White House Reaction to CBS Report, Firings

White House Press Briefing ^ | 1/10/2005 | White House press briefing

[ConservativeMajority]

JIM ANGLE, FOX NEWS: The other thing is, today CBS has fired four of its personnel who were involved in the story about the President's service in the National Guard. Any comment on that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we felt all along that it was important for CBS to get to the bottom of this. CBS has taken steps to hold people accountable, and we appreciate those steps. We also hope that CBS will take steps to prevent something like this from happening again. I think that the report by the panel that investigated the matter makes some recommendations it says CBS should consider. And that's what our position is.

(LATER)

JEFF GANNON, TALON NEWS: I want to go back to "Rathergate" for a minute. Four people have been fired. There's a 224-page report and an eight-page statement --

MR. McCLELLAN: I see you have it there in your hand.

JEFF GANNON, TALON NEWS: -- that's been released. Not a single word of apology to the President for this episode. Is the White House disappointed in that? Or is that --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, in fairness, I think CBS has previously expressed regret about this story airing. In terms of the specific report, it's just been released this morning. I'm not sure if everybody has had a chance to fully review the report and look at what the recommendations are, and look at all the issues they looked at to come to their conclusions.

(LATER)

ED CHEN, LA TIMES: How did the President learn of the CBS development? And what was his direct reaction?

MR. McCLELLAN: His reaction is my reaction to the report. And he was reformed -- informed this morning right after reports hit the wires.

[cyncooper]

What is your problem and why are you taking this outrageous tone with me?

[malia]

"And what about Sandy Burger"

"Exactly. This is one of the most important questions of our lifetimes I think! The implications are staggering!"

And another question I have is -- what about Mary Mapes. She played a big roll in Rathergate and also played a role in Abu Ghraib exposure. My gut feeling - due to their hate for President Bush and eager to 'get' him anyway, their dirty fingers were involved somehow, somewhere and not just in the exposure.

[ConservativeMajority]

Mapes was fired outright.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

About the only sorrow I saw out of CBS and Rather was that they were caught in the act and didn't have better forgeries.

[Ticonderoga34]

How long will it be before Mary Mapes is on the morning TV news and cable TV shows (like Chrissy Matthews) being portrayed as a victim of the VRWC?

Or more likely, Ms. Mapes will write a book that will state that she was victim of the VRWC and the right wing bloggers. Which everyone knows are a bunch of nutcases. /sarcasm off.

I also look for Ms. Mapes to insinuate that Karl Rove and the Bush campaign purposely planted the false documents in order to attack the creditably of those people who questioned Bush's National Guard service.

Finally, I expect that the DU dummies and the Lame Stream Media to lap all of this up and try to spin the story in that direction.

[OldFriend]

Asking good questions in the midst of french kissing Scheiffer. Asking over and over if Scheiffer would step in and take Rather's place. As if the job was Sean's to give.

Sean was blatantly kissing Scheiffer's butt.

Scheiffer did acknowledge that he personally did not think the story was all that important.

[OldFriend]

Dan is NOT doing his show tonight. Scheiffer is filling in for Dan.

[beyond the sea]

We need more Sean's out there in the media and fewer Bob Sheiffer's.

You are so right that more Sean types are required, but as long as Sean has the limelight and the microphone, he must challenge these lefties when he has a chance. Today he was a HUGE WEENIE with Scheiffer, a gutlees wonder.

And then 15 minutes later on his show Sean asked and suggested the correct subjects with Bernie Goldberg.

Sean blew it today............ not unusual.

[jackbill]

How about this reaction "We are actively pursuing an investigation into the forging of federal documents that was done to influence a Presidential election and the full force of the DOJ will be brought to bear"

Those are almost exactly the words of Chris Cox this morning on Fox News. He's apparently investigating two aspects of Rathergate - forgery of government documents and interference in a federal election.

[OldFriend]

What was so irksome was Sean heaping praise on Scheiffer, ala Joe Lieberman.

[OldFriend]

I believe they were all asked to resign. Meaning they get pay, pension, etc.

Now if they were fired for cause that would be a different story.

[ConservativeMajority]

Mapes fired.

Other 3 "asked to resign"

[OldFriend]

I am hoping that Chris Cox will be the Intelligence Czar.

[hershey]

That's right, no CBS groveling. So their viewership will continue to dwindle, along with advertising revenues. In the last analysis, money will force a change.

[beyond the sea]

It is bad form, IMO, to post about an event like a radio show and say a question was asked and not be willing to impart the details when politely asked for same and then add insulting and baseless commentary such as you have here. You were way off the mark in perceiving my question as hostile.

I didn't think that your question was hostile! I am just a slow typer and am having a hard time keeping up with all the posts. Please do not misunderstand.

;-)

[OldFriend]

It's fitting that Rather brought CBS down.

[N. Theknow]

SeeBS will report it as "Job Losses are up in 2005 - Bush's Fault."

[malia]

I'm aware of her being fired!!!!

My question is about her complete involvement in the Abu Ghraib exposurer. How did she get hold of the picture of the "torture" that Kennedy and Bidon are so concerned about.

There is more to that story.

[nicmarlo]

Not a single word of apology to the President