RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie Statement on CBS

RNC ^ | 9/20/2004 | Christine Iverson

[Salty Cobra]

It's past time for the RNC to get into action. A federal judge ordered the Pentagon to release ALL of President Bush's military records under the "Freedom of Information Act", why hasn't the same action been taken for Kerry's complete military record release. Why hasn't the RNC pushed this?
Salty Cobra

[JesseJane]

Some low level person in the RNC should say,

"Well, if it's like Nam then why doesn't Senator Kerry accuse our troops of Warcrimes and fly to Baghdad to meet with the enemy"

---

Don't you think it would interesting if W. mentioned Vietnam in the debates....????????????

Something like, this country WILL NOT ABANDON our troops during a time of war. We have LEARNED THE LESSONS FROM VIETNAM........ A war, that was clearly highjacked here at home... And this country, WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN. Our SOLDIERS WILL RETURN *THIS TIME* to a GRATEFUL COUNTRY. So much suffering for the lack of will to follow through. Such talk emboldened enemies of Freedom.. WE WILL NOT FALTER, WE WILL NOT FAIL, AND WE *WILL NOT LET DOWN THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS* N - E - V - E - R - A - G - A - I - N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*ok..jumping down from soapbox now...*

:)

[Feiny]

I saw no apology in that statement either.

Dan Rather should have to apologize to every American personally starting with George Bush.

[Texas Songwriter]

Freepers keep your eye on the ball. CBS and DNC and Kerry campaign bought a few days with rather's mea culpa. They are now fabricating a plan to finger a low level operator. These people need to be prosecuted and imprisoned. The Democrats world view is so perverse it finally caught up with them. It may well be that FREE REPUBLIC is the major force to try to disinfect their putrid abcess of a political party and maintain what freedoms we have been able to retain. Like General Robert Lee outflanking the yankee generals - Eternal vigilance

[cake_crumb]

"I understand Kerry gave some kind of 'major speech' today. Anyone hear it??"

LOL...nope. Only a few, gloom and doom, "you're all gonna die out there for nothing" clips. And to think only a couple of weeks ago Kerry said if he knew when he voted for military action in Iraq what he knows now, he would STILL have voted exactly the same way.

[Soul Seeker]

CBS/Rather handles the Guard service allegations

NBC/Today the Kitty Kelly drug allegations.

Near election day the two become linked.

I want to know what role ABC had/may have had in this conspiracy since the other two seem embedded with the DNC. Could be why ABC is hot on the trail of CBS, to cover up a role they might have had.

[Real Cynic No More]

I think the following:

Rather 'knew' the documents were fake

The interview questions asked of Burkett and Barnes were designed not to make the fakes evident

Rather and Mapes expected the fakes to be discovered, but not until Bush had been significantly damaged

The guilty parties NEVER expected the fakes to be proven as fakes nearly so quickly.

Rather has been caught red-handed.

[WoofDog123]

This incompetently forged memo singlehandedly caused operation fort. son to blow up in their faces.

It is the most spectacular reversal of intended effect of a smear campaign I have seen in my lifetime.

[johnny7]

My granddad had a 'thing' for Brenda Lee. He was a cantankerous 'ol dude who emigrated from Italy round the turn of the century.

I think Brenda's whining, quivering style fit his impression of how a woman should be.

Maybe he was on to something.

[WoofDog123]

"I think they were going to drag out more "evidence" has time went on."

That makes sense....the MSWord memo's have pretty much destroyed the public credulity for any more 'evidence' at this point. I wonder what internal polling shows this is doing to kerry?

[WoofDog123]

As I understand it, bush has signed a dd-180 adn therefore all of his records in fact SHOULD be released.

Kerry has never signed this form, or at least not for public access, and there is no basis for compelling him to release his records, unfortunately.

Aside from allegations of SBV being corroborated, his records could show that his medals were reissued in 1986 after he became a senator, he tried to avoid the military, then avoid active duty, then avoid nam by every method he could prior to going, etc...

[Teacher317]

Call me the pessimist, but now that the GOP has shown a little gumption, I'm just waiting for them to settle for meager gains and stop (yet again).

[JesseJane]

This incompetently forged memo singlehandedly caused operation fort. son to blow up in their faces.

It is the most spectacular reversal of intended effect of a smear campaign I have seen in my lifetime.

===

You know, your comment here has caused me to wonder if that decision today by that Federal Judge reversing some loosening of CFR laws, was influenced by this. Free reign for the dems until they got their 'thingy' in a wringer. Now....... they'll shut off all non-govermental sanctioned political speech..

CFR has GOT to be overturned... By will of the states, if the USSC REFUSES to abide by the constitution... We can't let this stand.

[Edit35]

If they didn't, it would be reckless for Gillespie himself to come front and center like this.

Actually, there are no good answers for the Democrats.

If they refuse to confess, they will be perceived a stonewalling to protect the DNC.

If they claim they got it anonymously, they will look like even bigger in-the-tank-fools for Kerry for using unsubstantiated documents.

And if they release the name of some lower level hack, that person will likely turn against CBS and the DNC real quick.

Bottom line: I don't see it as reckless because for CBS and the DNC, every road leads to shame and humiliation.

[cake_crumb]

"This incompetently forged memo singlehandedly caused operation fort. son to blow up in their faces."

That's what's getting to me. NOBODY can make me believe that no one at CBS knew those documents were faked. It's part of THEIR JOB to know whether they're faked. Yet it took a few web sleuths a few minutes to BUST CBS and blow the whole thing wide open.

[counterpunch]

Max Cleland's schedule on August 25 in Texas needs to be fully examined. Cleland tried to deliver a letter to President Bush around 1pm in Crawford, followed immediately by a short press conference. When did he leave Texas, where did he leave from, and what did he do in the time in between?

Only days prior to Cleland's impromptu visit to Texas, he began discussions with Bill Burkett, who is now known to be CBS's source for the forged documents.

Then later the same day of Cleland's Texas trip, Burkett announced in a rant to President Bush on the progressive onlinejournal that, "I know from your files that we have now reassembled, the fact that you did not fulfill your oath, taken when you were commissioned to "obey the orders of the officers appointed over you".

What time was this rant posted?
Did Cleland help him write it?
Who is the "we" Burkett is referring to concerned the documents being "reassembled"?

Crawford, Texas, where Cleland was at 1pm on August 25, is only 162 miles from Baird, Bill Burkett's home.

Did Cleland make a visit there that day?

Did someone in the Kerry campaign act as a middleman in passing along the information to CBS that Burkett had these documents?

CBS must answer the question of how they learned that Burkett now had these memos. Did the discovery of these new documents play a part in Ben Barnes decision that he was now ready to talk to 60 Minutes on air, after Mary Mapes had long been urging him to do so? Is there a connection between this sudden change of heart by Barnes just

[BobS]

"Wouldn't it be ironic if Dan Rather's partisanship helps GWB get re-elected?"

No.

They were too smart by half. Everything the rats did since January has been inversely proportional to their desired result. Just look back. It's recent history:)

[traviskicks]

"Don't you think it would interesting if W. mentioned Vietnam in the debates....????????????"


No, Bush should not mention it and side step it if it's brought up. He has to be above of that and focus on the future. He is doing perfect with how he is handling all of this (IMO).

[Mister Baredog]

Terry McAuliffe said yesterday that no one at the DNC or Kerry campaign, ‘had anything to do with the preparations of the documents,’ but what about the distribution or dissemination?

Yea and pigs fly. They called in operation "fortunate son". The ads are probably still running, LOL.

[WoofDog123]

My thought/theory on this is that the networks probably use questionable 'evidence' on stories pretty frequently, as a normal way of doing business. Most targets of a hit story don't have the resources or voice to fight a network, and if they do, the network digs in its heels and starts digging more. I assume a lot of businesses or business owners might be somewhat apprehensive about a network with a vendetta against them, and would find it hard to PROVE anything is a forgery/fraud, etc.

A good object lesson is the ge/nbc vs GM pickup truck fabrications. NBC 'stood by their story' as well, even after GM sued GE, until apparently GM produced indisputable evidence. GE then settled for an undisclosed amount and had the NBC president apologize on the air, but the fact NBC was ready to go up against one of the biggest companies in the world with faked material tells me they don't think twice about doing it to a smaller entity.

They got careless. There was no reason for those memos not to have been faked on a typewriter from that period.