EFFORTPOST My very first effortpost on the new site! We're going old school and covering the rathergate event

Before there was Trump there was Reagan. He also drove them insane. After Reagan there was Bush sr who didn't drive them insane but only had one term. Them there was Bush jr who also drove them insane, but why is a story for another time.

But this story isn't about him. It's a tale of hubris and the downfall of the last of the great newsmen. Who actually weren't great but that is a story for another time.

Dan Rather

Dan Dan the looney man

Dan Rather was a news broadcaster who was always slightly off.

For three broadcasts he'd stare straight at the camera and say “Courage”. It was Freaky and they made him stop.

He got attacked by a crazy homeless man who kept going “Kenneth what is the frequency?”

REM made a song about it

He replaced Walter Conkrite as the CBS newsreader.

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1980/2/15/cbs-will-replace-walter-cronkite-with/

Walter Conkrite hated him so much CBS had to bribe him with a network deal to get him to shut up

https://nypost.com/2012/05/17/darn-rather/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145888/He-wanted-destroy-New-book-reopens-war-Walter-Cronkite-Dan-Rather.html

https://theguardian.com/media/2005/mar/13/business.theobserver

Then in the 2004 election Dan Rather tried to eat an elephant and choked to death.

John Kerry was the 2004 Democratic nominee and was getting slaughtered in the polls because all his old army buddies hated his guts for calling them baby killers and were not afraid to say it out loud.

The journ*lists were searching high and low for proof about George Bush's service in The Air National guard to offset this.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/my-role-in-rathergate_b_65222/amp

Doonsbury creator Trudeau offered cash to anyone who could prove it

https://apnews.com/general-news-movies-domestic-news-domestic-news-arts-and-entertainment-e04cf6da2cea421bbe768a4d64f2faba

He got nothing

Dan Rather and Mary Mapes, a leftist journ*list with an axe to grind, got the scoop on Bush using the Texas national air guard to draft dodge thanks to a meMo given to them by Bill Burkett, a maniac with a grudge.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/rathergate-what-were-they-thinking/article745948/

If you think I'm being unkind to Bill Burkett here he is in his own words.

https://onlinejournal.com/bush/031903Burkett/031903burkett.html

He claimed to have overheard someone talking about “needing to scrub Bush's Vietnam record”, then claimed he was transferred to Panama as punishment for refusing to falsify George Bush's record.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/wbna6055867

https://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Memos-possible-source-attacked-Bush-in-past-1662582.php

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2004/09/15/bill-burkett/

Then it turned out the documents were obvious fakes .

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/wbna6055248

As revealed by free republic by a man named Harry MadDougald https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3347939/posts

They were supposedly typed but were in Times New Roman font

Michael Moore was offered the same documents by the lunatic with a grudge but declined

https://jakesav.in/2004/10/04/steven-clemons-moore-was-offered-same-killian-forgeries-that-b-word-slapped-cbs-and-dan-rather/

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1219050/posts

They had been faxed to CBS office from a Kinko fifty miles from Burkett's house. He claimed he burnt the originals. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24635-2004Sep15.html

Confirmed

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/09/14/expert-cited-by-cbs-says-he-didnt-authenticate-papers/012e601d-b47f-4d4c-974d-599f54963468/

fakes

https://www.thomasphinney.com/tag/killian/

Again

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/?p=1198527

And

https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/fw.pdf

Confirmed

https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/fw2.pdf

Again

https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/bush.html

And

https://creativepro.com/the-digital-dish-making-headlines-not-setting-them/

Again

https://www.aufamily.com/topic/10555-cbs-experts-warned-cbs-they-were-forgeries/

And

https://www.physics.smu.edu/pseudo/Hoaxes/cbsmemos/index.html

again

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/opinion/those-discredited-memos.html

And

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2004/09/10/killian-memo-update-3/

Again

https://www.drexdoclab.com/certifying-documents-what-we-learned-from-dan-rather/

And

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/10435/dan-rather-on-reddit-no-one-proved-that-bush-documents-were-forged/

Again

https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/t47br/dan_rather_on_george_w_bush_report_we_reported_a/

And

https://www.blueridgenow.com/story/news/2004/11/05/forgery-for-dummies-democrats/28160027007/

again

Bush said they were fake

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/politics/campaign/bush-says-questions-about-guard-memos-used-by-cbs-need-to.html

The secretary said she never wrote them

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Texas-Guard-secretary-says-she-didn-t-type-Bush-2725014.php

Killian's son said his dad didn't write like that

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/wbna5956461

Killian's son went on fox news and talked about how the memo's were fake

https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/killian-cbs-docs-smear-my-father

Killian's unit chief thought they were fake

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-guard-memos-questioned/

The Coperate media call them “fake but accurate”

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA127162736&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=0010194X&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon~b8da07ea&aty=open-web-entry

But Bush would probably lose a lawsuit

https://old.reddit.com/r/Ask_Lawyers/comments/fgc6lv/rathergate/

But the New York times said forging the memos was probably a felony

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/opinion/first-find-the-forger.html

So Mary Mapes and Dan Rather got fired

There was an investigation

They released a report

The New York times book review didn't like it but who gives a shit about them?

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2005/05/12/the-flawed-report-on-dan-rather-an-exchange/

Bill Burkett, a crazy man with the innsmouth look, complained that the investigation ruined his reputation

https://www.salon.com/2005/02/22/burkett_letter/

They're still blaming Karl Rove

https://www.salon.com/2015/10/17/rathergate_and_the_dark_magic_of_2004_when_the_gop_learned_how_to_subvert_truth_and_alter_political_reality/

Walter Cronkite says he's a dumbass

https://ew.com/article/2005/03/10/dan-rather-signs-courage/

The feeling was mutual

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2023/06/09/dan-rather-documentary-interview/70306876007/

Dan Rather still defends the documents

https://ew.com/article/2015/11/02/dan-rather-defends-truth/

No really

https://danratherjourn*list.org/investigative-journ*list/60-minutes-ii/record

Dan Rather still says he's a victim

https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/182tx8/i_am_dan_rather_former_anchor_for_cbs_evening/

He even sued for it

https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/7m26s/dan_rathers_70m_lawsuit_likely_to_deal_bush/

https://dummiefunnies.blogspot.com/2007/09/rather-files-70-million-lawsuit-against.html?m=1

https://dummiefunnies.blogspot.com/2007/09/rather-files-70-million-lawsuit-against.html?m=1

And lost

Mother jones, a leftwing rag, agrees

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/04/bush-national-guard-story-lives/

Other leftist say he was set up

https://www.democracynow.org/2004/9/21/killing_the_messenger_who_gave_rather

Mary Mapes is still a part of the loser lecture tour

https://www.mountholyokenews.com/campus-life/2021/2/11/journ*list-mary-mapes-visits-mount-holyoke-to-discuss-movie-truth

Mary Mapes wrote a book about it and how she helped the insane Mr Burkett contact the Kerry campaign

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2005/11/09/lashing-back-over-the-memo-scandal/416c0a68-f395-4e43-a3bb-a075279df41f/

https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2015/november/mary-mapes-60-minutes-truth-movie/

Hollywood made a movie celebrating Dan Rather as a modern day saint. Even New Yorkers were unimpressed

https://www.vulture.com/2015/10/movie-review-truth.html

https://nypost.com/2015/09/30/wacko-dan-rather-movie-still-insists-forged-bush-national-guard-documents-were-real/

No one liked that movie

https://www.stlmag.com/culture/film/truth-a-tepid-preachy-take-on-the-rathergate-scandal/

https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/07/26/ex-minutes-producer-hollywood-hero/13156241/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-dan-rather-movie-truth-lies-about-good-journ*lism

Not even Portlanders

https://www.wweek.com/arts/2015/10/28/would-you-rather/

Except Dan Rather

https://variety.com/2015/film/news/dan-rather-truth-robert-redford-1201661570/

And Mary Mapes

https://variety.com/2015/voices/columns/truth-cbs-news-mary-mapes-1201661448/

Bernard Goldberg and Dan Rather are old enemies, but that is a story for another time. Join him as we gloat over Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS and the death of sixty minutes.

https://www.bernardgoldberg.com/p/a-lost-fact-in-the-rathergate-mess-part-1-2

Also shocking Mapes knew Bush volunteered to fly in Vietnam but the air force thought he sucked and wanted someone who didn't need training wheels. Now that's the scoop you run: “George Bush was a terrible pilot”.

Cato says the government shouldn't investigate Rathergate. Someone remembers that to protect freedom for Thor you must also protect freedom for Loki.

https://www.cato.org/techknowledge/rathergate-incident-remembering-why-separation-press-state-vital

Chuds still mad

https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/02/08/memo-to-dan-rather-shut-up-about-memos/

And so so are coperate journ*lists

https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/government-integrity/memo-cbs-george-w-bush-dan-rather-got-mostly-right/

But I mostly hate /r/askhistorian for strangling what could have been a great spergout in the cradle

https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/18w58ll/the_killian_documents_seem_like_such_obvious/

Wikipedia deep dive because it just wouldn't be a 911roofer post without it

Who is Manuel Miranda ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Killian_documents_controversy

Cope

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Killian_documents_controversy/Archive_3#Recreations?

Karl rove!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Killian_documents_controversy/Archive_3#Theories_Regarding_Source_of_Documents,_Karl_Rove_et_al

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Killian_documents_controversy/Archive_4#The_Lucy_Ramirez_page

Dan rather's daughter did it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Killian_documents_controversy/Archive_9#Rather's_Daughter

Now to monday morning quarterback. Rather and Mape's main mistake was to fall in love with a story. As a journ*list you should know when to give up. Kerry's comrades from Vietnam hated his guts and were willing to say darn near anything about him because they felt he was a traitor, but just because your candidate is losing doesn't give you the right to cheat. The second mistake is trusting someone with a grudge. As I previously said Kerry's crewmates hated his guts and were willing to say darn near anything to destroy him. Bill Burkett was like them, in that be blamed Bush for his problems with medical insurance and wanted to destroy him. That's not a reliable source. If you go to shoot the king don't miss.

The third mistake was accepting photocopies of documents Bill Burkett claimed he got at a livestock show. As Mike Walker put it in his brilliant book on journ*lism Rather Dumb “paper trails keep you out of jail”. These documents may have been stolen and that's a felony. Do you really think Bush wouldn't have Dan Rather frogwalked to prison on national television? Also if you don't know where they came from how the heck do you know they're real. There is a use for such dubious documents, however. Show them on-screen and mention that they might be forgeries but the white house refuses to confirm or deny these documents. “Are these real? I don't know. Only one man can answer that. President George Bush, what are you hiding?”