In the latest fallout from the Dan Rather fiasco over using forged documents to attack President Bush's National Guard service, CBS has killed a "60 Minutes" report that accused Bush of using forged documents to justify the Iraq war.
I just squirted coffee out my nose... | Insiders said the report was killed because it would make the network a laughingstock by criticizing anyone else over dubious documents after insisting for 12 days that Rather's forgeries were real.
The official reason from "60 Minutes" spokeswoman Kelli Edwards was: "We now believe it would be inappropriate to air the report so close to the presidential election."
"Instead we'll just go on-screen and chant in unison "Bush lied! People died!" for the full 60 Minutes..." | The report, by veteran journalist Ed Bradley, was supposed to air Sept. 8 but got bumped for Rather's forgery fiasco. The shelved CBS report accused the White House of relying on obviously fake documents that purportedly showed Iraq sought "yellowcake" uranium from the African nation of Niger to use in a nuclear-weapons program. |