73 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
73 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
What Did Dan Rather Know, And When Did He Know It?
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<p>Dan Rather’s just-released statement just begs to be fisked:</p>
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<blockquote><p>
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Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of<br />
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documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about<br />
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President Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed<br />
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to re-examine the documents in question—and their<br />
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source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American<br />
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public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.
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</p></blockquote>
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<p>Where was your skepticism about the four documents you ran with<br />
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when your own experts told you two of the original six were bogus, Dan?</p>
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<blockquote><p>
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Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the<br />
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confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching<br />
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for them journalistically.
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</p></blockquote>
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<p>And why did you ever “have confidence” in those four when you withheld them<br />
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from your own experts, Dan?</p>
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<blockquote><p>
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I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for<br />
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the documents came into possession of these papers.
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</p></blockquote>
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<p>So, you’re still not admitting that your “source” passed you crude<br />
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forgeries that anyone with the nerve to call himself an investigative<br />
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journalist should have spotted in thirty seconds flat?</p>
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<blockquote><p>
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That, combined with some of the questions that have been<br />
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raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew<br />
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then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it<br />
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was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in<br />
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question.
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</p></blockquote>
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<p>Do you know that the memos were forged? Are you prepared to state for<br />
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the record that your source was not a Kerry partisan engaged in a fraudulent<br />
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attempt to manipulate a presidential election?</p>
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<blockquote><p>
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But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for<br />
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that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith<br />
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and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of<br />
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investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.
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</p></blockquote>
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<p>Ah, the nebulous “we” — favorite weasel-word of<br />
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responsibility-evaders. Will you take responsibility for that<br />
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decision, Dan? If you won’t, whose decision was it? If you will,<br />
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where is your resignation?</p>
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<blockquote><p>
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Please know that nothing is more important to us than people’s trust<br />
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in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
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</p></blockquote>
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<p>Oh, we believe <em>that</em> all right. After all, if you don’t<br />
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have peoples’ trust, how can you manipulate them?</p>
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<p>No admission that the documents are forgeries. No disclosure of<br />
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the source. Dan, given your history of appearing at Democratic<br />
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fund-raisers and donating to left-wing causes, can you give us any<br />
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reason at all to believe you are not shielding John Kerry’s oppo<br />
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researchers?</p>
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<p>UPDATE: CBS <a href='http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/06/politics/main641481.shtml'>claims</a><br />
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that disgruntled ex-Guardsman Bill Burkett was the source of the<br />
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documents, and misled CBS about them to protect the actual source.<br />
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Who is the “actual source” of this fraud against the American<br />
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electorate? Why didn’t CBS validate the documents before broadcasting<br />
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an unfounded attack on the President of the United States during a<br />
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time of war? Inquiring minds want to know!</p>
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<p>AND MORE: This just keeps getting better! Burkett has not only<br />
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admitted that the forged memos passed through him to CBS, he says<br />
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he <a href='http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,132906,00.html'>gave them<br />
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to Max Cleland</a>, John Kerry’s triple-amputee token Vietvet. Burkett<br />
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has already changed his story at least once about who his source was.</p>
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<p>I can’t be the only person thinking Burkett has been set up as the<br />
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fall guy in order to make politically-motivated collusion between CBS<br />
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and the Kerry campaign deniable.</p>
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