The Art of Politics

Game, Set, Match

CBS story loses in straight sets...

Completing the outright refutation of the CBS Bush/Guard story, ABC has released an interview with the man who was reportedly asking for a "sugar coat" on Bush's ANG record.

CBS was always on shaky ground with this story. Any time you rely on the words of a dead man, you ask for trouble - and in this case, the words were in documents that turn out to be outright frauds. CBS, reeling from the pressure, produced an interview with Killian's secretary (though reports from the Killian family indicate she was one among a pool of typists) who could do little more than answer leading questions with perception and feelings, such as this one responding to a question asking if Bush received preferential treatment:

?I'm going to say that he did. I feel that he did, because there were a lot other boys in there in the same way."

THIS constitutes corroborating evidence? She has no evidence, direct or indirect, but offers a hunch based on guilt-by-association? Look, it takes no great stretch to imagine that being the son of George Bush helped get you into the ANG, but neither is there any proof, a single shred, that he got in when he should have been excluded.

Now Gen. Staudt has come forward to say that he didn't pull strings, because none needed to be pulled - it's not as if Bush failed his entrance exams, or had a wooden eye. Staudt also said Bush was a fine pilot - borne out by many of the other appraisals on file. He also rejected any notion that he made attempts to create favorable conditions for Bush, a full year after he retired - which verifies in statement what could be assumed by logic, that retired officers don't maintain sway over their old unit a year after the fact.

The only remaining question is how this entire episode damages CBS News, 60 Minutes, and Dan Rather.

It will be a while before anyone watches a CBS News report without a raised eyebrow...

Posted by MEC2 at September 17, 2004 07:45 PM