Howard Kurtz: Rather Defends CBS Over Memos on Bush

Rather Defends CBS Over Memos on Bush

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 11, 2004; Page A07

The Dallas Morning News cast fresh doubt on the documents by reporting last night that the officer named in one memo as exerting pressure to "sugarcoat" Bush's military record was discharged a year and a half before the memo was written. The paper cited a military record showing that Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt was honorably discharged on March 1, 1972, while the memo cited by CBS as showing that Staudt was interfering with evaluations of Bush was dated Aug. 18, 1973.

<snip>

Asked if he was troubled by the handwriting and document analysts who say some of the typography and spacing did not exist in the early 1970s, Rather said he could not rule out the possibility of a hoax but sees no need for an internal inquiry.

Some CBS employees, who asked not to be identified while questioning their bosses' actions, expressed concern that the network had issued only a terse statement Thursday, when the authenticity of the documents was first questioned and until yesterday had refused to name any of the experts it had consulted or provide an on-the-record spokesman. One staff member, who has examined the documents but did not work on the "60 Minutes" piece, saw potential problems with them: "There's a lot of sentiment that we should do an internal investigation."

"The first rule of public relations is to get all the bad news out right away," said Tobe Berkovitz, associate dean of Boston University's College of Communication. "It looks like CBS News has made some serious errors here, and if so, they should plead nolo contendere and not do the perp walk later."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12809-2004Sep10.html

That should be very easy to check out, and if he was discharged a year and a half before he was messing with officer evaluations, it would cast doubt on one of the CBS documents.

The guy could very well still have been meddling. It's all political shit.

Retired Col. Earl Lively, who was director of Air National Guard operations for the state headquarters during 1972 and 1973 said Col. Staudt "wasn't on the scene" after he left, and that CBS' remote-bullying thesis makes no sense.

"He couldn't bully them. He wasn't in the Guard," Col. Lively said. "He couldn't affect their promotions. Once you're gone from the Guard, you don't have any authority."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/091104dnpolguard.117c8.html

From my own experience, I have seen many colonels and generals retire and come back working for a defense contractor. Their influence with their former subordinates is next to nill!

The whole thing was a massive good-ole-boy network. People getting their kids in and out of the guard, everybody with skeletons in their closets, all kinds of CYA going on. The guy was playing politics after retirement. It's typical.

Look at the Chimp's dad. He's still involved in all kinds of shit.

how about an internal investigation on Bush or Halliburton?

Is NOT what one Tobe Berkovitz says it is- I've known too many self interested and/or downright stupid professors in my day to even discuss the likes of that.

The first rule of public relations is to know your audience and tailor your message accordingly.

That's something that the Kerry camp has failed to do (and something that the Dean camp failed to do on the windswept plains of Iowa).

The Washington Post (or any other so called "news organization") can always find a Tobe Berkovitz who will say something, no matter how dumb, to support their preconceived position.

And if this post sounds a little bitter and a touch jaded, it is....

You read right.