User Panel
Posted: 9/11/2004 8:03:07 AM EDT
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationalpolitics/2002032742_bushguard11.html
More challenges about whether Bush documents are authentic By Pete Slover The Dallas Morning News AUSTIN, Texas — The man named in a disputed memo as exerting pressure to "sugarcoat" George W. Bush's military record left the Texas Air National Guard a year and a half before the memo supposedly was written, his service record shows. An order obtained by The Dallas Morning News shows that Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt was honorably discharged March 1, 1972. CBS News reported this week that a memo in which Staudt was described as interfering with officers' negative evaluations of the future president's service was dated Aug. 18, 1973. That added to mounting questions about the authenticity of documents that seem to suggest Bush sought special treatment as a pilot, failed to carry out a superior's order to undergo a physical exam and was suspended from flying for failing to meet Air National Guard standards. Staudt, who lives in New Braunfels, Texas, did not return calls seeking comment. His discharge paper was among documents obtained by The Morning News from official sources during 1999 research into Bush's Guard record. A CBS staffer stood by the story, suggesting Staudt could have continued to exert influence over Guard officials. But a former high-ranking Guard official disputed that, saying retirement would have left Staudt powerless. Authenticity of the memo and three others included in Wednesday's "60 Minutes" report came in for heavy criticism yesterday, prompting an unusual, on-air defense of the original work. Experts on typography said the memos appeared to have been computer-drafted on equipment not available at the time. And the widow and son of the officer who supposedly wrote them, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who died in 1984, have said it wasn't his nature to keep detailed personal notes. In its news broadcast yesterday, CBS said the documents were supported by both unnamed witnesses and others, including document examiners. CBS anchor Dan Rather earlier told The Dallas Morning News that he had heard nothing to make him question the legitimacy of the memos. He attributed the backlash to partisan politics and competitive journalism. "This story is true. The questions we raised about then-Lieutenant Bush's National Guard service are serious and legitimate," he said. "Until and unless someone shows me definitive proof that they are not, I don't see any reason to carry on a conversation with the professional rumor mill." The Washington Post quoted Rather as saying CBS had talked to two people who worked with Killian — his superior, retired Maj. Gen. Bobby Hodges, and his administrative assistant Robert Strong — and both described the memos as consistent with what they knew of Killian. Hodges, who told CBS he was "familiar" with the documents, is an avid Bush supporter and "it took a lot for him to speak the truth," the Post quoted Rather as saying. The Los Angeles Times, however, later quoted Hodges as saying that he believed the memos from Killian were not real. A CBS news executive confirmed that Hodges had changed his story. Rather's interview with The Morning News concluded before the newspaper determined the date of Staudt's departure, but a CBS staffer with extensive knowledge of the story said later that the departure doesn't derail the story. "From what we've learned, Staudt remained very active after he retired," the staffer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He was a very bullying type, and that could have continued." In the "60 Minutes" report, Rather said of the memo's contents: "Killian says Col. Buck Staudt, the man in charge of the Texas Air National Guard, is putting on pressure to 'sugarcoat' an evaluation of Lt. Bush." Staudt was the person Bush initially contacted about Guard service, and he was the group commander at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston when Bush arrived there to fly an F-102 jet. He transferred later to Austin, where he served as chief of staff for the Air National Guard. In the disputed memo, Killian supposedly wrote "(another officer) gave me a message today from group regarding Bush's (evaluation) and Staudt is pushing to sugarcoat it." It continues: "Austin is not happy either." The CBS staffer said the memo appears to recognize that Staudt has retired, since it differentiates between his displeasure and that of Austin, where he served his final Guard stint. But another Texas Air National Guard official who served in that period said the memo appears to wrongly associate Staudt with his group command in Houston, and — based on that mistake — the memo distinguishes his views from that of the Austin Guard. Retired Col. Earl Lively, director of Air National Guard operations for the state headquarters during 1972 and 1973, said Staudt "wasn't on the scene" after retirement, and that CBS' remote-bullying thesis makes no sense. "He couldn't bully them. He wasn't in the Guard," Lively said. "He couldn't affect their promotions. Once you're gone from the Guard, you don't have any authority." Bush has not commented publicly about the CBS report, and aides say his honorable discharge proves he fulfilled his obligations. |
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Yes, that presents a slight problem for CBS's case that these are authentic.
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This campaign is really beginning to turn into serious entertainment! |
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Funny how the Bush camp remains quiet about this whole issue and just lets it fall apart on its own.
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Isn't it funny how CBS has to try to defend against every challenge? But but but... even retired he COULD have tried to exert pressure... couldn't he? LOL... the question is WHY would he?
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This is really going to explode soon.
The Dems are going to blame CBS. CBS will go down swinging at air. CBS will claim the DNC sent the documents, etc. POPCORN! GET YOUR FRESH, HOT POPCORN! |
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+1 |
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This is more than just a victory for Bush..
It signals ANOTHER defeat for the traditional Media at the hands of the Internet. |
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Man, I was sad to see Howard "Gonna implode at anytime" Dean get dropped from the race, but I would have never thought Lurch's campaign is this entertaining
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You can't continue to print or speak lies in the media any longer without having to contend with millions of amateur news hounds who have nothing but time and the Internet on their hands! That's the way that the Founding Fathers would have loved it! Damn those were some very smart men, were they not? Eric The(Let'sCallThisThe'SixthEstate')Hun |
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Another case in point whereas M. Moore's movies have been so torn apart and debunked that Liberal Rag "Neewsweek" no longer calls Farenheit 911 a documentary... they call it "Satire" |
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And even the other Liberal News Networks are circling the story like sharks!
This is from ABC News: HODGES SAID HE WAS MISLED BY CBS: Retired Maj. General Hodges, Killian's supervisor at the Grd, tells ABC News that he feels CBS misled him about the documents they uncovered. According to Hodges, CBS told him the documents were "handwritten" and after CBS read him excerpts he said, "well if he wrote them that's what he felt." Hodges also said he did not see the documents in the 70's and he cannot authenticate the documents or the contents. His personal belief is that the documents have been "computer generated" and are a "fraud". http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/NotedNow/Noted_Now.html Lord, I love it! Now it is in the pecuniary interest of ABC and NBC, and their corporate sponsors, to put the smackdown on poor Dan Blather's pointy little head! Just think IF Dan Blather had used such reasonable language as 'possibly', 'likely', and so forth, but they were so certain that President Bush was a slacker and dimbulb that they 'knew' the story must be true! Eric The(LaughingAllTheWayToTheVotingBooth)Hun |
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Well, the DNC is already beginning to blame the Republicans! See DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe's insistence that the reporters contact Karl Rove to ask HIM about the forged memos! www.cnsnews.com//ThisHour.asp#McAuliffe%20Suggests%20Karl%20Rove%20Behind%20'60%20Minutes'%20Papers Whoa, what 'forged' memos, Terry? Eric The(AMereSlipOfTheTongue)Hun |
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Why, of course not--it has to be Rove's fault. |
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belmontclub.blogspot.com/2004/09/shot-heard-round-world-echoes-of-big.html |
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Good Lord, but I do love the Internet so!
If the 'billion and a half' mainland Chinese are some day free it will be in large measure because their present overseers are helpless to stop the flood of information pouring in through those portals! Informed people WILL be free. And connected and informed people will ALWAYS be free. Eric The(LearnIt,LiveIt,LoveIt)Hun |
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They'll all just agree to "MoveOn" and get back to the issues that matter... healthcare, manufacturing job losses, deficit, over 1,000 Americans killed over lies in Iraq, yada-yada-yada. This story will disappear just like the Sandy Burglar story did. Nothing to see here, let's MoveOn people. |
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Not hard to do when you have the truth on your side. |
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unfortunately, you're probably right. all the media has to do to quit shooting themselves in the foot is stop reporting on this story. It would be in their best interests to do so...
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No it wont, the Internet will keep it going. |
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so what if the RNC DID float the docs. Danny boy and CBS had an obligation to verify BEFORE reporting. Something the news media seems to be lacking in these days.
Reporters have gotten lazy. It has now burned their asses. mike |
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I got this from Command-Post, who got it from FreeRepublic:
48 problems with the memos.
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Maybe it should be put in for Best Comedy. How about Best Fantasy? |
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From the National Review:
www.nationalreview.com/kerry/kerry200409111432.asp
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Seems the Boston Globe is also guilty
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This $hit is more entertaining that watching TV. I just love it to pieces, when these news media guys in the guise try to help their favorite candidate and this stuff just explodes all around them like a mortar shell and takes their fair-haired(Kerry) with them.
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The scary thing is this: WITHOUT THE INTERNET IT WOULD HAVE WORKED!
No one in the media would have questioned it. |
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Agreed, If CBS is to remain viable as a business, they will have to disavow the source of the lie and claim they were deceived by what seemed to be a convincing forgery. Their sales and marketing department will demand it as their viewership will suffer and their advertising revenue will correspondingly drop. Its ok to make a mistake, its not ok for a news organization to persist in the mistake once new information disproving it is available, that is called a lie and journalistic fraud. We must even note that CNN corrected itself on the flawed assault weapons story, and in matters of opinion all of the networks have given the appearence of equal time. |
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