Mary Mapes, disgraced former producer at CBS news, has released a new book detailing her side of the infamous Rathergate scandal.
She and CBS anchorman Dan Rather used forged documents to bolster an investigative piece on George W Bush, in a story about him going AWOL when he was in the reserve during Vietnam. No evidence has ever surfaced supporting that charge, but Mapes and Rather reported it anyway.
When it came to light that the aforementioned documents were forged, Rather was forced to resign from CBS news, and Mapes was fired.
Now, in her new book, "Truth And Duty", she steadfastly refuses to admit the documents are phony.
Howard Kurtz, of the Washington Post tells us:
She ladles out plenty of blame but largely defends what she still considers a fair piece of reporting, although an independent panel accused CBS of having "failed miserably" to authenticate the documents before rushing the story to air.
Not only does she refuse to admit any wrongdoing, but she has viciously attacked those who she feels has betrayed her.
Of CBS President Les Moonves, she says, "He doesn't know journalism from dirt farming," noting that Moonves courted and then married "Early Show" anchor Julie Chen, she writes: "I used to say everything Les knows about journalism had been sexually transmitted. Now I know even that hasn't taught him much."
She also criticized the 86-year-old former secretary to Bush's late squadron commander, Karl Rove, President Bush, and even her own father for what she feels contributed to her downfall.
But CBS has quite a different take on the events leading up to her firing. According to Kurtz, Linda Mason, a CBS News senior vice president, said Mapes was fired because "her basic reporting was faulty. She relied on documents that could not be authenticated -- you could never authenticate a Xeroxed copy. She led others who trusted her down the wrong road." Viacom acted because its executives were "stunned at the report" and concerned about restoring CBS News's reputation, she said
Three of CBS's own document experts say they had warned CBS they could not authenticate the memos. Mapes's source for the documents, former National Guardsman Bill Burkett, later admitted lying about who had given him the memos said to have been written by Bush's long-dead Guard commander. "Document analysis is a real subjective profession," said Mapes, who still believes the memos are real. "You can find one to say yea or nay on anything."
I know this sounds like Mapes has lost touch with reality, and maybe she has, but I believe this is a perfect example of what I discussed in a previous blog post.
Arrogance.
This woman has so convinced herself of her own infallibility, that she will never believe that she could possibly be wrong about anything. The truth could slap her in the face and she would still say it is lies.
Dan Rather is the same way. He refuses to admit that in their zeal to discredit Bush, those documents were forged. Keep in mind that Mapes and Rather came out with this "story" a mere 55 days before the Presidential election. It was a blatant attempt to steal the election from Bush and hand it to Kerry. Both of them hate Bush so much they are willing to compromise their integrity to crucify him.
Hatred is a by-product of Arrogance, too.
This, by the way, is a common practice for Liberals. When they have nothing on a perceived opponent, they resort to baseless accusations and slander. Even to the point of fabricating evidence.
Arrogance can be a good thing, but once it is allowed to compromise your integrity, it becomes a hindrance.
And once you have lost your integrity, it will be almost impossible to regain.
Unfortunately, Ms Mapes and her partner, Dan Rather, seem to prefer to go through the remainder of their lives without integrity.
And maybe that's the real crime.
Lie Of The Day (From Laura Ingraham's web site)
"As a journalist, that is a good story and that's a story that deserves coverage," claimed former 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes, fired for her role in Docugate.
THE TRUTH:
EVERYONE has said that the reporting was shoddy! Since when does shoddy reporting deserve coverage?
11 comments:
Integrity is not an asset in the liberal world. If anything, it is a hinderance.
Sheila,
You are a Democrat but not a liberal. Leftists' like Rather and Mapes have an agenda, kill Republican Democracy at any cost. Integrity is seen as weakness, be damed the truth, the objective to take down the capitalist scum justifies the means. Mapes and Rather were members of the old media oligarchy that had free reign to determine the rule of journalism. Their downfall was a result of a truly free media, one that the Russian oligarchy prohibits. Anyone that truly believes in a transparent free press should applaud Rather and Mapes demise.
Fritz - Shelia is the one who gets to say whether or not she is a liberal, not you. But that's typical of the current Republican approach. Label and disfranchise anything that doesn't agree with their limited and heartless worldview. Maness has never posted ANYTHING that convinces me that he cares a flying f*** about anything other than maintaining the status quo. He's not uneducated. He's just dumb. And he's arrogant enough to claim he's proud of it. What a bunch of shit.
Do Democrats and liberals have what it takes to make our nation better? F***, no. But they have some of it. Just as the Republicans and conservatives have some of it. If our nation is falling apart, it's because of people like Maness and his liberal counterparts who can't find the decency and common sense to attempt to find a middle ground. F*** them all.
Oh yeah, Lone Ranger, you can pucker up your racist, neo-con, arrogant, senseless, reactionary, uneducated, lying lips and kiss my hairy ass.
Twice.
The acts of a few shady characters will never describe the Liberal party as a whole. Just as KKK members will never describe Americans as a whole. It is sheer ignorance to say that if a few members of a party who have no integrity represent all of the party and therefore no one in that party has integrety. Take a closer look at American history--how should the conservative party be viewed if we only judge it by a few members?
CounterColumn mentioned the book late September that you might be interested in.
Ok. I worded that wrong. So sue me.
What I meant was "MANY" Liberals, not all.
And yes, some Conservatives do the same, to my consternation. We don't need to resort to baseless accusations and slander, because we usually have plenty of facts to back up what we say.
Etchen, Conservatives are not a party. Conservative is an ideology.
LOL. "Venom", Welcome to my amen corner. I am glad you offered your opinion. You prove my point about baseless accusations and slander from Liberals like yourself. You are exactly what I say Liberals are: Mean spirited, hateful, lying, name calling, jerks.
You people who take offense at my characterization of Liberals, you simply have to look to Liberals like Venomstrait for validation.
Sheila, You have consistently insisted that you are not Liberal, but rather, an independent, and, because you have always been respectful even when you disagree, you have convinced me that you are indeed an independent, as you say. So why would it offend you when I speak of Liberals in this way?
Sheila,
I live in the blue state of California, and I can tell you that the "L" word is not a bad word here; but "conservative" is. I hear a lot of vicious expletives when people talk about Republicans and President Bush and conservatives and neo-cons. Because I am nice and such, some people are very much surprised at my politics. I know one person who is a client of mine who would probably be crushed if she found out my politics. She wears hers on her sleeve, and is a DU-type liberal. Eventually, it's going to get out. I'm almost looking forward to that day, because it will be an interesting one.
I know very few conservatives here. Bashing the President and Republicans comes natural, as many people I come across seem to share the same ideology as such Hollywood-types like Barbra Streisand and Martin Sheen; and read from the same news sources as well.
Word,
I'm so sorry. It sounds lonely out there. I feel your pain. :)
Naw..it's kind of cool. Makes me feel like I'm not "going along with the crowd".
Conservatives, particularly those of the Neo variety, are well versed in the art of character assassination. Revisit the 2000 primaries and consider how the Bush team was able to demonize one of the few remaining republicans in Washington to possess real honest to goodness integrity, John McCain.
Rather was guilty of poor judgement in his rush to help rid the country of the cancer that resides in the White House. There is no doubt his hubris blurred his vision of what was once considered bare knuckled journalism.
You make it sound as if these two cohorts cuddled together over an old Remington and hammered out the documents. You would have everyone believe that Rather and Mapes actually forged these documents themselves. They are no more guilty of passing what they believed to be solid evidence than George Bush was when he lied and told the country Iraq was a direct and immediate threat to us.
Liberals have every inch of integrity that conservatives have. To suppose that it is any other way is ignorant. There will never be harmony as long as ignorance is allowed to fester on either side of the thoughtful race.
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