Rather and CBS issue statement....

[Flatrater]

STATEMENT FROM DAN RATHER:

Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.

Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.

But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.

Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.

[TexasF355F1]

We can just tally up the number of times he's made false acusations.

[taranaki]

Can't do that with Bush,he never has had the balls to front up when he has fouled up.

[YogsVR4]

You'll never see the UN fess up anything like this.

Now we'll see if CBS does an investigation to see what the source of these documents are.

[Flatrater]

Originally Posted by YogsVR4

You'll never see the UN fess up anything like this.

Now we'll see if CBS does an investigation to see what the source of these documents are.

I bet these documents came from the Kerry camp.

[Flatrater]

Kerry Spot [ jim geraghty reporting ]
[ kerry spot home | archives | email ]
WHY WAS TERRY USING TERMS FROM THE CBS MEMO 9 HOURS BEFORE BROADCAST?

Man, those guys at the RNC are a regular Bloodhound Gang or Mod Squad. Take a look at this little observation:

9 HOURS BEFORE THE CBS REPORT: "Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe said, 'George W. Bush's cover story on his National Guard service is rapidly unraveling. ... George W. Bush needs to answer why he regularly misled the American people about his time in the Guard and who applied political pressure on his behalf to have his performance reviews 'sugarcoated.'" (Terence Hunt, "Questions Raised About Bush Guard Service," The Associated Press, 9/9/04)

(I checked with the RNC how they knew it was nine hours ahead of CBS report - it turns out McAuliffe made this statement during a press event held at 11 am Sept. 8.)

The CBS memo, revealed on 60 Minutes that night: "Harris gave me a message today from Grp regarding Bush's OETR and Staudt is pushing to sugar coat it."

"Sugarcoated." What an interesting word. McAuliffe could have said that Bush's performance reviews were covered up, spun, masked, smoothed over, soft-pedaled, glossed over, prettified, veiled, whitewashed, hushed up, concealed, varnished, suppressed, or distorted. But he just happened to pick a word that appeared in the memos that were supposedly unveiled to the world hours later.

Even beyond McAuliffe's direct quote of the memos, he's specifically referring to the central allegation of the Burkett-to-Mapes memo, that Staudt wanted Bush’s records “sugarcoated.”

If this were a game of Clue, we would collectively be jumping up and down and shouting, "the attempted character assassination was committed by Burkett, Mapes, Rather, Lockhart, and McAuliffe, with the fake memo, in the observatory, er, in CBS offices and DNC headquarters!"

Or maybe this, along with the entire "Operation Fortunate Son," is all just a coincidence.

UPDATE: Many readers are noting that the AP story quoting McAuliffe ran on Sept. 9, the day after the CBS report, and asking how the Kerry Spot can be certain McAuliffe made the comment before the report ran. What, you think I have the standards of Dan Rather and make this stuff up? Oh, baby, don't doubt the Kerry Spot.

Take a look at the Reuters Daybook for Sept. 8:

Reuters Daybook for today, Wednesday, September 8: UPDATES TIME AND ADDS MCPEAK AS SPEAKER (BUSH/MILITARY/MCAULIFFE) ADVISORY — At 11 a.m., Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and retired General "Tony" McPeak host a teleconference to discuss new revelations about President Bush's military record. To participate in the teleconference media should contact Parag Chokshi preferably by email at [email protected] (by phone if necessary at 202-314-2270 or 202-863-7117). Contact: Jano Cabrera, 202-863-8148