Free Republic

Media Bias: Veteran reporter, author and commentator Bernard Goldberg reports that when CBS News did its fake National Guard story on George W. Bush avoiding service in Vietnam, it knew it was a lie.It's a liberal urban legend that Bush used the influence of his father and his father's friends to land a cushy position in the Texas National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam. The Democrats would run John Kerry as a hero in the war, and CBS News was all too eager to help with Mary Mapes producing a "60 Minutes II" segment in September 2004 charging exactly...

This story by Bernard Goldberg certainly takes me back to the early days of my blogging career. Shortly after the 2004 Republican convention, Mary Mapes produced a segment for 60 Minutes II that alleged that George W. Bush had manipulated his enlistment in the Texas Air National Guard to avoid serving in combat in Vietnam. The documents used by CBS, Mapes, and Dan Rather turned out to be clumsy hoaxes, which the blogosphere exposed through careful review of their substance and their form (the latter of which I played a small part in refuting, with my expertise in printing and...

In 2007, Rather filed his $70 million lawsuit against his old company saying he wasn’t allowed to defend his story because the top management of CBS’ parent company, Viacom, wanted to appease the Bush Administration and protect its business interests. Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents – a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about – and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is...

Bernard Goldberg is getting a good bit of attention for something he said on O'Reilly tonight -- that documents show the CBS investigation in 2004 revealed that George Bush volunteered to fly combat missions in Vietnam. The following is from his website, Bernard Goldberg.com (via Newsbusters):

The present US president George Bush was trained to intercept Soviet bomber carrier TU-95 Bear aircraft while he was in the Texas Air National Guard. The US archives and retired colonel William Kampenii, Mr. President’s fellow soldier since 1970 till 1971 have proved this fact. ‘Pilots from Air National Guard used to intercept TU-95 regularly. The Bears used to make patrol flights, the aircrafts were usually intercepted along the eastern US coast, sometimes just near Cuba,’ says colonel Kampenii. George Bush J. reminisces in his autobiography A Charge To Keep how they were taught to direct to the target with...

Declaring he “absolutely” believes “the truth” of his discredited story based on forged memos, about President Bush's National Guard record, on Wednesday's Larry King Live on CNN Dan Rather contended that “we had a lot, a lot of corroboration, of what we broadcast about President Bush's military record. It wasn't just the documents.” Rather then attacked those who dared to expose his misdeeds: “It's a very old technique used, that when those who don't like what you're reporting believe it can be hurtful, then they look for the weakest spot and attack it, which is fair enough. It's a diversionary...

Presidents are often memorialized in their most famous moments -- George Washington crossing the Delaware, Theodore Roosevelt at San Juan Hill. Now President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard has been immortalized in bronze. The National Guard Association of the United States yesterday unveiled a bust of a young Lt. George W. Bush. The association expressed its pride in Bush, who is perhaps its most famous alumnus around today. Bush's service may still be a bit of a sore subject for him, though. He seemed no more eager to talk about it yesterday than he did in his...

CBS Evening News contained a brief segment tonight called "State of the Media" which (among other things) discussed the impact of bloggers on traditional media. The most interesting sentence (for me) occurred in a discussion of the infamous 60 Minutes II show in 2004 concerning George Bush's alleged special treatment in the National Guard. According to the CBS announcer, when questionable documents were used in the show, "bloggers quickly EXPOSED them" (emphasis added).

On January 27, Fred Barnes, on the Diane Rehm radio show, told Diane that he would get back to her by January 30 with his source(s) for the story about Bush volunteering for Vietnam. Did anyone listen to the January 27 show? Did Fred get back to Diane? What was the outcome?

Diane Rehm vigorously disputed on her radio program on Friday that George Bush had ever volunteered to serve in Viet Nam.Rehm's guest, conservative journalist Fred Barnes, mentioned the familiar assertion that at one point during his Air Guard service, the President did volunteer to go to Viet Nam, an offer that was not accepted.Rehm responded with incredulity saying that she had never heard such a claim. Some of her callers -- typically left wing -- joined in her scornful dismissal of any such notion. The matter was left with the agreement that Barnes would research the matter and call back...

Have you noticed how quickly CBS ex-producer, Mary Mapes, has faded from public view? Her book bombed bigtime because NO ONE except for a few diehard loonies bought her completely unbelievable story. Mapes still contends that the obviously forged Texas Air National Guard documents that purported to prove that Bush was AWOL were authentic and that even if they were fake, the story is still somehow valid. Even many Liberals were embarrassed by Mary Mapes and hoped she would just go away. About the only TRUE BELIEVERS I have been able to find were, of course, in DUmmieland as...

WASHINGTON -- A former Texas lottery official, who claimed that then-Gov. George W. Bush's desire to cover up his National Guard record helped steer decisions about a key lottery contract, said he wants to talk to senators about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' possible role in that effort. "If I were to be subpoenaed to come to the thing, I would come," said Lawrence Littwin, who filed a lawsuit after he was fired as the lottery's executive director in 1997. "I would say the committee, I think, would be interested." Littwin claimed in a federal lawsuit that lottery operator GTECH...

Complaint Against Kerry, CBS Dismissed By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago Election officials have thrown out a complaint against John Kerry's presidential campaign and CBS over a now-discredited story that questioned President Bush's National Guard service. The Federal Election Commission, in a 6-0 ruling, said there was no reason to believe the allegations raised by the Center for Individual Freedom over the story that aired on CBS' "60 Minutes Wednesday" in September. The politically conservative group contended the report amounted to an illegal election-time advertisement against Bush that was financed with corporate money; that CBS improperly coordinated...

Dan Rather's CBS' 60 Minutes Hit Piece on President Bush's Air National Guard Service Tied Left-Wing Media Myths in with Fraudulent Memos Response to "Dan Rather: A Reporter Remembers"-- 8 p.m. EST on March 9, 2005 Dan Rather and Mary Mapes are still embracing the veracity of content of their 60 Minutes fraudulent memos aired on September 8, 2004 . They need to re-read the Report of the Independent Review Panel "Concerning President Bush's Air National Guard Service" by Dick Thornburgh and Louis D. Boccardi. For a fair perspective of President Bush's Air National Guard (ANG) Service, suggest reading "Bush...

Rangel: Bush Had 'Good Reason' to Avoid Nat'l Guard Drug Test If the White House was hoping that the bitter personal attacks against President Bush would subside after the election, Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-NY, disabused them of the notion on Saturday, when he suggested during a radio interview that Bush used illegal drugs while serving in the National Guard. After alleging that Bush "deliberately avoided service in Vietnam" by joining the Texas Air National Guard, Rangel told WABC's Mark Simone that Bush missed a 1972 physical, which was required for Guard pilots. "He must have had a good reason why...

October 26, 2004 AP: New Bush Guard Papers Leave Questions By MATT KELLEY ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - Unearthed under legal pressure, three-decade-old documents portray President Bush as a capable and well-liked Air National Guard pilot who stopped flying and attending regular drills two-thirds of the way through his six-year commitment - without consequence. The files, many of them forced to light by Freedom of Information lawsuits by The Associated Press, conflict with some of the harshest attacks Democrats have levied on Bush's Vietnam-era service, such as suggestions that Bush was a deserter or absent without leave. But gaps in...

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Unearthed under legal pressure, three-decade-old documents portray President Bush (news - web sites) as a capable and well-liked Air National Guard pilot who stopped flying and attending regular drills two-thirds of the way through his six-year commitment — without consequence.

WASHINGTON - Weeks after Texas National Guard officials signed an oath swearing they had turned over all of President Bush's military records, independent examiners found more than two dozen pages of previously unreleased documents about Bush. The two retired Army lawyers went through Texas files under an agreement between the Texas Guard and The Associated Press, which sued to gain access to the files. The 31 pages of documents turned over to AP on Thursday include orders for high-altitude training in 1972, less than three months before Bush abruptly quit flying as a fighter pilot. The discovery is the latest...

Independent Review Finds Bush Records Texas National Guard Officials Missed By Matt Kelley Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Weeks after Texas National Guard officials signed an oath swearing they had turned over all of President Bush's military records, independent examiners found more than two dozen pages of previously unreleased documents about Bush. The two retired Army lawyers went through Texas files under an agreement between the Texas Guard and The Associated Press, which sued to gain access to the files. The 31 pages of documents turned over to AP Thursday night include orders for high-altitude training in 1972, less...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com In defense of Lt. BushBy Charles D. Youree, Jr.Published October 11, 2004          President Bush's military service is being unjustly vilified. I feel a sense of anger and frustration when I hear that instead of volunteering for Vietnam, Mr. Bush "hid out" flying fighter/interceptor jets in the Air National Guard (ANG) for four years.     As a former Air Force pilot with 6,000 hours of flying time, including more than 3,000 hours in jet fighters, I know that whenever you strapped yourself into a jet fighter and took off, you were in harm's way. Your life was on...