Other than CBS, is anyone in the mainstreem media defending Dan Rather?

[dennis4868]

Seems like everyone in the mainstreem media is piling on Rather now that the general feeling in the mainstreem media that the memo are a forgery.....I personally have not seen or read a good argument that the memos are fake. Is there anyone out in the mainstreem media or is there a so-called forensic expert now defending CBS (besides CBS' experts)?

[JI7]

1. well, nobody "big" which says a lot about Dan Rather

and why i really admire him right now.

[dennis4868]

4. I admire him also....

we all know that if you tell the truth about thus WH or Bush himself you are not only going to pay a price from the WH but the media as well....Richard Clarke took alot of grief when he was in the news....media was lying about him 24/7!

[Southsideirish]

5. I sent comments to CBS thanking them - all 50,800+ Du'rs

should do the same!

[cheshire]

2. I'm sure no one is qualified to, I', sure he doesn't need it.

[Raya]

3. Let hope other media goes on a "dig" and finds something explosive

even if by accident.

[dennis4868]

7. even if they find....

something big they will throw it away in the trash if it will hurt their boy wonder....CAPTAIN AWOL!

[Must_B_Free]

6. noone else has his 1st gen copies either.

[IndianaGreen]

8. LA Times editorial: A Black Eye for CBS News

A Black Eye for CBS News

CBS News has been had. It's hard to reach any other conclusion about newly discovered documents that CBS and anchor Dan Rather are defending as revealing the truth about George W. Bush's military service.

Despite Rather's statement Monday that the network "believes the documents are authentic," the evidence keeps mounting that they are not. As The Times reported, conservative bloggers detected glaring inconsistencies, such as a Microsoft Word type style. So many other discrepancies have since emerged that it would require a willful suspension of disbelief to take them as merely coincidental.

For example, the alleged memos from Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, who was Bush's squadron commander, contain stylistic problems, such as the fact that Killian signs his rank not in accordance with National Guard procedure. In addition, Killian's signature on a memo dated May 4, 1972, is different from one on file in the Pentagon. The part of a memo supposedly written by Killian that refers to pressure from an earlier Bush commander to help out the young fighter pilot is highly dubious. The 1973 memo is dated almost a year and a half after the commander had resigned from active duty. The best CBS can do is to declare that he remained a powerful behind-the-scenes figure. Well, maybe. But how does CBS know that? CBS could tell us more about where these documents came from without having to reveal the names of its sources.

As CBS flounders, conservatives are citing this episode as an egregious case of liberal media bias, while some liberals are indulging in the comforting notion that Karl Rove, who is responsible for everything bad that happens everywhere, must be behind the documents.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-cbs15sep15,1,7747016.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Rather Rides Out Latest Partisan Storm

The CBS anchor, known for his sparring with Republicans, denies any agenda against Bush.

By Elizabeth Jensen, Times Staff Writer

Outside the network, Rather supporters also want more information. Credible rival news organizations, not just "a bunch of Republican hacks," are raising questions, said Alex Jones, director of Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on the Press and Public Policy.

"Dan Rather is an honorable, ethical journalist with very high standards, and if he says the documents are real, I am personally inclined to believe him. But if he wants the world to believe him then there is probably going to have to be more information."

A growing roster of critics say that means naming the source who provided CBS with copies of the memos that they say were written by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, Bush's immediate supervisor.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-rather15sep15,1,1366024.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[lanparty]

29. Another spin ????

The MS Word stuff is a bunch of hackie bogusness. Anyone can dig up an old typewriter at a surplus store to produce a decent fake.

The two serious accusations here are differences in the signature, and the contention that Lt. Col Killian retired from active duty before the memo is signed.

Would a credible forger really slop up such details???? Mess up the date of such a comment??? Fail to copy the signature properly???

[Nederland]

32. Yes

Would a credible forger really slop up such details???? Mess up the date of such a comment??? Fail to copy the signature properly???

Yes, if he wanted to get caught...

[lanparty]

33. Rove ...

And I'm pretty sure now that these documents came from Karl Rove.

[shrub chipper]

9. If you remember,

Woodward and Bernstein stood equally alone during the early days of thheir Watergate reporting.

At this point,I want Rather to be proven correct mainly to see all those media whores having to eat their words. That would be sweet.

[dennis4868]

10. the mainstreem media....

will never admit a mistake....if Rather is found to be right they will simply move on to the next negative Kerry story....

[last_texas_dem]

20. Yup

Just like when the Swift Boat Liars were basically found to be the liars they were, the media just decided to "move on" w/o ensuring Kerry's name was cleared. And then when more information is found about Shrub's AWOL, the whore media suddenly decide to "move on" from talking about Vietnam altogether.

[dennis4868]

21. Just like....

the WMD lie that the media never covered before the war....except for the Whoreshington Post and NY Times, no one in the mainstreem media turned themselves in and admited they fell for Bush's lies....they just moved on to Laci Peterson!

[Cha]

31. Agree! This would be an awesome

way for the mainstream media to go down CBS and the authenticity of the docs.

[NotTooSimpleSimon]

11. Was Jayson Blair railroaded too?

Too many scandals lately for me to recall.

[shrub chipper]

14. Actually, wasn't Jayson Blair hired by Rove

to punch up Shrub's autobiography?

Some people say he was...




POST 100

[Jim Sagle]

18. I read that on the web, somewhere.

;)

[AuntPatsy]

12. I know I know but I was just listening to Oreily, omg to hear that curtis

guy from NY, the one who likes to pretend hes a cop more than likely cause he couldn't pass the requirements to actually be one just said that Kerry supporters are nothing more than hate filled attack dogs in essence and that the Bush supps. are only upset because they are desperately trying to defend against the many lies that the dems throw at them? Omg, how Oreilly could sit so straight faced and not openly laugh at this obvious and blantant outright LIE, though he did attempt a little dig in saying that rw talk show hosts are getting close to being as hateful as air america, is he for real? Are they for real?

I knew it, this is the twilight zone and able intelligent human beings minds have been taken over by something not of this world, I swear, they cannot be for real, the rhetoric is so out of this world and even worse they seem to honestly believe their own lies, it is just to diheartening to believe that they might be part and parcel of the devils plan for world dominance as is stated in Revelation...

So it is revelation coming into play or aliens are now occupying our world...it can only be one of the two...

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[southlandshari]

26. Could you be any more obvious?

Jayson Blair railroaded? Dan Rather must release his originals (while Bob Novak still stays mum)?

[henslee]

15. USA Today is standing by their story. Not the same as defending but...

sort of corraborates the story. Right?

[Cocoa]

30. yes, USA Today comes the closest

[mbali]

17. No - they wore themselves out standing up for Novak's right to out CIA

operatives and provoke a full-scale investigation at a cost of hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars because he refuses to reveal which Bush administration official violated federal law and jeopardized who knows how many lives by leaking to him the name of an undercover CIA operative in order to get revenge on a man who had the temerity to expose their lies.

That left them with only enough energy to demand that Dan Rather spill his guts about who turned over these memos to him (which, last time I checked, was neither a crime nor a threat to anyone's life) - they just don't have it in them to actually DEFEND him!

[LittleClarkie]

19. saw Hannity and Colmes a bit ago

One of them (the liberal one, I assume) was using Dan Rather's talking points, which are that the content has been proven to be correct, and so the real question is how Bush answers the allegations. He said that the authenticity issue is a smoke screen.

[n2mark]

22. It's protection...can I say stupid

I truly believe CBS has the facts and documentation. When Dan Rather spoke, he was saying "come and get me." I have the feeling he has the proof, just waiting for the WH to answer his questions. He has the answers, do they?

Dan Rather was so confident -- I don't question him at all. I pick up peoples feelings quickly, Dan Rather has the truth, the ball is in the hands of the WH. He is very confident. The WH is out to defame this wonderful man.

In the past, they played this stupid game thinking we will believe whatever they say....we've been given this information before.

Well, before is no more... CBS has the facts, so do others.

The WH has been able to play this out in the past, I don't think so this time.

The WH is delaying to take the focus off of reality.

There is a game going on here... who is going to win the game?

Rove you are an ass!

[Nicholas_J]

23. I have a feeling

That they will wait for a while for all of the attackers to get really smug.

And them provide documentation to prove that the memos are authentic.

[Endangered Specie]

24. In order to answer that, first off, you NEED a mainstream media.

[mitchum]

25. Do whores defend a woman of virtue?

I think that may be your answer

[dennis4868]

28. That is a .....

very interesting and appropriate way of putting it....thanks :-)

[lanparty]

27. Quote from Greg Palast

Palast mentions Rather specifically in "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" as lamenting that there are some questions that journalists aren't allowed to ask anymore.

Fortunately for us, I think that Viacom and the Bush Admin are now in an all out shooting war. I think CBS reporters are going to start asking a lot more of the tough questions now.

BTW, I still the Morley Schaffer is a shitty journalist. For details, search him out at www.dailyhowler.com