Sunday, September 19, 2004
Well, it's under the heading, "CBS Documents," which one would think would be an article that questions the credibility of CBS, but somehow The Globe (and AP) manage to twist this back on the President. Isn't it the press's job to try to provide answers, not end with leading questions? Sure it is. Especially when they should know the answers already. The Globe (and the AP) continue to serve as Terry McAuliffe's mouth-piece by pushing the doubts without the proof.
You would think that with the public's professional respect for journalists hovering somewhere around what they feel toward pirates and alien physicians with a penchant for the human rectum, the print media, at least, would be laboring to change that impression. You would be wrong.
Boston.com: President is said to review disputed Guard records
The officer in charge of the unit where Bush took his basic training wrote to then-Representative George H. W. Bush in 1968. The officer's letter was not released Friday, but the elder Bush's reply was: "That a major general in the Air Force would take interest in a brand-new Air Force trainee made a big impression on me."
Democrats called the exchange proof of preferential treatment.
"Now we know the president has reviewed the documents, but the American people still don't have answers," the Democratic National Committee chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said in a statement issued yesterday. "President Bush should come clean and explain how he leapt past hundreds to join the Guard and why he failed to meet his requirements once he was in.
Thus the story ends - still about Bush, and not about Dan Rather or the DNC's constant accusations based on little substance and much forgery.
Of course, the Globe could have answered some of these questions themselves quite easily...were their real desire to inform (as it should be). They could read Captain's Quarters, who's been all over the story:
Nor did he miss his other obligations. His released documentation shows he earned the necesary points for his obligations in each review year...
They could just read the mainstream media like ABC, and see what retired Colonel Staudt has to say:
‘Highly Qualified’
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." ...
Of course, the facts aren't as useful. Far better to end on a quote from Terry McAuliffe.
One thing the Guard controversy shows is how tough it is to prove a negative, and that once things start to be repeated about you, the allegations themselves become the story - something that becomes impossible to stop.
It's becoming a matter of less and less importance to Bush supporters, anyway (although it is still important to discuss and point out - worry not, the pajamahadeen are on the job). What do you call a scandal that actually ends up with a positive impact on the subject? You can't really call it a "Gate," can you? I mean, for CBS it's RatherGate, but for Bush? The docubump?
Update: Silly me, I knew the name "Lindlaw" (the AP reporter) sounded familiar. Squaring the Globe points out that he's the same guy responsible for the (shall we say fraudulant?) 'story of the booing at Bush's announcement of Clinton’s illness.' See Squaring the Globe for the links.
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, p.39
Tery McAuliffe is taking Karl Rove's bait - another week talking about this is another week wasted for the Dems.
I clip this from the Saturday NY Times:
In one particularly troublesome sign for Mr. Kerry, a majority of voters said he was spending too much time attacking Mr. Bush and talking about the past, rather than explaining what he would do as president.
Bring it on, Terry!
Boy, you hear any of the NYU speech. They were just playing chunks of it on the radio. This guy's got nuthin'.