Hook Dem
09-29-2004, 10:43 AM
Dan Rather Working With Leftist Anti-War Group
CBS Promotes Draft Hoax
| September 28, 2004
Daniel Irvin Rather must be a masochist. You'd think that in the midst of the terrible publicity he is currently getting for working closely with a partisan Democrat bent on bringing down President Bush that Dan Rather would have the good sense to lay off the liberal bias for a while. But common sense seems to be in short supply at CBS News these days.
Three weeks after he denounced the internet as being "filled with rumors <ratherbiased.com/news/con...ew/213/2/> (http://ratherbiased.com/news/content/view/213/2/>) ," the embattled CBS anchor ran a story on his Tuesday "Evening News" program hoping to stir up fear of an impending military draft.
In a story that was a textbook example of slipshod reporting, CBS reporter Richard Schlesinger used debunked <www.factcheck.org/article...docID=200> (http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=200>) internet hoax emails </mail.prairienet.org/pipe...0080.html> (https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/higher-fire/2004-June/000080.html>) and an unlabeled interest group member to scare elderly "Evening" viewers into believing that the U.S. government is poised to resume the draft.
At the center of Schlesinger's piece was a woman named Beverly Cocco, a Philadelphia woman who is "sick to my stomach" that her two sons might be drafted. In his report, Schlesinger claimed that Cocco was a Republican and portrayed her as an apolitical (even Republican) mom worried about the future.
Schlesinger did not disclose that Cocco is a chapter president <www.nodraft.info/contact.html> (http://www.nodraft.info/contact.html>) of an advocacy group called People Against the Draft <www.nodraft.info/> (http://www.nodraft.info/>) (PAD) which, in addition to opposing any federal proscription, seeks to establish a "peaceful, rational foreign policy" by bringing all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Like Schlesinger's Cocco, the group portrays itself as "nonpartisan"although its leadership seems to be entirely bereft of any Republicans.
The group's domain is registered to a man named Jacob Levich, a left-wing activist who in a 2001 essay <www.commondreams.org/view...22-07.htm> (http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0922-07.htm>) compared the Bush Administration to the totalitarian government portrayed in George Orwell's 1984.
PAD also lists Anita Dutt, a Green Party activist <www.bronxgreens.org/pgmeetings.html> (http://www.bronxgreens.org/pgmeetings.html>) who is also a member of an anti-war group called Bronx Action for Justice and Peace <bronxpeace.org/> (http://bronxpeace.org/>) . In a March 3, 2003 New York Times profile of the group reprinted <www.bronxpeace.org/nytimes.htm> (http://www.bronxpeace.org/nytimes.htm>) on the organization's web site, Heidi Hynes, one of its leaders, said of her fellow members that "none of us are Republicans."
Also left out of the CBS story was the fact that while there are two bills in Congress that are seeking to reestablish the draft, both of them (S-89 <thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/qu...108hg1Gd0> (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c108:./temp/~c108hg1Gd0>) and HR-163 <thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bd....r.00163:> (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.00163:>) ) are sponsored exclusively by Democrats and have been pronounced DOA by the Republican leadership.
The Draft Hoax is also being heavily promoted by CBS' sister station, MTV, which is also owned by VIACOM and works hand-in-hand with Rock the Vote.
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Notice New York liberal Democrat Charles Rangel shown as the original creator and sponsor of the House verson of the bill, and Sen. Ernest Hollings, Democrat from South Carolina as sponsor of the Senate version of the Bill. House cosponsors are also all Democrats. Bush does not support this bill.
CBS Promotes Draft Hoax
| September 28, 2004
Daniel Irvin Rather must be a masochist. You'd think that in the midst of the terrible publicity he is currently getting for working closely with a partisan Democrat bent on bringing down President Bush that Dan Rather would have the good sense to lay off the liberal bias for a while. But common sense seems to be in short supply at CBS News these days.
Three weeks after he denounced the internet as being "filled with rumors <ratherbiased.com/news/con...ew/213/2/> (http://ratherbiased.com/news/content/view/213/2/>) ," the embattled CBS anchor ran a story on his Tuesday "Evening News" program hoping to stir up fear of an impending military draft.
In a story that was a textbook example of slipshod reporting, CBS reporter Richard Schlesinger used debunked <www.factcheck.org/article...docID=200> (http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=200>) internet hoax emails </mail.prairienet.org/pipe...0080.html> (https://mail.prairienet.org/pipermail/higher-fire/2004-June/000080.html>) and an unlabeled interest group member to scare elderly "Evening" viewers into believing that the U.S. government is poised to resume the draft.
At the center of Schlesinger's piece was a woman named Beverly Cocco, a Philadelphia woman who is "sick to my stomach" that her two sons might be drafted. In his report, Schlesinger claimed that Cocco was a Republican and portrayed her as an apolitical (even Republican) mom worried about the future.
Schlesinger did not disclose that Cocco is a chapter president <www.nodraft.info/contact.html> (http://www.nodraft.info/contact.html>) of an advocacy group called People Against the Draft <www.nodraft.info/> (http://www.nodraft.info/>) (PAD) which, in addition to opposing any federal proscription, seeks to establish a "peaceful, rational foreign policy" by bringing all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Like Schlesinger's Cocco, the group portrays itself as "nonpartisan"although its leadership seems to be entirely bereft of any Republicans.
The group's domain is registered to a man named Jacob Levich, a left-wing activist who in a 2001 essay <www.commondreams.org/view...22-07.htm> (http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0922-07.htm>) compared the Bush Administration to the totalitarian government portrayed in George Orwell's 1984.
PAD also lists Anita Dutt, a Green Party activist <www.bronxgreens.org/pgmeetings.html> (http://www.bronxgreens.org/pgmeetings.html>) who is also a member of an anti-war group called Bronx Action for Justice and Peace <bronxpeace.org/> (http://bronxpeace.org/>) . In a March 3, 2003 New York Times profile of the group reprinted <www.bronxpeace.org/nytimes.htm> (http://www.bronxpeace.org/nytimes.htm>) on the organization's web site, Heidi Hynes, one of its leaders, said of her fellow members that "none of us are Republicans."
Also left out of the CBS story was the fact that while there are two bills in Congress that are seeking to reestablish the draft, both of them (S-89 <thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/qu...108hg1Gd0> (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c108:./temp/~c108hg1Gd0>) and HR-163 <thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bd....r.00163:> (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.00163:>) ) are sponsored exclusively by Democrats and have been pronounced DOA by the Republican leadership.
The Draft Hoax is also being heavily promoted by CBS' sister station, MTV, which is also owned by VIACOM and works hand-in-hand with Rock the Vote.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notice New York liberal Democrat Charles Rangel shown as the original creator and sponsor of the House verson of the bill, and Sen. Ernest Hollings, Democrat from South Carolina as sponsor of the Senate version of the Bill. House cosponsors are also all Democrats. Bush does not support this bill.