Posted on 09/23/2004 10:50:02 AM PDT by FlyLow
Newsweek's Howard Fineman argued that CBS News producer Mary Mapes became "obsessed," with trying to prove that George W. Bush got special treatment in the National Guard, because she wanted to "save the world from a George Bush presidency, and in the last five years, she's tried to find that smoking gun that would allow her to do that." Appearing on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning on Wednesday, Fineman fretted that due to the CBS scandal, it is getting "increasingly difficult to prove" that the rest of the media strive for "objectivity" and want to be "fair" and "even- handed." Fineman also predicted that "if Roger Ailes and Fox had done something like this, you know, the world would be on fire."
The MRC's Jessica Anderson caught the exchange between Don Imus and Newsweek's chief political correspondent, who appeared by phone, on the September 22 MSNBC simulcast of the Imus in the Morning radio show:
Imus: "What do you all make of what's going on at CBS?"
Fineman: "...My take on what happened here is that the producer, who I've never met, and who has a great reputation, but the producer, Mary Mapes, became obsessed with this story. In 1999, she began looking for evidence that then Governor Bush, you know, had not shown up for and been derelict in his duty in the National Guard. She probably didn't like him politically, judging from everything I've read about her, and was gonna save the world from a George Bush presidency, and in the last five years, she's tried to find that smoking gun that would allow her to do that. And they went to this guy, Burkett -- I mean, to me, one of the most amazing things about this story is that they searched him out, even knowing what an unreliable source he was. And that, to me, means obsession, and as you pointed out the other day, you know, that's what editors are for. Editors are there to harness the energy, sometimes obsessive energy of reporters and they clearly didn't do it in this case."
Imus suggested: "...Rather doesn't have any friends who do not hate George Bush. His friends are all -- we know who they are. I mean, the Molly Ivans of the world, and they all hate Bush. Maybe Rather doesn't, but he's the only one of anybody who he ever talks to or hangs out with...He may not, but that makes him unique in his circle of friends."
Fineman: "...In a way, this is a Texas war. It's between what I'm assuming is Rather's sort of populous Texas notions, which I'm sure he holds deeply, and the Bush view. The problem with all of this is, for what's left of what we used to call the mainstream media or the national media, is that those of us who've spent a long time, indeed, a whole career, trying to argue that we are objective, that we strive for objectivity, that we're interested in the facts, that we want to be fair, that we want to be even- handed, it gets increasingly difficult to prove that when something like this comes along, and for other people in the national press corps, whether it's at other networks or at news organizations like mine, to take sort of any secret guilty pleasure in CBS's trouble is a huge mistake, because what's happening is that the national press core is crumbling. I've got to say, if Roger Ailes and Fox had done something like this, you know, the world would be on fire, but they didn't. It's CBS that did it."
Well, there's an easy way around that problem. Start being fair and even-handed.
bttt
Sweet! Perhaps that explains why they were so nasty at the presser this morning.
Fineman also predicted that "if Roger Ailes and Fox had done something like this, you know, the world would be on fire."
Predicted? That's a known fact.
So now when she is indicted, she can claim she was insane?
She wanted to save us from Bush, but ended up doing something infinitely more valuable--she saved us from Dan Rather and CBS News. The Lord works in strange ways.
nope - no bias at seeBS
Exactly! And the reason Roger Ailes and Fox News are not likely to find themselves in this kind of situation is because they are fair and balanced.
And, save the world from unborn babies,the word of God, school choice, etc etc etc.
They simply can't. They think being fair and balanced is the same as being right wing. They HAVE to slant the news and show a liberal bias, it's in their blood.
The tap dancing among the MSM is becoming deafening.
LOL!
An amazed BUMP.
I haven't heard such rhetoric from the liberal left since the late, great, Ronald Reagan was President.
The similarity in their reactions to Dubya' is a good sign which is very comforting in an abstract sort of way. : )
This idea of "saving the nation from Bush" is quite common in many of new york's professional offices. Since election day, 2000 seemingly rational people transform into venomous secular church ladies at the mention of Bush and immediatly attack the person that dares breath the word Bush in a positive light. It really has gotten so extreme that we are starting to see the first cracks to the ruling establishment in the form of the rathergate exposure. Expect a tidal wave of additional scandals as psychotic leftie controlled organizations decide to come clean.
Come on, Howard, there wasn't an "editor" who should have stopped the story. Mapes has a direct line to Rather. There is no "editor" in between. The only "editor" who could have injected some reason into this partisan exercise was Dan Rather, but he was either too stupid or too partisan to do anything but go along.
Of course, we all know they aren't. But at least in the past, they tried to hide their bias.
BUMP!
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