And the questions about CBSs validity as a News Organization continues as mary Mapes in exposed as a Dirty Tricks Mechanic for the left. This is going to hurt kerry more than Bush was ever intended to be hurt by it. And once againthe libs try to lie and cheat to win, won't they ever learn ?




CBS Producer Who Obtained Questionable Guard Documents Identified
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
September 13, 2004

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Mary Mapes, a Dallas-based producer for CBS, has been identified by Talon News sources as the person who obtained the documents that suggest President George W. Bush did not fulfill his National Guard obligations 30 years ago. The documents, which have been judged to be forgeries by many news services and forensics experts, are at the center of a scandal that threatens the credibility of the network.

Late Friday, CBS spokesperson Kelli Edwards confirmed to Talon News that it was Mapes that obtained the documents (view documents here), but refused to comment on the questions surrounding their authenticity. Mapes did not respond to Talon News requests for comment.

During Friday's network news broadcast, anchor Dan Rather defended the four pages he claims were written by Bush's superior officer at the Texas Air Guard, Lt. Colonel Jerry Killian. Rather talked with handwriting expert Marcel Matley who said that on the basis of his analysis of the signatures, he is pronouncing the documents to be authentic. Not all of the pages carry Killian's signature.

Two others were interviewed for the segment. Robert Strong, an administrative officer for the Texas Air Guard during the Vietnam era, who vouched for the documents.

Author James Moore, a Bush antagonist, said, "They are absolutely consistent with the records as I know it."

Rather dismissed his critics, saying, "Today, on the Internet and elsewhere, some people -- including many who are partisan political operatives -- concentrated not on the key questions the overall story raised but on the documents that were part of the support of the story."

But glaring omissions marred Rather piece. On Friday, Killian's son Gary told nationally syndicated talk-show host Sean Hannity that Mary Mapes had contacted him before CBS ran the story. He said that he warned her that the documents might be forgeries.

Following the broadcast, Talon News asked Edwards why Killian's son and wife weren't mentioned during the broadcast.

She said, "I'm not going to debate every aspect of the story. We stand by the piece."

Killian's widow, Marjorie Connell, told ABC Radio News, "The wording in these documents is very suspect to me. ... I just can't believe these are his words."

Connell said that her late husband would be "turning over in his grave to know that a document such as this would be used against a fellow Guardsman," and she is "sick" and "angry" that his name is "being battled back and forth on television."

Connell said that her late husband was a fan of the young Bush.

She stated, "I know for a fact that this young man ... was an excellent aviator, an excellent person to be in the Guard, and he was very happy to have him become a member of the 111th."

Rufus Martin, the personnel chief in Killian's unit at the time told CNN, "They looked to me like forgeries. ... I don't think Killian would do that, and I knew him for 17 years."

Retired Maj. General Hodges, Killian's supervisor, told ABC News that he feels CBS misled him about the documents they uncovered. He said that CBS told him the documents were "handwritten" and after CBS read him excerpts he said, "Well if he wrote them that's what he felt."

Hodges believes the documents are frauds.

Doubts were being openly debated on rival networks. ABC News reported that they contacted more than a half dozen document experts who said they had doubts about the memos' authenticity.

Bill Flynn, one of country's top authorities on document authentication, told ABC, "These documents do not appear to have been the result of technology that was available in 1972 and 1973."

He continued, "The cumulative evidence that's available ... indicates that these documents were produced on a computer, not a typewriter."

CNN contacted independent document examiner Sandra Ramsey Lines who said the memos looked like they had been produced on a computer using Microsoft Word software. Lines is a document expert and fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She pointed to a superscript -- a smaller, raised "th" in "111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron" -- as evidence indicating forgery.

After reviewing copies of the documents at her office in Paradise Valley, Arizona, Line said, "I'm virtually certain these were computer generated."

One expert counts at least 50 points that suggest the documents are forgeries.

The White House is remaining neutral on the documents' authenticity.

Press Secretary Scott McClellan said Friday, "We don't know whether the documents were fabricated or are authentic. The media has talked to independent experts who have raised questions about the documents."

He pointed out that CBS has not disclosed the source of the documents.

Newsweek is suggesting that Mapes received the documents from Bill Burkett, who it describes as a disgruntled former Guard officer. The magazine reports that Mapes flew to Texas to interview him.

If the documents are proven to be forgeries, the scandal would go to the highest level of CBS news. Talon News sources say that Jim Murphy, Executive Producer of the CBS Evening News, approves virtually every word that goes on the air. "60 Minutes II" Executive Producer Jeffrey Fager would also be on the endangered list, since his show originated the document story.

But more likely it would be Mapes who would take the fall along with Janet Leissner, the Washington Bureau Chief for CBS News. Leissner orchestrated the interview with White House communications director Dan Bartlett during which he was confronted with the suspect documents. Dan Rather was originally scheduled to do the interview, but White House correspondent John Roberts was substituted at the last minute for an unknown reason.

Mapes is no stranger to controversy as she also obtained the photographs of inmate abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The source of the photographs as well as the documents now in question has never been revealed.

In 1999 Mapes was threatened with imprisonment if she failed to turn over the transcript of an interview that Dan Rather conducted with the third defendant being tried for murder in the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas. CBS ultimately complied with the court's demand for the information.

Here's another great article that confirms the collusion of the left against the American People.



Six Degrees of Collusion
By Lisa Sarrach
September 13, 2004

As John Kerry would say, bring it on! As anyone with any sense can tell, the media is running amok. The mainstream media only likes a juicy story if it involves President Bush not John Kerry. Media bias has been replaced with media activism and they could care less.

This is the same elite media that refuses to accept the obvious, that they are quickly becoming irrelevant. The same media that belittles the success of Fox News, the cable outlet that cleaned their collective clock during the Republican convention.

Yesterday was George W. Bush National Guard Day in the mainstream media. Headlines all over the country purported to tell us how President Bush failed to show up in Alabama for his guard service. Again. Election 2000 wasn't enough, two weeks of stories this past February wasn't enough.

No, what was enough was a month of the Swift Boat Vets and a lot of video in their ads showing Senator Kerry testifying before the Senate in 1971 calling Vietnam Vets war criminals.

The Swift Boat Vets, Kerry's own flip-flops combined with a boffo Republican convention and the president's numbers soaring in the battleground states have caused our friends in the media to choke on their righteous indignation and moved them into high gear to save their candidate.

And, of course, they're not about to let facts get in the way of their agenda.

For the final time, the president served just short of 6 years in the National Guard. Two years of flight training, active duty, full time. Two years of weekly flying, again, full time. It was after this period of intense training and flying, after 4 years of active service that President Bush requested and received a transfer to Alabama to work on a Senate campaign.

The Alabama Guard did not have a unit for the plane he flew, the F-102, and therefore was reduced to showing up for either office work or drills. At this point, the Vietnam War was winding down and there was a glut of pilots and not enough planes to put them in.

Subject to call up at any time, if there was a need for Lt. Bush to be in Texas or to go to Vietnam or anywhere else, his request would have been refused, and he would have been reactivated for duty. Does anyone doubt that? Of course not.

For the years in question by his critics, 1973 and 1974, he acquired enough points to fulfill his service to the Guard. He requested and received a discharge from the Guard in the Fall of 1973 to attend Harvard Business School after accruing more than enough points to have fulfilled his 6 YEAR obligation.

Case closed.

Now's let's talk about Senator Kerry. He also signed an enlistment contract for 6 years of service. 5 years of active duty and active reserves, and 1 year of inactive reserves.

He enlisted in February of 1966. He left Vietnam in April of 1969. He was discharged from active duty service in January of 1970. That's a little less than four years active duty service. So that begs the question of where are the records showing his attendance at drills and meetings? How is it that he completes his service after less than four years when both his enlistment contract and his officer candidate enlistment contract states he signed on for a 6 year commitment?

Why does Senator Kerry's own campaign website stop his military time line when he leaves active duty in March of 1970?

Why is no one asking? Why hasn't John Kerry answered ANY reporters' questions for a month?

Maybe because our friends in the media know that the minute they ask questions, they will be forced to remind voters that when he was still a Naval Reserve officer:


• he was protesting the Vietnam War as a leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War

• he threw his medals or ribbons or whatever over the fence at the Capitol

• he testified before the Senate calling all Viet Nam vets war criminals and

• he visited Communist leaders in Paris to try and negotiate an end to the war


That's why.

President Bush may not have seen combat, but he was ready to, trained to and would have gone if called. As for the Guard, I swell with pride every time an F-16 flies over my house from the nearby Air National Guard base. I don't demean these brave souls because they aren't in Iraq. I don't compare them to draft dodgers as the Democrats do. I praise their courage and the knowledge and training that allows them to fly a jet over my house to protect our homeland.

And here's another "fact" for you Bush bashers, the support of the military that President Bush enjoys.

Why? Because the current choice in this election is between the current Commander in Chief that stands with them and by them as we prosecute the War Against Terror or the radical sixties anti-war peacenik who disparaged a generation of soldiers by smearing their good name and calling them all war criminals. That's why.

And don't you love the hypocrisy of the Dems now versus when President (draft dodging) Clinton ran for office?

In 1992 and 1996, John Kerry and the Democrats had no problem with a draft dodger as president. Back then, it was time to forget, time to move on. That was a difficult time; we shouldn't be judging what people chose to do during that difficult time in our history, blah, blah, blah. Especially when you're running against two war heroes, right?

The mainstream media has abdicated its throne to Fox News. They no longer question statements or positions from Camp Kerry and its surrogates, they just air them unchallenged. They don't question his inaccuracies, his flip-flops, the gaps in HIS service; they just impart the democrat party line.

Being roundly beaten by Fox News during the Republican convention, the mainstream media has apparently decided to leave the world of journalism to Fox and form their own 527, Kerry-Great/Bush-Sucks.org.

Mark this day, our friends in the "mainstream" media - on November 2, 2004 when we clean your clock and the truth wins, your descent into irrelevancy will be complete and you'll be relegated into the dustbin of history right along with your candidate.

Good articles, politipile. Keep 'em coming!
Love to see the lefty/moonbats squirm...

Great articles!

what exactly are u talking about?

NEITHER of those articles "proves" any type of collusion whatsoever?

the first article simply points out which CBS employee found the documents, and the ONLY speculation as to where she got them from was "a disgruntled Guardsmen".

how does that implicate the Democrats in anything?

and the second article is just an op-ed that proves nothing.



did u actually even read the articles before u posted them???

I'm sorry huey but it is impossible for me to teach you reading comprehension and common sense via a Political Forum. You need to hire a tutor or something to gain that level of understanding.

The reason you can't see the obvious message in the second article is because you are in total denial about kerry and you are deluded as to the reality of the rock and the hard place his past frauds have placed him between. You and Thai are mindless puppets who have been programed by the left while clinging to liars and thieves who's only hopes of winning this election lies in their ability to work together in creating the perfect deception in order to fool thr American voter.

As a great American intelectual and a legend in my own mind, i scoff at the ignorance i see each day in the liberal media. Then i come here and find people dumb enough to buy the lies these eletists dole out like crumbs of bread to a pauper. You put your hopes in criminals if you want to, i will put my hopes in men of character and compassion

yeah yeah yeah, youre a legend and u scoff at me cuz liberals are all commies trying to lie, cheat and decieve the American people and it's all the liberals fault for destroying the country even though Republicans control the White House, Supreme Court and both Houses of the Senate.

what does this ridiculous tyrade have to do with the topic of this post again?


u can call me all the names in the book, it doesnt change the fact that there is NO EVIDENCE in either of those stories linking the memos to Democrats.

i read the stories TWICE, and proof of "collusion" simply doesnt exist within either of them.

rather than go on another 3 paragraph rant calling me names, would u kindly point out where in either of those articles it says Democrats or the Kerry campaign are involved in any of this?

thank u.

http://www.moviesoundscentral.com/sounds/point.wav

OK, i should have known i would have to decipher the article for you in addition to posting it. Paragraph 2 specifically makes my point. The point of the article is that the MAINSTREAM MEDIA is not objective but totally partial and will lie just like the Democratic Party lies to put their fraud of a candidate in office. I understand you don't have the wisdom or the discernment to see this but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.





Although the first article wasn't posted to imply Liberal Colusion, colusion is involved in everything the libs do. If CBS is using the power of their position to dispense innacurate, subjective news to the masses to manipulate the Election then my communist friend, that is colusion. In paragraph 1 below, Rather is complaining as an elitist would that his critics have the nerve to question his sources and not just concentrate on his stories talking points.

This story is going to lead to the demise of Dan Blathers carreer. It's about time these partisans are exposed for the liars they are. The FBI is considering an investigation to determine if they attempted to affect the November Election, which is a Felony. Stay tuned....


Guard Secretary, Flight Instructor Chip Away at CBS Story
By Bobby Eberle and Jeff Gannon
Talon News
September 15, 2004

HOUSTON (Talon News) -- Despite repeated assertions by CBS news that documents used in a "60 Minutes II" story to question the National Guard service of President George W. Bush are authentic, more testimony continues to emerge which eat away at CBS's claims. Now, the secretary of former Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, the supposed author of the documents, says that Killian never typed memos.

"He didn't need to. He had me," Marion Carr Knox, Killian's former secretary at the Texas Air National Guard said to Internet reporter Matt Drudge.

Knox added, "I did not type these particular memos. I typed memos like these."

"I typed memos that had this information in them, but I did not type these memos," Knox explained. "There are terms in these memos that are not Guard terms but that are Army terms."

Knox indicated that she is not a Bush supporter, but remembers him fondly because he was always pleasant and respectful toward her.

CBS did not interview Cox before airing the 60 Minutes segment.

CBS has virtually isolated itself by holding on to its assertion that the documents are authentic. Even the experts that several days ago seemed to be giving credence to the reports have now moved away from them.

The network refuses to name its source of the documents and admits that it has never seen the originals. It has instead attempted to retaliate on "bloggers" who originally pointed out the many flaws in the fabrications.

When presented by Talon News with copies of the documents for review, President Bush's Air National Guard flight instructor at the time, Col. Maurice Udell, said that there was "no way those documents are real."

"I've only looked at these documents for a few minutes, but I can already count a number of flaws in them," Udell told Talon News.

Udell said the documents simply don't follow basic National Guard protocol.

Meanwhile, criticism of CBS News continues to intensify. An editorial in the New York Post on Tuesday noted that CBS News and Dan Rather are "digging in their heels -- and just may be digging their own journalistic graves."

Former President of NBC News Larry Grossman told the Wall Street Journal that if the documents are proven to be fake, "it will be a terrible, devastating blow."

"People will be fired, the program loses its credibility and Dan Rather ends a distinguished career with his reputation besmirched," Grossman added.

Instead of blaming Dan Rather, who appears to have been the dupe in this affair, the prosecuters should go after the real culprit. Yes I am talking about Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, deceased. This man has had the criminal audacity to criticize the patriotism of the President of the United States of America. I for one am not going to sit idley by while this dead person insults the dear leader. This traitor should be taken out and shot.

As usual you are wrong wrong wrong. As the Managing Editor of CBS News every article that goe's to air is approved by him. His daughter works for the kerry campaign in Texas right now and he is a known liberal partisan and you are once again in complete denial about the criminals you support.

The only thing i am concerned about with this election is, "do we have enough time by Nov 2nd to get all of the dirt out into the public domain that exists on John Lurch Scary Kerry ? I am starting to think not. But you keep dreaming lamp, or should i say dim bulb .

Here's the latest on Memogate or as it is being called Rathergate. As i write this, FOX is breaking a new story about Dan Rather breaking a 1988 story about Vietnam Atrocities that is also bogus. This should be the nail in the head of Rathers carreer.



CBS 'Rathergate' Producer Under Pressure from Network
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
September 17, 2004

(Talon News) -- Talon News sources inside CBS have indicated that the producer of the '60 Minutes' story that used what appear to be forged documents to charge that President George W. Bush received preferential treatment during his service with the Texas Air National Guard 30 years ago is under pressure from the network. Mary Mapes, a Dallas-based producer, obtained the documents from a source that she and the network refuse to reveal, even though the documents themselves have been widely discredited.

Doubts about the authenticity of the documents have put the network and its anchor Dan Rather at the center of a controversy that continues to grow. After a series of defensive statements about the documents, the network has finally admitted there might be a problem with them.

CBS is maintaining that the substance of its story is unchallenged regardless of the provenance of the documents.

Rather made that point during the Wednesday broadcast of the television news magazine, saying, "Those who have criticized aspects of our story have never criticized the major thrust of our report."

But Rather did acknowledge that documents might yet prove to be fraudulent.

"If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story," Rather added. "Any time I'm wrong, I want to be right out front and say, 'Folks, this is what went wrong and how it went wrong.'"

Bob Schieffer, CBS's chief Washington correspondent, was quoted in the Washington Post saying, "I think this is very, very serious. He added, "When Dan tells me these documents are not forgeries, I believe him. But somehow we've got to find a way to show people these documents are not forgeries."

Schieffer was selected to moderate one of this year's presidential debates. Despite White House denials that the CBS veteran might be replaced in the wake of a scandal, some have suggested making the change to ensure fairness.

CBS News President Andrew Heyward issued a tepid statement Wednesday in defense of their investigative work.

He said, "I feel that we did a tremendous amount of reporting before the story went on the air or we wouldn't have put it on the air."

He did leave open the possibility that the documents might be forgeries, saying, "There's such a ferocious debate about these documents...we want to get to the bottom of these unresolved issues."

Rather took a shot at CBS's "journalistic competitors," when he suggested, "Instead of asking President Bush and his staff questions about what is true and not true about the president's military service, they ask me questions: 'How do you know this and that about the documents?'"

But rival news services have kept the focus on the documents, leaving the network isolated in its belief in the authenticity of them. CBS's stonewalling has only exacerbated the network's problems and demoralized some of its employees.

Some CBS employees are amused at Rather's predicament.

One told Talon News, "Sooner of later something like this was going to happen. When you see how hard they've been working this National Guard story, you know they weren't going to come up empty-handed one way or another."

But because Rather is CBS's franchise player with a contract that extends through 2006, fallout from any scandal is likely to fall on someone else at the network. An insider tells Talon News that Mapes is the most likely candidate. She has been working on this story for five years and obtained the documents that are now in dispute.

While the network has refused to reveal its source, the documents appear to have been faxed to CBS from a Kinko's in Abilene, TX. Abilene is located in Taylor County, where Rather made a speech at the fundraiser previously mentioned.

That location points to retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett as the source of the documents. His Baird, Texas ranch is about 21 miles from the copy shop at which the fax transmission took place. Burkett, a bitter critic of Bush makes the same charges that have been parroted by CBS and the DNC.

In an August 25, 2004 posting to www.onlinejournal.com, Burkett wrote, "I know from your files that we have now reassembled, the fact that you did not fulfill your oath."

Burkett isn't specific in what he meant by "reassembled," but the only files that have surfaced are the ones at the center of the controversy about forgeries.

In the years that CBS producer Mary Mapes has been pursuing this story, she never contacted Lt. Col. Jerry Killian's secretary, Marian Carr Knox, until after her existence was revealed by the Drudge Report. On 60 Minutes on Wednesday, Knox said that the documents were forgeries, but the content was accurate.

Mapes interviewed Killian's widow Marjorie Connell and his son Gary. Both expressed doubt to the CBS producer that the documents were real. Neither of them have appeared on the network nor even been mentioned in CBS's reporting.

CBS' own experts have moved away from the authenticity of the documents. One of the experts consulted was Emily Will, a veteran document examiner from North Carolina. She told ABC News that she sent Mapes an e-mail message about her concerns and strongly urged the network the night before the broadcast not to use the documents.

She said, "I told them that all the questions I was asking them on Tuesday night, they were going to be asked by hundreds of other document examiners on Thursday if they ran that story."

If Rather was informed of the doubts, he ignored them, plunging his network into a quagmire. The veteran anchor forged ahead because, as he stated on Wednesday's broadcast, that the charges are so charges are so serious, the evidence of little importance.

His confidence in Mapes may have led him to go with the story, despite the red flags. After all, it was Mapes who brought CBS the Abu Ghraib photos of prisoner abuse and who risked jail by refusing to turn over videotapes of Rather's interview with a man charged in the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas.

But Mapes' father sees a political agenda behind his daughter's work. Don Mapes, 76, was a recent guest on a radio talk show hosted by John Carlson on KVI in Seattle.

He said, "I'm really ashamed of what my daughter has become. She's a typical liberal. She went into journalism with an ax to grind, and that was to promote radical feminism."

He confessed to being disappointed in his daughter's role in the controversy. He said, "When I heard about 60 Minutes, I suspected she would be the producer of the show."

In an interview with Talon News, Don Mapes said his suspicion was because that he believed, "Dan Rather and she have been working on this ever since Bush was elected."

In commenting on the Wednesday's 60 Minutes show, he said, "It was a farce, it was fraud. I'm sorry as a father that my daughter was the producer of it."

His fatherly instinct showed through when he said, "To give her the benefit of the doubt, I believe she has been had."

But he also chastised his daughter for being intellectually dishonest.

He said, "She ought to look closer at George Soros or Michael Moore."

Mary Mapes declined several opportunities to comment for this article.

Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

----------------------------------------

Here's the latest on scumbag Blather defending Mary Mapes.


Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2004 8:37 a.m. EDT
Rather Still Stands Behind 'Terrific' Producer

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Monday, Dan Rather strongly defended the CBS producer who obtained the fraudulent documents relating to George Bush's military service.



Despite having said the network now regrets the airing of the document and that he was personally sorry, Rather was equally pointed in defending CBS producer Mary Mapes.


Story Continues Below


Rather deflected questions as to whether Mapes may be removed by telling the paper that "it's difficult to pinpoint blame or even discuss whether someone should lose his job."

"Given the number of people involved in this, directly involved in the news-gathering, vetting and approving, well, I just don't know. There were a lot of people, including myself," Rather added.

The paper noted that Rather "has worked closely with Mapes for years" and that he "stood firmly behind the 48-year-old producer."

Rather said that Mapes is "a terrific reporter. Everybody makes mistakes, everybody hopes that their mistake will not be the only way that people define them and their work."


Rather did not offer any explanation as to why Mapes had served as an intermediary between their source Bill Burkett and the Kerry campaign. Mapes had called Kerry aide Joe Lockhart to introduce Burkett to them.


By failing to take steps demonstrating their culpability and sincerity, CBS's reputation as an independent news source may be permananently crippled.

Already, a grassroots group, BoycottCBS.com, is leading a Web-based effort to have CBS Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer eliminated as a panelist in the presidential debate scheduled for Oct. 13.

So true, and he does look like Lurch!

It's going to be hard for them to avoid getting caught. There are too many connections. This was very stupid! What's the difference between this and Watergate? Nothing.

They are now reporting that Burkett has had a grudge against the Texas National Guard since daddy Bush's days. Seems he was denied medical benefits and had to use penicillin for cows and took too much(didn't realize the strength of the medicine was prescibed by body weight adn didn't realize a cow outweighed him) and he got mad over it and has been out to get the Bushes ever since. He did end up getting his medical benefits, just for the record. They also said he had a history of wierd behavior in general. Everyone knew it including the Kerry camp. They knew he was not a credible person, yet when he offered his 'reports' from the mysterious woman who can't be found, they jumped on it anyway. Kerry has admitted to knowing about the reports and having said it was OK to use them.

How ironic this is so much like our lying demagogue President of the United States of America who uses faulty information, hype, and propaganda to promote a corrupt agenda.

Assuming that this memo in question is a fake, and that is pretty much a given, someone familiar with the construction of a military style document would have to written it. Who would have had access to such a person? The Kerry campain of course. Unless it was Burkett himself, which he denies, the trail leads upward. It is a crime, and should be prosecuted. I believe it would be a crime if it were a forgery of a normal document, but this is a GOVERNMENT document.

You mean like Bush AWOL papers ?

You really should try to not be a sheep.

Why should we assume anything of the sort. Let's presume the memoes are genuine.

You make statements without supporting evidence.

The crime here seems to be the campaign to bury these memoes which show Bush's lack of ability.

You've got it twisted, lamp.....the campaign to bury the memoes is what CBS (Can't Back Story) wants to do. The Bushie folks want them to be investigated! They have nothing to hide. See?

So you agree that the memoes are genuine. Thank you. I assume that you also agree that they show the young Bush in a very poor light.

Exactly, and some people's tactics of just making fun of everything and using laughing faces to make things look stupid are only doing the same to themselves

CBS Prepares For Legal Action Over Forged Documents
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
September 23, 2004

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- On the same day CBS announced the appointment of an independent commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding forged documents aired during a "60 Minutes" segment, the company girded for legal action in the matter. On Wednesday, Anthony Bongiorno, counsel for the beleaguered network ordered a legal hold on all tapes and material relating to the report.

Bongiorno did not return a telephone call seeking additional information, but a Talon News source reported that the hold was a response to legal action that was expected following the independent commission's investigation. Bill Burkett, the admitted source of the forgeries, is threatening to sue the network for libel. Fraud charges may ultimately be filed and an investigation by Congress or the Federal Election Commission is likely.

The source also described a contentious split in the Washington office of the news organization. It was CBS Washington bureau chief Janet Leissner who orchestrated the fateful interview in which CBS correspondent John Roberts confronted White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett with the phony documents. Anchor Dan Rather was originally scheduled to do the interview.

Pressure on the network continues to increase as the ratings for its news programming plummets. A protest rally outside CBS's Washington headquarters Wednesday by members of FreeRepublic.com brought more unwelcome publicity and reflected the backlash occurring against CBS affiliates across the country.

Affiliates' switchboards and station managers' e-mail inboxes have been filling up with angry complaints from viewers that range from dishonest reporting to helping Democrats oust President Bush. The revelation that the producer of the "60 Minutes" report, Mary Mapes, contacted Joe Lockhart, a senior advisor to the Kerry campaign, contributed to the appearance of coordination.

Network executives hope to mitigate the negative impact of the scandal in the speedy appointment of the commission. Dick Thornburgh, former governor of Pennsylvania and Attorney General under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush was selected along with Louis D. Boccardi, retired president and chief executive officer of the Associated Press, to comprise the independent review panel.

The scope of the investigation has not yet been made public, but observers suggest it will need to be broad and deep to salvage the network's reputation. The internal structure will most certainly be examined, but the motives behind editorial decisions will need to be looked into as well.

CBS has reportedly been following on the story about Bush's Texas Air National Guard since before the 2000 election. Former Gore campaign manager Tony Coelho recently said that he was aware of the rumors about gaps in Bush's service record during that campaign, but decided to not to make an issue of it.

Ain't that the truth. those wingnuts should stick to windsurfing and contemplating thier gonads.

It looks like this might lead back to the Democratic National Committee and possibly become a Scandal on the scale of Watergate.


RNC Blasts Democrats, CBS On 'Memogate'
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
September 23, 2004

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie is raising questions about the relationship between the CBS network and the Democratic Party as well as their conduct. In a press conference Wednesday, Gillespie said that he believes a crime has been committed in the CBS 'Memogate' scandal.

Gillespie pointed out that the Texas Legal Code says it is a third degree felony if one "makes, presents, or uses any record, document, or thing with knowledge of its falsity and with intent that it be taken as a genuine governmental record" or "makes, presents, or uses a governmental record with knowledge of its falsity."

Gillespie said that a chronology of events indicates that the Kerry campaign knew about the documents CBS used in their September 8 report. Gillespie said that Bill Burkett claimed that he made multiple contacts with the Kerry campaign in August, sending an e-mail newsletter on August 21 saying he talked to Kerry campaign seniors on Friday, August 20. The Kerry campaign reportedly told him they wanted to "counterattack," and he says he "gave them the information to do it with."

"Bill Burkett says he contacted the Democratic National Committee and laid out a rationale for using what he termed 'down and dirty tactics against President Bush,'" Gillespie added. "We know that the Kerry campaign devised a strategy to attack the President's National Guard service that began the same night the Republican National Convention ended, with Senator Kerry attacking the president's guard service on the night of September 2."

Gillespie noted, "Two days before the 60 Minutes report aired, Howard Wolfson, 'a strategist dispatched to the DNC by the Kerry campaign' joined the DNC to head up 'Operation Fortunate Son.'"

The RNC chairman recalled, "On Wednesday, September 8th, the day of the report, the DNC officially launched Operation Fortunate Son, and 'Texans For Truth,' funded by a Kerry supporter, announced an advertising campaign."

Gillespie said, "On Thursday, the day after the 60 Minutes report, the DNC distributed an ad that had clearly been prepared in anticipation of the CBS News report, and cited the documents at a DNC press conference where Senator Tom Harkin called the President a 'liar.'"

After reciting the chronology, Gillespie concluded, "One might argue that these steps were taken without advance knowledge of the existence of the documents and this is all coincidence, but that strains credibility."

Gillespie is concerned that despite CBS's apology, the network has yet to retract the story that was based on discredited documents. He also questioned the network's decision to allow the producer who contacted the Kerry campaign about someone who could be helpful to them to continue to work in a newsgathering and reporting capacity. He said that Mapes, "according to yesterday's Associated Press 'makes no secret of her liberal beliefs' and has unquestionably provided opposition research to one of the presidential campaigns."

Gillespie charged that CBS has demonstrated a "serious lack of judgment" in retaining an openly biased producer. Gillespie questioned whether the decision was clouded by Viacom and CBS owner Sumner Redstone's role as a Kerry fundraiser, or Viacom President Tom Freston's public support of John Kerry for President.

The RNC chairman demanded to know who put Burkett in touch with CBS, speculating that it was someone at the Kerry campaign or the DNC. He also wondered whom the 'seniors' were that Burkett spoke to other than Sen. Max Cleland on August 20, since Lockhart and other former Clintonites Mike McCurry, Paul Begala, James Carville, and Stan Greenberg had not yet joined the campaign.

Gillespie is also interested in who Burkett spoke with on August 20 to provide the information for a "counterattack." Gillespie wants to know if the Kerry campaign or the DNC knew about the documents before the CBS story broke and how they came to that knowledge.

The RNC chairman said, "The centerpiece of the Kerry Campaign's 'character based critique,' Boston-speak for character assassination, is based on a discredited news report that was based on the criminal activity of someone who mocked up and forged documents. What's that say for the character of the Kerry campaign?"

Gillespie advised, "CBS should act now to assure its viewers that it understands the gravity of its producer's actions, and the Kerry campaign and the DNC should answer these questions, abandon its character assassination campaign and focus on the issues relevant to the American people in this election."

Oh they'll weasle their way out of any connection. We all know journalists claim to be unbiased, but they're not. This is just about the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

Didn't quite work out the way you planned did it Danny Boy?!

Dan Rather's been a walking corpse in the news industry for the last 10 years, he just hasn't figured out its time to lie down.

I do not believe that Killian typed any of his memos. He had a secretary do that. She still lives. That secretary knows that she did not type it. Forget about expert witnesses, you would need an expert typist back then, with a very advanced typing machine to type those memos, and she did not do it. A memo like that would be something so uncommon to that secretary, that she would remember it for the rest of her life, and she does not remember it. This together with the statements by the wife and son of Killian proves the memo is a fake.

And isn't it funny how they're so willing to call the secretary and the man's family liars just because they don't perpertuate the document lie?

I'm so sick of the press...have been for a long time, but more so now that's it too obvious to ignore how they control the minds of so many in our nation and around the world. It's like when they get news into their station, they disect it and take out any part of the story that doesn't adhere to their opinion. Hence, they render all news pointless and useless.