November 23, 2010
George W. Bush, in his memoir Decision Points, says he was shown a copy of a purported memo about his shirking of his National Guard duty before a story citing the document appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes-2,” and the former president gloats over the resulting controversy that cost the jobs of anchor Dan Rather and his star producer Mary Mapes.
5 comments:
"During the summer of 2004, pro-Bush groups, including the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, had lodged false accusations against Sen. John Kerry by claiming that the Democratic nominee exaggerated his heroism during combat in Vietnam."
OK. Be specific. Which accusation by which Swift Boat Driver was false. Not "bystanders", not media, not everyone else; which Swiftie was false about what?
We were successful because we told the truth about what we saw.
Tom Wright PCF 44&89
Dan Rather stuck his neck out a few times, and some of that was his just being honest. One example is when he spoke about WTC building 7.
He reported that WTC 7 was "reminiscent of… when a building was deliberately destroyed by well-placed dynamite to knock it down."
CBS News, 9/11/2001
When it was revealed that John Ashcroft was warned to stay off commerical flights in the weeks before 9-11, Rather asked about this warning -- "Why wasn’t it shared with the public at large?"
Washington Post, 5/27/2002
Rather later said he gave Bush a free pass on 9-11. But he claimed it didn't have anything to do with his famous comment about "necklacing"...
"The fear is that you will be necklaced here if you bore in on the tough questions. You will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck."
The truth is that most reporters and other public figures self-censor not because they fear being called unpatriotic, but because they fear being very wrong about important things.
You are right, but leave out a lot of other context, including evidence of what Bush did while avoiding service in Alabama and why. This was plagiarized in Kitty Kelly's book on the Bush family, which is a good source the media could have used to flesh out the story.
http://blog.locustfork.net/2008/10/george-w-bushs-lost-year-in-1972-alabama/
It would not suprise me at all if the forged memo had originated from the Bush White House and a certain senior advisor. It certainly fits his m.o.
It's interesting and sad that Mr. Parry is writing this in 2010.
First of all, the headline says that Bush is gloating, but I didn't read that anywhere in the story. It's just a rehash of the old Bush didn't serve crap from six years ago.
Secondly, what Mr. Parry truly misses here, and why the story is moot from the get go is that Dan Rather KNOWINGLY used forged documents in his news broadcast. That's why he was fired, as should anyone who stoops to such low journalistic integrity.
Thirdly, and most important, THIS DOES NOT MATTER. Bush is NOT president. His guard service has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING. Why is this supposed to be relevant. This is why socialist always lose in America, they fail to be relevant.
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