Posted on 09/26/2004 12:12:03 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
I don't know if anyone noticed yet, but this story is already dead.
It appears that the RATS sent up a trial balloon to see what they could get away with in the MSM and they found out they can get away with alot. At the same time they have exposed a Republican strength(blogging) which the DNC has now filed away for future attacks. (re: taxing the internet)
Rather will get a slap on the wrist and a word or two about his retirement in the spring and Mapes will get a job either at a RAT 527 or at the DNC. Which to her will be a promotion.
What we need to do is create a USA today type of newspaper that can get out to the nation every day. Having Fox, Talk Radio, Blogging and a Newspaper will enable us to better get the word out. In urban areas which are Blue, people read the newspaper in the morning. Time for them to read the truth and not RAT lies by Koolaid drinking journalists.
"After reading this article, I find that I am in complete agreement with Pat Buchanan.
Help me.
Please..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My thoughts exactly. It's scary, isn't it? I actually had a full body shudder when I realized I agreed with him!
I sure hope you're right, Jim. I am confident, but this thing is so bizarre, I'm anxious about what may come next.
The ratings are down and the advertising revenues for CBS have fallen throught the floor.
Yesterday the Kerry donating President of Viacom said he was voting for Bush.
Hundreds of millions of lost revenue to both the network and the local stations say it is not dead. Clear Channel will likely use this as an excuse to drop its affiliation with CBS Radio and use its own radio news network instead.
This could make Viacom the object of a media takeover because the value of the Viacom holdings would go way up the day new owners planning to clean house took over.
YOur statement that this story is dead ranks right up there with saying there will be no execution just before the warden pulls the switch to the electric chair.
I am sure you have heard the broken clock analogy but have you heard what they say in east Texas? Even a blind hog finds an acorn once in a while.
It may be dead as far as being a lead item on the evening news, but the fallout will go on for some time. CBS news division is on life support. Other news divisions, not wanting to fall into the CBS trap, will be careful not to succumb to the hit piece mentality. Hopefully, we'll see fairer coverage, at least leading up to the election. Local stations are continuing to drop CBS news spots.
I still believe law enforcement will get involved, but when is another matter. Laws were broken.
I haven't studied the case closely yet, but it appears to be under the regime of the fairness doctrine. And the holding was a bit more narrow than "failure to conform to the public interest."
The litigants embellish their First Amendment arguments with the contention that the regulations are so vague that their duties are impossible to discern. Of this point it is enough to say that, judging the validity of the regulations on their face as they are presented here, we cannot conclude that the FCC has been left a free hand to vindicate its own idiosyncratic conception of the public interest or of the requirements of free speech. Past adjudications by the FCC give added precision to the regulations; there was nothing vague about the FCC's specific ruling in Red Lion that Fred Cook should be provided an opportunity to reply. The regulations at issue in RTNDA could be employed in precisely the same way as the fairness doctrine was in Red Lion....While there may be a remedy in the framework of FCC regulations, and/or FEC regulations (and their respective statutory bases), I'm inclined to favor the marketplace remedy. If CBS is suspected as a liar, good for the people. They ought to have the same suspicion regarding all of the media.We need not and do not now ratify every past and future decision by the FCC with regard to programming. There is no question here of the Commission's refusal to permit the broadcaster to carry a particular program or to publish his own views; of a discriminatory refusal to require the licensee to broadcast certain views which have been denied access to the airwaves; of government censorship of a particular program contrary to § 326; or of the official government view dominating public broadcasting. Such questions would raise more serious First Amendment issues. But we do hold that the Congress and the Commission do not violate the First Amendment when they require a radio or television station to give reply time to answer personal attacks and political editorials.
In view of the scarcity of broadcast frequencies, the Government's role in allocating those frequencies, and the legitimate claims of those unable without governmental assistance to gain access to those frequencies for expression of their views, we hold the regulations and ruling at issue here are both authorized by statute and constitutional. The judgment of the Court of Appeals in Red Lion is affirmed and that in RTNDA reversed and the causes remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Red Lion v Federal Communications Commission, 395 U.S. 367 (1969) <-- Link
I am not comfortable with legislation that attempts to encourage "broadcasting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." I don't want to have the government in charge at that level. I am not offended that the media is free to practice bias and deception. That power and ability swings both ways, and I believe that in the end, truth has a way of coming forward. It's good for society when its individuals think and act for themselves.
I am open to the notion of making it illegal to prepare and use a forgery in order to affect a candidate's reputation in the context of elections. That would stifle deception to the extent it would stifle the production of forged corroboration.
That's right. The Pubs have got the stars (Guiliani, Scharzenegger) and the Dems have got the scars.
I want to be in the booth with Redstone to verify he actually votes for Bush...
bookmark
Glad to see that some people are doing their best to keep this story alive. CBS and the MSM want this story to die. We are supposed to wait for the CBS "investigators" to find out what really happened. Of course, they will never get to the bottom of things.
WHO created the memos? HOW were the Kerry campaign and the DNC involved (beyond phone calls with Cleland and Lockhart)?
Here's a theory:
The Killian memos were fabricated during or before the 2000 campaign but were not used (the DWI story was thought to have more impact). This spring, the memos were dragged out of the dirty trick archives and were chosen to be one element of an "October surprise" - a charge that George W. Bush had been a drug user. Their release on 60 Minutes was timed to coincide with Kitty Kelly's book and testimony by Ben Barnes. When the memos were produced, the fact that they were "old" documents gave them credibility. Their credibility was validated when the White House returned them with "no comment". CBS was so anxious to use the memos that they ignored the concerns of the individuals they used to examine the documents.
I just scanned through all the documents released by Bush in 2000, and none of them makes the association between PO Box 34567 and the 111st FIS. That association does appear in at least one document in the release of early 2004.
It's possible that I overlooked the PO Box 34567 in my review of the year 2000 docs, but if that fact is not in previous releases, it pretty much derails your theory.
"YOur statement that this story is dead ranks right up there with saying there will be no execution just before the warden pulls the switch to the electric chair."
Really? I haven't seen it in the news for the last three days. Am I missing something? Hmm.. Maybe I am not reading the right newspapers or watching the right TV channels. Or for that matter listening to the right radio stations.
As far as the MSM is concerned this is a dead story. Like Sandy Berger, Kerry's medical records, Terayzahs tax records and Harold Ickes running a 527.
The choir has been preached to, sales are down at CBS as is viewership. But that hasn't been reported either.
"I just scanned through all the documents released by Bush in 2000, and none of them makes the association between PO Box 34567 and the 111st FIS."
I was under the impression that CBS sent the documents in question to the WH for comment before using them on 60 Minutes. The WH made no comment which convinced CBS that they were authentic. Since these were supposedly memos from Killian's personal files, they would not have been included in the documents released by G.W. Bush in 2000. Hope I didn't misinterpret your comments.
I generally agree with what you said above, and you misunderstood my previous point against your theory.
Your theory was that the forgeries were prepared in 2000 (or, certainly before 2004). The forgeries contained a recitation of PO Box 34567 as being associated with the 111st FIS. That PO Box/111st FIS association was (I believe) first exposed in an official document released by Bush in February 2004. Therefore, I conclude, the forgeries were made after the February 2004 release of official documents.
The Killian memos were never touted as official documents, except as a matter of clouding the issue. It's a coincidence that the Pentagon found a few documents in August 2004, near the same time the Killian forgeries were presented to the public.
As for the proposition that CBS was convinced of the authenticity of the Killian forgeries, at least in part by the WH making no comment against them, I disagree. That is a position that CBS wants the public to accept, but it is incorrect.
CBS planned to use, as part of its airing of the story, testimony of at least its handwriting expert. This testimony was planned as a counterpoint to WH assertions that the documents recited falsehoods and were perhaps inauthentic. That is, CBS planned to air the story even if the WH said the documents were not authentic.
CBS was determined to run the story, no matter how many times, or by whom, it was told that the documents were not authentic. It's own experts told them so, what would it matter if the target of their hit-piece told them so?
...also CBS has pulled a negative Iraq story from 60 Minutes for tonight because it blames Bush for trusting forgeries regarding WMD (the Niger-yellowcake tale)...and NBC this morning is running ads saying that their news shows just report facts and let the viewers decide for themselves how to interpret the information...big ripples IMHO.
..This ain't over by a long shot. And after the eleciton CBS and the MSM can't say that Powell is just trying to re-elect George Bush..
It's not even close to being over. Those of us old enough to remember Watergate know that while the break-in itself occurred in the Spring of the election campaign year, nothing really happened until after Nixon was elected. It was as though no-one wanted to be accused of playing election year politics. After the election was over, they went after him.
This is a somewhat different situation, but I think you are right and the same principle applies here: it is all just waiting for the election to be over.
In the end, we may not know everything, but we will find out who created the forgeries and we'll find out the exact conection between whoever it is and the democrats and CBS. All the major links will be exposed.
And as you have said, CBS (and likely Viacom) will be in a world of hurt.
"That PO Box/111st FIS association was (I believe) first exposed in an official document released by Bush in February 2004. Therefore, I conclude, the forgeries were made after the February 2004 release of official documents."
You make a valid point. That would suggest to me that the fakes were prepared between February, 2004, and April, 2004, when the Dems announced their intent to make an issue of the ANG service.
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