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Home Front: Politix
Forgeries traced to Kerry campaign
2004-09-10
"The Prowler" @ American Spectator
EFL & emphasis added; hat tip to the Brothers Judd.
Can we get some sand over here? There's blood on the floor, and I don't want anybody to slip in it...
More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Col. Jerry Killian. The oppo researcher claimed the source was "a retired military officer." According to a DNC staffer, the documents were seen by both senior staff members at the DNC, as well as the Kerry campaign. "More than a couple people heard about the papers," says the DNC staffer. "I've heard that they ended up with the Kerry campaign, for them to decide to how to proceed, and presumably they were handed over to 60 Minutes, which used them the other night. But I know this much. When there was discussion here, there were doubts raised about their authenticity."

The concerns arose from the sourcing. "It wasn't clear that our source for the documents would have had access to them. Our person couldn't confirm from what file, from what original source they came from." . . . A CBS producer, who initially tipped off The Prowler about the 60 Minutes story, says that despite seeking professional assurances that the documents were legitimate, there was uncertainty even among the group of producers and researchers working on the story. . . . The CBS producer said that some alarms bells went off last week when the signatures and initials of Killian on the documents in hand did not match up with other documents available on the public record, but producers chose to move ahead with the story. "This was too hot not to push. If there were doubts, those people didn't show it," says the producer, who works on a rival CBS News program.
So now it's the fact of the forgery that's too hot not to push...
Desparation makes for strange bedfellows.
Now, the producer says, there is growing concern inside the building on 57th Street that they may have been suckered by the Kerry campaign. "There is a school of thought here that the Kerry people dumped this in our laps, figuring we'd do the heavy lifting on the story. That maybe they had doubts about these documents but hoped we'd get more information," says the producer. "If that's the case, then we're bigger fools than we already appear to be judging by all the chatter about how these documents could be forgeries."
Using forgeries to discredit your opponent in an election reveals you to be dishonest and unworthy of political power. Using forgeries that are this easily disproved reveals you to be corrupt and sand-poundingly stupid.

Pop the popcorn, open a cold microbrew, and sit back to watch the mainstream media turn on themselves and on Kerry.
Posted by:Mike

#37  You should see the discussion threads over at DU. They can't decide whether the memos were written on a spiffy new proportional-spacing typewriter with kerned fonts and superscript (and therefore genuine) or were forged and planted by Karl Rove and the Republican-controlled media.

More popcorn and another Christian Moerlein, please.
Posted by: Mike   2004-09-10 3:40:21 PM  

#36  Carl in N.H.: LMAO

Hell, why didn't the Kerry Campaign just have one of their volunteer's kids write the letters in crayons for crying out loud.
Posted by: Anonymous6389   2004-09-10 2:54:08 PM  

#35  All I can say, Dan, is better you then me, kid...
Posted by: Mike Wallace   2004-09-10 2:32:17 PM  

#34  Thats the theory anyways.
Posted by: Anonymous6386   2004-09-10 2:31:10 PM  

#33  I've heard a Clinton's angle on this. Basically the Kerry campaign was fed the docs by the Clintons to effectively take Kerry out and make room for Hillary in 2008.
Its hard for me to think who would be worse.
Posted by: Anonymous6386   2004-09-10 2:30:14 PM  

#32  We're gonna need so much popcorn, we're gonna need the giant Jiffy Pop from "Real Genius".
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-09-10 2:18:31 PM  

#31  Groove on, badanov!
Don't forget the (what I hope will be) HUGE Kerry Lied and Good Men Died Rally in Washington, D.C. on Sunday at 2:00 at the West front of the Capitol building for outraged Vietnam Vets and their supporters--Y'all come and bring your own blanket and beer!
(Of course, we will spend tomorrow respectfully remembering our fellow Americans who were murdered on 9/11/01.)
Posted by: GreatestJeneration   2004-09-10 1:05:13 PM  

#30  Let's not forget - this was an operation by the Kerry campaign, and a horribly incompetent one at that. They need to feel the heat just as bad as CBS. More popcorn!
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2004-09-10 1:02:14 PM  

#29  For further reference, and future use, please see the following link, also mentioned elsewhere:

ACME
Posted by: BigEd   2004-09-10 1:01:40 PM  

#28  I love this scandal! It is absolutely delicious! All the more tasty because it was driven by the blogger patriots of the New Media

Amen to that Jen, baby!

This weekend will be one of the best weekends in years. Consider:

1) CBS, NY Times and Wapo, all turning and slowly roasting on a spit from a scandal they themselves generated.

2) The first weekend after the assault rifle ban is lifted. ( I'm going to the firing range, methinks. )

3) The start of the new NFL season.

4) The second week of NCAA football. Go Pokes!
Posted by: badanov   2004-09-10 12:57:28 PM  

#27  Un-freaking-believable.

Where the hell is HST? This baby just cries out for his handling. How about "The Banshee Screams for Dan Rather" as a title?
Posted by: mojo   2004-09-10 12:48:14 PM  

#26  Suck it up, Dan!
You knew what you were doing...
What kind of slime spends their life interviewing scum bags like Ben Barnes and Saddam Hussein?
I love this scandal! It is absolutely delicious!
All the more tasty because it was driven by the blogger patriots of the New Media.
Posted by: GreatestJeneration   2004-09-10 12:45:33 PM  

#25  Please make it go away...please make it go away...please make it go away...
Posted by: Dan Rather   2004-09-10 12:34:17 PM  

#24  American Spectator, not a paranoid publication. More like National Review's little brother.
{Snicker}
Posted by: BigEd   2004-09-10 12:07:48 PM  

#23  Let me get this straight, CBS is bitching that it got duped by Kerry operatives? When in reality it was CBS's fault for not doing basic journalistic fact checking? Now they blame someone else for their own screw up - pretty par for the course for msm weenies.......can't wait to see them turn on the skerry losers.....
Posted by: Jarhead   2004-09-10 11:44:13 AM  

#22  Moose, Chris Lehane beat you to the punch. But he's one of Clinton's boys who's helping Kery, so that's not a surprise.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-09-10 11:43:26 AM  

#21  60 minutes jumped the shark even before the Fonz did....

I'm sure the Kerry Campain will have a handy scapegoat handy and the MSM will run with it and tell the lie so often people will beleave it.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2004-09-10 11:38:34 AM  

#20  IMHO CBS will have to burn their source and it will turn out to be a DNC or Kerry operative. Do I smell toast?
Posted by: Frank G   2004-09-10 11:30:31 AM  

#19  How long has 60 minutes been on? 30 years?

Did they just jump the shark?
Posted by: spiffo   2004-09-10 11:30:24 AM  

#18  copies several times over
Posted by: Frank G   2004-09-10 11:28:59 AM  

#17  Were these documents purported to be absolutely original or copies of originals? A '70s original would be obviously impact printed.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-09-10 11:23:22 AM  

#16  Don, those Crown Loyalists ended up in Canada World's leading exporter of garbage and Hollywood talent You decide which is which. You're welcome to them back anytime. They spend the summers bitching and moaning about "those american bastards" but spend the winter in Tampa.
Posted by: john   2004-09-10 11:13:22 AM  

#15  Holy smokes! I've just figured this one out. The Kerry campaign were given the forged documents by the Bush campaign! Had the Kerry campaign been smart or honest, they would have checked them out or sat on them. But they thought that they had a hot one, so they sent it to their buddies at CBS, who ran with it, with all the fact checking that the liberal media usually use--none.
An *instant* later, the Bush campaign, or its supporters, have *obvious* proof that they are forgeries. Ready to go as soon as the "60 Minutes" show aired.
So now it gets traced back to the Kerry campaign. No doubt they will bluff and bluster, still not realizing that they were snookered.
To quote Daffy Duck: "Obviously, I am dealing with inferior minds, here!"
Posted by: Anonymoose   2004-09-10 11:09:04 AM  

#14  So true, Chuck. BTW, nice link on Daily Pundit yesterday...
Posted by: Seafarious   2004-09-10 10:54:03 AM  

#13  I haven't had so much fun since that Peter Arnett story about poison gas melted down a couple of years ago.
Can I have my popcorn with a little extra melted butter? Thanks.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom   2004-09-10 10:53:46 AM  

#12  This is how blogging works. Fact checking, research and reporting. All at the speed of light. A story that it took CBS weeks to prepare was obliterated in a matter of hours.

This is the future of news. Old media will be held to the same standard that bloggers are. News has to be well researched, sources cited, corrections noted, and contributors linked. And it all has to be done quickly. The public's right to know is turning in to "the public knows". You don't need to graduate from j-school to write the news in the Internet age.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2004-09-10 10:50:24 AM  

#11  Ah yes... The media bias shown in all of its crowning glory. Never even bothering to check the facts. If it is bad for Bush, RUN IT!! Never mind showing the other side, swift boats, vets, Kerry's voting record....
I love watching the pompous jerks cook in their own juices. Maybe this will force them just to report the facts and leave the propaganda to the politicians. (I know, but I can dream can't I?)
Posted by: mmurray821   2004-09-10 10:48:46 AM  

#10  I can't think of a more fitting end to Dan Rather's career.
Posted by: B   2004-09-10 10:29:54 AM  

#9  Pop the popcorn, open a cold microbrew, and sit back to watch the mainstream media turn on themselves and on Kerry.

Looks like I've got new weekend plans!
Posted by: nada   2004-09-10 10:12:43 AM  

#8  It gives me the vision of a plastic kerry doll being thrown into the fire.

60 minutes's credibility is toast. Their refusal to run the Swift Vet/Cambodia for "lack of evidence" and their willingness to run with such obvious forgeries, has left them naked.
Posted by: B   2004-09-10 9:44:01 AM  

#7  I need to call my cousin Kelly. He's never seen a train wreck.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-09-10 8:53:31 AM  

#6  Having never witnessed it before, I always had a hard time understand why normally rationally good people would participate in the lynching of man because of the color of his skin. The mindless hate and suspension of being human it would take seemed unnatural. Now with the ABB crowd, in and out of the media, I now see but still can't understand the ease with which one can turn off their rational thought process without the aid of drugs or drink. Today George Bush is their N*****. Even with a solid reelection in November I seriously fear for the man in the atmosphere of hate and loathing these people, in and out of the media, have generated. The worst fear, is that President Chaney will not have the ability to hold back the retribution that awaits these people. But then again, tens of thousands of Tories, Crown Loyalist, were driven from the newly created United States and in perspective probably did the new country a blessing rather than a bust.
Posted by: Don   2004-09-10 8:46:33 AM  

#5  Oh my gawd, this is like watching a train full of Imams crush a busload of Al-Qaeda. In slow motion.

Horrifying, yet I can't not watch. And it feels so good.
Posted by: Carl in N.H.   2004-09-10 8:29:59 AM  

#4  I find it hard to believe the DNC is that stupid and/or insane

If the only Democrat operatives you know are both smart and sane, you are one lucky fellow. Where do you live?
Posted by: mhw   2004-09-10 8:06:12 AM  

#3  I find it hard to believe the DNC is that stupid and/or insane. Perhaps the same guy who shopped these to the DNC, also shopped them to CBS. The risks of passing suspected forgeries to a friendly media outlet to run, and risk burning CBS, destroying their credibility, is too great. CBS knows who gave the docs to them. And will have to burn their source in order to protect themselves.
Posted by: Ben   2004-09-10 7:40:30 AM  

#2  Sorry, using forgeries to discredit your opponent shows you to be a politician. But ones this obvious? That is sand-poundingly stupid.

So CBS is going to try to push it back on Kerry? This should be rich.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-09-10 7:37:59 AM  

#1  That crunch sound you just heard was the swift boat of Kerry's campaign grounding on a reef!

With a little luck it will drag Dan Rather and the rest of the left wing media down with it.
Posted by: DanNY   2004-09-10 7:31:38 AM  

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