor DUfuses posted the article an hour late and have 7 total comments on it.
Look over there (DU) about 15 minutes ago---nothing on this. Tried to do a search but DU will not let you search unless you donate? Where can I sent my 2 cents?
Screw the DUmmies. Let's remember what's important in all this.... 
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Kerry IS the Born Loser.
I noticed Jock Gill's name on that graphic- wasn't he involved with the SDS and the Chicago DNC convention riots many years ago?
bumpo
How foolish and bitter Dan Rather looks now, for insulting FOXNEws at the airport today, asking that local FOXNews reporter if he didn't feel duped by working for FOX. At some point in time, Rather and the other liberal FOXNews bashers will have to give it a rest.
I thought we could all find some amusement in a DUmmie quote or two regarding this story.
Mojambo (864 posts) Mon Sep-20-04 01:21 AM
Response to Original message
1. Here we go!
Get ready for the Cable Opinion channels to go ballistic and the real story behind Bush: TANG will never be told.
The only thing left to find out is whether the Rove media will successfully plant the idea of Kerry collaboration in the public's mind.
A shining moment for Rove.
"Behind every swaggering, macho, fake cowboy bully, there's a timid little prep school cheerleader. " - http://mojambo.blogspot.com/
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blackcat77 (1000+ posts) Mon Sep-20-04 01:24 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Yep and that's why I think Rove is responsible.
This was the best of all worlds for them, which is why they were SOOOOOO anxious to distribute those documents so that the press could discover the obvious problems with the documents.
All they needed was one dupe to go public with them as authentic.
Now both the documents *and* what the documents said are politically radioactive.
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Ricdude (216 posts) Mon Sep-20-04 01:33 AM
Response to Reply #1
6. So email your friends a song...
...to inform them of the real story. Check out "Bringer of War (Bring It On)", available via my .sig. Enjoy.
No dinosaurs harmed to power this vehicle. Bush goes Techno: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/3/geedubbeemusic.htm
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Jonathan Little (599 posts) Mon Sep-20-04 01:25 AM
Response to Original message
3. I figured this was coming
There's something really strange going on with the "content is true, but the documents are fake" storyline. CBS and Dan Rather evidently put too much weight on the fact that Dan Bartlett didn't question the memos.
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Leilani (1000+ posts) Mon Sep-20-04 01:26 AM
Response to Original message
4. The worst part is, it will be the top story
& Kerry will again find it hard to get his message out.
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Erika (749 posts) Mon Sep-20-04 01:28 AM
Response to Original message
5. The Public Is Sick Of Vietnam/TANG debates
Many of my Republican and Democratic friends are sick and tired of these issues and consider them moot.In the last week both sides have said, can't we just move on to today's issues. Who cares what the cable news discuss. Only a minority watches them
All will admit that the privilged commonly found a way out of serving in Nam. Kerry chose to go. We've made a point.
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JohnnyCougar (136 posts) Mon Sep-20-04 01:36 AM
Response to Original message
7. What if this is a bluff?
To get the WH to condemn the memos even more before they release the originals? They haven't retracted it just yet.
I just find it so hard to believe that they would do this kind of report without the originals, or with out more hard evidence.
If there is nothing more to this story, CBS only has themselves to blame for the ensuing fiasco.
Excellent catch
If that happens,we will all need CPR!!!!!
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