Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Mary Mapes--what the hell was she thinking?
Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't reporters supposed to keep their sources secret? Or, at least, maybe not pass along their phone numbers? CBS continues to maintain, with a straight face nonetheless, that it isn't playing partisan politics in a blatant and amateurish attempt--dare I say childish?--to fix a Presidential election. And yet Mary Mapes, she of the Abu Ghraib story, passed along Bill Burkett's phone number to Joe Lockhart, big-time honcho in the Kerry campaign.
Why did she do this? And more to the point, what the hell was she thinking? Her actions shout to the winds that CBS is partisan, and partisan in the extreme. So partisan that they're willing to accept anything that looks like it might hurt Bush and help Kerry. Anything. "Fake but accurate..." Yeah, right, and Britney Spears' breasts are also "fake, but accurate" right? Or Madonna's supposed Jewishness, equally fake, equally accurate? (See www.airamericaradio.com Morning Sedition Sept. 21, 2004, for some opinions on Madonna/"Esther")
For an answer, you need to understand that Mapes is rabidly liberal, and not the kind of liberal who is likely to actually help our cause. She holds strong and extremely left-wing opinions, and is known to have disliked Bush 41. Does this all mean that she could willingly have participated in this mess? Yes, I think it does. I think it means she could not only have participated, but instigated much of it as well. She was so desperate for another headline-grabber, for another turn in the limelight, that she failed to see she was teetering dangerously close to the edge of the stage, and she has now fallen flat on her face off that stage. The light now cast upon her will be far more harsh and the attention focused upon her the kind of scrutiny she isn't going to like. Her extreme politics are going to come to the fore.
And she's dragging CBS right along with her, as well as her likely-partner-in-crime (and this is a crime, folks, it really is, we cannot deny that) Dan Rather. Shame...
This can only--and I stress the word only--harm the Kerry campaign. It gives us, as well as CBS, a black eye. John Kerry himself--or, failing that, the far-more-vocal, far-less-afraid-of-his-own-shadow John Edwards--must come out with a strong and unequivocal statement damning these freakin' documents. He must do this asap, if not sooner. It's too late for Kerry to hem and haw on this issue, and if he wants to save his hopefully-Presidential future he must swallow his pride and come forth in absolute and total denial.
And then he needs to work on shutting up his blathering wife, or the Democratic party, between Teresa and Dan Rather/Mary Mapes/Bill Burkett, is doomed to failure come November 2nd.
For those who wish to read more about Ms. Mapes:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040922/D858CF901.html
Why did she do this? And more to the point, what the hell was she thinking? Her actions shout to the winds that CBS is partisan, and partisan in the extreme. So partisan that they're willing to accept anything that looks like it might hurt Bush and help Kerry. Anything. "Fake but accurate..." Yeah, right, and Britney Spears' breasts are also "fake, but accurate" right? Or Madonna's supposed Jewishness, equally fake, equally accurate? (See www.airamericaradio.com Morning Sedition Sept. 21, 2004, for some opinions on Madonna/"Esther")
For an answer, you need to understand that Mapes is rabidly liberal, and not the kind of liberal who is likely to actually help our cause. She holds strong and extremely left-wing opinions, and is known to have disliked Bush 41. Does this all mean that she could willingly have participated in this mess? Yes, I think it does. I think it means she could not only have participated, but instigated much of it as well. She was so desperate for another headline-grabber, for another turn in the limelight, that she failed to see she was teetering dangerously close to the edge of the stage, and she has now fallen flat on her face off that stage. The light now cast upon her will be far more harsh and the attention focused upon her the kind of scrutiny she isn't going to like. Her extreme politics are going to come to the fore.
And she's dragging CBS right along with her, as well as her likely-partner-in-crime (and this is a crime, folks, it really is, we cannot deny that) Dan Rather. Shame...
This can only--and I stress the word only--harm the Kerry campaign. It gives us, as well as CBS, a black eye. John Kerry himself--or, failing that, the far-more-vocal, far-less-afraid-of-his-own-shadow John Edwards--must come out with a strong and unequivocal statement damning these freakin' documents. He must do this asap, if not sooner. It's too late for Kerry to hem and haw on this issue, and if he wants to save his hopefully-Presidential future he must swallow his pride and come forth in absolute and total denial.
And then he needs to work on shutting up his blathering wife, or the Democratic party, between Teresa and Dan Rather/Mary Mapes/Bill Burkett, is doomed to failure come November 2nd.
For those who wish to read more about Ms. Mapes:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040922/D858CF901.html
