With an attack on the president blowing up in its face, CBS has adopted the Nixonian tactic of stonewalling on the "Memogate" issue, a "rather" strange choice in view of the liberal network's criticism of that tactic in 1973.
Dan Rather is trying to defend the story, while network officials refuse to investigate the airing of a story that has more holes than Swiss cheese.
In a transparent attempt to deflect attention from the swift boat veteran revelations about John Kerry's Vietnam service, which has the Kerry campaign in turmoil, CBS returned to the National Guard tale Bush opponents have been trying to fly for a decade. Right on cue, liberals began an ad campaign on the theme.
CBS produced documents which, even if real, proved little. They were not official records, but allegedly private files a long-dead National Guard officer kept. His family says he never kept such documents.
Here are other highlights:
Handwriting experts say the officer's signature appears to be fake, based on comparisons to papers he is known to have signed.
The papers are copies and, apparently, have been copied many times. Where are the originals?
An expert CBS quoted as saying the documents are authentic now says that he did not make that claim.
The story of the lead accuser, who is a Democrat fund-raiser from Texas, is contradicted by his daughter, who says she loves her father but that he has been telling her a different version and now is trying to sell a book.
A key source behind the story says CBS did not call him until two days before the piece aired and never offered to show him the memos. Now, having seen the memos, he does not believe they are authentic.
The documents may have been written with a word processor that did not exist at the time. CBS claims an electric typewriter then available could have written them, but they were rare and costly and Guard officers from the period say the Guard had none.
"Sources" inside CBS are being quoted in other media as saying they are getting worried.
The most bizarre aspect is that CBS, a zealous guardian of the First Amendment, is telling people involved in the story not to talk to the media.
The only reason this rehashed story has any legs is that some people do not understand the role of the National Guard. It is a part-time job and, at the time Bush served, was a second line of defense instead of the integral part it is today.
Perfect attendance was not required. Points were earned by attendance and 50 points annually was the requirement. Bush earned enough points each year he served to fulfill his entire six-year obligation. He actually served five years, four months and five days, receiving high marks as a pilot and earning an honorable discharge.
Now the question is whether CBS is honorable. |
