Y'know how at the end of THE MALTESE FALCON...

They find out the falcon is just a replica made of lead, and everybody's bummed out and Peter Lorre screeches at Sydney Greenstreet. Very down-beat scene. But then Lorre and Greenstreet realize that they can chase the real falcon back to Scotland or Istanbul or wherever their latest theory says it might be. And then they are hopeful, and rush off in good spirits. They had tried to track down the falcon so long that they were more interested in the chase than the falcon. Perpetual failure actually served their obsession.

This CBS story is an embarrassment that should never have been aired in the first place. Dan Rather isn't a hero, he's a fool. We are being played and seem clueless that we are being played. At this point the story is poison to our electoral chances and may someday turn out to have cost Kerry the election. It's a stone loser any way you look at it. But what the fuck, right? As long as everyone has a good time.

Party on, dudes.

and I know how to cure it.

at first, I felt your posts were somehow "cute", but no longer.

Laters.

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You have to be absolutely sure you have the goods on someone before you go public. The whole thing does make me nervous, although I hope it doesn't hurt Kerry. If he loses the election, however, there will be a number of reasons, not just one.

of some of his supporters. But this story is a net negative at this point.

because I don't know where it's going and whether it will end up biting us in the ass.

I think we're all sure of Bush's complete lack of honor, integrity, etc. etc..... but knowing the media as we do it is very difficult to get excited anymore that THIS IS IT!

Heard that around here a number of times.

But still, it's kind of gratifying to hear this AWOL stuff on the news...some of us have known it for soooo long.

All The President's Men wasn't and we KNOW how that ended.

Everything in the memos is true. There were REAL CYA memos. There was a real order to get a physical.

Whether these are real or fakes made FROM the real documents, it has now been attested to that Bush DID break the rules, disobey orders, and Killian was upset over it because he LIKED him. So did she.

By asserting the memos were forgeries, the GOP and its assassins have pushed the story into many more news cycles.

Spoiled brat. Above reproof. Didn't think rules applied to him. Resented by fellow officers.

The story has legs and it's dancing.

His Daddy's friends arranged it for him, and he spent most of his time "On Vacation"...

...conspire in plain sight to frame Wilmer Cook (played brilliantly by Elisa Cook Jr) for the killings. The two lay out their audacious plan right in front of the outraged Wilmer, who, even though he has a gun, seems powerless to stop it.

We're nearing the end of that scene now...and it remains to be seen whether Wilmer gets framed...or he uses his gun to turn the tables on the two conspirators.

Do you think he'd put himself on the line for something unvetted?

If so, do you think he'd continue to go after it when everyone is calling him a liar?

If he discovers he was snookered, he'll admit it. This is not a 20 year old eager beaver. Dan Rather isn't going down for nothing.

Meanwhile this has nothing to do with Kerry, which is as it should be.

...this can only hurt Kerry if it's traced directly back to the campaign. I don't believe that for a moment. I am starting to wonder about that source that was named earlier, the ANG guy who was pissed off - what was his name? It started with a B. If he knew those records once existed but had been destroyed to protect Bush, and HE retyped them on a typewriter - NOT Word, that's just silly - then how does that harm Kerry? It doesn't, it's a sidebar, with the resulting benefit showing that Bush's "leadership" and "courage" are a fraud.

And if Rove did do this, and it's traced back to the WH, how does that hurt Kerry? It doesn't.

WE didn't create this situation, all anyone here did was (1) try to reproduce the documents exactly as they are (couldn't) or (2) try to discredit the ridiculous theory that they could be created in Word (debunked) and (3) encourage Rather to pursue the truth, which he's doing, come hell or high water.

....I think we can say whatever we want. But, I doubt that any of this will be resolved by election day. It's a mere distraction unless something does turn up.