“Truth” makes it appear that the documents’ contents were verified by a senior officer in Bush’s unit, Gen. Bobby Hodges. Mapes is seen reading the documents over the phone to him, and Hodges agrees that they accurately reflected the mindset of Bush’s late commander, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, whose signature is on the documents.
That, in reality, did not happen — at least according to Hodges: He was not told that the accuracy of the documents was in dispute, and essentially said, “If Killian wrote that, that’s what he felt,” noted Megan McArdle (an Obama voter) in an analysis of the case on Bloomberg View.
Hodges took extensive notes of the interview at the time, and some of the things Mapes would claim they discussed did not turn up in his version of the chat. (In the movie, Hodges is later shown objecting to being described in the media as Mapes’ trump card — but doesn’t deny having provided backing to Mapes’ story.)
In the film’s most climactic scene, Blanchett is forced to explain herself to a CBS-appointed fact-finding committee headed by Dick Thornburgh, who had served as attorney general under the first President Bush. She gives an impassioned defense of her work in a speech meant to make the audience stand up and cheer — but instead comes across as obtuse to the point of being self-delusional.
Blanchett’s Mapes tells the committee that the documents had to be genuine because they contain military acronyms and jargon and show knowledge of Bush’s military service (which had been extensively covered in the media). It beggars belief, she claims, that anyone could go through so much trouble and then produce fake documents using Microsoft Word.
She even insists she’s been persecuted for her political leanings (though she won’t admit to any): “You mean, am I now or have I ever been a liberal?” she asks the committee.
At one point she declares, “Our story was about whether the president fulfilled his service. Nobody wants to talk about that. They want to talk about fonts and forgeries, and they hope to God the truth gets lost in the scrum!”
Except Mapes couldn’t prove the president went AWOL without the documents.
Eight people, including Mapes, Rather and three CBS execs, lost their jobs over the scandal. As Kevin Drum wrote in Washington Monthly after the committee report was released, “It’s a train wreck. A complete disaster. You have to read the whole report to get the full flavor, but the nickel version is simple: It’s unbelievable that this ‘60 Minutes’ segment ever got on the air.”
Another climactic moment near the end comes when Topher Grace’s researcher character, having been fired by CBS, gives a similarly long and angry speech about how CBS and its then-corporate owner Viacom are simply doing the handiwork of its allies in the Bush administration because of Viacom’s interests involving FCC rules.
That speech is equally nutty: It raises the question of why CBS would have allowed the story — or any other anti-Bush stories — to run in the first place. Mapes won a Peabody for her reporting that same year on the Abu Ghraib scandal.
“Eight people, including Mapes, Rather and three CBS execs, lost their jobs over the scandal.”
Sometimes the good guys win one : )
Hollywood and its liberal masters just can’t let go of their hatred for President Bush even though he’s been out of office for almost eight years. They will continue to spin the hateful narrative and aim it at the young, most of whom were still youngsters at the time this bogus story first aired. The young are not allowed to know the truth.
I once worked for the same company as Bill Burkett, he was the likely source of the actually forged documents. Although he denied it.
He lived near Abilene. And Kinko’s in Abilene is where it was copied.
Yes, Bill was capable of such a thing. He had a personal grudge with W.
Yes, the whole Rather crowd are capable of any fabrication. They are serial liars. Were then and still are. NEVER believe anything they say.
Dan Blather can take this and %^XZ(-0-w0w6rokl
but I’m feeling kindly today.
Sounds like Hillary every time she opens her pie-hole.