The man behind Rathergate

MSNBC ^ | March 13, 2005 | Rachel Tobin Ramos

[KeyesPlease]

Before Dan Rather signed off March 9 after 24 years as a news anchor for CBS, conservative "netizens" already were cheering the man they believe led to the tidal wave of criticism that forced Rather to leave his post a year early: Atlanta attorney Harry W. MacDougald.

MacDougald, 46, who has been with Atlanta's Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice PLLC since 2002, was the blogger "Buckhead" who first started a cascade of criticism about a report Rather aired Sept. 8 on CBS's "60 Minutes II" about President George W. Bush's Air National Guard service.

[politicalwit]

"No kidding! It's like calling MSNBC a newspapper, or a sitcom or something."

Consider MSNBC as more of a low budget cable community access channel.

[BonnieJ]

To them a post on a forum thread and a blog are synonymous!

[longtermmemmory]

They have night preschool for working "journalists"?

[blastdad51]

Working journalist? isn't that an oxy-moron?

[JPJones]

"I'm just a guy in his bedroom reading the Internet."

Lol, bump!

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

blogger

There's that word again.
I do not think it means what you think it means.

[Ragnorak]

Many wondered how "Buckhead" could have had such intimate knowledge of type fonts, how he made his posting so soon after the program, and if he was a plant by the Bush administration.

I handed a print out of the CBS memo to my Mom with no context or background and said this was done on a typewriter in the 1970's. In less than than 3 seconds after glancing at the paper, she looked at me cross-eyed and said "This was done on a computer it couldn't have been done on a typewriter."

Twenty year old interns at CBS might have an excuse, but to anyone who has ever worked with a typewriter those documents may as well have been written in crayon and watercolors.

[JarheadFromFlorida]

I hereby award buckhead the FR "medal of honor" for his brave and couragous service in the face of the enemy (liberal media), while facing overwhelming firepower buckhead led the charge that brought down Dan Rather and the defeat of the (liberal media) mainstream media.

Ooorahhh, Get some!
JarheadFromFlorida

[Paleo Conservative]

Many wondered how "Buckhead" could have had such intimate knowledge of type fonts, how he made his posting so soon after the program, and if he was a plant by the Bush administration.

The MSM really are clueless. People who have been using computers for a couple of decades or more ought to be able to tell the difference between a 1970s typewritten document and a modern word processed document printed on a laser printer. Furthermore a lawyer would be the ideal type of person to notice. I'm sure they look at all sorts of documents ever day that were written in different decades. I'd think it would be second nature to be able to figure out when something was written based on the kind of typewriter or output device used.

[cinives]

Don't forget economics and philosophy.

[Paleo Conservative]

In his blog on FreeRepublic.com, writing under the pen name "Buckhead," MacDougald could barely hide his excitement about the media being caught using phony documents: "We should all be gathering recipes for crow, and e-mailing them to these nitwits, because they are going to have to eat a whole lot of it."

[cookcounty]

" The people who populate the MSM are products of the Schools of Journalism at the various colleges and universities. These schools are teaching a trade, they are not really educating them. People who have a BS or BA with a diverse mixture of English, Science, History, Art, and Music can outhink these pinheads any day of the week. A good analogy is the results of having our children taught by people with degrees in education."

This is one of the main reasons for the success of the bloggers. Sometimes I just shake my head at the ignorance of the journalists. I knew a lot of people in high school who were better informed than many of the J-school grads

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

FR is a blog clearing house, if blogs are not read by Freepers, those blogs don't matter.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Los Angeles Times LIBERAL Media Critic DAVID SHAW's response to RATHERGATE:


RATHER's work 'Shoddy' 'Slipshod' not LIBERAL..?

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1227809/posts


Is BUSH really implementing a full-court press on media?

http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/cl-ca-shaw13mar13,1,4219741.column?coll=la-news-columns


"To the BUSH Adminstration, journalists are not surrogates for the Amerian People; they're just another annoying group of lobbyists, special-interest pleaders seeking not the information necessary for citizens to make intelligent decisions but only the journalists' own ego-gratificiation, carrer advancement and ideological advantage"


In other words, America needs Freerepublic.com's CLARITY.

Always has.
Especially in Time of War.

.

[longtermmemmory]

Actually I think nobody who has worked with a computer has an excuse.

It was not about knowing fonts, it was about ASKING QUESTIONS OBJECTIVLY. Mapes worked on the story for FIVE YEARS! Buckhead shreaded the story as a lie in 15 seconds.

THAT is what the story is about.

Even without a FR or internet, the story would have been exposed as a lie. Just more slooooowly. FR lets people talk. The entire nation knew Buckheads observation in that 15 seconds. The entire nation was able to examine and disect his opinion vs CBS/MSM opinions.

The MSM is just discovering something the founding fathers have always known. We are bigger than the media so they better be very careful what they write.

[cpdiii]

All

"HAIL BUCKHEAD" "HAIL BUCKHEAD" "HAIL BUCKHEAD"

[Kay]

I would like to know if Buckhead revealed his own identity and, if not, who revealed it.

[docbnj]

Ease up, guys! The article is good, and our focus should be on the great job that a fellow Freeper did, through alertness, intellignece, and accurate knowledge.

That is the story, and the reporter gets the main part right.

Don't miss the main point!

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Long, long ago.. if we returning Vietnam Veterans had had Freerepublic.com to battle the Vietnam War TV Lies of RATHER/CRONKITE...

...a now Communist-Enslaved South Vietnam would still be Free today.

And millions of poor S.E. Asian Souls would not have had to pay the price for our leaving them behind to their fate at the hands of invading Communist Bullies
...like they did.



Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer
Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts


.

[Ragnorak]

Agreed.

It really is cause for celebration and optimism.

I also believe that this is one for the history books. Matt Drudge on the Monica story will be viewed as the incentive moment, and the Rathergate memo forgeries will go down as the turning point. This will not only overshadow whatever legacy Rather might have had, it will be recorded as the downfall of an entire propagandist, biased, and deceitful media collective. It's morning in America.