Three document experts who were asked by CBS News to examine memos alleging that President Bush received special treatment during his service in the Texas Air National Guard told CNN Tuesday that they did not authenticate the documents -- and one said the network "ignored" her reservations about them before a "60 Minutes" broadcast last week.
CNN article
Not good.
George W. Bush's commanding officer in the Texas Air National Guard wrote memos more than 30 years ago objecting to efforts to gloss over the young lieutenant's shortcomings and failure to take a flight physical, the officer's secretary said last night.
But Marian Carr Knox of Houston said she thinks four memos unveiled by CBS News last week were forgeries, not the ones she typed at the time.
Knox, 86, worked for 23 years at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston and served as a typist for Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, then Bush's squadron commander, and several other officers.
In a brief interview yesterday, she confirmed Killian had concerns about Bush's failure to take his physical examination in 1972, which prevented him from flying, and about efforts by higher-ups to protect the future president from the fallout.
Knox told several newspapers that Killian kept the personal files on Bush, and on other topics, in a desk drawer as a way of "covering his back" in anticipation of later questions about his actions. She retired in 1979, before Killian's death, and said she did not know what became of the files.
Knox said in several interviews that the four memos shown last week on CBS did not look authentic. After speaking briefly to the Times, Knox said she was tired of giving interviews and turned the phone over to her son, Patrick Carr.
Seattle Times article
But Marian Carr Knox of Houston said she thinks four memos unveiled by CBS News last week were forgeries, not the ones she typed at the time.
Knox, 86, worked for 23 years at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston and served as a typist for Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, then Bush's squadron commander, and several other officers.
In a brief interview yesterday, she confirmed Killian had concerns about Bush's failure to take his physical examination in 1972, which prevented him from flying, and about efforts by higher-ups to protect the future president from the fallout.
Knox told several newspapers that Killian kept the personal files on Bush, and on other topics, in a desk drawer as a way of "covering his back" in anticipation of later questions about his actions. She retired in 1979, before Killian's death, and said she did not know what became of the files.
Knox said in several interviews that the four memos shown last week on CBS did not look authentic. After speaking briefly to the Times, Knox said she was tired of giving interviews and turned the phone over to her son, Patrick Carr.
The poor dear.
In 1988, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, grilled by Rather over the Iran-contra affair, turned the tables on the anchor, bringing up an incident in which Rather had walked off the set to protest a tennis match that had cut into his airtime. Rather abruptly ended the live interview.
That 1988 incident followed the same pattern as the current controversy, Rather said Tuesday.
Faced with questions that they didn't want to answer, the vice president's "political apparatus understandably, out of necessity, chose to question the questioner," Rather said. Likewise, he said, his current critics are "people who for their own partisan, political agendas can't deny the core truth of this story ... and want to change the subject and make the story about me. . . . "
Despite the pressure, Rather said he had no intention of revealing the source of the memos in question.
Chicago Tribune article
That 1988 incident followed the same pattern as the current controversy, Rather said Tuesday.
Faced with questions that they didn't want to answer, the vice president's "political apparatus understandably, out of necessity, chose to question the questioner," Rather said. Likewise, he said, his current critics are "people who for their own partisan, political agendas can't deny the core truth of this story ... and want to change the subject and make the story about me. . . . "
Despite the pressure, Rather said he had no intention of revealing the source of the memos in question.
The focus on "questions over the veracity of the memos was a smoke screen perpetrated by right-wing allies of the Bush administration," he said. "This is your basic fogging machine, which is set up to cloud the issue, to obscure the truth."
Washington Times article
In a nutshell.
The White House doesn't challenge the charges in the memos - just the memos' authenticity. But that could be enough to break Dan if he doesn't get some backup pronto. And frankly, I'll be more than a little disappointed in him and CBS for running with something they didn't fully check out, when they could have been putting pressure on the White House for any number of real issues. Instead, they'll have given them something more to encourage people to watch Fox "news".
I've been thinking some more about my concern that it might be in the best interests of the world in the very long term, and of the United States in the shorter long term, if Bush were reinstalled for four more years. Because if he's not, and his supporters whose incomes fall somewhere below $200,000 a year don't experience a serious butt-fucking (if you'll pardon my French) the likes of which they are scared to have another Bush or Bush friend anywhere near the White House, we will still have to face this same scenario of Neocon American imperialism, combined with global disaster, four years hence when they cram the chimp's gorilla brother from Florida down our throats. Maybe if Chimpy McBraindead stays in office, they will totally destroy the veil of ignorance under which half the country sleeps and America's ability to pose a threat to the world as well. I honestly don't think they can destroy the world, try as they might. Four years of hell and get it over with, versus four years of fighting them tooth and nail while a War Party Democrat sits in the White House, and then a return to the Bushes.
I don't know. I think we're pretty screwed either way.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
Did you hear 'em talkin' 'bout it on the radio
Could your eyes believe the writing on the wall
Did that voice inside you say I've heard it all before
It's like Deja Vu all over again
One by one I see the old ghosts rising
Stumblin' 'cross Big Muddy
Where the light gets dim
Day after day another Momma's crying
She's lost her precious child
To a war that has no end
Dan Fogerty: Deja Vu (All Over Again)
Thanks, Tom.
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