Dan Rather: "powerful and extremely well-financed forces"

New York Observer ^

[akostenko]

Mr. Rather said that the focus on questions over the veracity of the memos was a smoke screen perpetrated by right-wing allies of the Bush administration.

"I think the public, even decent people who may be well-disposed toward President Bush, understand that powerful and extremely well-financed forces are concentrating on questions about the documents because they can’t deny the fundamental truth of the story," he said.

[RetSignman]

I'm adding a post script to my post:

"Bill Burkett is tired of being speculated about when the real story is and should be where was George Bush?

Sure like Rather AND Burkett are BOTH on the same page, doesn't it?

[kcvl]

Mr. Rather asserted that the lack of denial was itself evidence of the essential truth of his findings. The questions raised by his reporting, he said, have remained unanswered by the Bush administration: Did Mr. Bush get preferential treatment for the Texas Air National Guard? Was then-Lieutenant Bush suspended for failing to perform up to Texas and Air Guard standards? Did then-Lieutenant Bush refuse a direct order from his military superior to take a required examination?

"It’s never been fully, completely denied by the Bush-Cheney campaign or even the White House that he was suspended for meeting the standards of the Air Force or that he didn’t show up for a physical," he said. "The longer we go without a denial of such things—this story is true."

"This is your basic fogging machine, which is set up to cloud the issue, to obscure the truth," he said.

SNIP

But despite a number of experts calling the memos forgeries, he said that "the truth of these documents lies in the signatures and in the content, not just the typeface and the font-style. Let me emphasize once again, these are not exact sciences. Not like DNA or fingerprints."

SNIP

Mr. Rather said that he and Ms. Mapes had heard about the National Guard memos as long ago as 1999.

"We eventually came in contact with somebody who said he knew about the documents, and it took a while to get in contact with the man who was supposed to have had the documents," he said. "It took a long time for us to create a reportorial relationship with him in which he trusted us, and at the same time we were checking him out to see if he was a trustworthy person."

SNIP

"Within the last few months," he said, "we got a look at the documents, and we said we’d like to have a copy of the documents."

He said they met the source in a "remote location." "[The source] said they were copies of the documents, and he told us some of the history of where they came from and how they came to him," Mr. Rather said.

SNIP

But inside the West 57th Street offices of CBS News, some staffers felt the organization had acted like a ponderous sloth batting away a swarm of flies. They think the network had already lost.

"I think it’s too late to make a difference," said one angry CBS News staffer. "These guys lost the debate last week by taking a beating for 48 hours on Web and cable before making feeble attempts to defend themselves." The 60 Minutes defense, said the staffer, "should have been on last week and should have been much better illustrated."

SNIP

"I think over the long haul, this will be consistent with our history and our traditions and reputation," he said. "We took heat during the McCarthy time, during Vietnam, during civil rights, during Watergate. We haven’t always been right, but our record is damn good."

******

B S!

[Lori675]

same here I'm broke. Anyone got a twenty.

[kcvl]

I wonder what the MSM would say if one of Fox News' news readers like Dan Rather had a activist daughter in Republican politics who just happened to have her dad head a fund-raiser for some of the same people who have been named in this mess? Do you think they would SUSPECT something fishy was going on? Do you think they would be calling for a FEDERAL INVESTIGATION into who FORGED the document?!

[piasa]

I wonder what the commoners are doing now. I'm thinking of firing the gardeners just for spite.

I'm so offended by Rather's remark that I'd retire to my beach house if it wasn't getting washed out to sea at the moment...

[omstrat]

Hey look at me . I'm powerful and extremely well-financed yippieeeeeeeee

[Aquinasfan]

I am stunned by the relevance and accuracy of Dan's reportage as I sit here in my cloth-of-gold pajamas, lighting a thousand dollar cigar with a million dollar bill.

How did he know? Pass the caviar!

[kcvl]

Rather: I’m a lifetime reporter trying to be independent and to report without fear or favor, to be an honest broker of information

*****

He is delusional?! Did he ever have the Swift Boat Vets on his program?

[mict42]

Dan, that's weak and you know it.

[counterpunch]

"It’s never been fully, completely denied by the Bush-Cheney campaign or even the White House that he was suspended for meeting the standards of the Air Force or that he didn’t show up for a physical," he said. "The longer we go without a denial of such things—this story is true."

It’s never been fully, completely denied by Dan Rather or even CBS News that the forged documents came from the Kerry-Edwards campaign and the DNC. The longer we go without a denial of such things—this story is true.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Dan tried to jump the shark, and he was eaten alive.

Dan tried to jump the shark and screwed the pooch instead.

[Calvin Locke]

He is delusional?!

Remember his comments about being "necklaced"? I found this in the archives at fairpress.org

Dan Rather, Rumor-Monger

Follow-up

Dan Rather 05/27/2002

Dan Rather's behavior of late would cause most reasonable folks to guess that he's gone off his medication. Long
considered the Great Satan of media bias, he still managed to touch our hearts and rally our spirits with his
declaration of patriotic love of our country and support for our president in the difficult time after September 11. (1)

Then last week, in a schizophrenic twist, he expressed a fear that patriotism was getting in the way of asking the
tough questions and that a reporter might be "necklaced" for failing to be patriotic enough. He added, "I worry that
patriotism run amok will trample the very values that the country seeks to defend." (2)

This week, he's become even more manic.
.
.
.
Wednesday, 05/22/2002, on Imus in the Morning, Rather claimed that because Attorney General Ashcroft didn't fly on
commercial jets last year, then that proves that he knew terrorist hijackings were imminent.

"You can certainly give a new President the benefit of every doubt about what he knew. The, you know, the New York
Post had this big headline, 'Bush Knew.' Well, you know, knew what? However, increasingly there are important
questions that need to be asked, but again, until recently, I would say, until the last week, nobody was asking 'em.
.
.
.
Imus: "As Dan Rather tried to imply on the program here about an hour ago, trying to take down poor John Ashcroft,
suggesting that Ashcroft had information about all of us being in jeopardy and -- well, he did imply that, but I think--"
.
.
.
Not surprisingly, Dan's crazy talk raised a few eyebrows at the Justice Department. On Friday he was back on Imus in the
Morning acting like he was the one who should be offended:
.
.
.
Somebody ought to explain to Mr. Rather about two-way streets! Then he decided to blame the Justice Department for
his spreading of mis-information:
.
.
.
[italics mine]
Between our snorting and chuckling, we would like to remind Dan Rather that it is his primary responsibility to get his
facts straight. If he wants to hold himself up as a serious newsman and then chooses to spread gossip and rumors
instead of facts, he shouldn't be surprised if he finds himself in hot water. Perhaps a nice long rest, as in
retirement, would be in order.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Wideawake, you are paying way too much for your cigars.

[IamConservative]

"I FReep in my underwear."

I did as well until they threw me out of Kinko's!

Seriously, pajamas are a little to Kerry for me.

[auggy]

"Dan just can't come to grips with the fact that grass roots forces WITHOUT large sums of money and no established power base could be bringing him down. It must be the vast (and RICH) right wing conspiracy again. It just must be. [Heh Heh Heh :-)]"

I personally put in $10,000 to get this SOB. It has just about drained me, but it has been well worth it. It's hard to believe that thousands of others have put in as much or more than I have.

"Mr. Rather said that the focus on questions over the veracity of the memos was a smoke screen perpetrated by right-wing allies of the Bush administration."

Let's get this straight, Big Dan, We deliberately asked question about whether or not the documents were in fact forgeries, just to cover up the content of the story.

OK, Dan, If a document is not real, It was made up, then the content does not matter. Correct?

In my books it is.