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As others have pointed out, the question of political motivation can also be answered by a study of the stories SeeBS chose not to pursue. SeeBS was conducting yet another proctological exam of the thoroughly investigated story of GWB's TANG service. As far as I can tell, not a single MSM Outet conducted anything more than a cursory examination of John Kerry's service record despite clear indications that all as not as Kerry said it was. Kerry was changing his story in public for crying out loud! Yet nobody rose up to the Gary Hart style challenge? Even when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth laid it all out for them as had others before, SeeBS decided that they would ignore Kerry and pursue GWB. Did the committee even ask SeeBS why?

As far as I can tell, not a single MSM Outet conducted anything more than a cursory examination of John Kerry's service record despite clear indications that all as not as Kerry said it was.

Let's be fair. The New York Sun and Chicago Sun Times printed a series of articles from freelance reporter Thomas Lipscomb regarding Kerry's military record. And the cable news networks (especially Fox News and to a lesser extent MSNBC) gave extensive coverage to the Swift Boat Vets and their allegations. Even the Washington Post and ABC devoted significant time to investigating part of the Swiftee's allegations. We may not have liked the results of Nightline's Vietcong visit, but at least they attempted to do further investigation. And I actually found the Washington Post's factual research into the Swiftee's charges refreshing.

But CBS made absolutely no attempt to examine John Kerry's service record. Instead, 60 Minutes and CBS gave significant airtime to authors of anti-Bush books, the Abu Ghraib prison abuse "scandal" (which the military was already investigating) and the President's national guard record. Heck, Mary Mapes had significant contact with not only the Kerry campaign, but also some of the same anti-Bush political hacks (Linda Starr of Opinion Journal and Paul Lukasik) who tried to push the Bush-was-AWOL story in conjunction with the DUmmies' good friend, "Black-Box Voting" Bev Harris in November 2000.

Given the company Mapes kept, there's no question in my mind that she and SeeBS news were biased.