RATHERGATE - Moonbat Wack-A-Mole: Burkett Pops Up Again
Filed under: General— Mark Hemingway (Heminator) @ 11:33 pm
Tim Cavanaugh over at Reason’s Hit and Run, took the time to sit down and watch that new documentary sensation Bush Family Fortunes, a film that Cavanaugh describes as “the Battlestar Galactica to Fahrenheit 9/11’s Star Wars.”
The film was made by Greg Palast, an inveterately ideological and dishonest journalist. He has cult following on the left a few notches below below Chomsky and Moore, but nonetheless in the same oxygen deprived orbit. Anyway, the punchline is that Palast decided to do a little investigative reporting into Bush’s National Guard days. Who did he decide to get to put on camera to discuss this vital topic? That’s right – Dan Rather’s good buddy, Bill Burkett. Well, since Bush Family Fortunes was released, Rathergate imploded thoroughly discrediting Burkett and lending that extra dollop of credibility that Palast’s oeuvre is known for.
Biko, Mandela… Rather?!
Filed under: General— Mark Hemingway (Heminator) @ 12:22 am
So in the process of writing about Greg Palast, I realized that I uncorked a big can of worms. I made a quick trip Palast’s website, and I realized that Palast started writing about the Bush National Guard issues some five years ago – he may very well be responsible for unearthing Burkett in the first place for all we know. On Palast’s blog, in between angry and dishonest tirades about Karl Rove personally assaulting 20 million African-Americans on the way to the polls, he has a post defending Dan Rather. [Scroll down to entry on Sept. 20] That’s not remarkable for such an oily journalist – what got my attention is that he includes a bunch of unbelievably hubristic remarks that Dan Rather made on British televison with regard to the Bush administration and 9/11 two years ago:
“It’s an obscene comparison,” he said, “but there was a time in South Africa when people would put flaming tires around people’s necks if they dissented. In some ways, the fear is that you will be necklaced here. You will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck.” No US reporter who values his neck or career will “bore in on the tough questions.” … “What is going on,” he said, “I’m sorry to say, is a belief that the public doesn’t need to know – limiting access, limiting information to cover the backsides of those who are in charge of the war. It’s extremely dangerous and cannot and should not be accepted, and I’m sorry to say that up to and including this moment of this interview, that overwhelmingly it has been accepted by the American people. And the current Administration revels in that, they relish and take refuge in that.”
I just love how Rather says “It’s an obscene comparison, but…” and then proceeds to make that comparison. I’m not surprised that with such a self-righteous attitude Rather lost all sense of standards and now finds himself reduced spewing Texan-madlibs on election night. Is it that information has really been that restricted or is it that the information Dan’s looking for doesn’t exist? In the guard memo story we know that the latter is true. If Rather does indeed have a flaming tire around his neck, it’s a matter of self-immolation. And let’s be clear here: no matter how many caveats you offer, white millionaires have no business invoking the comparisons to the injustice suffered by black Africans living under apartheid, emmm-kay?
UPDATE: Some helpful commentors have pointed out that necklacing was often the result of tribal and black-on-black violence, not necessarily apartheid directly. Regardless, this just muddies Rather’s point further…
New Rather Documents! (Sort Of, Not Really)
Filed under: General— Mark Hemingway (Heminator) @ 1:05 am
Okay one more thing about Palast… this is too good to pass up. In the same passage as discussed in the entry directly below, Palast discusses his own reporting on the Bush National Guard story and its relation to Rathergate. [Again scroll down to the entry on Sept. 20]. It’s worth taking some time to laugh at this nonsense on stilts:
"Is Rather’s report accurate? Is George W. Bush a war hero or a privileged little Shirker-in-Chief? Today I saw a goofy two page spread in the Washington Post about a typewriter used to write a memo with no significance to the draft-dodge story. What I haven’t read about in my own country’s media is about two crucial documents supporting the BBC/CBS story. The first is Barnes’ signed and sworn affidavit to a Texas Court, from 1999, in which he testifies to the Air Guard fix – which Texas Governor George W. Bush, given the opportunity, declined to challenge."
“Goofy two page spread in the Washington Post about a typewriter used to write a memo with no significance to the draft-dodge story"?! What story? If we’re talking about Rather’s draft-dodge story then it has a hell of a lot of significance… Barnes finally appeared in Rather’s story after years of refusing to discuss it with the media. Allegedly (and sensibly I might add), this was because he thought he was supplementing verifiable proof of W’s alleged impropriety while in the National Guard. Otherwise, Barnes is a partisan Democratic operative with nothing to offer but hearsay – and he knows it. Secondly, does Palast think that millions of Americans are just unaware ofthe possibility that Bush might have gotten preferential treatment to get in the National Guard? While it’s not quite anything to be proud of, it was 35 years ago, we don’t care, and we have plenty of other reasons to trust Bush on National Security and other issues relating to his personal character.
But that’s just the opening act. Here comes the pièce de résistance from Palast:
At BBC, we also obtained a statement from the man who made the call to the Air Guard general on behalf of Bush at Barnes’ request. Want to see the document? I’ve posted it at: gregpalast.com
I initially thought ah-hah! The blogosphere has been desperate for another National Guard story memo to examine! Considering the source, here we go again, Yeeeeeeee-hawwwwww!
Alas, no such luck. Take a look at this gem. I have a top of the line 19 inch flat screen monitor and though my forensic document expertise is limited, there’s a few things I can tell you about this document. 1) It appears to have no real formatting whatsoever; 2) It is not signed or dated; 3) It is absolutely @#$?! unitelligible and I have no idea what it says or who said it.
Yeoman’s work there, Palast. This is exactly the caliber of journalism one would expect from a man that the eminent Jim Hightower called “The type of investigative reporter you don’t see anymore – a cross between Sam Spade and Sherlock Holmes.” Well, those are two of my favorite investigative journalists anyway. I’m sure it’s just coincidence that, as a journalist, Palast would be compared to works of fiction.
rathergate.com |
