AIM to Honor People in Pajamas [Congratulations, Buckhead and TankerKC!]

Accuracy in Media (aim.org) ^ | November 4, 2005 | By Roger Aronoff

[Jim Robinson]

"The scandal at CBS involved the use of phony documents to make charges against President Bush regarding his Air National Guard service that were not only unsubstantiated, but contradicted by evidence and information known to CBS at the time."

In memory of Reed Irvine, founder of Accuracy in Media, AIM is awarding its first annual Reed Irvine Investigative Journalism award to two of the bloggers responsible for exposing Rathergate—Dan Rather's use of forged documents to smear President Bush. This episode was a milestone in the history of journalism.

Former CBS and current CNN executive Jonathan Klein derided the bloggers as people "sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing." No matter what they wore, however, they did the research that Rather didn't. They made Rather, the "veteran" journalist, look like a fool.

One is an Atlanta lawyer, Harry MacDougald, who writes under the name "Buckhead" on FreeRepublic.com. He was the first to raise questions about the authenticity of the documents that CBS posted on its website the night of Dan Rather's report on 60 Minutes Wednesday two months before the presidential election last year. From having read a manual explaining the computer program Microsoft Word shortly after it came out and was acquired by his law firm, he knew that the CBS documents couldn't have been typed back in 1972, the year they were purported to have been written, because typewriters from that time weren't capable of proportional spacing the way Microsoft Word does it automatically.

The other award winner is Paul Boley, an active Air Force officer from Montgomery, Alabama, who went by the handle "TankerKC." He had the very first web-post attacking the memos while the 60 Minutes II program was still going on.

[lowbridge]

I'm actually left handed. So I must be the left handed guy.

[lowbridge]

I have no doubt that Moi Kerri and his anti American Rats would be in charge of America if Buckhead Tanker KC and others hadn't done their duty.

If Jim Rob hadn't founded Free Republic and those who donate to Free Republic hadn't kept the lights on here, America would be in a very horrible situation today.

If there was no Free Republic, there would be no Buckhead and Tanker KC to derail this electronic coup attempt against our president.

If Al Gore hadn't invented the internet, there'd be no Free Republic. :-)

[Fred Nerks]

..and I only wear boxers, so that must be me...

[jerry639]

Adding my congratulations to these two fine gentlemen.
Also my thanks to Jim Robinson for creating a place for sharing our conservative beliefs. Thanks also to all the Freepers who have built up my confidence over the years.
Sure is good to have this great group that is willing to contest the lies and fraud of the liberals and the media.

[Angelwood]

Congratulations to each of you! Truth won out over Dan's and Mary's forgeries.

Thanks for the ping, Jim. It was very nice freeping with you at Walter Reed. Take care.

[ForGod'sSake]

...AIM is awarding its first annual Reed Irvine Investigative Journalism award to two of the bloggers responsible for exposing Rathergate...

More richly deserved kudos!

Also, another feather in FR's cap that will serve to enhance the stature and reach of FR. It's only going to get better thanks to the efforts of talented of folks like these.

The "best" gets better. Well done.

[Flyer]

Congratulations to y'all and everyone that participated in exposing this fraud.

[Alexander Rubin]

Way to go guys! You earned this honor, and I'm hoping there's many more coming to you in the future for more of the same. Rock on.

[alnick]

It still amazes me that anyone would go to the length's that they did to forge documents and then be so sloppy. Any former officer could tell at a glance something was wrong due to the format and terminology that was used.

My theory is they've been doing this kind of thing for so long, and getting away with it, that they gradually became sloppy. They were lulled into a false sense of security by the fact they'd always gotten away with it in the past.

[alnick]

"I wish the truth had come out one year ago," said Bob Shrum - campaign manager to presidential loser John Kerry - on MSNBC's "Hardball" Thursday night. "Because as Patrick Fitzgerald said, he would have indicted in October of 2004, and you wouldn't have a [second] Bush administration." Announcing the Libby indictment on Friday, Fitzgerald made it clear that he wanted to spring his Leakgate October Surprise a year earlier - at the eleventh hour of the 2004 presidential campaign: "I would have wished nothing better that, when the subpoenas were issued in August 2004, [that] witnesses testified then, and we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005," he told reporters.

I have resisted from taking a position on whether Fitzgerald's motives are political. No longer. Purely political.

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for the honor of being a FReeper. God bless and keep you and everyone you love, forever.

[ncountylee]

Rather is slinking away in disgrace.

As good as that makes me feel, the number of elitist turds that escaped before the Internet existed drives me to rage again.

[Arizona]

" . . . they did the research that Rather didn't. They made Rather, the "veteran" journalist, look like a fool . . . "

Boy does this make me smile!

[SierraWasp]

I prefer to think of it as the death of a political monopoly in the media! Thank you very much!!!

[victim soul]

I am still in my pj's tooying to catch up on the news.

God bless these Freepers -- and all Freepers who cherish their freedoms and expose those who do not.

Let us pray for all those who are willing to put their lives and property on the line to protect our freedoms.

[GOP_Thug_Mom]

this is awesome! I just got the email from AIM and had to do a search. Makes me even prouder when I tell people "I'm a Freeper!"

______________

To: Buckhead You may have been instrumental in bringing down MSM organs NYT, The Globe, and even CBS (and particularly Dan Blather) by noticing the proportional spacing in the memo. If it is indeed a forgery (and with the superscript "th" adjacent to "187" in the first paragraph, I think it a certainty), may I offer my heartfelt congratulations to you?

America Thanks you.

69 posted on 09/09/2004 11:18:28 AM PDT by TheGeezer [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]

[US_MilitaryRules]

Go Freerepublic!!! "Sick em boys and girls!

[TheGeezer]

Wow! Where did you find the original post?

What an unbelievable night and following week that was. Yes, by all means, thanks and congratulations to Buckhead and TankerKC!

[MontanaBeth]

Congratulations! You are one of the thousand reasons that I love Free Republic! Thank you for the big win.

[ntnychik]

Well deserved kudos to all for speedy demolition of Rather's false claims. Meanwhile, Mary Clueless Mapes is saying in interviews that "nobody has proven" the documents to be false. Good time for the AIM honors to be awarded. We'll FReep her all over again.