CBS Regrets Bush Memos Story - CBS News Statement

[DoYouEverWonder]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/06/politics/main641481.shtml

Sept 20, 2004

(CBS/AP) CBS News on Monday said it regretted broadcasting a story about President Bush's military service based on documents whose authenticity is in doubt, saying the source of the material had misled the network.

CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, the reporter of the original story, apologized.

In a statement, CBS said former Texas Guard official Bill Burkett "has acknowledged that he provided the now-disputed documents" and "admits that he deliberately misled the CBS News producer working on the report, giving her a false account of the documents' origins to protect a promise of confidentiality to the actual source."

The network did not say the memoranda ? purportedly written by one of Mr. Bush's National Guard commanders ? were forgeries. But the network did say it could not authenticate the documents and that it should not have reported them.

[David Dunham]

1. Now let's drop this memo nonsense and get back to the real issues

[RivetJoint]

2. Agreed!

Let's get this behind us NOW!

[David Dunham]

3. We can win on Iraq and the other real issues.

[candy331]

7. A country of fakes and forgeries, Is there anything real here

anymore, nice of CBS to apologize but they have and will be crucified indefinitely.. I so hope they have more than this to counteract because the touchstone for every crook wanting to scape by will be remember CBS and Rather.

[papau]

20. could not authenticate the documents and that it should not have reported

BUT NOT THAT THEY WERE FAKE!

I rather like the apology!

:-)

[lasttrip]

5. second that. this is meaningless.

[dArKeR]

8. As Income Gap Widens, Uncertainty Spreads

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/washpost/20040920/ts_washpost/a34235_2004sep19

[skypilot]

4. Jesus, even CBS believes the spin.

The story was not "based on" the documents. The story was based on the word of Ben Barnes. Remember him? The documents were just additional fodder.

[Cocoa]

12. CBS knows that as much as anyone

I think they will keep reporting on this story, without the memos.

[skypilot]

17. I hope so.

It just seems to me that Ben Barnes has become sort of a footnote to the whole story. And a forgotten footnote at that.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Rather is going to interview Lt. Col. Burkett tonight

Additional reporting on the documents will air on Monday's CBS Evening News, including the interview of Burkett by Rather . CBS News pledged "an independent review of the process by which the report was prepared and broadcast to help determine what actions need to be taken."



Let's see what happens then. I think it will be very interesting?

[Laf.La.Dem.]

9. Talk radio going crazy (more than normal)!

Talk radio is going crazy with this story - they love the fact that CBS "apologized".

Get back to the main issues (war, budget, education, etc.):mad:

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. the free press is officially dead today nt

[Alpharetta]

21. they were dead the day Fox declared Bush had won in 2000

[Virginian]

28. RIP. It has been ailing for some time now.

Busco has forced the myth of the "Liberal Press" down everyone's gullet for so long and the press has moved to the right to compensate for this misconception.
Now, in spite of the real network news bending over backwards to appease the Bushies, Rove and Company has cut them off at the knees in their one effort to tell the whole truth again.

[AspenRose]

68. Still praying for the resurrection of the Fairness Doctrine in a Kerry

Administration....

[AlCzervik]

11. then if Burkett provided the docs directly to CBS

Then there should be no specualtion that the Kerry capaign was involved.

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. What does Burkett

have to do with the Kerry Campaign?

There is no connection that I know of.

[AlCzervik]

18. No there is no connection

but over the weekend Burkett says he contaced Max Cleland about the story so of course there was speculation that the Kerry campaign was invovled, Kerry made a statement refuting they had anything to do with it so i'm hoping that there will be no more finger pointing by the media at Kerry.

[Name removed]

72. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[vetwife]

19. Pundits are trying to tie to Max Cleland but that won't fly !

How much does Max have to give to this country and Burkette
should be held accountable just as THE SWIFT BOAT LIARS.
Burkette knew the truth and I have said all along, the orginals are somewhere. The press as usual is dissing the secretary and not even mentioning more than a soundbyte the most ripping to shreds speech John Kerry has given..They are looking at Dan Rather. Bait and Switch..Smoke and Mirrors..Take your eye off the ball.
This story will play clear up to the election and we must not let that happen. Burkette and the secretary knew about Bush but we won't hear that. If we are going to talk misleading...How about the Great Liar misleading 1000 troops to the death chamber?

[AlCzervik]

23. It is total bait and switch and it's wiped Kerry's speech

off the radar, nevermind Iraq and Afghanistan.

[DoYouEverWonder]

27. Or knowingly using forgeries in the SOTU

to make the case for going to war?

Then outing a deep cover CIA agent.

[GalloperJim]

71. Most likely no connection.

He most likely does not have a connection and was simply working on his own, Then again maybe he was working with the Kerry Campaign(I doubt it though simply because they wouldn't take such a stupid risk) However, whether or not he was working with the Kerry camp is irrelevant for the most part, simply because many people see this as being the "evil democrats". Much like if the situation was reversed and a republican forged documents about Kerry, many of us would be saying how it was the evil republicans and Bush who did it. Get my drift? They will be doing the same thing that many of us would be doing if the whole thing was reversed.

[Shrek]

14. Conspiracy nuts will still speculate

From CBS:

In a statement, CBS said former Texas Guard official Bill Burkett "has acknowledged that he provided the now-disputed documents" and "admits that he deliberately misled the CBS News producer working on the report, giving her a false account of the documents' origins to protect a promise of confidentiality to the actual source."

Now they'll say that the "actual source" is the DNC or the Kerry campaign. Count on it.

[Cicero]

24. Yep. Rush has been saying it...

...almost from the very minute his show started today.

And I know Borrtz has brought up the Max Cleland angle.

Any further investigations as to whether Bush43 disobeyed a direct order to take a physical are now, IMNSHO, permanently tainted by this fiasco. If anyone else trys to bring it up, all the opposition will have to do is scream "RATHER LIED" at the top of their lungs.

Sheesh!

Later,

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

25. the "actual source" was Burkett himself....

...in other words, Burkett typed them from memory, or had some copys or notes.

I think Burkett is just covering his ass with that "promise of confidentiality" line.

[Virginian]

31. Source was Rove or "Buckhead".

Someone duped Burkett. He should hang them out to dry as they did to him.

This will get back around to a plant from Bushco. I only hope it gets back around before the election.

[study_war_no_more]

41. Burkett faked them to protect his source

Bush is still a coward and the story is still true although people will believe otherwise im sure.

[BiggJawn]

36. No, it's Uncle Karl.

Congrats, Rather, you've been given the "Hatfield Treatment"!

Guess they'll hound Dan to death, now, too.....

[Qutzupalotl]

15. Documents probably typed by Killian as backups

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=841272

[RivetJoint]

32. You have ZERO evidence of this...

[Qutzupalotl]

60. We have his signatures on the documents.

On the other hand, there is ZERO evidence of a forgery.

[MeinaShaw]

62. Dead issue

The longer this issue stays at the forefront, the harder it is for Kerry to get his message out. You have to get off this one. Even CBS says the documents are forged. This is a dead issue.

[Qutzupalotl]

65. No they don't.

They do not say they were forged. Get your facts straight.

[MeinaShaw]

66. What words did they use?

Okay, what words did CBS use to say the same thing. What difference does it make what words they use to spin their explanation? If you have information that CBS is standing behind the documents, we should all hear it. The fact remains they totally botched this story.

[Qutzupalotl]

69. Not the same thing

In a statement, CBS said former Texas Guard official Bill Burkett "has acknowledged that he provided the now-disputed documents" and "admits that he deliberately misled the CBS News producer working on the report, giving her a false account of the documents' origins to protect a promise of confidentiality to the actual source."

The network did not say the memoranda purportedly written by one of Mr. Bush's National Guard commanders were forgeries. But the network did say it could not authenticate the documents and that it should not have reported them.
------------
CBS said they were misled about the origins of the documents, meaning they came from someplace other than what Burkett told them. They cannot authenticate them until the originals surface. The forgery rumor is just a rumor. The documents appear genuine. Real signature, real typing (probably by Killian), real events, real sentiments.

[MeinaShaw]

74. You are right, they did not say it.

Okay, I stand corrected. They did not actually say they are fake. But what counts here? If you ask most people about this story, they will tell you the documents are fake. And I have to say, it appears to me that they are. And it is sad because the content is true. I stick by my position that CBS was very sloppy and botched this story.

[Bread and Circus]

16. What's worse this or going to war on forged documents?

[MeinaShaw]

63. They are both bad

Certainly one is far worse than the other. But, as the campaign goes - and that is what is important now - one helps Kerry and the other hurts him by diverting attention from the more important issues. Time to get off this story so Kerry can get his message out about the far worse fraud on the American people that you point out. And yes, I consider the CBS documents to be fraud on the American people. Worse than that, though, CBS's botched journalism has single handedly managed to bury the very real issue of Bush failing his guard duty.

[DulceDecorum]

22. In other news, GALILEO RECANTS

With its armies facing Protestant forces to the north,
the Catholic Church was in no mood to accept any questioning of its authority.
Pope Urban VIII, convinced that Galileo had mocked him, felt compelled to call the astronomer before the Inquisition. Under threat of torture, at the age of 69, Galileo recanted and was placed under house arrest until his death nine years later.
To this day, the world remembers him for an exchange that may in fact be fiction. After recanting, Galileo is said to have muttered, "And yet it (the earth) does move."
Whether true or not, it took more than 300 years for the Church, under Pope John Paul II, to do its own recanting.
http://www.life.com/Life/millennium/events/05.html

[Qutzupalotl]

26. Note that they are still protecting the confidentiality of the source.

That would suggest that CBS does not regard the source as being involved in forgery (otherwise, why protect them?).

Burkett misled the producer about the origins of the documents to protect a source, not to hide forgery.

[theKnave]

29. Karl Rove owns Dan Rather...

CBS is just a pawn of this corrupt administration. I'd bet that CBS did this to intentionally hurt Kerry's campaign. The worked with the White House and Karl Rove to discredit the Kerry campaign by preemptively bringing up *'s AWOL status. I bet that the Kerry campaign has the real memos, and CBS found out about them, so they rushed the "fake" memos story. That way, if the Kerry campaign brought out the real documents, they can be deemed fakes as well. The Repugs would say, "Oh, so you finally found a 1970's typewriter on which to fake the memos. Good job. Should have thought of that the first time."

f'ing b*startds.

*spit*

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. I think you need

a little more tinfoil for your hat today?

[theKnave]

33. What do you mean?

I already own (and am wearing) the Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie ( http://zapatopi.net/afdb.html ), double thickness, shiny-side out. You don't think that's enough?

[DoYouEverWonder]

34. Mm, sounds serious to me

You might have to do the whole house.

[theKnave]

37. Good idea...

Do you think that I should use foil inside the walls, or would aluminum siding on the exterior work? or both?

[hlthe2b]

35. that's just crap....

CBS news is the only news division that is separate from the entertainment division, giving them a sense of independence that now other news outlet has; Parent corp. Viacom CEO is also on record as supporting Kerry. Rather has a long, distinguished history of going after both sides, but especially unafraid to take on the Bushies* (remember GHWB and Iran contra?)

[theKnave]

39. re: "that's just crap...."

"Viacom CEO is also on record as supporting Kerry."

However, as you said, the news division is independent of the entertainment division. Besides, do you think CBS News runs every story past the Viacom CEO for the greenlight before their run their story? LOL.

Rather is in the hip pocket of Karl Rove and has sold his soul to the devil (again, Karl Rove). Otherwise, why would have run such a story? Even I know that you can't authenticate a photocopied document. You have to have the original.

"remember GHWB and Iran contra?"

Yes, I do. However, that was a long time ago (pre-Fox News), and the media has changed since then. The days of Walter Cronkite and Bob Woodward are gone. Now are the days of sanitized, pre-packaged, correctly-spun pablum from the likes of Clear Channel, Fox News, "Reverend" Moon, Rupert Murdoch, and the government. We only hear what THEY want us to hear. The TRUTH is kept silent, and is murdered in the dark.

*spit*

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[theKnave]

42. actually...

I didn't even hear of the memos until after the "forgery" storm erupted, so I was a bit suspicious from the start. Especially since the memo story "broke" from Karl Rove's joy-boy, Dan Rather.

[carpe_vinum]

49. Nah, Rove just exploited a weakness...(m)

Cravings for scoops and ratings. I can't remotely imagine Rather willingly participating in propping up Republicans, but I can definitely see him as a dupe for a story. I think he just came in handy.

[theKnave]

54. what?

"I can't remotely imagine Rather willingly participating in propping up Republicans"

so, you believe the RW "liberal media" hoax and think that Rather is part of the "liberal media"? everyone knows that the media is controlled by the administration and the Republican party.

[carpe_vinum]

59. LOL! Not on your life. (m)

Rather has always had an adversarial relationship with Republican presidents and presidential candidates. That doesn't necessarily make him the poster boy for the myth of "liberal media bias." I'm just saying that Rather lusts more for the story than a political angle, so he could easily be exploited as a dupe -- probably by either side. Rather's in it for Rather.

[Mizdd]

43. I for one am tired of hearing about what happened 30+yrs ago!!

When Bush brought out the swift boat vets that should have been the coffin nail for the Repubs. But NOOOOOO Kerry Campaign had to use these phony docs in the ad "Fortunate Son" What are they trying to do??? Are they TRYING to LOSE the election???? It just infuriates me!!! Why aren't we talking about what is important NOW?!? Iraq,Healthcare,etc...etc...

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. Ok prove the Kerry campaign was behind this

if you can't go back to Free Republic

you are THAT transparent.

[Bridget Burke]

46. If they really thought the AWOL story was dead,

They wouldn't be over here in such numbers squealing "move on".

Yes, Kerry's by far the superior candidate. I'll catch his speech tonight; it sounds like he's saying what needs to be said.

But their president is a chickenhawk--& one who didn't even complete his safe, limited obligation. Since he's running on his "character" the story won't go away--no matter what details change.

[Mizdd]

50. I did not say KERRY was behind the CBS crap.....

I did HOWEVER say that the Kerry Campaign USED the documents in the Ad "Fortunate Son"... Before you accuse me of being something that I am not...you might want to take a course in reading comprehension.

[theKnave]

57. DNC used it, not Kerry

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/624qurho.asp

[Media_Lies_Daily]

52. Kerry had no connection to this story. Why are you deliberately lying?

[Mizdd]

55. READ MY FIRST POST AGAIN!!!

Where in that post did I say that Kerry had something to do with CBS????!!!???? Please tell me!! I SAID that they USED stuff that was on CBS. How is that a lie????? GOD!!!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

61. Oh, I read your post twice the first time I saw it, and here's...

...exactly what you stated:

"But NOOOOOO Kerry Campaign had to use these phony docs in the ad "Fortunate Son"...".

First, I said nothing about CBS in my post...read my post again if you think I'm mistaken.

Second, the DNC ran the ad, not the Kerry Campaign, and it was a damn good one at that. The DNC and the Kerry Campaign use separate pots of money to run their ads, just in case you didn't know.

[theKnave]

56. Not Kerry's campaign... DNC

The DNC used part of the CBS 60 Minutes show in their ad "Fortunate Son", as well as part of a NBC Meet the Press episode:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/624qurho.asp

[Mizdd]

58. I stand corrected...Not Kerry Campaign, but DNC.

I always thought it was the same anyways. But why in the world would they use something that was questionable. That IMO says that they don't care about this election year.

[dave123williams]

44. I guess this is supposed to make us forget the DISASTER in Iraq.

[Karenina]

48. AND the TRUTH

contained in the "forged" memos. *dimson LIES about his service, has records scrubbed, LIES about the reason to go to war, has THOSE records suppressed, LIES ABOUT EVERYTHING while fucking YOU ALL AND the entire world up the ass to enrich his cronies... I'm about to give up on y'all. Karmic HELL? BRING IT ON. You've been warned for a FUCKING CENTURY. (Forgive me, all my dear and dedicated DU compatriots, to whom I wish I could grant the wish of going wherever the heart leads OUTSIDE the U.S. I'm having a VERY bad day). :shrug:

[MeinaShaw]

64. Keeping this story alive does just that!

[rhite5]

47. Before jumping to any conclusions here ......

Read this piece today by Greg Palast.
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=371&row=1

The story is not the faked memos. The story is about media intimidation and censorship.. Palast shows that real authentication exists for all the claims in the fake memos. And it has been available for from 2-5 years and well published OUTSIDE the United States.

If this bru-ha-ha over fake memos ends up shining a bright light on the Bush Administration's Intimidation of the media, it will turn out to be the best thing that could have happened for all of us.

Here's a paragraph from Palast's piece:

This is not a story about Dan Rather. The white millionaire celebrity can defend himself without my help. This is really a story about fear, the fear that stops other reporters in the US from following the evidence about this Administration to where it leads. .

[Nashyra]

51. This is going to be investigated and the report will be made public

With an investigation they will need to know how the story was instigated and why was there REASONABLE questions to go after the story. This report will be made PUBLIC, so that tells me they will have the opportunity to tell the AMERICAN PEOPLE why they did the story in the first place. This calls in fact for a full investigation of all the TANG/ANG records of *, Alabama? the flight physical, the investigation will show why the documents and the story were important in the first place. I think ultimately they will have to say that the documents were not authenic, however the bigger story is what they will find out in investigating the reason the documents were brought to their attention. I think we will finally get the answers to the *'s whereabouts during his Alabama years, Linda Allison's story will be told, and the PULL project will be answered. I think that Rove pushed the wrong guy into the corner.

[funnymanpants]

53. Yes, I as I said all along

Along with a poster named radious, who was attacked on this boars, I've been saying this all along. DUers partisanship got in the way of seeing the obvious.

[eagler]

67. Don't you think it strange that there are literally hundreds of

documents out there (such as on Awolbush.com)and they have tried for years to keep them out of the news(and failed) but they have never denied their authenticity and yet now they vehemently denounce this as a forgery? Also I find it strange that even as the memo was being released it was being denied as a fake. I think we had better not eliminate the GOP as the culprit. It's just too easy!

[GalloperJim]

70. Not my intention to cause trouble but....

I notice many people claiming that Karl Rove or someone in the Bush camp "tricked" CBS, and I can't help but to wonder if certain people can ever accept that our party isn't perfect and that some people are willing to lie and cheat if they feel it will help them.

Not to mention everyone was all gung ho about this before but now that things are not looking good many of you are claiming it was a setup. Come on now people lets have some intellectual honesty about this whole situation.

Also many of you are claiming that we should move on and put this behind us, yet if the documents turned out to be true then many of these same people would be demanding that it be on the front page of the news. Now I am not saying that democrats are the only ones who are being dishonest, I would in fact say the same thing to the repugs too if the situation was reversed. Am I wrong in how I am viewing this? Is so, how am I wrong?

Again, I am not trying to cause any problems or go on the attacks, but rather just pointing out some inconsistencies that I see. I usually do not posts on messages boards(I read them a lot though) but I felt that I had to point out the double standard that I saw here.

If you feel I am wrong then please tell me how and why you believe I am wrong. I am always open to hear other peoples opinions and am looking forward to some great discussion.


---Jimmy Dean

[SemiCharmedQuark]

76. You ever hear of Buckhead?

And many many people here were suspicious from the start.

[robbedvoter]

73. aaaah! So it was Rather who was AWOL than, not W?

[JDPriestly]

75. Colin Powell also trusted forgeries

and he got to keep his job. Remember Powell's speech before the U.N. The defining moment was his reference to the yellow cake forgeries and the aluminum pipes. True, Powell's source mislead him. But, like Rather, Powell did not insist on authenticating the underlying documents. Powell was not fired. In fact, he was not even embarrassed. Certainly, Rather doesn't deserve worse than Powell. After all, Rather just has the CBS news staff. Powell had the FBI, the CIA, the DIA, and the NSC to help authenticate the documents.