It would appear to me as if Mr. Rather is losing his journalistic integrity with the passing years. Media has always been the lapdog of politics, but this is the apex of obscurity. Maybe Dan needs to buy the trailer in a nice lot in Florida and leave reporting to those you can do the job.
Comment by Lotus Petal — September 15, 2004 @ 6:14 pm
Good post.
I’d like Rather to answer a few questions before Mr. Bush does.
As in any debate, bona fides need to be established and verified.
C’mon Bunker you know as well as I do that the Guard, was considered a freaking joke by those of us on active duty. And the Guard of 1968?, an even bigger joke. In 1968 the Guard is where the rich white kids got to go to avoid gettint their asses shot off in the “South East Asian Unpleasentness”.
I wonder though if the Guard was lax enough in those years to end up giving a guy they perceived as a “problem-child” an honorable discharge just to make him go away, how many that weren’t as connected as Dubya got similar passes??
If you aren’t asking yourself that question then your twenty years of active duty service were pointless, that is just my opinion I could be wrong.
Comment by Bubba Bo Bob Brain — September 15, 2004 @ 7:15 pm
Actually, my experience with ANG units was that they were very professional. The AF Reserve guys were the whiners at the time, primarily airlift types, which you probably dealt with at Travis. Even active duty airlift crews suffered the same sickness. I’ve had them come into an FOB and complain about living conditions I considered quite nice. They would sleep in the aircraft and keep an APU running so they had air conditioning and a mattress.
In the mid-70s, we had ANG units rotate through Panama regularly in support of our mission, flying A-7s. I also worked with the TN ANG group in Nashville, and they were first-rate. Imagine a crew chief who had worked on that airplane, not just that type, for twenty years.
I’ve seen some Army guard units, primarily MP organizations, which were real brother-in-law units. Probably the cause of Abu Ghraib.
John Kerry’ past could keep Dan Rather busy for 10 years…Te-RAY-za another 10. If this were some big take down, Rather should have brought it up in 2000. If someone doesn’t ask John and Teresa to disclose their finances, their medical records, his divorce records, and the all important (?) military records, something’s rotten in Denmark. Dan Rather and Kitty Kelley walk hand in hand as far as I’m concerned.
These fake documents really hurt the Democrats in a way that hasn’t been discussed much: it wil make it impossible for them to exploit this “issue.” If they talk about it, they get accused of relying on the forged documents, and if new – even authentic – documents they will be suspect to many Americans.
And then , of course, there is the fact that Kerry refuses to release his own records – an issue that may come up again if they say anything mor about this.
You know this type of reporting reminds me of the old Russian regime. You know the one before the wall came dowm. The journalist used to do this sort of thing. What country do we live in?
It would appear to me as if Mr. Rather is losing his journalistic integrity with the passing years. Media has always been the lapdog of politics, but this is the apex of obscurity. Maybe Dan needs to buy the trailer in a nice lot in Florida and leave reporting to those you can do the job.
Comment by Lotus Petal — September 15, 2004 @ 6:14 pm
Good post.
I’d like Rather to answer a few questions before Mr. Bush does.
As in any debate, bona fides need to be established and verified.
Rather comes up short.
Comment by AH — September 15, 2004 @ 6:32 pm
C’mon Bunker you know as well as I do that the Guard, was considered a freaking joke by those of us on active duty. And the Guard of 1968?, an even bigger joke. In 1968 the Guard is where the rich white kids got to go to avoid gettint their asses shot off in the “South East Asian Unpleasentness”.
I wonder though if the Guard was lax enough in those years to end up giving a guy they perceived as a “problem-child” an honorable discharge just to make him go away, how many that weren’t as connected as Dubya got similar passes??
If you aren’t asking yourself that question then your twenty years of active duty service were pointless, that is just my opinion I could be wrong.
Comment by Bubba Bo Bob Brain — September 15, 2004 @ 7:15 pm
Actually, my experience with ANG units was that they were very professional. The AF Reserve guys were the whiners at the time, primarily airlift types, which you probably dealt with at Travis. Even active duty airlift crews suffered the same sickness. I’ve had them come into an FOB and complain about living conditions I considered quite nice. They would sleep in the aircraft and keep an APU running so they had air conditioning and a mattress.
In the mid-70s, we had ANG units rotate through Panama regularly in support of our mission, flying A-7s. I also worked with the TN ANG group in Nashville, and they were first-rate. Imagine a crew chief who had worked on that airplane, not just that type, for twenty years.
I’ve seen some Army guard units, primarily MP organizations, which were real brother-in-law units. Probably the cause of Abu Ghraib.
Comment by Bunker — September 15, 2004 @ 7:51 pm
John Kerry’ past could keep Dan Rather busy for 10 years…Te-RAY-za another 10. If this were some big take down, Rather should have brought it up in 2000. If someone doesn’t ask John and Teresa to disclose their finances, their medical records, his divorce records, and the all important (?) military records, something’s rotten in Denmark. Dan Rather and Kitty Kelley walk hand in hand as far as I’m concerned.
Comment by julie — September 15, 2004 @ 9:18 pm
These fake documents really hurt the Democrats in a way that hasn’t been discussed much: it wil make it impossible for them to exploit this “issue.” If they talk about it, they get accused of relying on the forged documents, and if new – even authentic – documents they will be suspect to many Americans.
And then , of course, there is the fact that Kerry refuses to release his own records – an issue that may come up again if they say anything mor about this.
Comment by John Rogers — September 16, 2004 @ 7:25 am
You know this type of reporting reminds me of the old Russian regime. You know the one before the wall came dowm. The journalist used to do this sort of thing. What country do we live in?
Comment by Birdie — September 16, 2004 @ 8:30 pm