Rather vs. Bush

[Aught Six]

I received this in an email a few minutes ago. Typical Bush-hating liberal garbage, IMHO.

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Dan Rather, CBS News Anchor

1) given documents he thought were true
2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
4) when challenged, launched an investigation, quickly apologized
5) substance of the bogus documents appears to have been true anyway
6) cost to the world in lives and money: ZERO
7) Bush camp conclusion: should be fired as CBS News Anchor

George W. Bush, President of the United States

1) given documents he thought were true
2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
4) when challenged, stonewalled an investigation, never apologized
5) substance of the bogus documents appears to have been . . . bogus
6) cost to the world in lives and money: INCALCULABLE
7) Bush camp conclusion: four more years!

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Now I'm sure most of us are in agreement concerning the flaws in this kind of logic, but let me point a few things out just in case.

Rather

4) Quickly?!
5) That's what Rather has said, but there is still no credible evidence; Bush was honorably discharged.
6) If the story were to influence the outcome of the election and help Kerry, I'm sure he would do his part to limp-wrist the war on terror and get plenty of people killed.
7) Uh, yeah, just like in the print media.

Bush

1) From our intelligence agencies, along with half the rest of the world's major organizations.
2) You know, Saddam wasn't exactly cooperating with our investigations going back over a decade.
5) Hindsight is 20/20.
6) But how many American lives have been saved through the war on terror, including Iraq? Geography means nothing when our sworn enemies are right there in front of us now.
7) Yep, and unlike Rather's case, the people themselves get to decide.

[DougMD]

Good points. One thing that jumped out at me is that with the memos, many debunked their authenticity upon sight, whereas the whole world "knew" Saddam had WMD's. ALL INTELLIGENCE pointed to it. Rather had NO intelligence claiming they were authentic, because those they referred to as authenticating the memos said they never authenticated anything but the signature.

HUGE DIFFERENCE

[NCOutdoors]

In addition, Rather hasn't yet apologized to the subject of his hit piece - President Bush. He intentionally set about to damage Bush (whether the documents were fake or not) yet feels no obligation to apologize directly to him.

[CalHunter]

Dan Rather, CBS News Anchor

1) given documents he thought were true
Was faxed a "copy" of somebody else's elleged true document on somebody else's letterhead. Even some of Dan's own "experts" had problems with the document and said it was impossible to authenticate a copy and the whole process seemed a little fishy.

2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
Yup. Bigtime.

3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
Presenting documents as true when your own experts are saying I don't think so is known as lying. Based on the informationt hat has come out so far, Rather knew this document was probably a forgery, foolishly tried to pull a fast one and got caught.

4) when challenged, launched an investigation, quickly apologized
When challenged, he stonewalled, then denied he was wrong. Dan didn't launch an investigation till people demanded he resign (self-preservation). Dan still hasn't apologized to the president and keeps saying he let us know if they can later prove the document is true. Duhhhhh You got caught lying Dan. Stop continuing the charade and just fess up.

5) substance of the bogus documents appears to have been true anyway
Based on what evidence? A pool secretary who appears to be less than truthful? A forged document? No evidence to prove this is true at all.

6) cost to the world in lives and money: ZERO
Hard to say there's no cost to the world. If you listen to the North Vietnamese, the anti-war protestors emboldened them and gave them hope to persevere against the U.S. and that resulted in a huge loss of life.

7) Bush camp conclusion: should be fired as CBS News Anchor
Claiming something is true when you have every reason to believe it is false is practically the same thing as lying. Once an anchor has lied in a broadcast, how can you ever trust him to be honest again and why should you?

George W. Bush, President of the United States

1) given documents he thought were true
Bush's experts and others from additional countries all believed the documents and intelligence were true. Bush did rely upon these people.

2) failed to thoroughly investigate the facts
Horse of a slightly different color. Rather is responsible for ensuring the document was investigated. Bush was responsible for ensuring that his intelligence agencies properly investigated and he was advised they had. The buck may stop with Bush but he is correcting the problems. Rather is still busy adding more lies and denials.

3) reported documents to the American people as true to make his case
Reported documents as true when that was his information and understanding.

4) when challenged, stonewalled an investigation, never apologized
I believe he has cooperated with a truly independent investigation (911 Commission) unlike Rather and CBS.

5) substance of the bogus documents appears to have been . . . bogus
The problem appears to have been with the people directly in charge of investigating and forwarding an opinion on the credibility of the document.

6) cost to the world in lives and money: INCALCULABLE
It truly is incaculable as to how many Iraqi lives Bush has saved and others throughout the world. One thing is for certain, we have not had any more 911's since Bush defeated Iraq and captured Hussein.

7) Bush camp conclusion: four more years!
Absolutely!!