Vorlon Whispers

The Ra^ther Report

I know that's an old trick, but I couldn't help myself.

The CBS report finally hit the fan today. I’m not sure quite what to make of it. I sort of get the impression the report protected the higher ups and sacrifice the lower beings. I guess you could say, it sort of like having your finger amputated to save your hand. In the case of the large CBS organization, it could be more like losing a fingernail or perhaps clipping one.

PowerLine is always on the job and they have read the WHOLE thing. Don’t these guys have anything else to do?

Hindrocket has an interesting question. Why did CBS move the airdate of the report up from late September 2004 to September 8?

Finally, what are we to make of the fact that the Panel specifically found that the 60 Minutes report broadcast on September 8 contained repeated misrepresentations? The report, often in harsh and condemnatory language, specifically finds that the program misrepresented what CBS had been told by document examiners. It says, with respect to the interview with Robert Strong, that "virtually every excerpt used from the Lieutenant Strong interview was either inaccurate or misleading." And it concludes that the Ben Barnes interview excerpts were "misleading." These characterizations are at odds with the report's assurance that the problems with the report were due only to haste and competitive pressure. Competitive pressure does not cause a reporter to make affirmative misrepresentations and misleading statements. If it wasn't political bias that drove the show's inaccuracies and misleading content, what was it?

He hypothesizes, it was because the Swift Boat Verterans for the Truth were pummeling Kerry and the CBS crew was desperate to step into the breach.

Like many things in life, I suspect there are facets to this we will never now. Including, does Dan Rather still believe the memos were “fake but accurate?”

Posted by Ted at January 10, 2005 9:23 PM