Free Republic

Newsweek's Howard Fineman argued that CBS News producer Mary Mapes became "obsessed," with trying to prove that George W. Bush got special treatment in the National Guard, because she wanted to "save the world from a George Bush presidency, and in the last five years, she's tried to find that smoking gun that would allow her to do that." Appearing on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning on Wednesday, Fineman fretted that due to the CBS scandal, it is getting "increasingly difficult to prove" that the rest of the media strive for "objectivity" and want to be "fair" and "even- handed."...

The fallout from CBS's doomed story about President Bush's National Guard service most endangers a woman few viewers know but who played a key role in two of the biggest television stories of the year. Mary Mapes, a veteran producer at CBS News, reported most of the National Guard story, including obtaining the documents CBS now says it can't authenticate. She also passed on the phone number of her source, former Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, to the Kerry campaign. ... CBS acknowledged Mapes passed on Burkett's number to Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart, and Lockhart called him. Spokeswoman Kelli...

Paraphrasing - Fox News found out Mary Mapes was sending protected letters to a Prisoner in a High Security Prison in Colorado. Also what was said is Mapes holds strong Liberal views.

[graphic similar to what NYT tried to do with Bush/Swift Boat connections]

So far, Ellis' prediction of second-day anti-Mapes revelations has proved eerily prescient. And Joe Lockhart is in on the Save-Dan-By-Throwing-Mary-Overboard conspiracy! ... P.S.: I don't understand why it would have been wrong for Mapes to ask Lockhart to call Bill Burkett as part of a deal to get the documents. If the documents hadn't been phony that would have been smart journalism, no? A harmless favor to produce a big scoop. It only looks like partisanship on the part of Mapes if it was not part of an implicit deal to get the story--i.e., if Mapes was just freelancing with...

John Carlson is the KVI radio host that took a call from Mary Mapes' father last week. John also worked with Mary Mapes at KIRO news in Seattle. John just said he is going to break a story about Mary Mapes that he has been researching for the last few days. Listen Live http://www.570kvi.com

As we asked yesterday: What did Dan Rather know? And when did he know it? And that was even before it was disclosed that CBS News' dubious source for those phony National Guard memos insisted on being put in touch directly with John Kerry's campaign — apparently as a condition for turning over the documents. As USA Today reported in detail yesterday, CBS producer Mary Mapes arranged for Bill Burkett (who provided the forged documents) to speak with Joe Lockhart, the former Clinton press secretary who's now a top Kerry campaign adviser. CBS claims hooking Burkett up with Lockhart "was...

CBS News seems to suddenly be offering up an awful lot of derogatory, incriminating information about producer Mary Mapes, who was formerly called a 'well respected journalist' with an 'unblemished reputaion.'On Tuesday, it was revealed that Mapes arranged for Burkett to talk to a top aide to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.Standard journalistic practices forbid journalists from doing anything that could be perceived as helping a politcal campaign.CBS News hopes to name an independent panel today that will investigate how Bill Burkett, a Texas Democratic operative and opponent of President Bush, decieved 60 Minutes in its now retracted story about...

September 22, 2004 -- The "60 Minutes" producer on CBS's story that used phony National Guard documents is the subject of an internal investigation for arranging contact between the network's source and a top aide to John Kerry, officials said yesterday. It is believed that veteran producer Mary Mapes facilitated a phone call between Bill Burkett, a former Texas Army National Guard officer who supplied the Guard documents to CBS, and Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart. The move would be a clear breach of ethics that could cost Mapes her job. [snip]Lee said the general managers of CBS stations across the...

CBS Says Producer Violated Policy by Putting Source in Touch With Kerry Aide By JIM RUTENBERG and BILL CARTER Published: September 22, 2004 BS News said yesterday that the producer of its flawed report about President Bush's National Guard service violated network policy by putting a source in touch with a top aide to Senator John Kerry. "It is obviously against CBS News standards and those of every other reputable news organization to be associated with any political agenda," the network said in a statement. The rebuke of the producer, Mary Mapes, also broadcast last night on "The CBS Evening...

(CBS/AP) The fallout from CBS's doomed story about President Bush's National Guard service most endangers a woman few viewers know but who played a key role in two of the biggest television stories of the year. Mary Mapes, a veteran producer at CBS News, reported most of the National Guard story, including obtaining the documents CBS now says it can't authenticate. She also passed on the phone number of her source, former Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, to the Kerry campaign.Burkett has acknowledged that he lied about the source of the documents, which purported to show lapses in Mr. Bush's...

Designated Rathergate fallgal Mary Mapes is still on the job at the network's formerly great news division, despite a deluge of leaks from CBS employees fingering her as the "60 Minutes" producer who dropped the ball in the forged memo story. "CBS News staffers say they're puzzled why Mapes is still apparently actively working on the memos story," reports USA Today in Wednesday editions. CBS News spokeswoman Sandy Genelius refused to comment on Mapes continuing work on the memos story, but acknowledged, however, that the "60 Minutes" producer remains on CBS's payroll. The fact that Mapes is still on the...

SOURCE: CBS TO ADDRESS LOCKHARDT ISSUEApparently, CBS President Andrew Heyward is going to issue a statement about the Lockhardt connection.The powers that be are arguing about the wording. Supposedly it was scheduled for 3PM Eastern but we know what happened to the last timeline.Looks like (CBS producer) Mapes is soon to be unemployed if anyone is hiring.

KVI Seattle's John Carlson is breaking a story about Mary Mapes...she did something like this at KIRO TV in '87...Carlson telling story now live

Mon Sep 20,10:45 PM ET Mary Mapes, a producer for CBS is seen in this 1999 file photo, in Jasper, Texas. Mapes was the producer on CBS's Dan Rather's report on '60 Minutes' questioning President Bush (news - web sites)'s National Guard service. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)