Staudt Undermines CBS's Case, CBS "Experts" Say They Are Not --9/20/2004-- Media Research Center

1. Staudt Undermines CBS's Case, CBS "Experts" Say They Are Not
CBS's defense of its forged memos took a blow on Friday when retired Colonel Walter Staudt, the man whom, in CBS's forged documents, Lt. Colonel Jerry Killian complained, in a memo dated 18 months after Staudt had retired, "Staudt is pushing to sugar coat" Bush's performance record, denied to ABC News applying any pressure on Bush's behalf or of having been asked to accept Bush into the Guard. Then on Sunday the Washington Post revealed that two of the "experts" put forward by CBS News to validate the documents didn't consider themselves to be "experts." In between, CBS trotted out a new spin in their defense: It's all the fault of White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett for not telling them the memos were fake.

2. CBS to Concede Obvious? Burkett a Source for Past Bush-Bashing
CBS to finally concede the obvious? And if Bill Burkett was their source, CBS and the other networks have relied before upon the vociferous Bush-hater. In Monday's New York Times, Jim Rutenberg reported that CBS officials "said CBS News would most likely make an announcement as early as today that it had been deceived about the documents' origins." Rutenberg zeroed in on Burkett as a key player in the hoax, revealing: "Mr. Rather interviewed Mr. Burkett on camera this weekend, and several people close to the reporting process said his answers to Mr. Rather's questions led officials to conclude that their initial confidence that the memos had come from Mr. Killian's own files was not warranted." Back in February the networks eagerly passed along Burkett's claim he witnessed Bush's records being destroyed.

3. More Integrity at CBS News Than with Swifties and Fox News
CBS News not as awful as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Declaring that "we all know that George Bush got into the Guard because he was a son of privilege, that he stayed in despite breaking the rules because he was privileged," on Saturday's Capital Gang on CNN, Time's Margaret Carlson predicted that while CBS News would end up apologizing for its mis-reporting, "we will wait a long time before various cable channels and Fox apologizes for the swift boat ads and the commentary on their channels, which turned out not to be true. Almost -- I think every aspect of what they said has been disproved by Navy records."

4. Comedy Central's Tough Crowd Sees Liberal Bias in CBS Agenda
Liberal bias recognized on Comedy Central. Reacting to Dan Rather's use of Marian Carr Knox to contend the memos were fake but accurate, on the Tough Crowd show hosted by Colin Quinn, in which comedians discuss the issues of the day, Quin pleaded: "I just wish people would just admit the media is liberally biased except for like Fox News....But the fact is CBS would not have done this to John Kerry. They did it to Bush, I'm not saying he deserved it or not, but admit you're liberally biased, media. I'm in the media for 20 years. We all know it's 99.9 percent liberal." Comedian Jim Norton added: "Andy Rooney one time was talking about the media being liberal and he said that Dan was 'transparently liberal,' meaning Rather. And he wasn't trashing him, he was just saying that he is a transparently liberal guy and everybody freaked out."

5. Derogatory Movie, The Reagans, Shut Out at the Emmy Awards
The CBS mini-series The Reagans, which ended up running on Showtime after a quite a bit of controversy over its derogatory portrayal of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, lost in all four major categories in which is was nominated for Emmy Award. The winners were announced Sunday night on ABC.

Staudt Undermines CBS's Case, CBS "Experts"
Say They Are Not

CBS's defense of its forged memos took a blow on Friday when retired Colonel Walter Staudt, the man whom, in CBS's forged documents, Lt. Colonel Jerry Killian complained, in a memo dated 18 months after Staudt had retired, "Staudt is pushing to sugar coat" Bush's performance record, denied to ABC News applying any pressure on Bush's behalf or of having been asked to accept Bush into the Guard. Then on Sunday the Washington Post revealed that two of the "experts" put forward by CBS News to validate the documents didn't consider themselves to be "experts." In between, CBS trotted out a new spin in their defense: It's all the fault of White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett. (ABC mis-identified Walter Staudt on screen as "William.")

By Monday morning, the New York Times and Washington Post reported CBS News would soon concede the memos were forged. (See item #2 below)

On Saturday's Good Morning America, reporter Geoff Morrell relayed how "in an exclusive interview with ABC News, Walter Staudt, the Brigadier General of Bush's National Guard unit, says he did Bush no favors." Staudt rejected the charge made on 60 Minutes by Ben Barnes: "No one called me to encourage me or direct me or suggest that I take George Bush into the Air Guard." (Barnes claimed he had called General James Rose, apparently a superior to Staudt.)

Morrell, however, couldn't resist wrapping up his story with a shot at Bush as he stressed how Staudt's recollections do not shed "any new light on that six-month gap in President Bush's service record after he transferred to the Alabama Air National Guard in 1972."

Morrell's story failed to note how Staudt had also refuted the claim in the forged memo about how he had applied pressure on Bush's behalf. The ABCNews.com posting of the story on Friday, a scoop which was not mentioned on Friday's World News Tonight but which led FNC's Special Report with Brit Hume on Friday night, included this quote from Staudt: "I never pressured anybody about George Bush because I had no reason to."

A Saturday Los Angeles Times story and a Sunday Washington Post article provided a behind-the-scenes look at how the CBS 60 Minutes hit piece on President George W. Bush, which used forged memos to make its case, came together -- starting with someone giving the memos to CBS News producer Mary Mapes on the day after the Republican convention -- and how CBS News failed to comprehend their misdeed even as evidence mounted after the story aired.

Both articles recounted the fresh CBS spin line of blaming White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett because, when shown the memos, at 11am on the day of the 60 Minutes broadcast, he did not label as fakes the memos CBS reporter John Roberts told him were from Jerry Killian's private files.

The Washington Post story further undermined CBS by showing how neither "expert" brought forward by CBS to defend the authenticity of the memos considers himself to be an "expert." CBS, for instance put forward as an "expert" former typewriter repairman Bill Glennon, but he told the Post: "I'm not an expert, and I don't pretend to be."

Now, a transcript of the relevant portion of the September 18 Good Morning America story followed by excerpts from the LA Times and Washington Post articles:

     -- Picking the Saturday GMA story after Geoff Morrell related how the Pentagon on Friday released a letter George W. Bush's father sent to his son's training commander in response to a letter the commander had sent to then-Congressman Bush, Morrell asserted: "While the letter suggests the General showed special interest in Bush by writing to his father, neither it nor any of the other newly released records show he received special treatment to get into the Guard or once a member."
     Retired Air Force Colonel Walter Staudt, identified on screen at "William Staudt," in a living room setting, and looking quite vigorous and in good health: "I said, 'why do you want to be a fighter pilot?' He said, 'cause my daddy was one.'"
     Morrell: "In fact, in an exclusive interview with ABC News, Walter Staudt, the Brigadier General of Bush's National Guard unit, says he did Bush no favors."
     Staudt: "No one called me to encourage me or direct me or suggest that I take George Bush into the Air Guard. [on screen at this point ABC put up a black and white photo of Bush in a fighter jet, suggesting an edit jump in Staudt's comments] He was just the kind of young man we were looking for to send to pilot training."
     Morrell, with the White House in the background: "Staudt says he'll vote for Bush in November and is coming forward now to set the record straight. However, Ron [Claiborne, the news reader], neither he nor any of these newly-released documents, some of which are duplicates of ones we've seen before, sheds any new light on that six-month gap in President Bush's service record after he transferred to the Alabama Air National Guard in 1972."

Morrell's story paralleled a Friday ABCNews.com posting in which Staudt undermined Dan Rather's claim that the "thrust" of his reporting, that Bush benefitted from preferential treatment to get into the Texas Air National Guard and how, thanks to pressure applied by Staudt, he was allowed to skate when he underperformed, remains accurate.

-- "Air National Guard Colonel Denies Bush Got Preferential Treatment," read the ABCNews.com headline. An excerpt of the un-bylined posting:

Sept. 17, 2004 -- The man cited in media reports as having allegedly pressured others in the Texas Air National Guard to help George W. Bush is speaking out, telling ABC News in an exclusive interview that he never sought special treatment for Bush.

Retired Col. Walter Staudt, who was brigadier general of Bush's unit in Texas, interviewed Bush for the Guard position and retired in March 1972. He was mentioned in one of the memos allegedly written by Lt. Col. Jerry Killian as having pressured Killian to assist Bush, though Bush supposedly was not meeting Guard standards.

"I never pressured anybody about George Bush because I had no reason to," Staudt told ABC News in his first interview since the documents were made public.

The memo stated that "Staudt is pushing to sugar coat" a review of Bush's performance.

Staudt said he decided to come forward because he saw erroneous reports on television....

Staudt insisted Bush did not use connections to avoid being sent to Vietnam.

"He didn't use political influence to get into the Air National Guard," Staudt said, adding, "I don't know how they would know that, because I was the one who did it and I was the one who was there and I didn't talk to any of them."

During his time in charge of the unit, Staudt decided whether to accept those who applied for pilot training. He recalled Bush as a standout candidate.

"He was highly qualified," he said. "He passed all the scrutiny and tests he was given."

Staudt said he never tried to influence Killian or other Guardsmen, and added that he never came under any pressure himself to accept Bush. "No one called me about taking George Bush into the Air National Guard," he said. "It was my decision. I swore him in. I never heard anything from anybody."...

He added that Bush more than met the requirements for pilot training. "He presented himself well. I'd say he was in the upper 10 percent or 5 percent or whatever we ever talked to about going to pilot training. We were pretty particular because when he came back [from training], we had to fly with him."...

He added that after retiring he was not involved in Air National Guard affairs. "I didn't check in with anybody -- I had no reason to," he said. "I was busy with my civilian endeavors, and they were busy with their military options. I had no reason to talk to them, and I didn't."...

END of Excerpt

For the ABC posting in full, now moved to the "U.S." section: abcnews.go.com

Staudt pretty much demolished Dan Rather's contention that the "thrust" of his story remains true. On Wednesday's 60 Minutes, Rather had insisted: "Those who have criticized aspects of our story have never criticized the heart of it, the major thrust of our report, that George Bush received preferential treatment to get into the National Guard, and once accepted, failed to satisfy the requirements of his service."

ABC's posting includes a much-used photo you'll probably recognize of current President Bush and his father standing next to Staudt at some point during Bush's Guard years.

     -- Saturday's Los Angeles Times reported CBS's new blame game: "'If we had gotten back from the White House any kind of red flag, raised eyebrow, anything that said, 'Are you sure about this stuff?' we would have gone back to square one,' Josh Howard, the program's [60 Minutes, Wednesday edition] executive producer, told the Los Angeles Times in an interview Friday. 'The White House said they were authentic, and that carried a lot of weight with us.'...
     "[T]he White House denied that it ever confirmed the documents as authentic. 'For them to suggest that [the interview was] an endorsement or ratification of the documents is a terrible stretch of reality,' Bartlett said in an interview."

For the September 18 Los Angeles Times story, "In the Rush for a Scoop, CBS Found Trouble Fast: Its report on Bush's Guard service offers a cautionary tale in an age of growing competition," by Josh Getlin, Elizabeth Jensen and Scott Collins, go to: www.latimes.com

-- An excerpt from a Sunday, September 19 Washington Post article, "In Rush to Air, CBS Quashed Memo Worries," by Howard Kurtz, Michael Dobbs and James V. Grimaldi:

....An examination of the process that led to the broadcast, based on interviews with the participants and more than 20 independent analysts, shows that CBS rushed the story onto the air while ignoring the advice of its own outside experts, and used as corroborating witnesses people who had no firsthand knowledge of the documents. As CBS pushed to finish its report, it was Bartlett who contacted the network -- rather than the other way around -- at 5:30 the evening before to ask whether the White House could respond to the widely rumored story....

Later, Bartlett would explain why he did not challenge the documents with a question: "How am I supposed to verify something that came from a dead man in three hours?"...

Howard said he believed some of the outsiders' questions about superscript and proportionate spacing were "kind of silly."...

On Monday, CBS turned to two new analysts to counter the critics. One of them, Richard Katz, said later that he had merely set out to prove the memos had not been created with Microsoft Word or other modern computer programs. He told The Post that he is not a document examiner and that "I have no interest in authenticating the documents." The other analyst, Bill Glennon, said he is an information technology consultant, adding: "I'm not an expert, and I don't pretend to be."

Pierce, the California analyst first consulted by CBS before the broadcast, gave the network a three-paragraph statement calling the memos "strongly similar to corresponding samples," but CBS did not release any corroborating evidence....

It quickly became clear that the people CBS hired to authenticate the documents had -- and claimed -- only limited expertise in the sometimes arcane science of computer typesetting technology and fonts. Such expertise is needed to determine whether the records could have been created in 1972 and 1973. Independent experts contacted by The Post were surprised that CBS hired analysts who were not certified by the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, considered the gold standard in the field.

These software experts say differences in font widths and printing styles make it impossible to replicate the CBS documents using the printing technology available in the early 1970s. By contrast, reasonably competent computer enthusiasts have created nearly exact replicas of the documents in 15 minutes employing default settings for Microsoft Word and the widely used Times New Roman font.

While Glennon continues to insist that the documents could theoretically have been printed on a Vietnam War-era IBM Selectric, no one has been able to demonstrate this . Leading font developers say the technology simply did not exist 30 years ago.

One telltale sign in the CBS documents is the overlapping character combinations, such as "fr" or "fe," said Joseph M. Newcomer, an adjunct professor with Carnegie Mellon University. Blown-up portions of the CBS documents show that the top of the "f" overlaps the beginning of the next letter, a feat that was not possible even on the most sophisticated typewriters available in 1972. Newcomer calls the documents "a modern forgery."

Tests run by Thomas Phinney, fonts program manager for Adobe Systems, show that none of the possible font widths available on any typewriter or any IBM device from 1972 are able to produce an exact replica of the CBS documents. "Can they do something 'similar'? Sure," Phinney said. "Could they produce those exact memos? Impossible."...

END of Excerpt

     For the Sunday Post story in full: www.washingtonpost.com

     The print edition of the Post featured a full page display of side-by-side comparisons of known memos from Killian and CBS's forgeries. And they've placed the large graphic online: www.washingtonpost.com

     CBS News still doesn't think using forged documents, two months before an election, to advance a political agenda to impugn the character of a candidate, is any big deal. Josh Howard, the Executive Producer of the Wednesday edition of 60 Minutes, complained to the Post: "So much of this debate has focused on the documents, and no one has really challenged the story. It's been frustrating to us to see all this reduced to a debate over little 'th's."

Whose fault is that?

As for Katz and Glennon who do not consider themselves to be "experts," setting up soundbites from them on the Monday, September 13 CBS Evening News, Dan Rather claimed CBS had consulted "handwriting and document analysts and other experts who strongly insist that the documents could have been created in the '70s."

For a full rundown of that CBS Evening News story with Rather's lame "could have" defense, see the September 14 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org

Last Wednesday, CBS News released a three-page defense. It described Katz and Glennon as having "expertise in the authentication of documents." Their claims were listed beneath this heading: "CBS News Experts' Conclusions About the Documents."

     For the September 16 CyberAlert item recounting the claims in the CBS statement released on September 15 in PDF format: www.mediaresearch.org

     For the PDFs of statements released by CBS News, check the gray sidebar at: www.cbsnews.com

     Direct address for the CBS News statement quoted above: www.cbsnews.com

For the supporting statement from Katz, just made up of his CBS Evening News soundbites from September 13: www.cbsnews.com

For the comment from Glennon, again just lifted from the soundbite aired last Monday night: www.cbsnews.com

CBS to Concede Obvious? Burkett a Source
for Past Bush-Bashing

CBS to finally concede the obvious? And if Bill Burkett was their source, CBS and the other networks have relied before upon the vociferous Bush-hater. In Monday's New York Times, Jim Rutenberg reported that CBS officials, "who asked not to be identified, said CBS News would most likely make an announcement as early as today that it had been deceived about the documents' origins."

Rutenberg zeroed in on Burkett as a key player in the hoax, revealing: "Mr. Rather interviewed Mr. Burkett on camera this weekend, and several people close to the reporting process said his answers to Mr. Rather's questions led officials to conclude that their initial confidence that the memos had come from Mr. Killian's own files was not warranted. These people indicated that Mr. Burkett had previously led the producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, to have the utmost confidence in the material."

     For Rutenberg's story, "CBS News Concludes It Was Misled on National Guard Memos, Network Officials Say," go to: www.nytimes.com

     The Times put Rutenberg's discovery inside Monday's paper. On its front page: "Portrait of George Bush in '72: Unanchored in Turbulent Time." Reporter Sara Rimer advanced the same agenda behind the CBS hit piece: "Still, a wider examination of his life in 1972, based on dozens of interviews and other documents released by the White House over the years, yields a portrait of a young man like many other young men of privilege in that turbulent time - entitled, unanchored and safe from combat, bouncing from a National Guard slot made possible by his family's prominence to a political job arranged through his father." See: www.nytimes.com

     Monday's Washington Post featured a story which matched Rutenberg's, "CBS Talks With Suspected Source of Documents: Network to Air Interview in Effort to Resolve Dispute Over Bush Guard Memos' Authenticity." For that story by Howard Kurtz: www.washingtonpost.com

     Kurtz relayed: "Burkett, who has urged Democratic activists to wage 'war' against Republican 'dirty tricks,' would not comment in an e-mail to The Washington Post on whether he had been CBS's confidential source."

If Burkett is tied in to the forged memos, it wouldn't be the first time a media outlet has treated him as a reliable source without bothering to alerts viewers to his personal political agenda and grievances.

The Monday, February 16 CyberAlert recounted how on Thursday February 12 and Friday, February 13, network stories and interview segments continued to feature book author James Moore and former Texas National Guard Lt. Colonel Bill Burkett, without bothering to note how Moore's book has a definite anti-Bush agenda on the Iraq war, how a Friday Boston Globe story undermined Burkett's claim that he witnessed efforts to "cleanse" Bush's National Guard records and how Burkett is a member of a left-wing group, Veterans for Peace, and last year wrote a disgruntled screed blaming George W. Bush for his health problems.

As reported in the February 13 CyberAlert, CBS's John Roberts devoted nearly an entire story on Thursday night to how "in a six-year-old letter to Texas lawmakers obtained by CBS News, and in the new book, Bush's War for Reelection, former Guard officer Bill Burkett claims that in 1997, Guard commanders purged Mr. Bush's records to 'make sure nothing will embarrass the Governor during his re-election campaign or if he runs for President.'" Roberts failed to note that the author is a left-wing Bush-basher whose book sets out to prove the illegitimacy of the Bush presidency and Iraq war.

Burkett also appeared Thursday night on MSNBC's Hardball and together with Moore on CNN's Paula Zhan Now.

For more about the CBS story and Moore's agenda: www.mediaresearch.org

See other items in the same CyberAlert for coverage elsewhere.

The Moore/Burkett duo were also showcased Friday morning on CNN's American Morning, where they were interviewed by Bill Hemmer, and Friday night on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. In addition, stories on CBS's Early Show and NBC's Today featured Burkett's allegation.

In none of these venues was Burkett's political agenda recounted and only NBC's Today, only after giving a full airing to Burkett's claim, noted how the Boston Globe found a witness who contradicts him. "Doubts raised on Bush accuser: Key witness disputes charge by Guard retiree that files were purged," read the Friday morning Boston Globe headline over a story which did not attract network interest. An excerpt from the February 13 article by Michael Rezendes:

For at least six years, a retired Texas National Guard officer has maintained that President Bush's record as a member of the Guard was purged of potentially embarrassing material at the behest of high-ranking Bush aides laying the groundwork for Bush's 2000 run for the presidency.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett, who has been pressing his charges in the national news media this week, says he even heard one high-ranking officer issue a 1997 order to sanitize the Bush file, and later saw another officer poring over the records and discovered that some had been discarded.

But a key witness to some of the events described by Burkett has told the Globe that the central elements of his story are false.

George O. Conn, a former chief warrant officer with the Guard and a friend of Burkett's, is the person whom Burkett says led him to the room where the Bush records were being vetted. But Conn says he never saw anyone combing through the Bush file or discarding records.

"I have no recall of that," Conn said. "I have no recall of that whatsoever. None. Zip. Nada."

Conn's recollection also undercuts another of Burkett's central allegations: that he overheard Bush's onetime chief of staff, Joe M. Allbaugh, telling a Texas Guard general to make sure there were no embarrassments in the Bush record.

Burkett says he told Conn, over dinner that same night, what he had overheard. But Conn says that, although Burkett told him he worried that the Bush record would be sanitized, he never mentioned overhearing the conversation between Allbaugh and General Daniel James III.

Burkett's allegations about the Bush records come as the White House is attempting to answer mounting questions about whether Bush fulfilled his obligations as a member of the Texas Air Guard during the early 1970s. Burkett's allegations also will be a major focus of a book on Bush to be published next month.

But the book's author, James Moore, a former Houston TV news correspondent, concedes he never interviewed some of the key players who could have verified Burkett's charges, including Conn and retired National Guard Colonel John Scribner -- the officer Burkett says he saw removing items from the Bush file....

END of Excerpt

For the story in full: www.boston.com

As Clay Waters of the MRC's TimesWatch.org cite noted on February 12 in critiquing a New York Times story which relayed Burkett's claims, Slate's Eric Umansky, in his news summary column 'Today's Papers,' found that "'the whistleblower has an axe to grind.' Umansky links to a March 2003 piece from Burkett, which includes some conspiratorial rambling showing Burkett has, to put it mildly, some issues with Bush."

Indeed, in a letter posted by Veteran for Peace, Burkett ranted (an excerpt):

....In January of 1998 and what seems like a full lifetime ago, I was stricken by a deadly case of meningoencephalitis. I was returning from a short duty trip to Panama as a team chief to inspect the hand over of Ft. Clayton to the Panamanians. I had been 'loaned' from the senior staff and state planning officer of the Texas National Guard to the Department of the Army for a series of these special projects after angering George W. Bush by refusing to falsify readiness information and reports; confronting a fraudulent funding scheme which kept 'ghost' soldiers on the books for additional funding, and refusing to alter official personnel records [of George W. Bush].

George W. Bush and his lieutenants were mad. They ordered that I not be accessed to emergency medical care services, healthcare benefits I earned by my official duty; and I was withheld from medical care for 154 days before I was withdrawn from Texas responsibility by the Department of the Army, by order of the White House....

I know GW Bush and his inner circle very well. As I said, a UN vote would not stop GW Bush from attacking Iraq. Nor will anything else. And weapons of mass destruction will be discovered in great quantities; but the entire affair will stink to high heavens because it will be as staged as the White House press conference you just viewed. The human death toll will publicly not be mentioned, yet in truth, it will far exceed 120,000....

Now I feel sickness that today another massive group of people, held worthless by this anointed king, will be trampled upon like grapes. But their blood will not be rendered into wine. It will be spilled into the sands of this desert or another, or on the streets of Washington, or in the halls of the US Congress, or in the courts....

We must now revert to the history of Europe to discern what to do. We must study the nemesis of France and how Napoleon was felled before understanding the damage a tyrant does to a nation and society. We must examine the ruthless and dictatorial rise of yet another of the three small men -- one whose name is not spoken out of fear of reprisal, but his name was Adolf.

END of Excerpt

The author identification at the end of the piece made clear how Burkett holds a grudge:
"Lt. Col. Bill Burkett completed 28 years of decorated service and was medically retired from the US Army National Guard in 1998 after suffering meningoencephalitis on return from an assignment in Panama. From 1995 until his illness, Burkett served as State Plans Officer for the Texas Army National Guard and Governor George W. Bush. After refusing to follow direct orders involving falsifying readiness reports, Burkett sought "whistleblower" status for reports involving anti-Semitic activity; personnel fraud; readiness fraud and the alteration of the personal military file of Governor George W. Bush. Lt. Col. Burkett is currently the plaintiff in his appeal to the US Supreme Court in the case of Burkett v. Goodwin, Taliaferro, Meador, et al, in regard to the retaliation against him following breaking the Bush records issue. Lt. Col Burkett served as a War Plans Officer during Operation Desert Storm and functioned as a senior trainer in conducting simulations exercises for deploying troops."

That's all online at: www.veteransforpeace.org

Nonetheless, the February 12 USA Today featured a story based on Burkett's claims, "Ex-officer: Bush file's details caused concern." See: www.usatoday.com

And on Friday morning, February 13, the networks continued to take him seriously.

     Norah O'Donnell proclaimed on NBC's Today: "As the White House has yet to release the President's complete military record, there are new questions about whether or not officials close to Mr. Bush tried to remove files that could embarrass him. The allegation is that when Mr. Bush was governor, preparing for a run for President, his advisors tried to scrub clean Mr. Bush's military files."
     Joseph Allbaugh, former Bush Chief-of-Staff: "Absolutely false, purely hogwash. That's all it is: hogwash."
     O'Donnell: "Joe Allbaugh was then-Governor Bush's chief of staff. He admits he did call the head of the Texas National Guard to get a hold of Bush's records."
     Allbaugh: "I think the Governor was more interested at the time to just to see what the records look like, they're my records, I want to take a look at them."
     O'Donnell: "But Allbaugh strongly denies charges published in a new book. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett alleges that in 1997, he overheard Allbaugh asking the Texas Guard commander to remove items that could discredit Mr. Bush."
     Burkett: "The comment that probably concerned me a little was, 'make sure there wasn't anything that embarrassed the Governor.'"
     O'Donnell: "Burkett also alleges he later saw papers from Mr. Bush's records in a trash can."
     Allbaugh: "I don't know who this fellow is, never heard of him before, but his charges are groundless, they're baseless, they're false. He's got an outstanding record that he's proud of. He served, end of story."
     Burkett: "This is not political to me. I don't have a grudge, I'm just telling what I saw."
     O'Donnell finally got to doubts, but only in her conclusion: "But today, new doubts about Burkett's charges: A key witness to some of the events described by Burkett tells the Boston Globe that the central elements of his story are false. This witness says he never saw papers thrown in the trash."

Then why give such air time to his charges?

Over on Friday's (February 13) Early Show on CBS, the MRC's Brian Boyd noticed, Julie Chen touted how "there are new questions about the President's time in the National Guard, including allegations that someone tried to doctor the books."

     After noting the White House's release the day before of dental records to show Bush was in Alabama, Bill Plante gave air time to Burkett: "In another development, a former officer in the Texas Air National Guard claims that in 1997 he overheard a request to the Guard from Governor Bush's staff to review Mr. Bush's service file to quote 'make sure nothing will embarrass the governor.'"
     Bill Burkett, Texas National Guard, retired: "I was troubled sufficiently within my own conscience that there was possibly an effort here to cast an image that was better maybe than the individual's record."
     Plante: "Burkett says he later saw some of the Bush records in the trash. White House officials dismiss Burkett's claim saying it would make no sense to destroy the records since there were duplicates in Washington. Joe Allbaugh was Governor Bush's Chief-of-Staff at the time."
     Joe Allbaugh: "I'm offended at this charge. I don't know who he is, I don't know where he's coming from and it's total hogwash."
     Plante concluded: "Many pilots who were at that Alabama base at the same time that the President was supposed to have served there say to reporters that they don't remember ever seeing him. And the White House is trying, so far unsuccessfully, to come up with someone who served with Mr. Bush in 1972 or '73."

More Integrity at CBS News Than with
Swifties and Fox News

CBS News not as awful as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Declaring that "we all know that George Bush got into the Guard because he was a son of privilege, that he stayed in despite breaking the rules because he was privileged," on Saturday's Capital Gang on CNN, Time's Margaret Carlson predicted that while CBS News would end up apologizing for its mis-reporting, "we will wait a long time before various cable channels and Fox apologizes for the swift boat ads and the commentary on their channels, which turned out not to be true. Almost -- I think every aspect of what they said has been disproved by Navy records."

     That's preposterous since much of what they have charged has been proven, at the very least, more accurate than Kerry's claims.
     On the September 18 Capital Gang, Carlson opined:
     "CBS's problem was they tried to prove a story that doesn't need to be proved. We all know that George Bush got into the Guard because he was a son of privilege, that he stayed in despite breaking the rules because he was privileged, and that he left early and got an honorable discharge because he was a son of privilege.
     "CBS will end up, if they are wrong, as it appears to be, apologizing for their mistake, and we will wait a long time before various cable channels and Fox apologizes for the swift boat ads and the commentary on their channels, which turned out not to be true. Almost -- I think every aspect of what they said has been disproved by Navy records and today by the Navy IG."

A bit later, Bob Novak corrected her: "Let me respond to something that Margaret said, all this stuff about the Swift Boat for Truth ads have been proved wrong. I don't think that's true at all. I've talked to several of the -- of the -- of the Naval commanders who tell stories about the, that the claims of Senator Kerry as a lieutenant were -- were not justified. The Naval IG said you cannot go back to these and re-investigate these awards of medals 30 years ago. That's all he said. He didn't say that he had investigated them and they're all valid. He said that it's, in his opinion, the Navy IG couldn't do it."

Comedy Central's Tough Crowd Sees Liberal
Bias in CBS Agenda

Liberal bias recognized on Comedy Central. Reacting to Dan Rather's use of Marian Carr Knox to contend the memos were fake but accurate, on the Tough Crowd show hosted by Colin Quinn, in which comedians discuss the issues of the day, Quin pleaded: "I just wish people would just admit the media is liberally biased except for like Fox News....But the fact is CBS would not have done this to John Kerry. They did it to Bush, I'm not saying he deserved it or not, but admit you're liberally biased, media. I'm in the media for 20 years. We all know it's 99.9 percent liberal."

Comedian Jim Norton added: "Andy Rooney one time was talking about the media being liberal and he said that Dan was 'transparently liberal,' meaning Rather. And he wasn't trashing him, he was just saying that he is a transparently liberal guy and everybody freaked out."

Indeed, back on the June 5, 2002 Larry King Live on CNN, asked to comment on Bernard Goldberg's book, Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, Rooney replied: "I thought he made some very good points. There is just no question that I, among others, have a liberal bias. I mean, I'm consistently liberal in my opinions. And I think some of the, I think Dan is transparently liberal. Now, he may not like to hear me say that. I always agree with him, too. But I think he should be more careful."

For a little more from that CNN appearance, see the June 7, 2002 CyberAlert: www.mediaresearch.org

The MRC's Brian Boyd took down some of the discussion on the September 16 Tough Crowd which airs at 11:30pm EDT on Comedy Central.

     Quinn: "They're saying they're (expletive) forgeries but they're based on real stories."
     Greg Giraldo: "Yeah, they're forgeries but they were real. It's kind of like, we know what happened but it's okay that it's a forgery. It's like 'Hey, we have video of the Governor of New Jersey blowing a guy at a rest station outside of.' You know 'Hey, it didn't happen but we know it probably did so it's okay.'"
     Quinn: "When we see a movie it's based on a true story, you know."
     Todd Barry: "That secretary is supposed to be 86, right? This is not relevant but she looked pretty good for 86."
     Quinn: "She does, she looks hot."
     Vinnie Brand: "There's going to be more documents. This won't be the end of it. There will be more documents, the guys not around to say whether he wrote it or not. And all the new documents will be signed by the dead guy."
     Quinn: "No, I'm telling you right now, I just wish people would just admit the media is liberally biased except for like Fox News. But if Dan Rather would just go on and go ‘Look, I don't know, I happen to be liberally, myself that way. I'm Dan Rather.' None of this, all of this would go away because people don't care about this stupid story. But the fact is CBS would not have done this to John Kerry. They did it to Bush, I'm not saying he deserved it or not, but admit you're liberally biased, media. I'm in the media for 20 years. We all know it's 99.9% liberal. Let's just drop it. As long as you admit it, all of you. Go on your shows and movies and admit it. And then we'll drop the whole thing."

Jim Norton: "Andy Rooney one time was talking about the media being liberal and he said that Dan was transparently liberal, meaning Rather. And he wasn't trashing him, he was just saying that he is a transparently liberal guy and everybody freaked out. They were saying like that was a real breach and he shouldn't have said it. Liberals hate being called liberals. I don't know why. They just hate it."

Comedy Central's home page for Tough Crowd: www.comedycentral.com

Derogatory Movie, The Reagans, Shut Out
at the Emmy Awards

The CBS mini-series The Reagans, which ended up running on Showtime after a quite a bit of controversy over its derogatory portrayal of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, lost in all four major categories in which is was nominated for Emmy Award. The winners were announced Sunday night on ABC.

The Emmy for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, went to Meryl Streep in HBO's Angels in America, another anti-Reagan screed, not to Judy Davis for her portrayal of Nancy Reagan.

The Emmy for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, was awarded to Al Pacino for Angels in America, instead of James Brolin for his portrayal of Ronald Reagan.

The Reagans was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special, but that too went to Angels in America.

And in the overall category of Outstanding Made for Television Movie, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded HBO's Something the Lord Made.

-- Brent Baker

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