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DNC Had Forged Memos Before CBS?

Although CBS previously reported that they had been working on the Killian Memo story for six weeks prior to broadcast, an LA Times article indicates that 60 Minutes received the memos just days before broadcast [Allahpundit and Wizbandblog]. Now the Washington Post and New York Times are following suit. The Post reports,

On Friday, Sept. 3, the day after the convention ended, Mapes hit pay dirt. She told Howard her source had given her the documents. Within hours, Mapes began calling around to find independent analysts who could examine the handful of memos said to have been written by Killian. She found one in Dallas, who helped put her in touch with three others.

According to Wizbangblog, "This completely changes the time-line of events, as we reported previously Rather had maintained that they had been working on this story for 6 weeks. Now we know that the DNC and Kerry campaign had these forgeries BEFORE CBS! "

Powerline writes, "What jumps out at me is that Dan Rather, Mary Mapes and the 60 Minutes staff behaved not as objective journalists, but as opposition researchers for the Kerry campaign. They had been trying for years to dig up dirt on President Bush so as to prevent his re-election, and were beside themselves with glee when Bill Burkett, or whoever it turns out to be, gave them the opportunity to use forged documents as a pretense to air their anti-Bush story."

Note that one of the implications by CBS in both MSM articles mentioned above was to criticize the White House for not objecting when they were first given the Memos by CBS.

Roberts called "60 Minutes" producer Mary Mapes with word that Bartlett [White House] was not challenging the authenticity of the documents. Mapes told her bosses, who were so relieved that they cut from Rather's story an interview with a handwriting expert who had examined the memos.

At that point, said "60 Minutes" executive Josh Howard, "we completely abandoned the process of authenticating the documents. [what process?]Obviously, looking back on it, that was a mistake. We stopped questioning ourselves. I suppose you could say we let our guard down."

This is quite revealing – the publication of fake documents that criticize the President is the White House's fault. In this instance 60 Minutes equated the lack of an objection to authentication while at the same time rejecting the White House’s forthright criticism of the article's accuracy and questions raised by their own document experts. Poliblogger notes that contradiction with Rather's prior statement, "I’m confident we worked longer, dug deeper and worked harder than almost anybody in American journalism does."

The White House explains in the New York Times piece,

When CBS News first presented the materials to White House officials two weeks ago, aides to Mr. Bush said they had no reason to doubt their authenticity, in part because of CBS's reputation as a credible news organization.

I'm seeing a nice circular pattern that is not very conducive to accurate reporting. What could have made respected Journalist make premature and illfated decisions? Their personal bias - they interpreted what they heard according to what they believed (their story is accurate).

The article goes on to say,

With its credibility on the line, the news division says it has redoubled its efforts to figure out whether it fell prey to a hoax and if so, who was behind it. Underscoring the importance of the task, Betsy West, a top news executive, has taken over the investigation and doubled the number of journalists working on it to 12 from about six, several people at the network said yesterday.

So an investigation has been launched because CBS is concerned about its credibility . . . why wasn't CBS concerned when obvious flaws were pointed out 10 days ago?

The NY Times article includes a further discussion regarding the incredible rush to broadcast and the contradiction between how the CBS network claimed it authenticated the memos and what it actually did.

When questions first arose, CBS News officials said they were confident about the documents in part because the lead producer of the report, Mary Mapes, had been working on the story for years. But an official said yesterday that the actual documents - six in total, four of which were used in the report - did not fall into CBS News's possession until Sept. 3. That was less than a week before the report ran.

Officials say they did not begin trying to authenticate the documents in earnest until the next day. Two of its experts, whom CBS News refused to name as questions about the memos began to mount, said last week they had actually told the network they had some doubts about the records.

A CBS News spokeswoman denied last week that there had been questions about the documents' authenticity at least two days before the report was broadcast. But officials acknowledged yesterday that questions lingered up to the day the report was shown.

At a very fundamental level this post reveals that the key component of the CBS story was the forged memos. Rather rebuffed critics with great arrogance by claiming the story stands without the memos, yet it has now been revealed that the fake documents made the story. The documents are fake, therefore the story must be . . .

Finally, I note that the New York Times articles reveals,

One person at the [CBS] network, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Burkett had been at the very least a go-between for the documents, but that very few people at the network know from whom he might have obtained them, if anyone.

CaptainsQuarter shows a very clear tie, prior to CBS' receipt of the memos, between Burkett and the DNC. In an Aug. 21 email Burkett wrote, "I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. (Cleland) said counterattack. So I gave them the information to do it with."

Former Democratic senator Max Cleland confirmed that he got a call from Burkett in mid-August offering "valuable" information about Bush. He told Burkett to contact the Kerry campaign [Newsweek].

In addition, the Washington Post reports,

In another message, dated Sept. 4, Burkett hinted he might have had advance knowledge of some details in an explosive segment that aired Sept. 8 on CBS's "60 Minutes."

The Associated Press is claiming a clear connection between the DNC, Burkett and Cleland:

AUSTIN, Texas - A retired Texas National Guard official mentioned as a possible source for disputed documents about President Bush's service in the Guard said he passed along information to a former senator working with John Kerry's campaign.

CQ concludes, "Within two weeks, the forgeries were faxed from the Abilene Kinko's that Burkett patronized to a waiting 60 Minutes production team at CBS. That's an amazing series of coincidences ..."

Posted by tim at September 18, 2004 10:31 PM

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