Monday, September 20, 2004
Breaking news--Dan Rather
In an interestingly-emotionless statement just released, Dan Rather admits he was duped. There is no anger from him, no demand to have the source revealed, which can only raise further suspicion that the documents were a blatant attempt by the Kerry campaign to fix the 2004 presidential election. Progressives everywhere, be aware of this! If it comes out that Kerry and/or Rather tried deliberatly to influence this election, we as a party are in deep deep deep trouble! Pray that Karl Rove really is behind this... If he is, why the hell isn't Rather saying so, however? We could be in trouble, folks, real trouble. Kerry needs to come out and vehemently deny any comlicity in this.
Copied below is the statement:
Mon Sep 20 2004 11:58:02 ET
STATEMENT FROM DAN RATHER:Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question. But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism. Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
Copied below is the statement:
Mon Sep 20 2004 11:58:02 ET
STATEMENT FROM DAN RATHER:Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question. But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism. Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
