And then there is Tuesday's New York Times article that cautiously foretells the impending implosion at CBS News over Rathergate: "CBS Offers New Experts to Support Guard Memos":
Several CBS correspondents said in interviews that such developments were making them increasingly nervous ... A longtime correspondent said flatly, "I'm distressed."But this is the paragraph that really caught my attention:
The memos indicated that Mr. Bush had failed to take a physical against orders and that Colonel Killian was being pressured to "sugarcoat" his performance rating because Mr. Bush, whose father was then a Texas congressman, was "talking to somebody upstairs."Actually, no. The memos in question were purportedly dated 1972-73. Bush was in Congress only from 1967-1971. Here is what the Biography of George Herbert Walker Bush from his presidential library has to say about the relevant time period:
During the 1970's, Mr. Bush held a number of important leadership positions. In 1971, he was named U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He served there until 1973, when he became Chairman of the Republican National Committee.But don't pay attention to me. I'm not the Newspaper of Record with a team of editors and fact-checkers. I'm not even "a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas".
I'm in my basement home office. In my underwear!
UPDATE: The major media seem to be caught in the clutches of an epidemic of George H.W. Bush Congressional Term Distortion Fever. Many more case have been sighted, here
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at September 13, 2004 11:11 PMI'm in my basement home office. In my underwear!
I could have lived without that particular bit of imagery.
Posted by: Matt J Kurlander on September 14, 2004 05:45 AMhey, matt and i agree on something!!!!!
rather is cooked unless he allows an investigation and likely performs a big mea culpa. his ego (and sooooooooooooooooooo many others) are too large for 'i'm sorry, i was wrong' so he'll likely just plod away.....much like our current president!!!!
Posted by: dinesh on September 14, 2004 09:36 AMWhile the webbloggers are maligned as just someone "sitting around in their pajamas" (present company excepted), Dan Rather reads the news like someone who just sits around in his pajamas until it's time to go on the air.
Posted by: Gary B on September 14, 2004 05:35 PMI'm confused by why sitting around in pjs is supposed to be an insult.
Are MSM folks so tightly wound that they can't think unless they're primped and preened? Or is it that they can't imagine doing this stuff outside a work environment?
Posted by: Andy Freeman on September 14, 2004 10:14 PMOh come on, Andy, don't be obtuse! The MSM folks do their work in coat and tie (I don't know about pants because they sit behind desks) while bloggers don't even have to dress! Obviously, the guy in the tie has much more gravitas, authority, and integrity than some clown at a keyboard.
Uh, I'd like to point out to all readers that I am wearing a tie myself right now. So far as any of you know. Dinesh, on the other hand, is typing in Care Bears pj's. Not that it means anything.
Posted by: Steve Skubinna on September 15, 2004 02:01 PM