Interesting tidbit from the Rather Report

pp. 129-130

The third troubling excerpt consists of a narration by Rather and a sound bite from Lieutenant Strong’s interview in which Lieutenant Strong is commenting generally regarding the documents:

Narration by Rather: This memo is from August 18, 1973. Colonel Killian titled it "CYA." In it, Colonel Killian says General Buck Staudt, the man in charge of the Texas Air National Guard, is putting on pressure to "sugar coat" an evaluation of Lieutenant Bush. Staudt, a longtime friend and supporter of the Bush family, would not do an interview for this broadcast. The memo goes on with Killian saying "I’m having trouble running interference and doing my job."

Strong Sound Bite: He was trying to deal with a volatile political situation, dealing with the son of an ambassador and a former congressman. He was trying to deal with at least one superior officer, General Staudt, who is closely connected to the Houston political establishment. And I just saw him in an impossible situation. I felt very, very sorry because he was between a rock and a hard place.
(emphasis added).

This Lieutenant Strong sound bite, particularly the quote, "I just saw him in an
impossible situation . . ." (emphasis added) suggests that Lieutenant Strong had personal knowledge about the particulars of Lieutenant Colonel Killian’s alleged difficulties with Lieutenant Bush, which clearly he did not. Moreover, the question assumes that General Staudt was actually in charge of the Texas Air National Guard on August 18, 1973. That was not true, as General Staudt had left the TexANG approximately eighteen months before.

A final Lieutenant Strong excerpt used in the Segment is also troubling:

Narration by Rather: Robert Strong says he saw many well-connected
young men pull strings and avoid service in Vietnam.

Rather: Why would these men do this? Didn’t conscience come into play
somewhere here?

Strong: What you saw here is the way power works. Power begets power. Power goes to power to get more power. And if you have a little bit of power and someone offers you an opportunity to gain more power by doing power a favor, this is what power does. It trades on itself. It feeds on itself. This is the way the system worked. This is the way state government worked, this is the way the Guard worked.

The clear inference from this excerpt is that President Bush was in the TexANG to avoid service in Vietnam. Bush did state in his 1968 TexANG application that he did not volunteer to go overseas. However, Mapes had information prior to the airing of the September 8 Segment that President Bush, while in the TexANG, did volunteer for service in Vietnam but was turned down in favor of more experienced pilots.72 For example, a flight instructor who served in the TexANG with Lieutenant Bush advised Mapes in 1999 that Lieutenant Bush "did want to go to Vietnam but others went first." Similarly, several others advised Mapes in 1999, and again in 2004 before September 8, that Lieutenant Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam but did not have enough flight hours to qualify. The Panel is troubled that this excerpt was used when there was information that contradicted, or at least weakened, the implication of the exchange between Rather and Lieutenant Strong.

The Panel finds that virtually every excerpt used from the Lieutenant Strong interview was either inaccurate or misleading. Indeed, the Panel questions whether any Lieutenant Strong excerpts should have been used at all, given his total lack of personal knowledge.

But no political bias. Mmmm hmmm.

We're still waiting for CBS to interview a Swift Boat Vet for Truth or for ANY member of the MSM to ask John Kerry a difficult question about his post-Nam shenanigans ... more likely we'd see a "Mitchell 2: Benton's Revenge" ...


Rather and pal enjoy a light moment