CBS admitt the Bush Guard Documents are a fake....

Burkett told USA TODAY that he had agreed to turn over the documents to CBS if the network would help arrange a conversation with the Kerry campaign.

The network's effort to place Burkett in contact with a top Democratic official raises ethical questions about CBS' handling of material potentially damaging to the Republican president in the midst of an election. This "poses a real danger to the potential credibility of a news organization," said Aly Colón, a news ethicist at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

"At Burkett's request, we gave his (telephone) number to the campaign," said Betsy West, senior CBS News vice president.

CBS would not discuss the propriety of the network serving as a conduit between its partisan source, Burkett, and the Kerry campaign. "It was not part of any deal" with Burkett to obtain the documents, West said, declining to elaborate.

But Burkett said Monday that his contact with Lockhart was indeed part of an "understanding" with CBS. Burkett said his interest in contacting the campaign was to offer advice in responding to Republican criticisms about Kerry's Vietnam service. It had nothing to do with the documents, he said.

"My interest was to get the attention of the national (campaign) to defend against the attacks," Burkett said, adding that he also talked to former Georgia senator Max Cleland and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean during the past 45 days. "Neither the Democratic Party or the Kerry campaign had anything to do with the documents," he said.

Lockhart said he phoned Burkett at the number provided by CBS. Lockhart also said that subject of the documents never came up in his conversation with Burkett. Lockhart said the conversation lasted just a few minutes. "It's possible that the producer said they had documents," before his conversation with Burkett, he said.

At the end of the conversation, Lockhart said he thanked Burkett for his interest and there was no further contact with him. Asked why he called Burkett, Lockhart said he talks to "a lot of people."

"I called you, didn't I?"

The White House said CBS' contact with Lockhart was inappropriate. "The fact that CBS News would coordinate with the most senior levels of Sen. Kerry's campaign to attack the President is a stunning and deeply troubling revelation," said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director.

Source

And Bush has killed tens of thousands.

Contrary to popular belief, Bush didn't invent war.

Brandon9000:



Nope, he didn't. But he gave us plenty of reasons to never trust him again in executing another one.

Whether or the documents are real, GW Bush was a mediocre student, and he was reservist who was not particularly noteworthy, and if the documents the Rather accepted as real were fabricated or if they weren't it doesn't make Bush into a good soldier either in the past or in the present.

It makes him a silver spoon whose connected daddy was able to make him look like a soldier without being in harms way.

Let's face it the country is polarized - and the only question remaining is who will get a majority of actual vote. Dan Rather is not running for office. And I'm still convinced that the documents are real. Inconclusive is inconclusive. So where is the 'real' document?

If it weren't for Bush's cozy relationship with the media he'd still look like the president of by and for the plutocracy, because that's what he is.

Questionable documents are much like "likely voters" in that both embrace the undefined and untenable and are inconclusive.

I wouldn't vote for George W. Bush if he offered me a hundred fifty grand a year for the rest of my life.

He hasn't, and I suspect that may be a privilege reserved for those with whom he is having a love affair.

I pray it's a small minority.

I've been praying to the God that sends hurricanes to Florida and the deep south. Bush could use a little stiff ruffling of his hair and his values. The God of hurricanes is just the one for the job.

Clinton had Lewinski. Bush needs something bigger.

Please, AK2 libs, you can do much better then "ya, but Bush was....."

The DNC and their 'Operation Fortunate Son', with the very probable (and the evidence is getting stronger every hour) coordination with CBS/Dan Rathers/60 Minutes is exactly what conservatives have been yelling from the rooftops for years: the MSM is in lock-step with the Democrat Party.

If the Democratic National Committee was feeding forged documents to CBS, it will reinforce the evidence that the Dems will do anything necessary to regain power in Washington DC. They lost both houses and the presidency because they have failed to communicate a message to America, yet they think the only way to regain power is to launch such nonsense as 'Operation Fortunate Son'. And still no message!

And you libs, with your "well, Bush was a mediocre student" comebacks (as much as the zingers that they are ) are missing the point; Kerry and the Dems do not have the gravitas to be in power.

If Kerry was the best the Dems could select, and the campaign they are running is the best they can do, they have no business running America.

This is more pathetic then the Repubs and their Bob Dole campaign in 1996....

oh, for cryin' in a bucket folks!

again.......

blah, blah, blah...

one _ LAST _ ti-yummm...

bottom line;

kerry - 1968-1969 = vietnam
bush - 1968-1969 = texas ( or ???

that is the pertinent issue of this whole brouha.

the point of any of this discussion was/is that someone who has been under enemy fire has a more "sensitive" understanding of what the troops ( that everyone shrills about supporting) are undergoing better than someone who hasn't. go ahead and laugh at the "s" word. if it was you, or even worse, your kid, you'd put the partisan fencing behind you and actually view the situation as more than "partisan screed".

it's not chinese algebra...

here we are screwin' around with the idiotic political "gotchas" while young people are having there lives taken away thanks to "miscalculations". i don't care if they volunteered or got drafted. it's 100% wrong to sacrifice their lives without reason.

that's not partisan, that's called morals.

You wouldn't want your agenda, or anyone's agenda, forwarded by inaccurate, unreliable or non-credible information, would you?


And service is not the same as service, not when you use your family's influence to get an early out without, by any of the standards used, fullfilling the requirement of that service so that you can show up to class at Harvard wearing your flight jacket.

John Kerry simply has to stop running on the platform he was a war hero..Kind of like Gore invented the internet...LOL

How many times have we heard liberals says something like "It isn't the quality of the evidence but the seriousness of the charge that is important"? Of course that only applies to conservatives, but when the problem is with liberals, the subject must be changed immediately and the conservatives accused of something. To me it is obvious we are onto something when when people change the subject rather than deal with an uncomfortable issue.

You have:

Followed by:


. . .as if that was somehow relevant even if it was true which it isn't.

If liberals and conservatives consider themselves equally patriotic and equally responsible citizens, you would think it would be equally important to point the spotlight and apply the law in an evenhanded way.

If the Kerry campaign was involved in attempting to take down a sitting president with documents known to be forgeries, that is not a small matter in my never to be considered humble opinion.

Not only is this NOT a pertinent issue, I see no reason for it to have ever even been brought up. Had either man been a career military man, I could understand bringing their record to the party as an issue. But this is an absolutely usless topic to decide who should be president on 2004. WHO GIVES A CRAP WHERE THEY WERE IN 1968!? I want to know what they are going to be doing in 2005-2008!

So, there you have it. My opinion on DTOM's opinion.

Personally I see this as the death of John of Kerry because of the absolutely stupidity of Rather. I never liked Rather as I have always seen him as doing more harm than good because he is too willing to bend the rules for his politics. I didn't even like his interview with Saddam Hussien and found him to be too cozy with him.

I think he could have gotten over the swift boat thing as that whole thing was nothing but politics and it swayed hardly anybody that wasn't already leaning or for Bush in the first place. We are done in by our own people this time and it makes me sick cause we are going to have put up with 4 more years of Bush and this time he is even going to elected in and will have to be called President by folks such as myself as bad I will hate it.

It's over.

And that speculation has what to do with the Dems forging government documents in a desperate attempt to smear Bush?

Reports of Kerry's demise are premature (to paraphrase Twain), but you folks can dance around and celebrate if you want. Have at it!

I hope that I am proven wrong. But you gotta admit Rather didn't do him any favors.

So the sense here is that it doesn't matter if the Kerry campaign is instrumental in creating the fiasco? It's all Dan Rather's fault? I'm not excusing him because I think his journalism and integrity are deplorable. But the fact that he's an idiot should not let the Kerry campaign off the hook if they're the ones who prodded Rather to get on it.

Where in the world do you have any kind of proof that Kerry was behind this stupidity other than private speculation?

I don't. But read the information preceding this post. Rather is not saying where the forged documents originated or what process put them in his hands. As he spent several weeks participating in a blatant and illegal effort to affect a U.S. election, if he has any integrity whatsoever, he will spend an equal amount of time investigating how it happened and who was involved. This kind of thing should not stand with impunity no matter who instigates it.

I am not excusing or taking up for Rather, but CBS has said they will investigate it.

From Dan to Kerry--

This freak who forged the documents called Max Cleland (Max admitted it.) and said he had something that would help the Kerry campaign. Cleland contacted the campaign about the document. CBS news was also in contact with the Kerry campaign. They were all butt to butt in bed together--and I hope they liked it, cause SOME of them are headed for jail.