LA TIMES: No Disputing It: Blogs Are Major Players (FreeRepublic.Com & Buckhead Mentioned!)

The LA Times ^ | Sept. 12, 2004 | Peter Wallsten

[West Coast Conservative]

These days, CBS News anchor Dan Rather and his colleagues at the network's magazine program "60 Minutes II" are enduring an unusual wave of second-guessing by some of the public and fellow journalists.

For that, they can thank "Buckhead."

It was a late-night blog posting by this mystery Netizen that first questioned the validity of documents Rather cited Wednesday as proof that George W. Bush did not fulfill his National Guard duty more than 30 years ago.

Buckhead refuses to further identify himself, other than dropping hints that he is a male who lives on the East Coast — preferring to proclaim that the scramble to verify the contentions in his posting marks an extraordinary achievement for a medium that has operated more as an underground world of ideological venting than a source of legitimate news.

But Buckhead is vehement about one thing: He acted alone when he posted, to the conservative website FreeRepublic.com, what was widely believed to be the first allegation that the CBS report relied on documents that could have been forged.

"Absolutely, positively, on my own, sitting at my computer in my bedroom just before midnight — but not in my pajamas," he wrote in an e-mail exchange with The Times. "But once I posted the comment to Free Republic I was no longer working alone, and that is the real point of the story about the story about the story."

That story began Wednesday, 19 minutes after the "60 Minutes II" broadcast began, when another FreeRepublic poster, TankerKC, noted that the documents were "not in the style that we used when I came into the USAF…. Can we get a copy of those memos?"

[TOUGH STOUGH]

Really, really neat! Bravo!

[Howlin]

One thing I realized I left out: I posted that link on Pikamax's thread, too.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1210662/posts?page=11#11

That's the one Buckhead picked up on and actually looked at the documents with; the rest, as they say, is history.....he dropped a bomb on them!

[MamaB]

They still do not get the fact that we are just as smart as they are. We believe in facts, not fiction. They like to make up stories to fit their beliefs. Where are the real journalists? They sure are not in the MSM! Guess that leaves us amateurs! Thanks go to everyone who helped break this story. FR is the best!

[ezo4]

FR has been the best place and the fasted news for me for the last four years. I need to get the bank card out and make a donation again now!

[MamaB]

We have the plans drawn up for some remodeling. A sound proofed media room is included. It has to be sound proofed since hubby had the sound and sub woofer so loud that it knocked my Precious Moments off the shelves and decapitated them. I was not a happy camper! We have a 62"? Pioneer TV with all the other stuff included. He likes to turn the sound down on a golf match and listen to cd's.

[Wil H]

We do not have to get our news from the tv and radio any longer. Thanks to the internet, we get breaking news faster than they do.

Au contraire -We Break the news faster than they do..!

And that is a BIG problem for them.

[airborne]

"They still do not get the fact that we are just as smart as they are."

I don't think they are as smart as we are. We look at an issue from all angles. They look at an issue from a left-leaning tilt, resulting in a skewed perspective.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

CBS' WALTER CRONKITE helped defeat Freedom for Vietnam long ago.

CBS' DAN RATHER is helping to defeat Freedom for America right now.

CBS = The Death of Freedom

.

[vbmoneyspender]

Congrats, you're famous. But please remember that members of the MSM are sarcasm impaired, particular where the sarcasm involves the VRWC.

[Politicalmom]

Well, they TRIED to insult us, anyway. : )

[Tench_Coxe]

My advice is to try and get some kind of contingency framework together.
Why? Because the MSM is not going to take being eclipsed lightly. I predict you will see more attempts like the LA times episode, if not outright attempts to use the legislative process to limit what can and can't be said on the Internet.
Why legislative? Because there are politicians out there who also don't like the idea of being scrutinized too closely. And if the 'blogosphere' is truly becoming as powerful as surmised, it will soon be viewed as a threat by those who prefer to operate out of smoky back-rooms and drive policy by a wink and a handshake.

[MamaB]

You are right. They want the news to be what their view is instead of the truth. They do not want to check out stories to see if they are true. FR does that.

[TheDon]

www.freerepublic.com

user: andreyf
password: imogos

LOL!

[Crawdad]

Buckhead: He's not heavy, he's my Netizen.

[Constantine XIII]

Registration dates before September 2004 will become a badge of pride. :)

[sweetliberty]

"The fear I have is: How do you know who's doing the Web logs?"

What difference does it make? Why can't these idiots weigh the material on its own merits?

[Crawdad]

Another thing: I believe the MSM would be surprised, if not devastated, to view the combined Curriculum Verite of Free Republic. I didn't realize, nor ever had I considered, that there existed in the world, so many people who have the capability to debunk an assertion put forth by a major media organization (the veracity of the memos). To have so many people associated with one web site is even that much more powerful.

[bvw]

They don't have the resources anymore. Not that they will not try. But right now -- too many wagon trains have left Media City -- and they have too many fronts to try to hold. A totally hollow sycamore held up only by the rus toxicans vine surrounding it -- so empty and bleak even the squirrels have abbandoned it.

Add your metaphor here ...

[knak]

Great article. How many new sign ups have we gotten in the last week from all the publicity? Is there a way we can find that out?

[ladyjane]

"It was amazing Thursday to watch the documents story go from FreeRepublic.com, a bastion of right-wing lunacy, to Drudge to the mainstream media in less than 12 hours," said Jim Jordan, a strategist for independent Democratic groups opposed to Bush.

No wonder the Dems are on the run if this guy is one of their strategists.