The transcripts currently out on Drudge from tonight’s “Sixty Minutes II” read like outtakes from Jarry’s Ubu Roi – a television network in the midst of a nervous breakdown. The whiff of desperation comes from every line as if the entire enterprise is about to implode – and it is.
From their own program:
Its very clear the documents were forged. They were laid on him and this time he bit.
ANDREWS: 40 members of the House signed a letter accusing the network of deception–in a letter asking CBS if the documents are authentic, why wont the network say how it got them .
Roy Blunt (R-Missouri): I think at the very least CBS should characterize the source. I think it’s amazing that they haven’t already done that.
No kidding. Time for some Congressional hearings maybe? A little Watergate action? These stonewalling jokers have a broadcasting license. Are they allowed to use the public airwaves as their personal propaganda playground? Bring back Ceausescu!
Meanwhile, the aging secretary is brought in for a cameo: First of all Killian was very friendly with Bush they had fun together. And I think it upset him very much that he was being defied.
The redoubtable Mr. Hayward speaks: “We would not have put the report on the air if we did not believe in every aspect of it.”
Of course the narrator assures us: However, News President Andrew Heyward also says the network will try to resolve what he calls the unresolved issues.
Thank you, Pere Ubu! It’s too incredbile to believe. Is this actually happening?
UPDATE: In case you haven’t seen it, LGF has a verbatim copy of the document CBS is circulating to its affiliates who must be very nervous by now. This will not assuage their anxiety. What is most stunning in all this is the utter amateurishness of CBS. It’s almost like the Wizard of Oz. What a great message that story has always had for all of us. So does this, really.
I have the feeling I’m never going to forget this day for the rest of my life.
This is so incredible that it can only be explained by money considerations. Some way, somehow, financial considerations scripted that little Evening News dance we just witnessed.
Our family grew up a “CBS” family. I can’t begin to explain to you how surreal this all seems.
The lady did admit they were fakes, right? Ballgame! But . . . apparently not.
Bizarro.
ìWe would not have put the report on the air if we did not believe in every aspect of it.î
No f***ing shit! Tell us something new, Kemosabe: Bush lied, people died, no?
Un ñ f***ing- believable!
Sorry for the language, I am losing it, I think.
They rolled the grandma out again? Geezus, what a pathetic gambit that is. Was she in a wheel chair and wearing a neckbrace to garner sympathy?
While Rome burned Nero fiddled.
This is so ridiculous. The best they can do is drag out some old partisan democrat to say yes they were fake but the sentiment is accurate.
I really don’t need or want her opinion of Killian’s state of mind. It is irrelevant and she is obviously prejudiced. Why can’t people just say the truth?
Who are these people to try and snow us like this just because they think Bush got antsy in his last year of the Guard they try to pull some crap like this.
I don’t think Bush lied, but I know CBS did.
Well, in all fairness to See B.S., it would appear that it is common among all “experts” to believe they have a truth greater than the actual evidence in front of their eyes would warrant.
More can be read here.
While Rome burned Nero fiddled.
This is so ridiculous. The best they can do is drag out some old partisan democrat to say yes they were fake but the sentiment is accurate.
I really don’t need or want her opinion of Killian’s state of mind. It is irrelevant and she is obviously prejudiced. Why can’t people just say the truth?
Who are these people to try and snow us like this just because they think Bush got antsy in his last year of the Guard they try to pull some crap like this.
I don’t think Bush lied, but I know CBS did.
It is simply amazing! I used to love 60 Minutes. What could they be thinking?
I personally think that there must be some conscious collusion on the part of CBS with the Kerry campaign. The Kerry campaign wants the election to be based on “John Kerry(TM) the Vietnam Superhero Versus George Bush Texas Son of Priveledge.” (Somebody tell them by the way that this is an election for President, and not Lieutenant Airman or Swift Boat Skipper.) It has been a disasterous strategy for the Kerry camp, it has been obviously so for months, and yet they keep firmly and deliberately cramming it down the voters’ throats like a mad carpenter driving screws into a burning wall. Especially given the polling numbers on the importance of the issue (which were obvious long ago) why would CBS bet Kerry’s farm on it? Well, pardon my crudeness, but the issue is so far up Dan Rather’s ass that it must have been put there by the Kerry campaign.
The irony of it all is breathtaking. If you believe the Rasmussen poll numbers, then they have gambled John Kerry’s campaign on a very poor set of forgeries to score points on an issue only a few people care about. They gambled and lost, and if Congressional hearings are in order, then they may have put the last nail into the coffin of John Kerry’s campaign. Can you imagine this in Congress a month from now? It will be remembered as the madcap end to the worst Presidential campaign in history.
They’ve put the full statement, plus annexes, as pdfs.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/08/60II/main641984.shtml
The attatchments are hilarious!!!
I think Rather is setting up a career change
There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to the outer limits.
You know, I hate to keep beating the drum of “This is how forgers have worked for centuries,” but John Payne Collier operated on pretty much the same friggin’ principle: I’m an expert, I’m sure these things were true, so I’m not a real forger. If Rather et al think that’s an original line, they’re even sorrier than I thought.
Bulai, Dan, bulai. Where did they come from? Because whoever did that, no matter what his intentions, is not just a noble servant to a higher truth, he is also a fargin’ criminal. Suppose, Dan, that you yourself were to buy the farm tomorrow and that you were intestate. Suppose your faithful assistant, through various remarks you had made throughout the years, thought that you had intended to will the bulk of your estate to him. Suppose, to rectify your slovenliness in not making a will, he fakes one. Of course, you never meant to leave him your money at all – but what the hey, he was, after all, answering to His Truth, a la McGreevey.
Puts a bit of a different spin on it, hmmm? But what the hey, it’s Bush, and it’s bad – so it must be true!
“It’s too incredbile to believe. Is this actually happening?”
One has to almost forcefully remind oneself that we’re talking about the institution known as CBS News, not a remake of Fantasy Island or something out of a Marvel Comic Book series. The Gnostics at CBS deeply believe they’re doing the little people a big favor with this forgery cum higher truth standard. Oddly, all in service to a topic that people are not showing much interest in to begin with.
“The attatchments are hilarious!!!”
Am I being too snarky or uncharitable to suggest, just to be absolutely certain, that document examiners be called in to verify the authenticity of these attachments?
I love it…
CBS reduced to relying on the 2004 version of Maudie Fricart to pull their chestnuts out of the fire!
I’m surprised she didn’t have a 2000 Florida butterfly ballot in one hand…I can hear her now, “Since you nice boys are here, perhaps one of you could explain how I vote for Al Gore…”
Yeah, journalism is a profession, all right. These guys couldn’t find their ass with two hands and a mirror.
Maybe envious Dan just wants his own Purple Heart for self inflicted wounds.
Well, in the mean time, the TradeSports contract is up 3.6 points today, last trade 66.6.
Bush is leading Kerry by four in a just-released poll from NEW JERSEY.
On NPR last night the interviewer called the Swifties, “Swift Boat Veterans for Bush.”
He wasn’t being ironic; he obviously thought that was their name.
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don’t need you
Don’t go for help…no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
That’s right, folks…
Don’t touch that dial
Well, I am the slime from the video, oozing along on your living room floor…
From “I’m The Slime”
Attributed to Frank Zappa, but I have accurate but unauthenticated documentation suggesting he got it from Dan Rather. Am in the process of coroborating and will announce my findings tomorrow at either noon, 3:30, 5, or on a new episode of SpongeBob at 8…
When do you think will CBS organize a sÈance to obtain the testimony of the spirit of Lt. Col Killian?
This would be consistent with the journalistic standard they are keeping.
I am sure that we would find that at least 27% of polled people would have accepted the testimony from beyond the grave.
On the upside, the NEW YORK TIMES this week changed their Swift Boat macro from:
“a group of Vietnam veterans who have raised unsubstantiated charges against John Kerry”
to:
“a group of Vietnam veterans who have raised largely unsubstantiated charges against John Kerry.”
Maybe envious Dan just wants his own Purple Heart for self inflicted wounds.
Wouldn’t it have been easier just to pull down his pants and sit on some uncooked rice?
Come to think of it, I’m going to take credit for the macro upgrade, since I think I actually managed to get an email to Dan Okrent sent in last Sunday in which I mentioned in passing that it was probably about time to add a qualifying term to the “unsubstantiated charges” phrase, seeing as how the campaign itself had conceded that two of the charges were true.
When do you think will CBS organize a seance to obtain the testimony of the spirit of Lt. Col Killian?
LOL.
But then again…
Oh, Dennis, stop, you are giving me a visualÖ.LOL!
I just saw the latest CBS interview between Dan Rather and Killian’s secretary. There’s something wrong with conducting an interview with an old, senile person in order to shore up support for an already discredited story. I mean, couldn’t they have found someone else to conduct the interview?
Joe
Wow.
Note the smooth g—l—-i—-d—-e off of We Stand By Our Story to We Will Continue To Aggressively Report.
Apparently yesterday’s statements are inoperative.
And we’ve got more-more collateral damage: “Are these documents authentic as our experts continue to maintain.”
He’s found–what? Two guys willing to stick up for him, and tomorrow he’s going to chop their you-know-what’s off.
You know, we are witnessing karmic justice.
ìWe will continue to report credible evidence.î
That, dear Dan, is past praying for. I advise you to switch to reporting something about alien abduction, cold-fusion, and change of sex after being struck by lightning.
here is the text of an email im sending to CBS affiliates, apparently some of the local stations are miffed about HQ turning them all into laughingstocks—
=============
CBS Journalist = oxymoron
=============
After watching your network’s continued “reporting” re: the National Guard memos, I must express to you I have never personally witnessed such a brazen yet incompetent exercise in propaganda in America. I’ve read about stuff like this in history books, however.
The term “CBS reporter” is becoming a joke, just like “White House intern”. Do not underestimate the damage this continued fraud will do to your
reputation. Remember that there used to be a giant accounting firm called Arthur Anderson.
============
If you haven’t followed the Drudge link to the Tony Coelho story, you should.
Did I mention that all the Democrats I know are appalled?
As of 10:04pm EST, Drudge has the following teaser up:
“CBS Guard Documents Traced to Texas Kinko’s…”
Curiouser and curiouser!
The rest of it:
CBS Guard Documents Traced to Texas Kinko’s…
WASH POST: Documents allegedly written by deceased officer that raised questions about Bush’s service with Texas National Guard bore markings showing they had been faxed to CBS News from a Kinko’s copy shop in Abilene, Texas… Developing…
Kewl!
Just added by Drudge:
WASH POST: Documents allegedly written by deceased officer that raised questions about Bush’s service with Texas National Guard bore markings showing they had been faxed to CBS News from a Kinko’s copy shop in Abilene, Texas… Developing…
And who lives 25 miles from Abilene in Baird, TX? Bill Burkett, disgruntled former National Guard officer and Bush-hater.
Today’s lessons in journalistic values has me thinking of L.A. Confidential
Would you be willing to use provably false evidence to support a smear piece everyone knew to be true? Way too many big names have been saying yes.
When do you think will CBS organize a sÈance to obtain the testimony of the spirit of Lt. Col Killian?
Didn’t Hillary! thump the table for a heart-to-heart with the long-departed Eleanor Roosevelt?
Just to brag a little:
wxjames, here’s my prediction:
Someone at the DNC got the documents, by fax, “over the transom” from something like a Kinko’s public fax machine. (I’d bet that they were composed on a public typewrier, maybe in the same Kinkos.)
C’est moi.
Katherine and Knucklehead
I case you missed it I left you a response to a comment here…
http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2004/09/the_first_words.php#c15424
So Dan is all pissy because Bush got special treatment and so now the rest of us have to put up with this s***.
I would say Dan is getting some special treatment himself if this what they are paying him millions to report.
As for as special treatment is concerned Ted Kennedy did not go to prison and Kerry was not court martialed so I would say that this special treatment business is on the other side of the aisle as well.
The president does not owe Dan Rather a frikking thing and that includes an explanation for something that happened over 30 years ago and can not really be proved or disproved anyway. We were told to accept Kerry’s record as gospel, even now the swifties are being treated like a Bush attack squad for daring the doubt the man, but Dan does not think that Bush’s honorable discharge is good enough.
Well I don’t think being manipulated by a self appointed crusader for vengence is good enough either.
Mr. Rather, just in case you are reading this I don’t think Bush was awol and I don’t really give a flying f*** anyway and you have made a mockery of yourself and your profession. And for what? Because some crooked partisan Dem says Bush went to the head of the line? Or as Juan Williams said because Bush missed a physical? Who cares????
There should be a statute of limitations on this crap. Someone should tell the folks at CBS that knowing when you have lost is a sign of good mental health.
NPR (Juan Williams): Documents allegedly written by deceased officer that raised questions about Bush’s service with Texas National Guard bore markings showing they had been faxed to CBS News from the Krispy Kreme shop at the end of Al Gore’s driveway…Developing…
Charlie-
You so smart….
Dennis:
You’re killing me.
Dennis,
Are you sitting on your boa?
You so smart….
I’m keeping this link.
If I suspend looking at the typographical problems with the 04 May 1972 “forged memo,” it still has problems.
The most blantant problem is the order to Bush for an annual physical. Physicals usually occur on their birthday. Bush (born July 6, 1946) would normally have at least till July 6 to have his physical, not the 14 May in the document. Also, it is almost unheard of for an officer to receive orders to have an annual physical.
This is before we get into the non-standard style and the “AFM 35-13″ which has nothing to do with a annual physical.
So, this document, the center of Bush did not obey a direct order, is dubious on the face of it’s contents.
Exactly how does this square with “she confirms that the content of the memos does reflect the feelings of Lt. Col. Killian at the time and accurately portrays events that were taking place in connection with then-Lt. Bushís Texas Air National Guard service.” ?
Roger:
Let me see if I get this. Rather uses forged documents and insists that President Bush must answer questions about them. Yet CBS is stonewalling and won’t release all the info or answer questions about the forged documents. Rather has a “unimpeachable source” who uses a Kinko’s in Abaline Texas.It is a sad day for CBS when Kitty Kelly has more journalistic integrity then the top gun of “60 Minutes”. To borrow a phrase from our old friend Goof, what a smile. When does Rather show up on the witness stand rolling a pair of metal balls in his hand and start raving about Karl Rove in a state of drooling paranoia.
As mentioned above from Drudge
…faxed to CBS News from a Kinko’s copy shop in Abilene, Texas…
Before or after they were crumpled? Charles Johnson used Levels in Photoshop and demonstrated that at least one of the docs had been wadded up at one time.
Someone copies at Kinkos. Crumples the copy. Straightens it. Then faxes.
or
Someone copies at Kinkos. Faxes.
and CBS crumples to make it look more authentic
or
someone crumples then straightens then copies then faxes.
To hell with it. I don’t care.
Terrye
–I would say Dan is getting some special treatment himself if this what they are paying him millions to report.
As for as special treatment is concerned Ted Kennedy did not go to prison and Kerry was not court martialed so I would say that this special treatment business is on the other side of the aisle as well.–
AWARD AWARD AWARD to TERRYE!!
Samuel,
Excellent as always. Thanks for reminding us. In my defense I have to say that I’ve voted for the candidate of higher character in every case, with the exception of My Biggest Mistake – Carter (only the 1st time).
Syl:
Why thank you ma’am. I humbly accept your award even though Dennis really deserved it.
But I get special treatment.
Must be my rich oil man daddy.
I am so glad I didn’t have to rough it in any French finishing schools like that poor baby Kerry.
Burkett had a standing account at Kinko’s in Abilene, according to this report.
Freepers again.
Here’s a possibility about CBS’ stonewalling, altho it involves utter stupidity on their part, not malice…
Is CBS stalling because their source has promised them he will send the “Original” documents Real Soon Now?
Are we about to hear about a Mysterious Burglary at Burkett’s place?
Does anyone else besides me feel sorry for the poor people working at that Kinko’s?
The ravenous hyenas are descending.
knucklehead
Actually it sounds like we are about the same age, and Carter wasn’t even enough of a travesty to change me. Politics trumped religion in my house, actually politics was our religion.
Anyway you didn’t sound like a Clntonista to me. I did seem to have a memory of Katherine saying she had. I had posted earlier in a different thread that on the issues I am split between the parties. It is the premium Republicans put on character issues that sealed the deal for me. I suspect knowing me I will be a fairly loyal Republican, but hopefully never a blind fool again.
Syl wrote:
Someone copies at Kinkos. Faxes.
and CBS crumples to make it look more authentic
or
someone crumples then straightens then copies then faxes.
To hell with it. I don’t care.
… but I do!
The crumple wouldn’t be visible if the sheet had been wadded up before being faxed. The sheet must have been crumpled at CBS. They’re not witless dupes, they’re playing the game.
Shoot, I used to work a night shift at Kinko’s in Studio City. After watching the shell-shocked Roseanne writers stumbling in at three in the morning to xerox rewrites for Bitchzilla, a few teevee reporters wouldn’t turn a hair…
“If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I’d like to break that story,” Dan Rather said in an interview today. Dan, I think you just a little behind the curve here.
Richard Feynman: Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Rather’s explicit malice has been completely overwhemled by his stupidity.
Ya know, I think Rather could get to the bottom of all of this if he could get the Democrats to let Edwards out of whatever lock box they have him in and Rather could get him on 60 Min to channel in all the dead old Guard guys so he could “tell” their story for them. I’m sure that would straighten it all up!
mcat
Damn: remind me NEVER to irritate the ladies who post on this blog.
All: if you did not catch the Hannity and Colmes thing on Fox with Pat Cadell tonite, please look up the transcript. Pat Cadell absolutely expressed the moral outrage with the story that you would hope genuine democrats would do. He was outstanding, and his rage was genuine. Clearly a man whose party has left him. I only wish he would have followed Zell Miller to the platfrom. You do have to admire partisans who are also Americans–and Pat Cadell qualifies in spades.
The Letterman show tonite also disassembled the Kerry/Edwards campaign. When you have lost the late nite comics, you are doomed.
Wasn’t Burkett claiming that all “damaging” or “embarassing” records had been purged from Bush’s file a few months ago? And now damaging, embarassing records magically appear (albeit in a highly unlikely format), faxed from a Kinko’s that Burkett might just frequent.
I believe in coincidence, but this is a bit of a stretch.
This address is meeting all my expectations. What a smile.
48 days to go. I’m definitely going to miss this when it’s done.
RogerA
Pat Caddell is a true believer, he just doesn’t like kool-aid.
Oh, and…love that Pat.
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/50/a.php
Goof ó In the words of Bela Lugosi: “…it never ends. It may be over, but it never ends…”
Tammy Bruce pointed out the argument is basically circular. “Bush’s accuser Barnes is no partisan liar. His story is proven by these memos.” “But the memos are fake.” “No. The memos are real. They match what Barnes says.”
It’s the old “The Bible is the Holy Word of God.” “How do you know that?” “It says so in the Bible.”
Richard,
By Nov. 10 we’ll be sandtabling Iran and handicapping the election in Iraq. It ain’t even gonna slow down.
Samuel,
Thank you for your wonderfully insightful (as always) response.
I posted my explanations on the original thread:
http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2004/09/the_first_words.php
ìBefore or after they were crumpled?î
Syl, you are killing meÖ.LOL
You know what . . . surely there must be eyewitness who can place Bill Burkett at Kinkos Sometime in the past couple weeks or so? Anyone offering a bounty for these eyewitness to step forward?
Samuel,
No Clintonista. I voted for Carter because I thought he had character. I’ve since learned otherwise, but back then I had no good grasp of what “character” actually was.
The first time I watched Clinton when he first surfaced out of nowhere I was convinced the guy was a sleazebag. The Carter Lesson taught me, eventually, that I should not vote for a candidate with questionable character. What finally drove that home to me was another, non-national vote, for another man of little or no discernable character that I made because I fell into the “abortion trap”. Oddly enough, I am personally middling opposed to abortion but defer to the women on the issue, so I voted for the “pro-choice” candidate because the other one seemed too stridently “pro-life”. It turned out Candidate Pro-Choice was devoid of character while the other one went on to demonstrate he was a man of good character. Slowly, but surely, I realized that “a woman’s right to choose” is not in any jeopardy and it is a false issue (as is gun-control by and large) and that character is the primary issue.
This particular election has tossed a whole lot of my previous “convictions” up in the air. I swore to myself that I would never again be a “single issue” voter and would, instead, vote for the candidate I saw as having greater character. Now comes 2004 and I find that in this election the WoT is the single issue I will not ignore. Its not a serious challenge because I believe Bush has character and Kerry doesn’t.
I’m also faced with my long growing and increasing strong belief that the Democratic Party is corrupt to the core. I can never articulate this to people but, up until now, I have not been “Republican”, I’ve just long been “anti-Democrat”. The realizations that pushed me in that direction started to form back in HS but I never gave them enough thought (it had to do with unions being exempt from assault and property destruction laws – I witnessed it first hand, it bothered me, but it took me a long time to figure out what the heck I’d seen). There were many other realizations over time but thing really started to come together for me when I put my children into the public school system. Then I slowly but surely realized that resistance to the “social engineering” crap the Dems have so long pushed is not a matter of NIMBY or bigotry. Its a straightforward matter of “Screw you, Jack, you don’t get to run your stupid experiments on my kids. I have one shot at this parenthood thing and I ain’t handing it over to Moonbat Hackery.”
What I’ve witnessed from the Dems (and their PR arm, the MSM) over the past three years has convinced me to finally forego my false-flag Independent status and register as a Republican). The meltdown and corruption of the Dems is so complete, so deep, that I believe it demonstrates a fundamental character flaw in anyone who runs for election or actively supports the Dems. They’ve become so bad that I must take the other side even if it isn’t perfect.
What an odd world. Isn’t life grand!
Dennis:
“Wouldn’t it have been easier just to pull down his pants and sit on some uncooked rice?”
You’ve got me ROTFLMAO. I’m going to use a variant
of this re JFK’s second purple heart on my favorite Dems.
I watched Pat Caddell during the 2000 election, he was honorable then.