Posted on 09/15/2004 7:46:22 PM PDT by Blacktide
Dan Rather and CBS News have officially become pathetic. The story isn't that President Bush did or did not fulfill his obligations, it’s that CBS News failed in theirs.
Dan Rather on 60 Minutes tonight interviewed Marian Knox. What she said in effect is that the documents that CBS News used to bolster their claim that President Bush failed to fulfill his Guard Responsibility, were fake. However she claims that what was in them is in fact true. That CBS News is now attempting to redirect attention away from the documents merely implies that they realize the documents were fake, but don't want to admit it. The problem however is that they still insist that the story is true, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.
The trouble with this of course is that without the documents, there is no story. All they have are 2 avowed Kerry supporters, Colonel Kilian's the secretary, and the former Lt Governor of Texas Barnes, who claim the story is true. Both are relying on memories more then 30 years old, and Barnes has changed his story too many times to have any credibility remaining. Without any corroborating evidence, there is merely the word of the secretary, a nice enough lady no doubt, but not enough to put out a hit piece on the President of the United States.
Unless documents are found that support their claims CBS News should simply admit, that while they believe that the story is true, they cannot find sufficient evidence to support this. Reveal who it was that gave them the bogus documents and then apologize for not adequately determining their validity. Until they do this, the scandal will continue to grow, and the credibility of CBS News and Dan Rather will continue to plummet. Regardless of the eventual outcome, whether or not President Bush ever fulfilled his guard obligations at this point makes no difference. He has a 4-year record as Commander-in-chief with which to rely on. What did or did not happen 30 years ago should never have been an issue. Not now, and not the 3 previous times the media have tried to bring this up during this campaign.
I can understand the desperation - he is trying to salvage what once used to be a career.
CBS aired this embarrassment???? To dig them out of their hole??? SHE EVEN SAYS THE DOCS ARE FAKE?????????
Found these numbers on another site. Can't say the accuracy, but I'm sure someone here knows for sure.
President Bush served:
May 1968 to May 1969 253 points
May 1969 to May 1970 340 points
May 1970 to May 1971 137 points
May 1971 to May 1972 112 points
May 1972 to May 1973 56 points
May 1973 to May 1974 56 points
Total points = 954 divide that by 6 = 159 points average. Minimum requirement for the Guard back then was 50 points per year..which HE exceeded, by meeting the requirement TRIPLE!
Hmmmmm.....with the News Breaking about those docs coming out of a Texas Kinko's, it's beginning to look like Rather's old friend Barnes may be the source.....maybe he enlisted the old lady to help. Might be time for the FReepers to check out her background......
Going down the tubes for what people suspect is apparently more desirable than going down the tubes for what really happened.
Pathetic and criminal
Unbelievable. The lady says the documents are fake... So, we're supposed to ignore the fact that the documents are forged. It's almost comical at this point.
I just wrote to both of my senators to ask the FCC to investigate Dan Rather and CBS' allegations. I also wrote to www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/feedback/fb and requested they have Dan Rather resign. I think it would help if many of us did this.
Welcome to FR. This is a well written piece, but please know that it should be posted to the bloggers & personal forum.
Nevertheless... According to the WaPo, Dan Rather, the intrepid journalist he is, is beginning to have doubts and wants to be the first to break the story if the memos are found to be fake.
"If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story," Rather said in an interview last night.
Here's a memo to Dan: You're about a week late. The story broke a few hours after your 60 Minutes broadcast. Hang it up.
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