Was There GOP Involvement In Rather Memos?

[Nbadan]

At least one Rupert Murdoch paper says, maybe....


The hot rumor in New York political circles has Roger Stone, the longtime GOP activist, as the source for Dan Rather's dubious Texas Air National Guard "memos."

The irony would be delicious, since Rather became famous confronting President Nixon, in whose service a very young Stone became associated with political "dirty tricks."

Reached at his Florida home, Stone had no comment.

Yahoo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=106&ncid=742&e=1&u=/nypost/20040920/cm_nypost/thetruthaboutriflestatistics)

I told ya it would come full circle back to Rove. :lol

[xrayzebra]

You got hope, sucker!
:elephant :elephant :elephant :elephant :elephant :elephant :elephant

[Nbadan]

Roger J. Stone, Jr. is a long-time Republican dirty-tricks operative who led the mob that shut down the Miami-Dade County recount and helped make George W. Bush president in 2000. He was also a campaign strategist during the presidential campaigns of Presidents Nixon, Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush. He is the chairman of the Fort Hill Group, a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm.

Stone was also a strategist for the 1981 and 1985 campaigns for governor of New Jersey by Thomas H. Kean, who was later appointed by President Bush to chair the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission). <1>

During the 2004 presidential primary, Stone served as a behind-the-scenes consultant to black firebrand Al Sharpton's campaign to win the Democratic Party nomination, prompting speculation that Sharpton's campaign was actually a stealth operation to weaken the party's chances of winning in the general election. Writing in the Village Voice, Wayne Barrett noted that Stone was "financing, staffing, and orchestrating the presidential campaign of Reverend Al Sharpton. ... Sharpton has a little- noticed history of Republican machinations inconsistent with his fiery rhetoric. ... ny Sharpton- connected outrage against the party could either lower black turnout in several key close states, or move votes to Bush." <2>

...more...

Disinfopedia (http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Roger_J._Stone,_Jr)

[Nbadan]

This guy is really shady...


excerpt:

Stone’s history as a Republican operative goes back to the Nixon era, when as a teenager he infiltrated the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern on behalf of the Committee to Re-Elect the President, according to the Jan. 25 edition of the New York Times.

...more...

Berkeley Daily Planet (http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?archiveDate=08-20-04&storyID=19452)

[Yonivore]

I'm sorry, I missed the link between this Stone guy and the Rather scandal.

Didn't Gunga Dan already say he got the memos from Bill Burkett in exchange for Mary Mapes hooking Burkett up with the Kerry Campaign?

Didn't Burkett already say he got the memos from some chick?

Again, where's the connection?

You sure don't hold the same standard of proof for your wild theories as you do for allegations of wrongdoing on the part of Demoncrats, do you?

[Tommy Duncan]

danny boy is so desperate he's quoting the NY Post now. As for paranoia, well that's a given.

[Nbadan]

Well, here we go...


Career: In the years of the Watergage scandal, Karl Rove's career as a big-time political handler began with a motley crew of friends and associates. He was chairman of the College Republicans when George Herbert Walker Bush was chairman of the state Republican Party in 1973. He won the presidency of the College Republicans in a race against Terry Dolan.

The late Lee Atwater, who later became famous as the political attack dog for the Reagan-Bush team, managed Rove's campaign. Dolan went on to become a Soft Money pioneer by helping form the National Conservative Political Action Committee, then died of AIDS in 1986 at age 36. Dolan's advisers in his loss to Rove were Charlie Black, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. Those three were later instrumental in the success of Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign.

Famous Texans (http://www.famoustexans.com/karlrove.htm)

[Yonivore]

Again, I see no mention of memos, CBS, Dan Rather, Air National Guard, or forgeries...

[Tommy Duncan]

Oh good, a "rumor" starts in "New York political circles" that just happens to link Rove with someone.

If Burkett obtained those memos from a GOP operative don't you think he would have mentioned that by now? Ditto for Rather and Mapes.

Try again.

[Yonivore]

Nbadanallah is playing the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon," game.

I bet we could tie Bill Clinton to Karl Rove!

[Tommy Duncan]

Also, said "rumor" does nothing to address the Rather blatant partisanship on the part of CBS as well as the contacts between the Kerry campaign, the DNC, and CBS.

This "rumor" is just a simple diversionary tactic to try to deflect the heat that is developing over the apparent coordination between the Kerry campaign, DNC, and CBS in attacking the president.

[Yonivore]

<< Not diverted. Neither is the general public.

I'm still watching for Dan Rather's head to explode on National T.V.

[Tommy Duncan]

Oops. Guess I was wrong...


www.crankyneocon.com/cran...maste.html (http://www.crankyneocon.com/crankyneocon/2004/09/karl_rove_maste.html)

http://www.crankyneocon.com/crankyneocon/images/postrove.jpg




Karl Rove, Mastermind

"I just can't contain myself any longer!" crowed Rove during a routine White House press briefing. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel. I am un-f***ing stoppable!"

Rove revealed that he orchestrated the entire forged document scandal including duping CBS' Dan Rather into doing a segment on Bush's National Guard service.

"If they weren't so damned predictable, this might actually be work," said Rove, laughing.

"I mean, think about it," Rove continued, "for eight months they are throwing [Michael] Moore, Kennedy and anyone else who'll say on camera that Bush is a no good Nazi.

"We come in with the Swifties - Pow! right where it hurts - they've gotta come back with George's Guard service. Bam! stepped right into that one! Kerry calls Barnes. Barnes calls Rather. Any idiot could see that one coming a mile away."

Asked why he is revealing what may be the crowning achievement in his long and successful career as a campaign strategist, Rove replied "because it gets a bit tiring seeing McAuliffe look like a smacked a$$ all the time."

[Yonivore]

Well I'll be.

I'm sorry to have doubted you Nbadanallah.

[SpursWoman]

"because it gets a bit tiring seeing McAuliffe look like a smacked a$$ all the time."


:lol

[Yonivore]

...this ain't over yet.


CBS Faces New Charges Over Discredited Bush Report (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6297001)

"NEW YORK - CBS News faced new charges of journalistic impropriety on Tuesday, a day after the network said it regretted using questionable documents in a report challenging President Bush's military service. At issue was a report in USA Today that the source of the documents gave them to CBS only after the network agreed to arrange a conversation between the source and the presidential campaign of Bush's opponent, Democratic Sen. John Kerry."
What'd I tell'ya?

[Tommy Duncan]

No matter where the documents came from CBS allowed itself to be taken by them. All they had to do was do their fucking job instead of letting their bias get in their way and there wouldn't have been a problem.

Now as to the documents themselves. What is more likely, that a crackpot with a history of hatred for Bush thought he could create some fake memos or that someone with the GOP thought they could create documents on MS Word that would fool CBS News? If you are going to create a document from the 1970s isn't the first thing that crosses your mind is that you better get a typewriter? Perhaps, unless you are Bill Burkett.

[Yonivore]

Don't forget, if the Karl had a hand in this, he had to convince Bill Burkett (someone probably not on the White House Christmas card list) to take the fall.

How likely is that?

[Nbadan]

Now as to the documents themselves. What is more likely, that a crackpot with a history of hatred for Bush thought he could create some fake memos or that someone with the GOP thought they could create documents on MS Word that would fool CBS News? If you are going to create a document from the 1970s isn't the first thing that crosses your mind is that you better get a typewriter? Perhaps, unless you are Bill Burkett.

The growing suspicion is that these documents were not created to fool Dan Rather and CBS, but to try and entrap the Kerry campaign into colluding with Burkett using the fake documents as bait. Of course, the only way to prove this is to get Stone or someone else who may have had knowledge of the conspiracy to talk.

The whole DNC-Burkett scenarios being repeated religiously on right-wing radio and Fox News is a last ditch effort to try and turn investigators and the press in the wrong direction as the heat closes in on the real perpetrators of this scam.

[Tommy Duncan]

Now that's a convoluted scenario and it's the nonsense being spewed by Lockhart and McAuliffe to cover their own asses right now.

Here we have Lockhart and Cleland, both a part of the Kerry campaign, in contact with Burkett.

www.nytimes.com/2004/09/2...guard.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/politics/campaign/22guard.html)


Mr. McCurry said that Mr. Lockhart had approached Mary Beth Cahill, Mr. Kerry's campaign manager, in the last few days to tell her that he had had a brief telephone conversation with Mr. Burkett. Ms. Cahill, he said, told Mr. Kerry, who did not think anything needed to be done in response.

Mr. McCurry said that he believed that the only other contact was a telephone conversation between Mr. Burkett and former Senator Max Cleland of Georgia, a prominent Kerry supporter among veterans.


We also have Rather saying he got the documents from Burkett.

I mean at least try not to look stupid and desperate sometime.

[CrazyOne]

Two words for Dan...

Occam's Razor


Why is it that I hear a voice-over from Jon Lovitz saying "it could happen.." after every post from Dan? :wacko

[Yonivore]

"The growing suspicion is that these documents were not created to fool Dan Rather and CBS, but to try and entrap the Kerry campaign into colluding with Burkett using the fake documents as bait. Of course, the only way to prove this is to get Stone or someone else who may have had knowledge of the conspiracy to talk."

"The whole DNC-Burkett scenarios being repeated religiously on right-wing radio and Fox News is a last ditch effort to try and turn investigators and the press in the wrong direction as the heat closes in on the real perpetrators of this scam."
If that's the case, Nbadanallah, then the Kerry Campaign should have had the ethical fortitude of the Gore Campaign and distanced themselves from the whole mess.

Why did Joe Lockhart call Bill Burkett at the request of CBS Producer Mary Mapes?

Why would self-proclaimed "document expert" Bill Burkett fall for the forgeries?

Why are CBS and Burkett so reluctant to talk about where the memos actually came from?

You're as full of shit as Rather.

[Tommy Duncan]

Yeah no kidding. All that Rather and Mapes would have had to do is their job and they wouldn't have found themselves in this mess.

[SpursWoman]

Why is it that I hear a voice-over from Jon Lovitz saying "it could happen.." after every post from Dan?




:lol :lol :rollin


I love that character. :)

[Yonivore]

Or, "yeah....that's the ticket!"

[Tommy Duncan]

iowahawk.typepad.com/iowa...mpter.html (http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2004/09/my_teleprompter.html)

MY TELEPROMPTER IS DEADLY
Excerpts from the new Inspector Dan Rather Mystery by David Burge

It was a slow September night in Manhattan. The kind of sweaty summer night where the mean streets of Gotham run wild with the shadowy scum of the Republican National Convention. The kind of night where mysteries are born. The kind of night I live for.

My name is Rather. And I’m a dick.

I stabbed out a Lucky into my Watergate Hotel ashtray, a sentimental little souvenir I picked up after my first big scoop (Dan Rather #1 - the Case of the Phantom CREEPs), and peered through the Venetian blinds of my 53rd Street office. I polished the lens on my camera.

It had been over a year since my last big investigation, a nasty little blackmail plot against an eccentric Baghdad Hills tycoon (Dan Rather #24: The Tikrit Orchid), and rent was overdue. I needed a scoop, and I needed one fast. My rabbit foot was working, because a scoop soon came waltzing through the door. In silk stockings.

“Gotta light, handsome?” asked the 32-30-41 silhoutte leaning on the frame.

Mapes. I hadn’t seen her since Dan Rather #27 - The Secret of Abu Ghraib. She was a dangerous dame with dangerous gams – and a nose for Republican plots.

“Hello, Mary,” I sneered, pushing back the rim of my fedora with a Sony microphone.

“’Smatter, Daniel? I thought you’d happy to see me,” she purred, filing her nails.

“Happy ain’t the word, doll. You’re lucky I didn’t drop you like a bad habit after you burned me on the Lynndie England caper. You gotta case for me, or is this strictly a…. social call?”

“All of the above, Danny Boy. Got time for a little gossip?”

“Depends on the gossip-ee, I suppose.”

“Suppose I told you it concerned a little mumble-mouth guy from Texas.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Do the words ‘Texas Air National Guard’ ring a bell?”

“You know my fee, doll. Twenty-five grand a broadcast, plus expenses.”

I poured a hot cup of muddy joe into my CBS News logo cup. It was going to be a long night.

*************************

Burkett had the gaunt, hollow look of a man who had crossed paths with Bush crew. I knew it far too well. He was scared, and would probably clam up if I didn’t turn the screws.

“Where did you get these memos?” I demanded.

“An Air Force Admiral. She was a, um, Mexican dame… yeah… Lucy Ricardo,” he stammered. “That’s it, yeah. She smuggled the papers to me in… uh… a bottle of Vita-meata-vegamin.”

That was all I needed. I called HQ and booked a segment on Sixty Minutes II.

“And she had a friend name Ethel,” he added. "An a conga band."

****************************

Although Lt. Kurtz was a media cop, I knew he wanted the Bush gang on ice as bad as me. I decided to confront him, point blank.

“Give it to me straight, flatfoot,” I demanded. “What in the name of Edward R. Murrow is going on here?”

“I’m saying you’ve been played like a pawn shop fiddle, Rather. Set up. Conned. Slipped a mickey.”

“What are you implying Kurtz?”

“Snookered. Bamboozled. Flimflammed. They sold you a first class ticket to the Palookaville snipe hunt on the Gullible Express.”

“And so you’re saying….”

“You’ve been duped, Danny. Fooled. Had. You were wedgied, pantsed, and paraded around town in your skidmarked B.V.D.s. ”

“Stop talking in code, Howie,” I snapped. “I need the truth!”

“Oh for crissakes, read the freaking blogs, Rather!” he snapped.

Hmm… ‘blogs’… it echoed around my mind... who, or what, were these ‘blogs’ he hinted about? Playing a hunch, I booked a berth on the next Zephyr to L.A.

*************************

I bulldogged the wheel of my Hudson down Topanga Canyon, its whitewalls squealing a noisy complaint as I skidded through its treacherous curves. Johnson’s Schwinn Black Phantom was fast, but no match for my Hornet straight-8 flathead. I sped alongside and threw my door into the frantically pedaling hophead, and set him flying down an embankment in his green zoot-suit. I slid down and put him in a half-nelson.

“Going somewhere, Charlie?” I asked. “See, I’m looking for a tutor. Somebody who knows something about … ‘Microsoft Word.’”

“Cheese it, fuzz, I know my rights,” he mumbled. I cranked the armlock tighter, and not just for persuasion. Johnson played in several jazz combos and there was a good chance he might be juiced on reefer pills.

“Cut the cute stuff, wise guy! Who is Power Line? Who is Captain Ed? What in the hell is a kern?”

Johnson began laughing uncontrollably. It was obvious he was on narcotics, and he would have to sleep it off before he would talk, and then...

The blunt thud of the blackjack rang in my ears, A sharp pain.

Lights out.

*************************

“Rise and shine, meester Rather,” came the familiar voice echoing through the opium haze. “Eets playtime for leetle network gumshoes.”

“Allahpundit,” I mumbled, clutching the welt throbbing at the back of my skull. “I should’ve smelled your pachouli all over this caper. What’s up with the pajamas? They’re almost as ugly as you are.”

“Oh Danny, my friend, why do you be so mean to me? I always be nice to you,” he pouted, tossing back the tassel on his fez as he took another sickly-sweet drag from the hookah. “I even brought you a leetle playmate.”

I didn’t have to look for him. The ice-cold steel of the cowbell jabbing into my ribcage was the unmistakable calling card of Allahpundit’s sadistic goon, Ace.

“Who put you up to this?” I grimaced… “INDC? Buckhead?”

“Shut your yap, Rather,” said Ace, cuffing me with the butt of his cowbell. “We’re in the interviewer seat now.”

I clenched my jaw when I saw a new interrogator enter the filthy room, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. God, no... it was Goldstein.

***************************

“Let me get this straight, Professor,” I pushed, “you claim you’ve never received a single telegram from the White House? The RNC?”

“I’m terribly sorry, Inspector, I’m afraid I haven’t the slightest idea what you are talking about,” he sighed, lazily tamping his meerschaum pipe.”May I offer you a glass of brandy? It’s an excellent vintage.”

Oh, yeah, this Reynolds character was good. It was clear how he rose to the top of the Blog underworld.

“No thanks Professor, I only drink when I’m happy. By the way, those pajamas… where did you get them?”

“A, heh… gift from the InstaWife,” he said, a slight twitch in his voice.

“Goodness, look at the time,” he interjected. “If you’ll excuse me, I have examinations to grade. Please allow me to see you to the door, Inspector.”

“Just one more thing, Professor,” I said as we reached the tiled portico. “Do you know why Tennessee fans wear orange?”

“You seem to know quite a bit, Inspector,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Perhaps you can tell me.”

“Saturday for the game, Sunday for huntin’, and weekdays to pick up trash in the road ditches.”

He slammed the massive door of InstaManor in my face.

***********************

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

What could the cryptic note from McAuliffe mean? Maybe this caper was finally driving me nuts. It had more turns than a holstein’s digestive tract and more cul-de-sacs than an Orlando subdivision. Even the attack by Frank J's psychotic assassin monkeys made more sense. I stared again at the message, struggling for clues...

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

An Italian connection? Possibly Berlusconi, but… wait… were my eyes were playing tricks? The message seemed fluid, evanescent, colors fading… yes! How could I have missed it before? McAuliffe had used disappearing ink!

I stared, transfixed, as the risers on the ‘M’ slowly evaporated… It wasn’t ‘ROME.’










It was ROVE.