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."
Mapes would not spend 5 years on the story without the full suppport of Rather and the CBS organization.
I just called and left a message for Fineman (202.626.2000). I challenged him to show that the media was not biased by doing an interview with John O'Neill and investigating the report written by John Kerry in which a dead child was left out but 5 Viet Cong killed was inserted. Come on, Howard. Show us objectivity.
And the Viacom management and board of directors as well.
What a joke! CBS is the one who is knee-deep in hot water with its pants down, hand in the cookie jar and bloody chicken feathers all over its egg-splattered face. And yet they are the ones whose judgment is superior to everybody else's? Some people might say CBS needs to sober up and come back to reality.
Thanks for the thought Mare....but we've got it all covered, ya know?
A Brief Guide to American Newspapers
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The Washington Post is read the people who think they run the country.
3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country-if they could find the time-and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to to run the country and did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.
7. The New York Daily New is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.
10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country...or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy provided, of course, that they are not Republicans.
11. The National Enguirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.
Didn't even know I *needed* saving...
Thanks. I'll take a look at it; I had heard about the mail scam, but not who it was.
And lots of NEW Freepers are posting undocumented "facts" and "articles" without labeling them vaniites.
Here's a link...scan to the middle of the page to link to the pdf of the letter.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,133215,00.html
Then it's only fair that the Blogosphere saved the world from CBS.
It became obvious several days ago that Rather and CBS were gonna try to drop the WHOLE thing in Mapes's lap, and that's exactly what's happening. Sorry, but there were a LOT of complicit people in this thing, most certainly including Dan Rather.
MM
It's also becoming increasingly hard to prove that the sun goes around the earth (although that's not CBS's fault).
Link to Mapes Bombshell FR discussion:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1224040/posts
And hanoi john flip flop sKerry
Burn baby burn!
I'll actually stick up for Fineman on this one. He's one of the few mainstream journalists in Washington who generally plays it pretty straight. But, unfortunately for him, he's gonna have to take some of the residual slime from Rathergate. Sucks for him.
"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."
So true. I was traveling on business in July, and in the Holiday Express continental breakfast line, an old lady (a Florida resident, of course!) and I were chatting; she asked me where I was traveling from and I said Washington, DC. She immediately and breathlessly informed me that she "was doing everything she possibly could to drive George Bush and his cronies out of the White House before they destroy everything this country stands for." I backed away, slowly. It was bizarre. She had not the slightest idea what my political views were. There is not even the pretense of polite conversation among strangers with these people.
This sure was a surprise gift from heaven.
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