HDNet Original Programming – Dan Rather Reports — Tomorrow night on HDNet it looks like Dan Rather’s revenge as he does a show titled The Bush Legacy. I would suspect that Rather believes that the whole episode about the Bush military letter that was hoaxed on Rather and then resulted in his ouster from CBS still bugs him. I’ve always been convinced that the whole tale behind that letter was an elaborate set-up orchestrated by someone in Washington. My theory is that the letter might have been real. It was then copied with the obvious flaw added to make the whole thing look like a scam. I suggest this only because one of the secretaries said that she remembers a letter “like that one” but that one isn’t it. That aspect of the story was passed by so people could pile on Rather. This episode of Dan Rather Reports looks like a must-watch.
And I do not see this as being the last hit piece done on this show.
The Bush Legacy — Episode Number: 201
Synopsis: A talk with noted historians about the Presidency of George W. Bush and how he will be viewed against others who’ve sat in the Oval Office.
#30 – Sad. Even in our frequent disagreements, I’ve always respected your opinion, until you put the word honor in the same sentence with Gore and Kerry.
#9
Dan DID have an agenda. He made that abundantly obvious. Daniel (#5) hit it right on the head. Whether the gist of the letter was right or not is not the point. The point is that Dan knew the letter to be a fake, covered up that fact and pushed it as true anyway to further his agenda.
GEEZ.
The “letter” that ‘pubs keep pounding as a “hoax”, firstly, wasn’t, and secondly, was a single document among dozens and was linked to dozens of eyewitnesses to the fact the Bush went AWOL for a year during his flight years. CBS didn’t break the story: the Boston Globe broke it as a front page leading story in 2000.
The source of the “debunking” was a blogger called “Powerline”, who had declared the entire story a liberal conspiracy long before it hit the air. Powerline’s entire concept for fraud was the notion that the US didn’t have typewriters with a superscript, and the letter did not. Excuse me, but other documents in Bush’s packet had superscripts, and the Selectric had an option for such a ball. That’s IT. That’s the “fraud”.The rest of the media were so anxious to kill that story — after all, they’ve been utterly silent about Bush’s walkaway since the Boston Globe’s story in 2000 — that they swallowed Powerline’s hook. Now the “fraud” meme is unkillable, about on par with Gore inventing the internet. No one can even mention Bush’s desertion. But the Kerry story? No problemo! Cover it for weeks because one Rovian operator opened up a front group!
CBS’s management turned hard right since 2000. They’ve been gunning for Cronkite and Rather and all the other journalists who won’t bow to the new rightist meme for years. They RUINED Rather. Like all the other news outlets since 9-11, they keep swallowing whatever line Rove’s people toss their way.
That story was fact-checked to the atomic number of cesium. The story is true. I do recall that they could get the source to reveal his source. He said it was because he didn’t want his source to be ruined by Bush’s extended network of reprisal experts. GOD, he was right about that, wasn’t he? People who were a major factor in outing Bush in that story got their lives wrecked. But his refusal to cough up the sacrifice got the source labeled false.
Please, PLEASE stop calling the story false. He was AWOL. The rightwing internet affliates made up some stories about superscripts and typing analysis from re-re-recopied faxes that no expert would use as a source material. Even Leno calls Bush a deserter now; the word gets around no matter who doesn’t want to cover it.
There seems to be a solid 12% of the U.S. that are just plain batshit insane, and we factistas will never dent these bastions of truthiness.
Bush deserted — AWOL for over a month in the sixties was desertion. Apparently his records have been scrubbed clean.
Kerry earned his medals, and the story (unkillable and promoted by the newly rightist news networks while Bush/AWOL was ignored for four years) was a fabricated POS inserted just before the election.
Gore never said he invented the internet, the rightists did.
Rather told the truth when no one else had the courage.
Hillary Clinton, Senator, is not a S&M bulldyke who’s going to take your guns away. You need replacement penises, and we pity your lack. Now if we could just get you a steel replacement for your brains.
The 12% actually dwell in an electronic universe created just as a life-support system for rather mean little white men. Unfortunately, the real news networks are being co-opted by the fantasists. This is why listen to comedians to hear what’s going on now. This is why we killed 150,000 darkies and no one seems to know why or care that we killed them. Who the hell is going to lead this country out of this darkness?
34: Fixing text (sigh)
That story was fact-checked to the atomic number of cesium. The story is true. I do recall that they could not get the source to reveal his source. He said it was because he didn’t want his source to be ruined by Bush’s extended network of reprisal experts. GOD, he was right about that, wasn’t he? People who were a major factor in outing Bush in that story got their lives wrecked. But his refusal to cough up the source got the source labeled false.
#34 – “CBS’s management turned hard right since 2000”.
You win the prize. That is the most mid-boggling statement I have ever read here. I am utterly stunned. I bet even Dan Rather himself would be shocked into soiling himself if he read that. Wow.
See my post above (# 13) for proof that Bush wore a medal he not only didn’t deserve but didn’t win! Wearing a medal that you weren’t awarded is a black letter court martial offense. That plus the extremely persuasive evidence that Bush was AWOL. Yet the fantasies spun by the Swift Boat Cowards For Lies are what are believed?!?
At least you Bushers (Oh sorry people who don’t support Bush and don’t support Kerry. Who voted for Bush anyway, getting tougher to find them all the time.) need to adopt a thin pretense of balance and say that there’s reason to doubt Bush’s fulfillment of his oath of service as well as Kerry for you to have any credibility with me. With anyone who thinks at all.
#37 – It’s nice to feign disbelief, and I’m sure this will only add to your troll score. But take a quick look at http://tinyurl.com/l4owq – a U of Maryland study on public percept of the Iraq war. CBS is now right up there with Fox in terms of misrepresenting facts to its viewers. Oh, wait, now you’ll say there was a misplaced superscript in that study too (hey, I HAD one of those Selectric type balls when I was in college).
#38 – I’m feigning nothing. Knowing the Communist Broadcasting System misrepresents facts has been well known to me for over 30 years – it’s the perceived slant that’s so breathtakingly stunning. Remember that this is also a network that presents man-made Global Warming (TM) as if it were a fact. They do it so much I have to double-check that I’m not watching Comedy Central.
(Yes, before anyone comments – global warming is happening, it’s Global Warming (TM) that is not – and the only thing bad about global warming is that my beer doesn’t stay cold as long.)
#34
There was WAY more to the proof of forgery than just the superscript. There were other typographic errors that showed the document to be a forgery. The language used in the document was inconsistent. Through all of this let’s not lose sight of what CBS and Rather did. They knew the documents were forgeries and ran the story anyway.
Let’s see, CBS claimed that General Hodges vouched for the documents by reading portions to him but never showed him the originals. When Hodges saw the originals he immediately stated that they were forgeries. CBS claimed that Marcel Matley, a documents expert, also vouched for the authenticity of the documents when in fact he had not. CBS claimed that Bush’s immediate commander had been pressured to white wash his record when in fact he retired a year and a half prior to when that pressure was supposedly applied. The list goes on. As if all that was not enough, days before the segment aired, ABC interviewed the documents experts that CBS used to authenticate the documents and stated that they had warned CBS that they found “red flags” in the documents and recommended against using them.
Claiming that Rather is not liberal would be akin to claiming that moon landing was staged somewhere in Burbank. There is no question that Rather and CBS ran this story at the time they did in the face of huge evidentiary questions just to hurt the Bush campaign.
The last desperate gasps of the deluded Bush supporters. What Hitler said about the big lie…
mucous: “Kerry did NOT earn or deserve his medals and his behavior after Nam is downright treasonous and he should be facing the ultimate penalty”
I assume that at least some of what you’re referring to is the Winter Solder Testimony. In that testimony, Kerry was merely repeating the sworn testimony of other soldiers. These were not his own words. If you want to call that treason, you’re out of line. Kerry served honorably in a war that should never have been started.
Mucous, Why do you hate America?
Dan Rather is a better journalists then most. He worked his way up to the top position at CBS. He is right about Bush and you are wrong. Why don’t you move back to whatever Fascist country you come from and stay there. This is America, love it or leave it.
History will view Bush jr as a failure. The on going thought will be how he was given the election in 2000 and stole it through fraud in 2004.
The biggest lesson from the Bush jr era will be voting reform.
Mucous, Democrats took Congress. CHOKE ON IT!
I see Mr. Fusion is once again showing us just how fused his tookus is to his mouth and brain. Will Democrats ever get over the fact that Bush won 2000 legitimately? Seriously, get over it.
History will rank Bush in the middle of the pack as Presidents go just as they will Clinton. Many were better. Many were worse. Only the fanatical Republicans would rank Clinton lower just as only fanatical liberals like Mr. Confused will want to rank him at the bottom.
#43
At least recognize the following, AFAIK no President that served in the military has ever had his own men come forth during his campaign and claim him to be dishonorable. Never. Admit it. Kerry is/was a loser. In 2004, he was slightly bigger loser than Bush.
If the Democrats put up someone in 2008 that is not a fanatical liberal and doesn’t have cemetery in their closet, people will vote for them. However, if they put up Kerry or Hilary, they’ll lose again.
The Rather/Bush problems began on the night that Rather, with unbridled, undisguised joy, announced to the nation, on national television, that Bill Clinton had won the presidency from Bush The Elder.