He's also a big Fidel Castro fan.
Posted on 09/12/2004 1:26:31 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A former National Guard commander who CBS News said had helped convince it of the authenticity of documents raising new questions about President Bush's military service said Saturday that he did not believe they were genuine.
The commander, Bobby Hodges, said in a telephone interview that network producers had never shown him the documents but had only read them to him over the phone days before they were featured Wednesday in a 60 Minutes broadcast. After seeing the documents Friday, Hodges said, he concluded that they were falsified.
Hodges, a former general who spoke to several news organizations this weekend, was the latest person to challenge the authenticity of the documents, which CBS reported it had obtained from the personal files of Bush's former squadron commander at the Texas Air National Guard, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who is dead.
The memos indicated that Bush had failed to take a physical "as ordered" and that Killian was being pressured to "sugarcoat" Bush's performance rating because Bush, whose father was then a Texas congressman, was "talking to somebody upstairs."
But they have been the subject of a raging debate, with some forensic document specialists saying they appear to be the work of a modern word processor and others saying they could indeed have been produced by certain types of Vietnam-era typewriters. Some of Killian's family members have stepped forward to question their legitimacy.
CBS News backs its report
CBS News has stood by its reporting, saying it obtained the documents through a reliable source and that a host of experts and former Guard officials, including Hodges, helped convince them of the documents' authenticity. It broadcast an interview Friday night with one of those experts, a handwriting specialist named Marcel Matley, who said the signatures on the documents were consistent with those of Killian on records that the White House had given reporters.
Hodges, 74, who was group commander of Bush's Air National Guard Squadron in the 147th Fighter Group at Ellington Field in Houston in the early 1970s, said that when someone from CBS called him Monday night and read him documents, "I thought they were handwritten notes."
Papers not authenticated
The Arlington resident said he had not authenticated the documents for CBS News but that he had confirmed that they reflected issues that he and Killian had discussed — namely Bush's failure to appear for a physical that, military records released previously by the White House show, led to a suspension from flying.
A CBS News spokeswoman, Sandy Genelius, indicated that Hodges had changed his account from Monday night.
"We believed General Hodges the first time we spoke to him," Genelius said.
"We believe the documents to be genuine, we stand by our story, and we will continue to report."
A spokeswoman for the CBS anchor Dan Rather, Kim Akhtar, said CBS had asked Hodges to appear on camera and he had declined. As a result, Akhtar said, CBS simply read him the documents, and he responded by saying "he was familiar with the contents of the documents and that it sounded just like Killian." He made it clear, she added, that he was a supporter of Bush.
'Inconsistencies' noticed
Hodges said he had not spoken with anyone from the Bush administration or campaign about his views and that he was basing his belief that the records were fakes on "inconsistencies" that he noticed in them and, in part, on disavowals by Killian's wife and son.
And CBS called this man their 'Trump Card.'
How insidiously vile are these people?!
They have taken Machiavellianism to an unheard of degree.
Where's your checks and balances Dan? You call that checks and balances? You call someone, and read them a letter, he says ok and you go with it -- a letter that would serve to make a liar out of a presidential candidate just before an election is not worthy of a little more investigation than that???
Next time, bring your proof over here first, and the gracious freepers will help ya out, for free too! :)
DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: I know that this story is true. I believe that the witnesses and the documents are authentic. We wouldn't have gone to air if they would not have been. There isn't going to be -- there's no -- what you're saying apology?
QUESTION: Apology or any kind of retraction or...
RATHER: Not even discussed, nor should it be. I want to make clear to you, I want to make clear to you if I have not made clear to you, that this story is true, and that more important questions than how we got the story, which is where those who don't like the story like to put the emphasis, the more important question is what are the answers to the questions raised in the story, which I just gave you earlier.
Shouldn't that be CBS actor rather that CBS anchor?
Dan Rather might go back on heroin after this if he loses his job.
I'll be looking for three metal balls in Captain Dan's hand next time he shows up on the air.
'Rather' slippery....slip one by Hodges, then blame him later on, saying you 'believed' him, when the truth comes out and he retracts his original statement. So we're supposed to think it's Hodges' fault and that CBS didn't pull and fast one? Not in a NY minute.
Fog, fog, fog, fog, etc.. Rather and Kerry, both on life support. Pull the plug, CBS.
This is getting to be flatout hilarious.
I hope Rather doesn't give in. It's just too entertaining.
With this remark, Rather has laid to rest any remaining questions as to his objectivity as a reporter. The important question, according to him, is not the authenticity of the material, but the questions raised in the story.
Okay, why don't I forge some documents stating that Dan Rather is a pedophilic rapist, and see whether he thinks the authenticity of the source is less important than the questions raised in the story?
This is all about Rather. He pushed for this and CBS was stupid enough to let him. The fact is, anybody with a hint of skepticism would have caught this obvious forgery or the idea that Barnes was LG AFTER Bush joined the TANG. It's almost sad.
He's also a big Fidel Castro fan.
I still keep coming back to the point that the PO Box is 34567. Couldn't they have come up with something more original?
There's a memo signed by Dan Rather that his "unfortunate truth" is that he is a gay American.
Handwriting experts have verified that the type on the document is authentic. The intern in the copy room has verified the signature, and an anonymous source has verified that Dan Rather has been observed meeting with Governor McGreevey of New Jersey. Gov. McGreevey has commented that he has met with Dan Rather on several occasions.
There will be no apology for this allegation... and the authenticity of the documents cannot be questioned. /satire
Scott Peterson would make a good anchor for Dan Rather.
Are these people really awake and functioning? What evidentiary procedures would they like to see applied in a lawsuit, where their fitness to own station licenses was being challenged?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.